Current Medicinal Chemistry - Immunology, Endocrine & Metabolic Agents - Volume 5, Issue 1, 2005

Active prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD) is usually started immediately after the first clinical manifestation of CHD. Secondary prevention focuses on risk reduction in patients with established CHD who are at high risk of recurrent cardiac events and death from cardiac causes. It is important to remember that the two main causes of death in these patients are sudden cardiac death (SCD) and heart failure (HF), ofte Read More

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of morbidity, disability and death worldwide. The importance of the burden of cardiovascular diseases varies geographically and evolves simultaneously to the change in societies. The changes in patterns of diseases and their interaction with socio-economic transformation have been termed “epidemiological transition”. The present paper presents public health perspective of Read More

A dietary pattern characterized by high sodium and low potassium intake contributes unequivocally to a rise in blood pressure and eventually to hypertension. The purpose of this review is to discuss here the complex relationship among dietary potassium, potassium homeostasis and blood pressure regulation. Potassium is the major intracellular cation in the body. The fine regulation of its balance rely on a close interplay bet Read More

The Mediterranean diet is currently attracting interest because of its health benefits that may be due, in part, to the high content of this diet in antioxidant phytochemicals. The variety and amount of phytochemicals taken with the consumption of primary and composite foods of the Mediterranean diet may provide better antiatherogenic properties than single phytochemicals. Flavonoids are the most important group Read More

Atherosclerosis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Conventional risk factors do not completely account for the development of atherosclerosis and its complications. Accumulating data suggest that endothelial dysfunction has independent prognostic implications. It has been implicated in the initiation of atherosclerosis, the precipitation of acute ischaemia, and the determination of the Read More

In the past several decades, research has defined a cluster of metabolic abnormalities with insulin resistance as a major component. Key metabolic disturbances for this syndrome include dyslipidemia (low concentrations of HDL cholesterol, and elevated concentrations of triglycerides, VLDL, and small dense LDL), hypertension, chronic inflammation, procoagulation and impaired fibrinolysis. More recently, an impressive body of ep Read More

Regular consumption of fruit and vegetables is associated with reduced risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease and other aging-related diseases. Convincing evidence exists suggesting that an increased fruit, vegetables, and grains consumption is a relatively easy and practical strategy to significantly reduce the incidence of chronic diseases. Cancer chemoprevention intends to interrupt the carcinogenesis process, which i Read More

Obesity is emerging as the main health threat of the 21st century. According to the CDC 65% of all individuals in the U. S. are overweight or obese. Mortality increases exponentially with increasing BMI; the grossly obese (BMI>40) have three times the death rate of “ideal” weight individuals. Obese individuals are also twice as likely to have diabetes and three times as likely to be hypertensive. A 16-year study has shown that o Read More

Sex biases in autoimmunity and infection, together with immune cell expression of estrogen and androgen receptors, suggest that sex steroid hormones directly modulate immune cells, although the mechanism(s) by which this might occur is not completely understood. The female predisposition to autoimmunity, and alteration of disease symptoms during pregnancy, has led to the idea that lower physiological amou Read More