Clinical trials

Chagas disease is an endemic problem in Latin America, where millions of people are chronically infected with T. cruzi. Recently, it was assumed to have clinical and epidemiological relevance in several other countries due to migratory and globalizing social factors. CCC occurs in 30-50% of infected individuals, causing considerable morbidity/mortality rates. Heart failure is the most prevalent morbidity. While CRT and drug treatment have been advocated and implemented without much success to improve the clinical condition of patients with CCC, there is no consistent scientific evidence on the role of cardiac contractility modulation (CCM) as a form of adjuvant treatment for heart failure in patients with CCC. The hypothesis of this study is that patients with CCC, advanced heart failure, severe systolic dysfunction, and non-LBB have better clinical and functional responses when undergoing implantation of a CCM device than when undergoing cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and neoplasms are the main causes of death in Brazilian women. Coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke were responsible for approximately 54% of deaths from CVD in this population. In Brazil, cancers were the second cause of death and in 2017 were responsible for 58% of deaths in women. CVD and cancer share some risk factors, and control of these factors is associated with a significant reduction in cancer incidence. These two causes of death, although apparently disparate, share similar lifestyles and health risk factors, suggesting some common pathways and basic molecular networks. In women, the presence of estrogen has protective effects against atherosclerosis and, with the decline in hormone production at menopause, the incidence and prevalence of CAD increase substantially. Although the estrogen pathway is supposed to have a central effect on this increased risk, it is still debated whether other non-estrogenic mechanisms are related, since hormone replacement alone does not reduce cardiovascular events. Sirtuins and soluble advanced glycation product receptors (sRAGE) are associated with increased vascular protection, while the role of apoptosis inhibiting proteins, a pathway linked to increased cancer incidence, is still unclear in the context of atherosclerosis. Resveratrol is a key activator of sirtuins and potentially modulates these metabolic pathways, reducing cardiovascular risk. This randomized, double-blind, parallel, placebo-controlled clinical trial will be carried out in 80 postmenopausal women with CAD to analyze the effect of treatment with resveratrol on serum concentration and gene expression of sirtuins-1 -3, in the serum sRAGE concentration and in the gene expression of apoptosis inhibitory proteins.