Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 24, Issue 37, 2018

High blood pressure in children and adolescents may have an adverse impact on the heart, the vessels, the kidney, and the central nervous system causing early functional or structural changes. The most prevalent subclinical hypertensive target organ damage in children and adolescents is left ventricular hypertrophy, and echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular mass is suggested in all hypertensive children. There is ev Read More

Artery disease can be identified from ankle-brachial index (peripheral artery disease), pulse wave velocity (arterial stiffness), carotid intima media thickness (atherosclerosis) and flow-mediated dilation (endothelial dysfunction). Arterial stiffness is a marker of cardiovascular disease associated with cardiovascular events. Increased vascular ageing is the acceleration of arterial stiffness inappropriate for the given chronological a Read More

Background: The development and risk potential of hypertension-induced left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy has been well described in epidemiological studies. Regression of LV hypertrophy reduces cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, the best treatment strategy is still debated, as well as the appropriate blood pressure target in these patients. Objective: We here review the treatment of LV hypertrophy Read More

Atrial fibrillation (AF) and hypertension (HT) are expected to rapidly rise worldwide in the next few years. Important improvements in AF therapy are hampered by pro-arrhythmic and bleeding risks of current medications. Prevention of AF is an important matter as it will not only prevent the disease but also medications side effects, and it is likely to be cost effective. HT is a major contributor to AF. As a modifiable risk factor, it Read More

Regardless of having a similar antihypertensive effect, different antihypertensive drug classes have a different effect on albuminuria. Patients with albuminuria will usually need more than one drug to achieve blood pressure control, particularly if the aim is also to reduce albuminuria. Albuminuria is independently associated with cardiovascular and renal risk regardless of diabetes status. The recent ESC/ESH guidelines Read More

Introduction: Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are ligand-gated ion channel receptors, distributed throughout central nervous system, as well as in peripheral ganglia and some non-neuronal cells. Cytisine, a qulinolizidine alkaloid, could be considered a high affinity ligand of those receptors. It is a partial agonist of β2*-containing receptors and a full agonist of α7 and β4*-containing receptors. Current indication: At Read More

Background: Chemotherapy regimens have improved prognosis and mortality of patients with malignant diseases. The development of therapies, however, has widened the cardiotoxic spectrum and the cardiacrelated effects of antineoplastic drugs. Methods: A review of the literature under the search terms anthracyclines, oncology, cardiotoxicity, cardiooncology, chemotherapy and heart failure was used for the identificatio Read More

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the first leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developing and developed countries. Circulating exosomes have recently been identified as extracellular transporters, detectable in biological fluids. Exosomes have established a new era in diagnosing diseases, especially CVD. Determination of exosome profiles, e.g., miRNAs, for different health states such as myocardial injury still requ Read More

Since antibiotics use is currently limited due to undesired side effects and the increasing antibiotic resistance of various bacteria strains, there is a pressing need to develop new strategies and methods preventing epidemic outbreaks. The virulent potency of bacteria relies on a number of different extracellularly secreted factors among which proteases considered as promising, novel drug targets are of special interest. Th Read More

Background and Objective: The evidence regarding the association between serum/plasma vitamin D (VitD) concentrations and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is inconsistent. The study was based on relevant results from literatures that were identified and evaluated. The aim of this meta-analysis is to determine circulating VitD in SLE patients and explore influencing factors. Methods: Studies examining VitD levels in Read More

Background: Keratoconus is recognized by asymmetrical thinning and bulging of the cornea, resulting in distortion in the surface of the cornea. Keratoconus also alters the biomechanical properties of the cornea, which can be an indicator of the healthy and keratoconus eyes. This study was aimed at employing a combination of clinical data, finite element method (FEM), and artificial neural network (ANN) to establish a novel Read More

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection poses a considerable threat to the public health. The current standard of care treatment with pegylated interferon-alpha in combination with ribavirin (PEG-IFN- α+RBV) is associated with significant side effects, poorly tolerated, and provides limited efficacy. The development of direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) targeting key viral enzymes essential for viral replication repre Read More

Background: Although several clinical and numerical studies have been conducted on plaque vulnerability assessment, it still remains a critical target for investigation. The stresses whether because of the blood pressure or stenting induce within plaque and arterial layers inside an atherosclerotic artery might exceed from their yield stresses and trigger plaque rupture or arterial layer injury. This study is aimed at co Read More