In the 1980's a primary focus for intense cardiovascular research is in the treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction. Although the prevalence of this syndrome has been decreasing in the United States, still over 1.5 million patients develop myocardial infarction per year. There is about a 20% chance of a North American male developing myocardial in farction before the age of 65. The in-hospital mortality still remains at ap proximately 10070-15070 and advances in pharmacologic and device therapy have allowed for the intensification of research in the treatment of patients with...

The kidney, similar to the heart, plays a three-fold role in essential hypertension. First, it participates in the patho- genesis of arterial hypertension. Second, it suffers as a target organ of long-standing hypertension, and third, it experiences the effects of antihypertensive therapy. Perhaps most contested at the present time is the involvement of the kidney in the patho- genesis of essential hypertension. More than a century ago, William Osler put forward three basic hypotheses about the "genuine contracted kidney. "l 1. "The hypertrophy can be regarded as an effect to overcome a sort...

It has been almost 15 years since the fIrst reports appeared indicating that adenosine exerted a .protective effect in ischemic and reperfused myocardium. Numerous experimental studies have shown that adenosine (both exogenous and endogenous adenosine) delays the onset of ischemic contracture, modulates myocardial metabolism during ischemia, attenuates reversible postischemic ventricular dysfunction (myocardial stunning), and reduces myocardial infarct size. Initial studies on adenosine's cardioprotective effect were based on its ability to stimulate postischemic ATP resynthesis, increase...

The previous volumes in this series on soft tissue sarcomas highlighted the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to treatment, and this focus is continued in the present volume. Proper diagnosis and staging remain the cornerstone of the treatment strategy. Sophisticated histopathology tech niques and growing consensus on grading systems have further increased the importance of the histopathologist in providing estimates of patient prognosis as well as in providing data for planning the treatment strategy. The use of cytogenetics in this field is rapidly increasing and might enable the...

Cardiovascular disease affects 20% of all Americans and is the leading cause of death in the USA. Every year approximately 1,500.000 Americans suffer from an acute myocardial infarction, and over 25% of the total number of deaths in this country are attributable to coronary artery disease. Unstable angina causes over 650,000 hospital admissions, and in the absence of medical therapy, the rate of progression from unstable angina to infarction is 12-20%. Since plaque disruption, plaque erosion, and acute intracoronary thrombus formation play major roles in the pathophysiology of both unstable...

Techniques and principles of minimax theory play a key role in many areas of research, including game theory, optimization, and computational complexity. In general, a minimax problem can be formulated as min max f(x, y) (1),"EX lEY where f(x, y) is a function defined on the product of X and Y spaces. There are two basic issues regarding minimax problems: The first issue concerns the establishment of sufficient and necessary conditions for equality minmaxf(x, y) = maxminf(x, y). (2) "'EX lEY lEY "'EX The classical minimax theorem of von Neumann is a result of this type. Duality theory in...

This volume is the fourth in a series on quantitative coronary arteriography (QCA) published over the last seven years. Every two years the advances in this exciting field are presented by their leading experts. There is a significant growth in this field which has translated into the increasing sizes of the volumes published over the years.

A timely and integrative review of the basics of cardiac extracellular matrix structure. Topics covered include how cardiac remodeling influences its disposition, abundance and function, possible non-invasive techniques for diagnosis, and potential drug-based or molecular therapeutic strategies.

Mitochondria have been pivotal in the development of some of the most important ideas in modern biology. Since the discovery that the organelle has its own DNA and specific mutations were found in association with neuromuscular and cardiovascular diseases and with aging, an extraordi-nary number of publications have followed, and the term mitochondrial medicine was coined. Furthermore, our understanding of the multiple roles that mitochondria play in cardiac cell homeostasis opened the door for intensive experimentation to understand the pathogenesis and to find new treatments for...

It takes a certain hubris to come forth with a This book emerges from the clinical book entitled Clinical Cardiac Electrophys- practice and research of the pediatric cardiac iology in the Young. There are a number electrophysiology group in the Division of of excellent texts, monographs, and reviews Pediatric Cardiology at the C. S. Mott Ch- on cardiac arrhythmias in both adults and dren s Hospital, the University of Michigan children Josephson s and also Zipes and in Ann Arbor, and the former pediatric elec- Jalife s comprehensive texts come to mind, as trophysiology fellows from Michigan,...