The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) regulates inflammation and vascular remodeling thus playing an important role in atherosclerosis, kidney disease and heart failure. As an example of this, the effector hormone Angiotensin II (AngII) was shown to promote oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction and vascular inflammation [1], all of which would be detrimental. However, inhibiting t...

Background—The Framingham Study recently revealed that the homozygous deletion polymorphism of the angiotensinconverting enzyme gene (ACE DD) is associated with increased risk for essential hypertension in a male-specific manner. However, this association has not been confirmed in races other than whites. Methods and Results—Using a large number of Japanese subjects (n55014) that were randomly ...

We investigated the morphologic and functional changes of infarcted rat hearts under a paradigm of angiotensinconverting enzyme inhibition. Myocardial infarction was induced by left coronary artery ligation and a control group (SHAM) underwent sham-operation. Infarcted rats received normal drinking water with (CAP group) or without (INF group) captopril. Functional assessment was performed by e...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology, impact, pathogenesis, patient presentation, and treatment of stable angina, including the use of vasculoprotective and antianginal drug therapies and coronary revascularization procedures. SUMMARY: Stable angina is an age-related condition that typically affects men at an earlier age than women, adversely affects quality of life, and increases mortality....

OBJECTIVE - To describe clinical observations of marked improvement in ventricular dysfunction in a medical office environment under circumstances differing from those in study protocols and multicenter studies performed in hospital or with outpatient cohorts. METHODS - Eleven cardiac failure patients with marked ventricular dysfunction receiving treatment at a doctors office between 1994 and 1...

Heart failure (HF) represents a major and growing public health problem because of its prevalence, incidence, morbidity, mortality, and economic costs. The prevalence of HF is 2% to 3% of the general population.1 Five million Americans are affected, with 550 000 cases diagnosed each year.2 The mortality rate from severe HF remains 60% within 5 years of diagnosis, and 50% of hospitalized patient...

Case presentation: A 61-year-old moderately obese (body mass index 28.1 kg/m) hypertensive diabetic man without any prior cardiac history collapsed suddenly at a town meeting. Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation was initiated, an automated external defibrillator available at the town hall was deployed, and a single shock was delivered. He regained a pulse and spontaneous respirations. He wa...

H eart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a common and costly condition associated with a high frequency of comorbid conditions. HFpEF prevalence is rising compared to heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), without any change in clinical outcomes over the past 20 years (1). In contrast to HFpEF, HFrEF outcomes have improved with the advent of multiple drug therap...

Organ-level heart failure can result, most obviously, from the death of cardiac myocytes; such death can occur either acutely (with infarction) or more sporadically (in chronic disease). Both types of death can involve a “cell suicide” pathway known as apoptosis.1 Another key factor for cardiac dysfunction is myocardial fibrosis, which can be, in part, a direct consequence of angiotensin II lev...

To the Editor: Our recent study [1] has added more convincing evidence for renoprotection of angiotensinconverting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) by asking whether the use of ACEIs may explain our previously disclosed important findings [i.e., regional variations in incidence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD)] in Japan [2]. In this study, we used the amounts of expense spent on ACEIs as an explanati...