Cardiovascular & Haematological Disorders - Drug Targets - Volume 6, Issue 4, 2006

Atherosclerosis is considered to be a chronic inflammatory disease. Vascular inflammation occurs in response to injury induced by various stimuli, such as oxidative stress, shear stress, infection, and so on. This concept is supported by the recent clinical findings that C-reactive protein (CRP) is an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease. CRP, which was originally identified as a protein that could precipitate the C-polys Read More

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common clinically encountered arrhythmia affecting 0.4% of the general population. Its prevalence increases with age, affecting more than 6% of people over 80 years of age. The annual risk of ischemic stroke in patients with lone AF is approximately 1.3%. This annual risk increases up to 10% -12% in patients with a prior stroke or transient ischemic attack. Randomized clinical trials (RCT) compar Read More

The introduction of stents to clinical practice was the major breakthrough in the field of percutaneous coronary intervention. The introduction of stents was associated with two serious complications, the first was increase in subacute thrombosis within the first 30 days of stent implantation later controlled with the use of high pressure inflation and dual antiplatelet therapy, the second was the phenomenon of in-stent resteno Read More

Beta-blockers have been used to treat ischemic heart disease, due to negative chronotropic and inotropic properties, thus inducing a decrease in myocardial consumption of oxygen and nutrients, allowing a better balance between nutritional needs and the supply provided by the coronary blood flow. Recent developments in cell biology allowed us to understand that not all beta-blockers are equal, as their intracellular mech Read More

Lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) is of interest to both basic researchers who endeavour to understand the mechanism of action of this unique lipoprotein, as well as to clinicians who are interested in the contribution of Lp(a) to cardiovascular risk profiles. The Lp(a) particle contains a moiety that is indistinguishable from circulating LDL, covalently linked to the unique glycoprotein component apolipoprotein(a) (apo(a)). Since the 1970 Read More

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory process. The adhesion of leukocytes to the vascular endothelium, mediated by endothelial cell adhesion molecules including vascular adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), and E-selectin, is the pivotal early event in atherogenesis. Inflammatory cytokines could activate redox-sensitive transcription factors and induce endothelial expression of adhesio Read More