Radionuclide Imaging of Heart-Brain Connections.

The heart and brain have a complex interplay wherein disease or injury to either organ may adversely affect the other. The mechanisms underlying this connection remain incompletely characterized. However, nuclear molecular imaging is uniquely suited to investigate these pathways by facilitating the simultaneous assessment of both organs using targeted radiotracers.

Stress-related genetic factors modify the effect of socioeconomic status on cardiovascular risk.

Lower socioeconomic status (SES) and higher neuroticism polygenic risk score (NEU-PGS) associate with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Chronic stress increases CVD risk via activation of neural, autonomic, and immune pathways. We evaluated whether 1) higher NEU-PGS accentuates the association between lower SES and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE); and 2) higher stress-associated neural activity and C-reactive protein and lower heart rate variability contribute to the SES-MACE link among those with higher NEU-PGS.

Periaortic Fat Attenuation on Nongated Noncontrast Chest CT Images to Assess Changes in Arterial Inflammation: Impact of Atorvastatin.

Background: Imaging markers of atherosclerotic inflammation are needed to enhance cardiovascular risk assessment and evaluate the impact of therapies. We sought to test the hypothesis that treatments impacting arterial inflammation can be evaluated using a simplified measure of periaortic fat attenuation (FA) assessed on noncontrast, nongated computed tomography of the descending thoracic aorta.

Methods: Measurements were performed on F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography images from a double-blind, randomized trial conducted between 2008 and 2009 that assessed the impact of statin therapy on arterial inflammation.

Neurobiological Mechanisms Link Bipolar Disorder to Cardiovascular Disease: A Retrospective Biobank Study of Adverse Event Risk and Contributory Mechanisms.

Objective: Individuals with bipolar disorder are at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease. However, the mechanisms underlying this association remain poorly understood. This study aimed to (1) determine the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) after adjusting for important confounders and (2) evaluate the neural, autonomic, and immune mechanisms underlying the link between bipolar disorder and cardiovascular disease.

Accelerated development of cardiovascular risk factors mediates risk for major adverse cardiovascular events in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have high rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and increased cardiometabolic CVD risk factors (CVDRFs, e.g., hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or diabetes mellitus).

Additive effect of high transportation noise exposure and socioeconomic deprivation on stress-associated neural activity, atherosclerotic inflammation, and cardiovascular disease events.

Background: Noise exposure and lower socioeconomic status (SES) are both independently linked to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Although these factors frequently coexist, their combined impact and the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the joint effects of high transportation noise exposure and lower SES on major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and the role of the neural-arterial axis in mediating this relationship.

Anxiety and depression are associated with heightened risk of incident deep vein thrombosis: Mediation through stress-related neural mechanisms.

Controversy exists as to whether anxiety and depression increase deep vein thrombosis (DVT) risk, and the mechanisms mediating potential links remain unknown. We aimed to evaluate the association between anxiety and depression and DVT risk and determine whether upregulated stress-related neural activity (SNA), which promotes chronic inflammation, contributes to this link. Our retrospective study included adults (N = 118 871) enrolled in Mass General Brigham Biobank.

Cortico-limbic interactions and carotid atherosclerotic burden during chronic stress exposure.

Background And Aims: Chronic stress associates with cardiovascular disease, but mechanisms remain incompletely defined. Advanced imaging was used to identify stress-related neural imaging phenotypes associated with atherosclerosis.

Methods: Twenty-seven individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 45 trauma-exposed controls without PTSD, and 22 healthy controls underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (18F-FDG PET/MRI).

Heart-brain axis: Pushing the boundaries of cardiovascular molecular imaging.

Despite decades of research, the heart-brain axis continues to challenge investigators seeking to unravel its complex pathobiology. Strong epidemiologic evidence supports a link by which insult or injury to one of the organs increases the risk of pathology in the other. The putative pathways have important differences between sexes and include alterations in autonomic function, metabolism, inflammation, and neurohormonal mechanisms that participate in crosstalk between the heart and brain and contribute to vascular changes, the development of shared risk factors, and oxidative stress.

Health position paper and redox perspectives - Disease burden by transportation noise.

Transportation noise is a ubiquitous urban exposure. In 2018, the World Health Organization concluded that chronic exposure to road traffic noise is a risk factor for ischemic heart disease. In contrast, they concluded that the quality of evidence for a link to other diseases was very low to moderate.

Body Composition, Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction, and Future Risk of Cardiovascular Events Including Heart Failure.

Background: Body mass index (BMI) is a controversial marker of cardiovascular prognosis, especially in women. Coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) is prevalent in obese patients and a better discriminator of risk than BMI, but its association with body composition is unknown.

Objectives: The authors used a deep learning model for body composition analysis to investigate the relationship between CMD, skeletal muscle (SM), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), and visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and their contribution to adverse outcomes in patients referred for evaluation of coronary artery disease.

Amygdalar activity measured using FDG-PET/CT at head and neck cancer staging independently predicts survival.

Importance: The mechanisms underlying the association between chronic stress and higher mortality among individuals with cancer remain incompletely understood.

Objective: To test the hypotheses that among individuals with active head and neck cancer, that higher stress-associated neural activity (ie. metabolic amygdalar activity [AmygA]) at cancer staging associates with survival.

Reduced Stress-Related Neural Network Activity Mediates the Effect of Alcohol on Cardiovascular Risk.

Background: Chronic stress associates with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) via increased stress-related neural network activity (SNA). Light/moderate alcohol consumption (AC) has been linked to lower MACE risk, but the mechanisms are unclear.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the association between AC and MACE is mediated by decreased SNA.

Radionuclide Imaging of Heart-Brain Connections.

The heart and brain have a complex interplay wherein disease or injury to either organ may adversely affect the other. The mechanisms underlying this connection remain incompletely characterized. However, nuclear molecular imaging is uniquely suited to investigate these pathways by facilitating the simultaneous assessment of both organs using targeted radiotracers.