This textbook focuses on the vascular biology and physiology that underlie vascular disorders in clinical medicine. Vascular biomedicine is a rapidly growing field as new molecular mechanisms of vascular health and disease are unraveled. Many of the major cardiovascular diseases including coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke and vascular dementia are diseases of the vasculature. In addition vascular injury underpins conditions like kidney failure and cardiovascular complications of diabetes. This field is truly multidisciplinary involving scientists in many domains such as molecular and vascular biology, cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology and immunology and inflammation. Clinically, specialists across multiple disciplines are involved in the management of patients with vascular disorders, including cardiologists, nephrologists, endocrinologists, neurologists and vascular surgeons. This book covers a wide range of topics and provides an overview of the discipline of vascular biomedicine without aiming at in-depth reviews, but rather offering up-to-date knowledge organized in concise and structured chapters, with key points and pertinent references. The structure of the content provides an integrative and translational approach from basic science (e.g. stem cells) to clinical medicine (e.g. cardiovascular disease). The content of this book is targeted to those who are new in the field of vascular biology and vascular medicine and is ideal for medical students, graduate and postgraduate students, clinical fellows and academic clinicians with an interest in the vascular biology and physiology of cardiovascular disease and related pathologies.

The book systematically describes the clinical and scientific aspects of cardiovascular calcification. Chapters detail the mechanisms associated with arterial and valve calcification, relevant risk factors, pathophysiology and the latest therapeutic techniques. Recent diagnostic technological developments including how computed tomography (CT) scanning can be utilized along with Agatston score to quantify coronary arterial calcification when investigating whether a patient for sub-clinical atherosclerosis are covered. The correlation with the presence of arterial calcification and extent of coronary stenosis is also explored. Cardiovasular Calcification details relevant aspects of the basic science and reviews the latest pathological and therapeutic techniques used in treating patients with cardiovascular calcification. It is therefore an essential resource for practicing cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, vascular specialists and radiologists.

Supported by the latest scientific data, this book serves as a guide to the clinical assessment of women’s health during the second half of life (post-reproductive years), including approaches to the management of the most frequent age-related diseases and disorders and the most recent advances in treatment. In addition, it discusses preventive aspects of healthcare in post-reproductive women, identifying lifestyle measures to enhance healthy aging. By highlighting research gaps, it promotes the development of quick and easy-to-use assessment tools and predictive markers of age-related co-morbidities. As such, the book is a valuable resource for researchers and clinicians alike.

As the acute infectious diseases recede in importance, and as the number of people surviving into middle and old age increases, the chronic 'degenerative' diseases assume greater importance as causes of death and disability. Of these diseases, atherosclerosis is by far the most prevalent and its consequences the most devastating. The search for the cause of atherosclerosis is consuming large amounts of resources of both money and research talent. As yet, the cause remains unknown. Much of the research effort into atherosclerosis has been concerned with lipid metabolism. This is based on the knowledge that abnormalities of certain lipids and lipoproteins predispose to cardiovascular disease. Often the research has not been directly related to atherosclerosis and it is only recently that widespread attention has been paid to the artery. The development of methods of growing vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells in culture has made possible detailed studies of the biology of the arterial wall. There are a number of reasons why investigations of lipid metabolism alone will not identify the cause of atherosclerosis. First, only a minority of patients with cardiovascular disease have abnormal circulating lipids and lipoproteins. Second, there are three major predisposing factors for atherosclerosis which cannot be entirely explained by abnormal lipid metabolism - age, sex, and diabetes mellitus. Third, it is now clear that lipid is only one component of the atheromatous plaque, and incorporation of lipid may be a late feature of the development of the lesion.

Growth Hormone and the Heart endeavors to bring together knowledge that has been accumulated in the area of GH and the heart, from basic to clinical studies, by research groups working on this topic throughout the world. Lessons from different experimental models and from several human diseases (acromegaly, adult GH deficiency, heart failure) suggest to endocrinologists and cardiologists that GH may not only have a role in the physiology and pathophysiology of heart function, but that GH itself may have a place in the treatment of primary heart diseases (such as dilated cardiomyopathy) or of cardiac complications of hypopituitarism. Growth Hormone and the Heart will be a useful update of the research produced in the field of cardiovascular endocrinology. The Editors also hope that this book will serve as the primary step in the recognition of the wide physiological and clinical significance of GH and heart interactions.

Hormones and Atherosclerosis covers the proceedings of the conference held in Brighton, Utah on March 11-14, 1958. The book focuses on the role of hormones in atherosclerosis, as well as cholesterol metabolism and biosynthesis, lipogenesis, and lipid transport. The selection first discusses the biosynthesis of cholesterol and aspects of the biosynthesis of cholesterol from mevalonic acid. Discussions focus on components of liver homogenates and coenzymes required for squalene and sterol synthesis from mevalonic acid and preservation of enzymes and microsomes. The text also ponders on the formation and metabolism of bile acids under different conditions and thyroid function, thyroxine analogs, and cholesterol metabolism in rats and rabbits. The book elaborates on the comparison of the participations of fibroblasts and reticuloendothelial cells in the synthesis and metabolism of cortisol and cholesterol and control of aortal lipid metabolism and lipid movement by hormones and vitamins. The manuscript also examines the influence of estrogens on lipids and atherosclerosis in experimental animals and the effect of adrenals, pituitary, liver, and mucopolysaccharides on blood lipids. The selection is a dependable reference for readers interested in the relationship of hormones and atherosclerosis.