Current Vascular Pharmacology - Volume 20, Issue 2, 2022

Vascular calcification (VC) is highly prevalent in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) patients, progresses gradually with deterioration of kidney function and is a strong, independent predictor of cardiovascular (CV) mortality. Matrix Gla Protein (MGP), the most potent inhibitor of VC, requires vitamin K as a co-factor to become biologically active. Accumulating epidemiological data have associated vitamin K depletion with VC progressio Read More

Background: The number of patients with hypertension urgencies (HTN-Us) and emergencies (HTN-Es) in the emergency department is relatively constant despite improved detection, awareness and control of arterial hypertension. Objective: This study analyses the precision of the often-used definition of HTN-E, particularly the phrase ‘with the evidence of impending or progressive hypertension-mediated organ damage (HMO Read More

Stroke is the second most common cause of death worldwide. The rates of stroke are increasing in less affluent countries predominantly because of a high prevalence of modifiable risk factors. The Lipid Association of India (LAI) has provided a risk stratification algorithm for patients with ischaemic stroke and recommended low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals for those in very high risk group and extreme risk Read More

Stress echocardiography (SE) was initially used for assessing patients with known or suspected coronary heart disease by detecting and evaluating myocardial ischemia and viability. The implementation of SE has gradually been extended to several cardiovascular diseases beyond coronary artery disease, and SE protocols have been modified and adapted for the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) or other cardiovas Read More

The role of vitamin D in maintaining a healthy cardiovascular (CV) and the renal system has received increasing attention. Low vitamin D levels are associated with the incidence of hypertension, cardiac remodeling, and chronic congestive heart failure. Low vitamin D levels also influence renal disease progression and albuminuria deterioration. Moreover, recent research indicates that vitamin D deficiency can be a potential risk Read More

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) have changed the clinical landscape of diabetes mellitus (DM) therapy through their favourable effects on cardiovascular outcomes. Notably, the use of SGLT2i has been linked to cardiovascular benefits regardless of DM status, while their pleiotropic actions remain to be fully elucidated. What we do know is that SGLT2i exert beneficial effects even at the level of the myocar Read More

Background: Given its close anatomical location to the heart and its endocrine properties, attention on epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has increased. Objective: This study investigated the expression profiles of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in EAT derived from patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: EAT samples from 8 CAD, and 8 non-CAD patients were obtained du Read More