Editorial: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Brazilian Symposium on Cardiovascular Physiology

joined together to discuss cardiovascular physiology. In subsequent editions of the meeting, the participation of other groups from all over the country has grown and acquired the status of a national symposium. The participants now agree that the symposium should be itinerant and that the chair group is responsible for its organization. In 2016, we proudly reached the 20th edition of the Brazilian Symposium on Cardiovascular Physiology. It is certainly a memorable date and a great opportunity to share the accomplishments of Brazilian groups in the field of cardiovascular physiology. The groups devoted to investigate cardiovascular physiology in Brazil descended, in a direct or indirect manner, from the Argentinian physiologist and Nobel Prize winner Bernardo Houssay. One of his disciples, Miguel Covian, was invited to be the chair of the Department of Physiology in the School of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto when it was funded in the 1950's. At the same time, the physicians at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul started a collaborative work with Bernardo Houssay's and Braun Menendez's groups. That historical perspective is presented in this issue in the article by Vasquez. In his paper, he also shares the contributions of Professor Eduardo M. Krieger to the development of cardiovascular physiology in Brazil. The etiology of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases reveals the involvement of different genetic, environmental, nutritional and behavioral aspects. In this issue, Costa-Silva et al. discuss the role of maternal diet on the development of cardiometabolic diseases. The authors point out that epigenetic alterations can be, at least in part, responsible for the increased risk of developing cardiometabolic problems. The authors discuss in detail the manner in which maternal protein undernutrition or overnutrition during the perinatal period can increase the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. It is important to highlight that the success of the experimental design for investigating cardiovascular physiology depends on the availability of suitable experimental models. In this context, Crestani reviews the effects of acute and chronic emotional stress in cardiovascular function. The author focused on the cardiovascular responses observed in different animal models of emotional stress. Considering the impact of stress in the cardiovascular system in humans, this is certainly a promising area of research.