Topic Review
Sex Differences in VCI
The impacts of sex differences on the biology of various organ systems and the influences of sex hormones on modulating health and disease have become increasingly relevant in clinical and biomedical research. A growing body of evidence has recently suggested fundamental sex differences in cardiovascular and cognitive function, including anatomy, pathophysiology, incidence and age of disease onset, symptoms affecting disease diagnosis, disease severity, progression, and treatment responses and outcomes. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is currently recognized as the most prevalent sustained arrhythmia and might contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), including a range of cognitive deficits, from mild cognitive impairment to dementia.
  • 627
  • 08 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Pulmonary Artery Banding for Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Children
Current treatment paradigms for end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in children include heart transplantation and mechanical support devices. However, waitlist mortality, shortage of smaller donors, time-limited durability of grafts, and thrombo-hemorrhagic events affect long-term outcomes. Moreover, both these options are noncurative and cannot preserve the native heart function. Pulmonary artery banding (PAB) has been reinvented as a possible “regenerative surgery” to retrain the decompensated left ventricle in children with DCM. The rationale is to promote positive ventricular–ventricular interactions that result in recovery of left ventricular function in one out of two children, allowing transplantation delisting.
  • 627
  • 27 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Toll-Like Receptors in Essential Hypertension
Essential hypertension (EH) is a highly heterogenous disease with a complex etiology. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) have been implied as novel effectors in this inflammatory environment since they can significantly stimulate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, the migration and proliferation of smooth muscle cells and the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), facilitating a low-intensity inflammatory background that is evident from the very early stages of hypertension. Furthermore, the net result of their activation is oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, vascular remodeling, and finally, vascular target organ damage, which forms the pathogenetic basis of EH. Importantly, evidence of augmented TLR expression and activation in hypertension has been documented not only in immune but also in several non-immune cells located in the central nervous system, the kidneys, and the vasculature which form the pathogenetic core systems operating in hypertensive disease.
  • 626
  • 18 May 2021
Topic Review
Application of Nanotechnologies in Ischemic Heart Disease
Nanotechnology focuses on atomic and molecular structures with dimensions of 0.1–100 nm. The resulting nanomaterials exhibit distinct mechanical, electrical, thermal, magnetic and imaging features that facilitate novel and unique applications in different branches of science, such as nanomedicine, nanobiology and nanobiotechnology.
  • 626
  • 09 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Marine-Derived Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Heart Failure
Heart failure (HF) is a rapidly growing global public health problem. Since HF results in high mortality and re-hospitalization, new effective treatments are desired. Although it remains controversial, omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs), such as the eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, have been widely recognized to have benefits for HF.
  • 624
  • 11 Nov 2021
Topic Review
An Updated Classification of Cardiorenal Syndrome
Cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) is defined as progressive, combined cardiac and renal dysfunction. Here, the pathomechanisms and clinical hallmarks of both chronic heart failure and chronic kidney disease are presented, and an updated classification of CRS is proposed.
  • 624
  • 10 Jun 2022
Topic Review
The Inflammatory Role of Medin in Vascular Disease
Medin, a small 50-amino acid peptide, is an internal cleaved product from the second discoidin domain of milk fat globule epidermal growth factor VIII (MFG-E8) protein. Medin has been reported as the most common amylogenic protein in the upper part of the arterial system, including aortic, temporal, and cerebral arterial walls in the elderly. Medin has a high affinity to elastic fibers and is closely associated with arterial degenerative inflammation, elastic fiber fragmentation, calcification, and amyloidosis. In vitro, treating with the medin peptide promotes the inflammatory phenotypic shift of both endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells. In vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo studies demonstrate that medin enhances the abundance of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species produced by both endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells and promotes vascular endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffening. Immunostaining and immunoblotting analyses of human samples indicate that the levels of medin are increased in the pathogenesis of aortic aneurysm/dissection, temporal arteritis, and cerebrovascular dementia. Thus, medin peptide could be targeted as a biomarker diagnostic tool or as a potential molecular approach to curbing the arterial degenerative inflammatory remodeling that accompanies aging and disease.
