Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 19, Issue 13, 2013

There is increasing evidence that an elevation of oxidative stress and associated oxidative damages are mediators of vascular injury in various cardiovascular pathologies, including hypertension. Accumulation of oxidative damage is thought to play an important role in aging and age-associated diseases such as hypertension and oxidative stress may function as a common trigger for activation of the senescence progr Read More

Age represents a significant risk factor for the onset and progression of cardiovascular disease, with the increase in life expectancy in developed countries going in parallel with increased incidence of such pathologies. Treatment strategies alternative or additive to pharmacological treatments are needed. The relationship between aging and progenitor cell-mediated repair is of great interest. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) m Read More

For decades coronary macrovascular atherosclerosis has been considered the principal manifestation of coronary heart disease, with most of our effort dedicated to identifying and removal of coronary stenosis. However, growing body of literature indicates that coronary microcirculation also contributes substantially to the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease. An understanding of mechanisms regulating microvascular fu Read More

The high-normal blood pressure (also known as prehypertension) is a clinical condition characterized by an increased cardiovascular risk as well as by the presence of target organ damage. This include an increased left ventricular mass, an endothelial dysfunction and an early renal functional and structural damage. Whether this is the case also for alterations of retinal vessels network, which are frequently detectable in establi Read More

Endothelium plays a crucial role in modulating vascular function and structure, mainly by production of nitric oxide which protects the vasculature against the development of atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors are characterized by endothelial dysfunction caused by an enhanced production of oxidative stress leading to destroy NO thus reducing its availability. A reduced endothelium-depen Read More

Ultrasound assessment of vascular biomarkers has been implemented for screening, prevention and improvement of cardiovascular risk stratification beyond classical risk factors including smoking, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension. Thus, the presence of vascular damage at the sub-clinical, asymptomatic stages can identify a "vulnerable" patient, and aid in implementing cardiovascular prevention Read More

Hypertension is universally considered the most detrimental among cardiovascular risk factors. Despite the overwhelming evidence of benefits deriving from lowering blood pressure, its control among the hypertensive population is still unsatisfactory. Resistant hypertension has a non negligible prevalence among hypertensive patients, and it is associated with a worse cardiovascular prognosis. There is need of new the Read More

Hypertension and insomnia are very common and often coexist. There is evidence to suggest that the increasing prevalence of arterial hypertension in the past decade might be related both to an increased prevalence of insomnia and to the decline of sleep duration due to modern lifestyle. The aim of this paper is to reconsider both the clinical evidence of the relationship between conditions of sleep loss and of perc Read More

Cardiometabolic risk comprises a cluster of traditional and emerging factors that are good indicators of a patient's overall risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The insulin resistance, a key feature common to obesity and type 2 diabetes, is associated with impaired vascular response and contributes to increased cardiovascular risk. Abnormal vascular insulin signalling induces endothelial dysfunction, the initia Read More

Hyperuricemia is commonly associated with traditional risk factors such as dysglicemia, dyslipidemia, central obesity and abnormal blood pressure, i.e. the metabolic syndrome. Concordantly, recent studies have revived the controversy over the role of circulating uric acid, hyperuricemia, and gout as an independent prognostic factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In this regard, different studies also evaluated the Read More

Significant technical advances in small animal molecular imaging techniques and in imaging probes with high specificity for various molecular targets have been produced in the last ten years. Notwithstanding, the clinical applicability of molecular imaging proceeds slowly. In animal experiments, multimodality molecular imaging techniques based on hybrid scanners are increasing, providing more insight into path phy Read More

Macroeconomic variables primarily related to the health care system are the result of two key factors. On the one hand, the results obtained for preserving the health of individuals improving, also, the quality of life and, on the other hand, the costs to be supported in order to reach these results. There is evidence that a balance between these two parameters must be obtained in an era of limited economic resources and, Read More

Glyconanoparticles are very useful tools for proteomic and glycomics research. They mainly contain glycosylated gold nanoparticles, glycosylated quantum dots, and magnetic glyconanoparticles. This review summarized the glyconanoparticle progress on biolabeling, in vitro or in vivo imaging, biosensing, targeted drug delivery, and other biomedical applications in recent years. The core of glyconanoparticle applications is to st Read More

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were first isolated more than 50 years ago from the bone marrow. Currently MSCs may also be isolated from several alternative sources and they have been used in more than a hundred clinical trials worldwide to treat a wide variety of diseases. The MSCs mechanism of action is undefined and currently under investigation. For in vivo purposes MSCs must be produced in compliance with go Read More

DNA topoisomerases are an important family of enzymes that catalyze the induction of topological changes in the DNA molecule. Their ability to modulate the topology of the DNA makes DNA topoisomerases a key player in several vital cell processes such as replication, transcription, chromosome separation and segregation. Consequently, they already represent an important collection of macromolecular targets for s Read More

CYP2C19 is one of the principal enzymes involved in the metabolism of clopidogrel. The genes encoding CYP enzymes are polymorphic, with common alleles conferring reduced function. A loss-of-function allele, CYP2C19*2, is associated with an increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, particularly stent thrombosis, in patients with acute coronary syndromes who are receiving clopidogrel, especiall Read More