From the Editor

Article Outline

• Copyright

I hope that everyone found the 25th Anniversary celebration of ASH at the annual meeting as collegial and informative as I did.

This issue begins with two closely related review articles addressing endothelial dysfunction in diabetes and in chronic renal disease. In the first, Triggle and Ding survey evidence that acute exposure to hyperglycemia causes dysregulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase that, in turn, produces endothelial dysfunction. In view of the propensity of cardiovascular disease to occur in diabetics, this mechanism receives renewed attention. The second review article on endothelial dysfunction by Hogas and colleagues focuses on the role of risk factors such as oxidative stress and inflammation on vascular stiffness and endothelial dysfunction in chronic renal disease. As with diabetes, this disorder is also associated with a disproportionate increase in cardiovascular disease, and the information presented is an important addition to our knowledge and to potential therapeutic approaches.

The first of the original research papers in this issue, by Likova et al, reports similarities and differences between two strains of hypertensive rats, the SHR and the hereditary hypertensive and hypertriglyceridemic rat, to blockade of calcium-dependent potassium channel activity and nitric oxide inhibition in response to norepinephrine. These findings may have important implications for our understanding of differential vascular abnormalities in hypertension.

Almendral and colleagues report an association between transforming growth factor beta-1 in hypertensive subjects with left ventricular hypertrophy. They posit several mechanisms by which this association may occur. Further elucidation of these possibilities could open new avenues for prevention and treatment.

Javed and colleagues report the association of pulse pressure and the Friesinger score with coronary artery disease in a South Asian subpopulation in New York City. They found that both of these measures were predictors of the severity of coronary artery disease independent of the traditional Framingham score. This is useful information derived from this growing subpopulation in America and bears further investigation to determine its utility in other subgroups.

The final research article in this issue, by Mujica et al, reports an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome among a group of individuals in Talca, Chile. The introduction of a combined educational and exercise program extending over an 18-week period was effective in reversing the components of the metabolic syndrome significantly. Such efforts bear reproduction in many other populations.