  • 623
  • 19 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Nailfold Capillaroscopy
Nailfold capillaroscopy is a non-invasive imaging technique applied to an in vivo, dynamic, two-dimensional projection of the three-dimensional capillary network of the studied organ, typically the skin. 
  • 622
  • 26 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Selected Plant-Derived Polyphenols for Peripheral Artery Disease
The purpose herein is to take into account the mechanisms that lead to endothelium dysfunction, such as the glycoxidation process and the production of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) that result in protein misfolding, and to suggest plant-derived polyphenols that could be useful in peripheral artery disease, PAD. Thus, five polyphenols are considered, baicalein, curcumin, mangiferin, quercetin and resveratrol, reviewing the literature in PubMed. The key molecular mechanisms and preclinical and clinical studies of each selected compound are examined. Furthermore, the safety profiles of the polyphenols are outlined, together with the unwanted effects reported in humans, also by searching the WHO database (VigiBase).
  • 622
  • 28 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Intima Remodeling in Pulmonary Vascular Remodeling
Pulmonary vascular remodeling is the critical structural alteration and pathological feature in pulmonary hypertension (PH) and involves changes in the intima, media and adventitia. Pulmonary vascular remodeling consists of the proliferation and phenotypic transformation of pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) and pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) of the middle membranous pulmonary artery, as well as complex interactions involving external layer pulmonary artery fibroblasts (PAFs) and extracellular matrix (ECM). Inflammatory mechanisms,apoptosis and other factors in the vascular wall are influenced by different mechanisms that likely act in concert to drive disease progression. These pathological changes and some pathogenetic mechanisms involved in the remodeling process are described.
  • 622
  • 24 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Ankyrin/Spectrin in Cardiac Conduction
The cardiac conduction system is an extended network of excitable tissue tasked with generation and propagation of electrical impulses to signal coordinated contraction of the heart. The fidelity of this system depends on the proper spatio-temporal regulation of ion channels in myocytes throughout the conduction system. Importantly, inherited or acquired defects in a wide class of ion channels has been linked to dysfunction at various stages of the conduction system resulting in life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia. Members of the ankyrin and spectrin families have emerged as important nodes for normal expression and regulation of ion channels in myocytes throughout the conduction system. Human variants impacting ankyrin/spectrin function give rise to a broad constellation of cardiac arrhythmias. Furthermore, chronic neurohumoral and biomechanical stress promotes ankyrin/spectrin loss of function that likely contributes to conduction disturbances in the setting of acquired cardiac disease.
  • 621
  • 12 May 2021
Topic Review
Patients with Bicuspid Aortopathy and Aortic Dilatation
Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is the most frequent congenital cardiac disease. Alteration of ascending aorta diameter is a consequence of shear stress alterations due to haemodynamic abnormalities developed from inadequate valve cusp coaptation.
  • 620
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Myocardial Perfusion and Flow Imaging with PET
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a non-invasive, functional imaging test utilizing ionizing radiation, the source of which is a radioactive isotope (radionuclide) administered to the patient. Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) with radionuclide PET is one of the non-invasive imaging methods that can provide rapid and accurate information about the extent of ischemia.
  • 620
  • 12 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Fabry Disease
Fabry disease (FD) is a lysosomal storage disorder, depending on defects in alpha-galactosidase A (GAL) activity. At the clinical level, FD shows a high phenotype variability. Cardiovascular dysfunction is often recurrent or, in some cases, is the sole symptom (cardiac variant) representing the leading cause of death in Fabry patients. Cardiac dysfunction is dependent on globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) accumulation in the heart but several other mechanisms are involved, such as inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction, that could become useful targets for therapeutics.
  • 619
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an increasingly widespread percutaneous intervention of aortic valve replacement (AVR). The target population for TAVI is mainly composed of elderly, frail patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS), multiple comorbidities, and high perioperative mortality risk for surgical AVR (sAVR). These vulnerable patients could benefit from cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs after percutaneous intervention. To date, no major guidelines currently recommend CR after TAVI. However, emerging scientific evidence shows that CR in patients undergoing TAVI is safe, and improves exercise tolerance and quality of life. Moreover, preliminary data prove that a CR program after TAVI has the potential to reduce mortality during follow-up, even if randomized clinical trials are needed for confirmation. 
