Preface to the Journal of Cardiovascular Disease Research, third issue 2012

metabolic syndrome between native rural Abuja settlers and genetically related urban dwellers. Adediran O et al. observed that obesity, hypertriglycaeridemia, and hypertension are prevalent in urban than rural dweller, and metabolic syndrome was found to be significantly more frequent in females in age and gender-matched participants. These results suggest that metabolic syndrome is a major health condition among rural and urban Nigerians, and that urbanization as well as lifestyle factors including higher chance of sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet can significantly increase the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Cardiac syndrome X (CSX) is an angina mediated by a combination of several known cardiovascular risks. Some of CSX patients show endothelial impairment and other cardiac risks. The elevation of the plasma von Willebrand factor (vWF) is associated with endothelial dysfunction. Up to 30% of vWF antigen variations are resulted from genetic factors and increased vWF is related to ABO blood groups. However, the impact of ABO on incidence of CSX has not been investigated. In the third original article in this issue, Kheradmand and colleagues investigated the distribution of ABO-Rh blood groups in 247 CSX patients. Interestingly, the authors reported that no significant correlation is found between CSX and ABO blood phenotypes, suggesting that detecting ABO phenotype might not be a good diagnostic criterion for CSX disease. The fourth original article in this issue evaluates the hemodynamic effect of atrioventricular and interventricular dyssynchrony in patients with biventricular pacing. Pacemaker syndrome is mainly described as the sequel of atrioventricular (AV) dyssynchrony and the cause of pacemaker syndrome remains unknown. In this study, Mollazadeh et al. used different pacing modes to evaluate AV and AV dyssynchrony in patients with biventricular device. The authors showed that the non-AV sequential BiV and LV pacing have no significant benefit compared to RV pacing in terms of systolic blood pressure. However, marked hemodynamic improvement was observed following mode change to AV sequential BiV pacing. We are pleased to introduce the third issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Disease Research in 2012. This issue comprises seven original research articles and eight clinical case report-based studies. The aim of this editorial preface is to highlight the key findings presented among these papers. Atherosclerotic vascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed countries. Although the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic vascular disease involves a complex and multifactorial process, accumulating evidence demonstrates that inflammation and its subsequent endothelial dysfunction …