<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="static/style.xsl"?><OAI-PMH xmlns="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/OAI-PMH.xsd"><responseDate>2026-09-18T17:59:11Z</responseDate><request verb="GetRecord" identifier="oai:gupea.ub.gu.se:2077/42341" metadataPrefix="dim">https://gupea.ub.gu.se/server/oai/request</request><GetRecord><record><header><identifier>oai:gupea.ub.gu.se:2077/42341</identifier><datestamp>2016-05-27T01:30:52Z</datestamp><setSpec>com_2077_283</setSpec><setSpec>com_2077_17</setSpec><setSpec>com_2077_10556</setSpec><setSpec>col_2077_543</setSpec><setSpec>col_2077_310</setSpec><setSpec>col_2077_10557</setSpec></header><metadata><dim:dim xmlns:dim="http://www.dspace.org/xmlns/dspace/dim" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:doc="http://www.lyncode.com/xoai" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.dspace.org/xmlns/dspace/dim http://www.dspace.org/schema/dim.xsd">
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="contributor" qualifier="author">Westergren Utkovic, Helena</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="date" qualifier="accessioned">2016-05-26T10:30:39Z</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="date" qualifier="available">2016-05-26T10:30:39Z</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="date" qualifier="issued">2016-05-26</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="identifier" qualifier="isbn">978-91-628-9846-5 (PRINT)</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="identifier" qualifier="isbn">978-91-628-9847-2 (PDF)</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="identifier" qualifier="uri">http://hdl.handle.net/2077/42341</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="description" qualifier="abstract" lang="sv">Background: Microvascular disease is now recognized as an important driver for cardiovascular&#xd;
mortality and morbidity. Diabetic patients are known to suffer from this condition, leading to e.g.&#xd;
coronary ischemia as well as kidney dysfunction. Accumulating evidences indicate that the vascular&#xd;
pathological alterations may be a direct consequence of impaired glucose homeostasis and may occur&#xd;
long before diabetes is diagnosed. Early risk identification and a better understanding of associated&#xd;
mechanisms could be of great importance in disease management. Thus, the overall hypothesis of this&#xd;
thesis was that impaired glucose homeostasis already in the non-diabetic stage is associated with&#xd;
coronary and peripheral microvascular dysfunction and an unfavorable systemic risk profile, possibly&#xd;
facilitating progression of cardiovascular disease. For translational understanding, we hypothesized&#xd;
that obese insulin resistant leptin-deficient (ob/ob) mice could be a potential model for microvascular&#xd;
dysfunction and associated mechanisms. Finally, we hypothesized that short-term personalized&#xd;
lifestyle intervention may improve coronary microcirculation in healthy subjects.&#xd;
Summary of results: My thesis shows that high insulin resistance assessed by the Homeostatic&#xd;
model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) added independent prognostic value in patients&#xd;
with chest pain without myocardial perfusion defects. HOMA-IR was inversely associated with decreased&#xd;
peripheral vascular function, increased systemic pro-inflammatory state and decreased levels&#xd;
of pro-angiogenic vascular growth factors (Paper I). Also, impaired coronary flow reserve (CFR)&#xd;
predicted cardiovascular outcome in these patients and HOMA-IR was the strongest biochemical&#xd;
marker associated with decreased CFR. Interestingly, upon gender specific analysis, HOMA-IR&#xd;
seemed to be the strongest predictor of decreased CFR in men while systolic blood pressure was the&#xd;
strongest predictor in women (Paper II). Furthermore, impaired CFR and increased renal vascular&#xd;
resistance were observed in the ob/ob mice compared to lean controls. Possible mechanisms behind&#xd;
these observations were an impaired nitric oxide pathway as well as decreased renal vascular density&#xd;
(Paper III). Finally, CFR was improved with a personalized and supervised exercise and diet program&#xd;
in healthy volunteers (Paper IV).&#xd;
Conclusions: This thesis suggests that insulin resistance measured by HOMA-IR confers independent&#xd;
prognostic information in non-diabetic patients with chest pain without myocardial perfusion defects.&#xd;
Furthermore, increased HOMA-IR is associated with poor cardiovascular status and there seems to be&#xd;
gender specific mechanisms associated with coronary microvascular dysfunction. In addition, the&#xd;
ob/ob mice may be a useful translational model for interventional studies to improve understanding of&#xd;
microvascular complications in impaired glucose homeostasis. Finally, three months of personalized&#xd;
life style intervention can enhance cardiovascular function in healthy subjects.</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="language" qualifier="iso" lang="sv">eng</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="relation" qualifier="haspart" lang="sv">Westergren HU, Svedlund S, Momo RA, Blomster JI, Wåhlander K, Rehnström E, Greasley PJ, Fritsche-Danielson R, Oscarsson J, Gan LM. Insulin resistance, endothelial function, angiogenic factors and clinical outcome in non-diabetic patients with chest pain without myocardial perfusion defects. Cardiovascular Diabetology 2016;15: 36. ::PMID:: 26892461</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="relation" qualifier="haspart" lang="sv">Westergren HU, Michaëlsson E, Blomster JI, Miliotis T, Svedlund S, Gan LM. Determinants of coronary flow reserve in non-diabetic patients with chest pain without myocardial perfusion defects. Manuscript</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="relation" qualifier="haspart" lang="sv">Westergren HU, Grönros J, Heinonen SE, Miliotis T, Jennbacken K, Sabirsh A, Ericsson A, Jönsson-Rylander AC, Svedlund S, Gan LM. Impaired Coronary and Renal Vascular Function in Spontaneously Type 2 Diabetic Leptin-Deficient Mice. PLoS One 2015;10(6): e0130648. ::PMID::26098416</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="relation" qualifier="haspart" lang="sv">Westergren HU, Gan LM, Månsson M and Svedlund S. Effects of a Personalized Supervised Lifestyle Intervention Program on Cardiovascular Status in Sedentary Healthy Volunteers. Manuscript</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="subject" lang="sv">Insulin resistance</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="subject" lang="sv">microvascular function</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="subject" lang="sv">peripheral vascular function</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="subject" lang="sv">coronary flow reserve</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="subject" lang="sv">prognosis</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="subject" lang="sv">myocardial perfusion scintigram</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="subject" lang="sv">animal model</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="title" lang="sv">Insulin resistance and cardiovascular function - Observational, translational and interventional studies</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="type" lang="eng">text</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="type" qualifier="svep" lang="eng">Doctoral thesis</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="type" qualifier="degree" lang="sv">Doctor of Philosophy (Medicine)</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="gup" qualifier="mail" lang="sv">helena.westergren@gu.se</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="gup" qualifier="origin" lang="sv">University of Gothenburg. Sahlgrenska Academy</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="gup" qualifier="department" lang="sv">Institute of Medicine. Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="gup" qualifier="defenceplace" lang="sv">Fredagen den 17 juni 2016, kl. 9.00 Hjärtats Aula, Vita Stråket 12, Göteborg</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="gup" qualifier="defencedate">2016-06-17</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="dc" element="gup" qualifier="dissdb-fakultet">SA</dim:field>
   <dim:field mdschema="others" element="access-status">open.access</dim:field>
</dim:dim>
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