Keyword: cardiovascular diseases

The STIMULUS project consortium is developing new tools to assess adverse changes in microcirculatory status associated with hypertension, chronic kidney disease and heart failure, leading to earlier detection of cardiovascular diseases. STIMULUS is funded by the EIC Pathfinder, a Horizon Europe funding scheme that supports research teams to develop the scientific basis for breakthrough technologies.

A new test has been developed in Turku, Finland, that helps in separating heart attack patients from those whose cardiac troponin values are elevated due to renal insufficiency. Blood sample tests for cardiac troponins are an important cornerstone in the diagnostics of heart attack, but the result may be elevated also due to other transient or chronic conditions, such as renal insufficiency, atrial fibrillation or strenuous physical exercise. The new test may help in identifying myocardial infarction (MI) faster and more specifically and thus improve the treatment of MI patients.

A Finnish study coordinated by the Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Turku shows that exposure to cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure, elevated serum cholesterol, and obesity, from childhood to midlife are associated with poor cognitive performance in midlife. Importantly, the worse the cardiovascular risk factor profile and the higher the number of the risk factors was, the poorer cognitive performance was observed.

Atrial fibrillation is one of the greatest challenges in cardiology. The atrial fibrillation research is evidence of cardiological expertise in Turku and the involved parties are the University of Turku, the Turku University Hospital Heart Centre, Turku PET Centre, and the hospitals of the Hospital District of Southwest Finland. A smart phone app for observing atrial fibrillation has been engineered in Turku, and there is more to come. This technology is top-quality on a global scale.

The Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project investigated the long-term effects of dietary counselling on cardiovascular health. The individuals, who had participated in the trial between ages 7 months and 20 years, were invited to a follow-up study at the age of 26. The results show that the intervention group who received dietary counselling had lower serum cholesterol level and better insulin sensitivity than those in the control group.

Finnish researchers have identified an exonic variant in the TRIM55 gene, which affects cardiomyocyte specific functions and reduces cardiac contractility.