DIGAMI 2 did not support the fact that an acutely introduced, long-term insulin treatment improves survival in type 2 diabetic patients following myocardial infarction when compared with a conventional management at similar levels of glucose control or that insulin-based treatment lowers the number of non-fatal myocardial reinfarctions and strokes. However, an epidemiological analysis confirms that the glucose level is a strong, independent predictor of long-term mortality in this patient category, underlining that glucose control seems to be an important part of their management.

Cardiopulmonary diseases are major causes of death worldwide, but currently recommended strategies for diagnosis and prevention may be outdated because of recent changes in risk factor patterns. The Swedish CArdioPulmonarybioImage Study (SCAPIS) combines the use of new imaging technologies, advances in large‐scale ‘omics’ and epidemiological analyses to extensively characterize a Swedish cohort of 30 000 men and women aged between 50 and 64 years. The information obtained will be used to improve risk prediction of cardiopulmonary diseases and optimize the ability to study disease mechanisms. A comprehensive pilot study in 1111 individuals, which was completed in 2012, demonstrated the feasibility and financial and ethical consequences of SCAPIS. Recruitment to the national, multicentre study has recently started.

Background Shedding microvesicles are membrane released vesicles derived directly from the plasma membrane. Exosomes are released membrane vesicles of late endosomal origin that share structural and biochemical characteristics with prostasomes. Microvesicles/exosomes can mediate messages between cells and affect various cell-related processes in their target cells. We describe newly detected microvesicles/exosomes from cardiomyocytes and depict some of their biological functions. Methodology/Principal Findings Microvesicles/exosomes from media of cultured cardiomyocytes derived from adult mouse heart were isolated by differential centrifugation including preparative ultracentrifugation and identified by transmission electron microscopy and flow cytometry. They were surrounded by a bilayered membrane and flow cytometry revealed presence of both caveolin-3 and flotillin-1 while clathrin and annexin-2 were not detected. Microvesicle/exosome mRNA was identified and out of 1520 detected mRNA, 423 could be directly connected in a biological network. Furthermore, by a specific technique involving TDT polymerase, 343 different chromosomal DNA sequences were identified in the microvesicles/exosomes. Microvesicle/exosomal DNA transfer was possible into target fibroblasts, where exosomes stained for DNA were seen in the fibroblast cytosol and even in the nuclei. The gene expression was affected in fibroblasts transfected by microvesicles/exosomes and among 333 gene expression changes there were 175 upregulations and 158 downregulations compared with controls. Conclusions/Significance Our study suggests that microvesicles/exosomes released from cardiomyocytes, where we propose that exosomes derived from cardiomyocytes could be denoted “cardiosomes”, can be involved in a metabolic course of events in target cells by facilitating an array of metabolism-related processes including gene expression changes.

This GWAS identified two loci involved in sporadic DCM, one of them probably implicates BAG3. Our results show that rare mutations in BAG3 contribute to monogenic forms of the disease, while common variant(s) in the same gene are implicated in sporadic DCM.

Nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) demonstrated the presence of Chlamydia pneumoniaespecific DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). PBMC samples were obtained from 103 consecutive patients (62 male, 41 female) aged 22 -85 years (mean, 64) admitted for coronary angiography because of suspected coronary heart disease and from 52 blood donors (43 male, 9 female) aged 40 -64 years (mean, 49). Of the 101 evaluable patients, 60 (59%) were identified by nPCR assay as C. pneumoniae DNA carriers; C. pneumoniae -specific microimmunofluorescence (MIF) serology confirmed exposure to the bacterium in 57 (95%) of the 60 nPCR-positive patients. Among the 52 blood donors, the nPCR assay identified 24 (46%) C. pneumoniae DNA carriers, all of whom were positive by C. pneumoniae-specific serology. Thirty-two patients (32%) and 23 blood donors (44%) were MIF antibody -positive but repeatedly nPCR-negative; Bartonella henselae -or Bartonella quintana -specific antibodies were not detected among any of these subjects. In this study, C. pneumoniae DNA was common in PBMC of patients with coronary heart disease and in middle-aged blood donors.Chlamydia pneumoniae has been established as a common polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection is a technically feasible approach that is becoming an important tool in the diagnoand important pathogen causing upper and lower respiratory tract infections in humans [1]. Also, several recent studies have sis of pulmonary tuberculosis and for monitoring the efficacy of antituberculosis therapy. suggested that C. pneumoniae may be implicated in atherosclerotic disease [2 -5], and treatment with antichlamydial antibiot-The advent of PCR technology has resulted in major advantages in the diagnosis of chlamydial infections, and we have ics may reduce the risk of recurrent ''cardiac events'' in patients with established atherosclerotic coronary heart disease recently shown that nested PCR (nPCR) is a sensitive and specific method for diagnosing patients with acute respiratory [6, 7].A properly performed serology may be of value in diagnos-C. pneumoniae infections [8]. The purpose of the present study was to investigate prospectively whether blood-based nPCR is ing an acute C. pneumoniae infection [8]. In the case of persistent C. pneumoniae infection, however, serology is less useful useful in identifying individuals carrying circulating C. pneumoniae DNA. [9]. Therefore, there is an obvious need for methods that could identify individuals persistently infected by C. pneumoniae.C. pneumoniae may be harbored in human monocytes [10], Methods and monocytes are therefore a potential reservoir and source Samples. Venous whole blood (10 mL) was collected in for diagnostic efforts. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a case in EDTA-treated tubes from 103 consecutive patients (62 male, 41 point. In a study of patients with active M. tuberculosis infecfemale) aged 22-85 years (mean, 64) who were admitted to Umeå tion, Condos et al. [11] showed that peripheral blood-based University Hospital for coronary ...