Over the past three decades, impressive progress in the field of pathogenesis, prevention and therapy of ischemic heart disease has resulted in a marked decline in mortality in the Western World. However, the incidence of this devastating disease is on the rise in developing countries.
The Ischemic Heart is based upon a recent symposium in Tokyo on the subject. This volume is organized into two sections: (i) Pathophysiologic Mechanisms of Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury and (ii) Preconditioning and Protection of Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury, and contains up-to-date information...

Endocrinology of Cardiovascular Function is a fitting inauguration to the Endocrine Update Series. The aim of these publications is to provide the clinician with cutting edge, yet succinct, access to the latest advances in endocrinology. Historically, our understanding of hormonal disturbances was restricted to the classical secretory glands and their targets. As Endocrinology of Cardiovascular Function so aptly indicates, endocrinology is no longer constrained by our early physiologic understanding of glandular disorder. Endocrinology of Cardiovascular...

According to the World Health Report (2000 http: / /www. who. int/whr), of the 55 million deaths worldwide in 1999, more than 16 million were secondary to car diovascular complications. With the prospect of world population increasing from the current level of 6 billion to 9 billion by the middle of this century, the burden of cardiac disease is going to increase astronomically. Furthermore, scientists are being challenged not only to reduce mortality, but also to improve quality of life. Thus, more than ever, intellectuals from different disciplines including biology, sociology, informatics...

Current evidence suggests that the ischemic preconditioning response is a multi-factorial process consisting of an initial early trigger, an intermediate mediator, and an end effector. Each of these steps in is now its own intense area of investigation. The need to render the heart ischemic for a brief period to invoke the preconditioning response is currently the major factor limiting clinical application of this powerful cardioprotective strategy. Recent research efforts have utilized brief exposures to pharmacological agents, in lieu of a brief preconditioning ischemia, to trigger/mimic...

Thistext, as the tide states, is acompilationofpapersdevoted to the studyofath erosclerosis, hypertensionanddiabetes.Thesethree distinctdisease entities, although not entirely unrelated, are three ofthe most important disease conditions in the world today.As such, this volumeofresearch papers isofobvious medical impor tance.Thejustificationofthe energy, time and financial resources directed towards the studyofeachofthese three diseases requiressome discussion. The majority of papers amongst the three diseases that are discussed in this volume are dedicated to the studyofatherosclerosis.This...

The Frontiers in Cardiovascular Health varies between and within nations, depend ing upon the level at which the battle is fought for better cardiovascular health. According to the 1997 World Health Report, 15 million deaths (i. e. 30% of the total number of deaths) were attributable to cardiovascular diseases and this number is on the rise. The projection for the year 2020 is quite alarming with an expected cardiovascular mortality reaching 50 million. Much of this burden is projected to occur in developing countries, more specifically in the most populous countries of the world, namely...

Pathophysiology of Cardiovascular Disease has been divided into four sections that focus on heart dysfunction and its associated characteristics (hypertrophy, cardiomyopathy and failure); vascular dysfunction and disease; ischemic heart disease; and novel therapeutic interventions.
This volume is a compendium of different approaches to understanding cardiovascular disease and identifying the proteins, pathways and processes that impact it.

Whenever the heart is challenged with an increased work load for a prolonged period, it responds by increasing its muscle mass--a phenomenon known as cardiac hypertrophy. Although cardiac hypertrophy is commonly seen under physiological conditions such as development and exercise, a wide variety of pathological situa tions such as hypertension (pressure overload), valvular defects (volume overload), myocardial infarction (muscle loss), and cardiomyopathy (muscle disease) are also known to result in cardiac hypertrophy. Various hormones such as catecholamines, thyroid hormones, angiotensin II,...

Thistext, as the tide states, is acompilationofpapersdevoted to the studyofath- erosclerosis, hypertensionanddiabetes.Thesethree distinctdisease entities, although not entirely unrelated, are three ofthe most important disease conditions in the world today.As such, this volumeofresearch papers isofobvious medical impor- tance.Thejustificationofthe energy, time and financial resources directed towards the studyofeachofthese three diseases requiressome discussion. The majority of papers amongst the three diseases that are discussed in this volume are dedicated to the studyofatherosclerosis.This...

Cellular signaling in cardiac muscle refers to the myriad of stimuli and responses that direct and control the physiological operation of this organ. Our understand- ing of these complex signaling cascades has increased dramatically over the past few decades with the advent of molecular tools for their dissection. Moreover, this infor- mation is beginning to provide tangible targets towards manipulating cardiac func- tion in the setting of cardiovascular disease. The mechanisms and factors that regulate cardiac cell growth are of particular interest as both adaptive and maladaptive responses...