  • 619
  • 14 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Cardio- and Neurometabolic Adipobiology
Abstract: Studies over the past 30 years have revealed that adipose tissue is the major endocrine and paracrine organ of the human body. Arguably, adiopobiology has taken its reasonable place in studying obesity and related cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs), including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is viewed herein as a neurometabolic disorder. The pathogenesis and therapy of these diseases are multiplex at basic, clinical and translational levels. Our present goal is to describe new developments in cardiometabolic and neurometabolic adipobiology. Accordingly, we focus on adipose- and/or skeletal muscle-derived signaling proteins (adipsin, adiponectin, nerve growth factor, brain-derived neuroptrophic factor, neurotrophin-3, irisin, sirtuins, Klotho, neprilysin, follistatin-like protein-1, meteorin-like (metrnl), as well as growth differentiation factor 11) as examples of metabotrophic factors (MTFs) implicated in the pathogenesis and therapy of obesity and related CMDs. We argue that these pathologies are MTF-deficient diseases. In 1993 the “vascular hypothesis of AD” was published and in the present review we propose the “vasculometabolic hypothesis of AD.” We discuss how MTFs could bridge CMDs and neurodegenerative diseases, such as AD. Greater insights on how to manage the MTF network would provide benefits to the quality of human life.
  • 619
  • 25 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Diet Influence on Cardiovascular System in Health
Cardiovascular diseases are the most common causes of hospitalization, death and disability in Europe. Despite our knowledge of nonmodifiable and modifiable cardiovascular classical risk factors, the morbidity and mortality in this group of diseases remains high, leading to high social and economic costs. Therefore, it is necessary to explore new factors, such as the gut microbiome, that may play a role in many crucial pathological processes related to cardiovascular diseases. Diet is a potentially modifiable cardiovascular risk factor. Fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals are nutrients that are essential to the proper function of the human body. 
  • 617
  • 08 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Ox-Stress, Genetics-Epigenetic and Aging CVD
Aging can be seen as process characterized by accumulation of oxidative stress induced damage. Oxidative stress derives from different endogenous and exogenous processes, all of which ultimately lead to progressive loss in tissue and organ structure and functions. The oxidative stress theory of aging expresses itself in age-related diseases. Aging is in fact a primary risk factor for many diseases and in particular for cardiovascular diseases and its derived morbidity and mortality. Here we highlight the role of oxidative stress in age-related cardiovascular aging and diseases. We take into consideration the molecular mechanisms, the structural and functional alterations, and the diseases accompanied to the cardiovascular aging process.
  • 615
  • 19 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Pathophysiology of Cardiotoxic Cancer Therapies
Cardiotoxicity is a well-recognized late effect among childhood cancer survivors. With various pediatric cancers becoming increasingly curable, it is imperative to understand the disease burdens that survivors may face in the future.
  • 615
  • 26 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Biomolecular Paradigm of Active Resolution Mechanisms in Heart
Inflammation is a complex program of active processes characterized by the well-orchestrated succession of an initiation and a resolution phase aiming to promote homeostasis. When the resolution of inflammation fails, the tissue undergoes an unresolved inflammatory status which, if it remains uncontrolled, can lead to chronic inflammatory disorders due to aggravation of structural damages, development of a fibrous area, and loss of function. Various human conditions show a typical unresolved inflammatory profile. Inflammatory diseases include cancer, neurodegenerative disease, asthma, right heart disease, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, or atrial fibrillation. New evidence has started to emerge on the role, including pro-resolution involvement of chemical mediators in the acute phase of inflammation. Although flourishing knowledge is available about the role of specialized pro-resolving mediators in neurodegenerative diseases, atherosclerosis, obesity, or hepatic fibrosis, little is known about their efficacy to combat inflammation-associated arrhythmogenic cardiac disorders. It has been shown that resolvins, including RvD1, RvE1, or Mar1, are bioactive mediators of resolution. Resolvins can stop neutrophil activation and infiltration, stimulate monocytes polarization into anti-inflammatory-M2-macrophages, and activate macrophage phagocytosis of inflammation-debris and neutrophils to promote efferocytosis and clearance.
  • 615
  • 27 May 2022
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