C-reactive protein: a predictive marker, not a causal factor, for cardiovascular disease

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1425 | Full Text | PDF (56K)

Fondaparinux: a promising alternative to heparin treatment for acute coronary syndromes

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1426 | Full Text | PDF (64K)

Atrial fibrillation: oral anticoagulation therapy or antiplatelet therapy?

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1427 | Full Text | PDF (57K)

Low-density lipoprotein receptor gene mutations diagnose familial hypercholesterolemia

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1428 | Full Text | PDF (66K)

Decline in ankle–brachial index is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1429 | Full Text | PDF (58K)

Older patients represent a distinct clinical subgroup in infective endocarditis

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1430 | Full Text | PDF (58K)

Vitamin C and E supplements do not reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in men

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1431 | Full Text | PDF (64K)

Chlorthalidone is best for preventing heart failure in patients with hypertension

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1432 | Full Text | PDF (55K)

Is intravenous recombinant plasminogen activator effective up to 4.5 h after onset of ischemic stroke?

Peter M Rothwell

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1447 | Full Text | PDF (459K)

The emerging role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in refining the diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

James C Moon and William J McKenna

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1442 | Full Text | PDF (459K)

Primary prevention of cardiovascular events in diabetes: is there a role for aspirin?

Hermione C Price and Rury R Holman

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1446 | Full Text | PDF (459K)

The Marfan aortic root: time to refine surgical guidelines

Stephen Westaby

Valve-sparing aortic root replacement in patients with Marfan syndrome avoids the complications of a prosthetic heart valve, particularly life-long anticoagulation therapy. Despite proven durability and excellent event-free survival, the majority of cardiac surgeons have not adopted this approach. Here, Stephen Westaby suggests that the time is right for a change in the surgical guidelines and explains that an early, elective valve-sparing operation can transform the long-term prognosis of patients with Marfan syndrome.

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1365 | Full Text | PDF (713K)

The role of interleukin 18 in the pathogenesis of hypertension-induced vascular disease

Simon W Rabkin

Understanding the mechanism by which hypertension induces vascular disease is important for the prevention of this adverse process. In this Review, Dr Rabkin examines the data on interleukin 18 involvement in the pathogenesis of hypertension-induced vascular disease.

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1453 | Full Text | PDF (163K)

Noninvasive imaging of atheromatous carotid plaques

Umar Sadat, Zhi-Yong Li, Martin J Graves, Tjun Y Tang and Jonathan H Gillard

Imaging of atheromatous plaques can provide important information about the natural history and progression of atherosclerotic disease and can help inform treatment decisions. Here, Umar Sadat and colleagues review various noninvasive imaging techniques for the clinical assessment of carotid plaques, including radionuclide imaging, CT, and MRI.

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1455 | Full Text | PDF (454K)

Emergency surgical treatment of advanced endomyocardial fibrosis in Mozambique

Ana Olga Mocumbi, Carla Carrilho, Margaret M Burke, Gavin Wright and Magdi H Yacoub

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1449 | Full Text | PDF (829K)

Antiphospholipid antibodies from a patient with primary antiphospholipid syndrome enhance experimental atherosclerosis

Arnon Adler, Arnon Afek, Yair Levy, Gad Keren and Jacob George

In this month's Case Study, George and colleagues present a case of antiphospholipid syndrome. The IgG anti-₂GPI antibodies isolated from this patient enhanced experimental atherosclerosis and attenuated plaque stability in apolipoprotein-E-knockout mice.

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1436 | Full Text | PDF (610K)

Cross-sectional, prospective study of MRI reproducibility in the assessment of plaque burden of the carotid arteries and aorta

Hamza El Aidi, Venkatesh Mani, Karen B Weinshelbaum, Silvia H Aguiar, Hiroaki Taniguchi, John E Postley, Daniel D Samber, Emil I Cohen, Jessica Stern, Rob J van der Geest, Johan HC Reiber, Mark Woodward, Valentin Fuster, Samuel S Gidding and Zahi A Fayad

Early detection of atherosclerosis is beneficial but the reliability of imaging techniques is unclear. This study assesses reproducibility for black-blood MRI measurement of atherosclerotic burden in the left and right carotid arteries and the thoracic descending aorta. The results suggest that measurement of some MRI parameters is reliable, and the researchers recommend further investigation of their value for predicting cardiovascular disease.

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1444 | Full Text | PDF (588K)

Longitudinal cohort study on the effectiveness of lipid apheresis treatment to reduce high lipoprotein(a) levels and prevent major adverse coronary events

Beate R Jaeger, Yvonne Richter, Dorothea Nagel, Franz Heigl, Anja Vogt, Eberhard Roeseler, Klaus Parhofer, Wolfgang Ramlow, Michael Koch, Gerd Utermann, Carlos A Labarrere and Dietrich Seidel , for the Group of Clinical Investigators

Elevated lipoprotein (a) concentrations are associated with atherothrombotic complications of coronary artery disease. In this study, combined lipid apheresis and lipid-lowering medication was efficacious in reducing extremely high levels of lipoprotein (a), and thus in preventing major adverse coronary events, in patients in whom maximally tolerated doses of medication alone had failed to control events associated with coronary artery disease.

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1456 | Full Text | PDF (209K)

Use of arginine–glycine–aspartic acid adhesion peptides coupled with a new collagen scaffold to engineer a myocardium-like tissue graft

Olivier Schussler, Catherine Coirault, Mariana Louis-Tisserand, Walid Al-Chare, Patricia Oliviero, Claudine Menard, Robert J Michelot, Pascal Bochet, Daniel R Salomon, Juan C Chachques, Alain Carpentier and Yves Lecarpentier

Cardiac tissue engineering could be useful for replacement and/or repair of diseased or malformed cardiac tissue. The creation of functional, biocompatible contractile tissues, however, remains challenging. These investigators report a novel method of engineering a highly effective collagen-cell scaffold based on arginine–glycine–aspartic acid–serine peptides cross-linked to a clinically approved collagen matrix.

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1451 | Full Text | PDF (789K)

Concurrent upregulation of endogenous proapoptotic and antiapoptotic factors in failing human hearts

Nezam Haider, Eloisa Arbustini, Sudhir Gupta, Han Liu, Navneet Narula, Roger Hajjar, Narain Moorjani, Stephen Westaby, Marc J Semigran, G William Dec, Y Chandrashekhar and Jagat Narula

Apoptosis contributes notably to the pathogenesis of heart failure, but these investigators found that upregulation of endogenous antiapoptotic mechanisms counterbalance the death-receptor and mitochondrial apoptotic pathways. Concurrent activation of antiapoptotic factors can interrupt the apoptotic cascade, prevent cell loss despite the presence of multiple proapoptotic factors, and could offer an opportunity for therapeutic intervention.

doi:10.1038/ncpcardio1452 | Full Text | PDF (462K)