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"Interest in the Mediterranean diet (MD) has grown worldwide in the course of the past decade, even among nutritionists outside of the Mediterranean area.  This is largely due to the fact that the consumption of the MD has been linked to greater longevity, improved quality of life and lower incidences of cardiovascular disease, cancer and age cognitive decline, in spite of being a dietary model with a high fat content, unlike the diets recommended for several decades by many experts in nutrition in other geographical areas."  

“A diet enriched in virgin olive oil can reduce the sensitivity of platelets to aggregation, decreasing von Willebrand and thromboxane B₂ plasma levels."

"Urinary 8-epi-PGF2 alpha level decreased from 450 +/- 170 to 330 +/- 159 Pg/mg creatinine, urinary 11-dehydro-TxB₂ level decreased from 1,200 +/- 420 to 790 +/- 320 pg/mg creatinine with no changes in the placebo group."

"Dietary patterns high in refined starches, sugar, and saturated and trans-fatty acids and poor in natural antioxidants and fiber from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains may cause an activation of the innate immune system, most likely by an excessive reduction of proinflammatory cytokines associated with a reduced production of anti-inflammatory cytokines. This imbalance may favor the generation of a proinflammatory milieu, which in turn produces endothelial dysfunction at the vascular level and ultimately predisposes susceptible people to increased incidence of the metabolic syndrome and CHD."

"We investigated the potential involvement of the thromboxane A₂ (TXA₂) pathway in human prostate cancer (PCa). Expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), TXA₂ synthase (TXS), and TXA₂ receptors (TPRs), the main actors of the TXA₂ pathway, was analyzed on serial tissue sections from 46 human PCa specimens.

"The expression levels of COX-2, TXS, and TPRs were significantly higher in malignant than in corresponding nontumoral prostatic epithelial cells.  Increased immunoreactivity for these antigens was also observed in high-grade prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) glands.  COX-2, TXS, and TPR proteins usually displayed a coordinated overexpression pattern in PCa lesions, as assessed in serial tissue sections.  Increased levels of these proteins in the tumors were all significantly associated with higher Gleason scores and pathologic stages"

"Proteins specifically involved in the TXA₂ pathway are upregulated in human PCa and their level of expression is associated with tumor extraprostatic extension and loss of differentiation.  Our study is the first to examine simultaneously all key proteins involved in the pathway including TXA₂ receptors and results suggest that the TXA₂ pathway may be a potential target for PCa prevention/therapy."

"The goals of this study were to characterize the platelet contribution to soluble CD-40 ligand (sCD40L), to correlate its formation with the extent of oxidative stress and platelet activation, and to investigate the effects of improved metabolic control and low-dose aspirin on these processes."

“This study provides several lines of evidence for the dependence of sCD40L release on TXA₂-dependent platelet activation in T2DM and provides novel mechanistic insight into the amplification loops of persistent platelet activation in this setting.”

"Resistance to inhibition of platelet function by aspirin may contribute to future myocardial infarction and stroke.  Adverse cardiovascular outcomes have been associated with aspirin resistance on several different platelet function assays, including the level of urinary 11-dehydro thromboxane B₂ (Tx-M), platelet aggregation to arachidonic acid and adenosine diphosphate, and closure time on the platelet function analyzer-100.  We examined the concordance of these aspirin-resistance assays and their relation to cardiovascular risk factors in a primary prevention population."

“Aspirin resistance by platelet function analyzer-100 was associated only with increased von Willebrand factor levels and not with atherosclerotic risk profile.”

"This study is to investigate the rate of platelet thromboxane (TX) biosynthesis and its determinants in Alzheimer's disease.

“Urinary 11-dehydroTXB2 and 8-iso-PGF2a were significantly higher in Alzheimer patients than in controls”

“No difference was found in CRP, TNF-a and IL-6 levels between the two groups.”

“Platelet activation is persistently enhanced in Alzheimer’s disease.”

“Enhanced platelet activation occurs in colorectal cancer patients. Permanent inactivation of platelet COX-1 by low dose aspirin might restore anti tumor reactivity.”

"Thus we aimed to address whether enhanced platelet activation, as assessed by the measurement of the urinary excretion of 11-dehydro-TXB(2) (a major enzymatic metabolite of TXB(2), occurs in patients with colorectal cancer.  In 10 patients with colorectal cancer, the urinary excretion of 11-dehydro-TXB(2) was significantly higher than in 10 controls, matched for sex, age and cardiovascular risk factors"

"Inflammation is the immunological defense mechanism by which the body fights infection or injury from bacteria, viruses and other pathogens.  The defining clinical features of inflammation are known in Latin as rubor (redness), calor (warmth), tumor (swelling) and dolor (pain)."

"In the early 1970's, aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were found to inhibit cyclooxygenase (COX), which produces prostaglandins (PG's), a class of physiological and pathophysiological inflammatory mediators.  Since then, the biosynthetic cascade of arachadonic acid (AA) has been the subject of intense research.  This is because AA, having been previously liberated from phospholipids using various stimuli, can be metabolized by the COX pathway into PG's and thromboxane A_2, or by the lipoxygenase pathways to hydroperoxyeicosateraenoic acids, (HpETEs), hydroxyeicosateraenoic acids (HETEs), and leukotrienes (LTs).  These proteins play a vital role in inflammation by controlling the intensitry and duration of pain, as well as the occurrence of fever, swelling and heat of an affected area."

“Given that certain polyphenols are known to affect more than one protein, it is necessary consider the possibility that any single com- pound may affect multiple mechanisms.”

"Smoking is associated with endothelial dysfunction.  Cytokines released by injured endothelium promote vascular interactions with leukocytes and platelets.  We investigated whether (a) cigarette smoking is linked to increased cytokine production, which may mediate platelet activation and thrombin generation in chronic coronary artery disease (CAD), and (b) aspirin treatment inhibits smoking-related changes on cytokines, platelets, and thrombin."

"After aspirin treatment, M-CSF, CRP, 11-dehydro-TXB₂, and prothrombin fragments 1 + 2 remained higher in smokers compared with non smokers despite a significant reduction of these markers by aspirin."