Background: This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in elderly men with overweight or obesity and coronary artery disease. Methods: Patients recruited in cardiac rehabilitation centers post-myocardial infarction provided demographic and anthropomorphic data. ED was assessed using the abbreviated International Index of Erectile Function 5 (IIEF-5) Questionnaire. Results: The study included 661 men with a mean age of 67.3 ± 5.57 years, a mean BMI of 27.9 ± 3.6 m/kg², and a mean waist circumference of 98.9 ± 10.23 cm. Over 90% of men experienced ED, with similar proportions across BMI categories. The development of ED in men with a waist circumference of ≥100 cm had 3.74 times higher odds (OR 3.74; 95% CI: 1.0–13.7; p = 0.04) than in men with a waist circumference of <100 cm. Men with obesity and moderate-to-severe and severe ED were older compared to those without these disorders (67.1 ± 5.29 vs. 65.3 ± 4.35; p = 0.23). Conclusions: The prevalence of ED in men with coronary artery disease surpasses 90%. An increased body weight raises the risk of ED, with waist circumference proving to be a more reliable predictor of this risk compared to BMI. Physicians are encouraged to screen elderly patients with cardiovascular disease for ED and address obesity to enhance overall health.

Background: Along with socio-economic pression increase in developed countries, the progressive shortening of night sleep has been observed. Sleep plays a vital role in human organism regeneration, and its deprivation leads to a series of adverse psychosomatic effects, including intellectual...

The permanently growing interest in amateur and professional sports activities among young, middle-aged and elderly athletes raises serious concerns about athletes’ health, the safety of physical training, and the sports-related risk of sudden cardiac death and other cardiovascular...

The activity of autogenic proteolytic enzymes is regulated in vivo by autogenic inhibitors. They play important roles in maintaining a balance in many processes in the human body. In pathological conditions, enzymes are overexpressed and the balance is disturbed. Such uncontrolled changes may lead to the development of local or systemic cancer. To evaluate the effects of specific inhibitors, i.e., chicken egg white cystatin (CEWC) and proteinase inhibitor (E-64) on autogenic cysteine peptidases (CPs) in the sera of patients reporting for subsequent stages of treatment after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Cysteine peptidases play a vital role in the basic processes that are associated with cancer progression. We selected serum samples from 108 patients with a diagnosis of breast cancer (stages IIA-IIIA) who had received no previous treatment. The blood samples were centrifuged, and the resulting serum was placed in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C. The biochemical tests were performed at the laboratory of the Department of Physical Chemistry and Microbiology. For CEWC, we found an inhibitory effect in 37 out of 108 samples; for E-64, 14 out of 22 samples displayed an inhibitory effect. In the remaining blood samples, these inhibitors caused an increase in fluorescence. In a parallel test, we added pure cathepsin B to 9 serum samples, and then used CEWC to inhibit the activity of autogenic CPs. Chicken egg white cystatin completely inhibited the cathepsin B that was added to the serum without changing its effect on the autogenic CPs. The results suggest that there may be a potential difference between the commercially available cathepsin B and its autogenic analogues found in the serum of cancer patients. The increase in fluorescence induced in the reaction between the inhibitors and autogenic CPs is still unexplained. There was no relationship between the observed inhibition/activation of CPs and any of the available indicators of the health of the patients examined.

Background: Identification of stable ischemic heart disease (IHD) in older people may be problematic due to the high incidence of atypical symptoms and problematic interpretation of additional tests. Diagnostic difficulties are also caused by multimorbidities, including anxiety disorders. The...