Bioactives and Traditional Herbal Medicine for the Treatment of Cardiovascular/Cerebrovascular Diseases 2015

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are still the principal cause of death worldwide. Weakened endothelial function followed by inflammation of the vessel wall hints at atheroscle-rotic lesion formation that causes myocardial infarction and stroke. Heart failure can arise as consequence of large myocardial infarctions. In its more severe stages, heart failure patients have a life anticipation that is parallel to destructive cancers. Accordingly, the increase in risk factor load by metabolic diseases and age augments the incidence for vascular and cardiac diseases and provides a challenge for developing efficient treatments. There is widespread proof to show that drug treatment of conventional risk factors is effective in reducing cardiovascular events. More effective treatment of CVD with various classes of antihypertensive drugs has been associated with greater benefits, but some recent studies suggest we may be reaching the optimal level of treated blood pressure in some patient groups. Apart from the treatment of cardiovascular risk factors with pharmacological agents and the use of antithrombotic drugs, there is growing awareness of the role of dietary factors and herbal medicines in the prevention of CVD and the possibility of their use in treatment. Investigators from different places of the world like China, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and so forth contributed to this special issue by presenting tremendous papers. These papers deliver an analysis in this field and create innovative contributions concerning the mechanism of action of bioactives and traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of cardiovascular/cerebrovascular diseases. Some interesting papers in this special issue address the cardioprotective effects of Chinese herbal medicine and natural compounds. For instance, a paper summarized the synergetic cardioprotective potential of herbal combination of four plants, namely, Terminalia arjuna, Cactus grandi-florous, Crataegus oxyacantha, and Piper nigrum through curative and preventive mode of treatment analysis and this paper reported preadministration and postadministration of herbal mixture restore the levels of biomarker of cardiotox-icity, which includes cardiac marker enzymes, lipids profile, and antioxidant enzymes. Similarly, another paper in this issue reports the cardioprotective effects of Sundarban honey on cardiac troponin I, cardiac marker enzymes, the lipid profile, lipid peroxidation products, and histoarchitecture of the myocardium against isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction in Wistar rats. Pinggan Qianyang recipe (PQR), a Chinese medicine recipe, has long been used for calming the liver. It has also been used to treat essential hypertension with satisfactory results. Consistent with this concern, this special issue published a paper that reports PQR exerts its antihyper-tensive …