ATHEROSCLEROSIS
Volume 206 | Issue2 | October 2009
By Steve Humphries, Editor–in-Chief

Highlighted Articles

Atherosclerosis has an excellent record of publishing top quality review articles and I am pleased to announce that the most downloaded article in the last quarter was the review by Goran Hansson “Atherosclerosis - an immune disease. The Anitschkov Lecture 2007”, with over 1000 downloads.

Of interest in the October issue of Atherosclerosis is a paper by Nakamura et al who report that statin treatment in fat-fed ApoE deficient mice prevents plaque disruption via pleiotropic effects on acute inflammation. In an invited commentary, Jackson & Johnson express concerns regarding interpretation and some methodological aspects of the work. They highlight the lack of evidence to support the proposal that the protective effects of the statins were not due to cholesterol lowering, and also question whether the presence of thrombus is a diagnostically valid marker for plaque disruption in mice. In their response Nakamura et al answer these and other concerns, while accepting that further studies are required to reveal the mechanisms involved in improved plaque stability.

Three excellent review articles are included in Atherosclerosis this month, with Escolà-Gil et als’ discussion In vivo macrophage specific RCT and antioxidant and anti inflammatory HDL activity measurements: new tools for predicting HDL athero protection, Malecki et al presenting an update on, Thromboangiitis obliterans in the 21st century - a new face of disease and by Drakopoulou et al reviewing Association of inflammatory markers with angiographic severity and extent of coronary artery disease. Finally, as part of our continuing efforts to improve transparency and accountability of contributions to Atherosclerosis, in the future we will be requiring all authors of submitted manuscripts to state their contribution to the paper in question, and this information will be published in the journal.

Papers in this issue include:

Vascular Biology, Hemostasis & Oxidative Stress

• Digitoxin: anti-inflammatory & vasoprotective properties in endothelial cells, therapeutic implications for atherosclerosis?

Metabolism: Lipids, Lipoproteins, Carbohydrates, Homocysteine & Cholesterol

• Metformin restores impaired HDL-mediated cholesterol efflux due to glycation.
• Antiretroviral compounds & cholesterol efflux from macrophages.

Imaging and Measurement of Vessel Health

• 64-slice computed tomography angiography links traditional cardiovascular risk factors with coronary plaque sub-types in large cohort of asymptomatic subjects.
• Sex differences of carotid intima-media thickness in healthy children & adolescents.

Genetics

• Significant impact of locus 1p13.3 on serum LDL cholesterol & angiographically characterized coronary atherosclerosis.
  Physical inactivity interacts with an endothelial lipase polymorphism to modulate HDL cholesterol: the GOLDN study.

Intervention

• Pravastatin & cardiovascular risk in moderate chronic kidney disease.
• Periodontal treatment influences risk markers for atherosclerosis in patients with severe periodontitis.

Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Nutrition

• Association between serum glucose, albumin concentrations and carotid atherosclerosis in men with spinal cord injury.
• Fish oil supplementation improves endothelial function in normoglycemic offspring of patients with Type 2 Diabetes.
• HDL cholesterol protects against cardiovascular disease in both genders at all ages and at all levels of risk.

About the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS)

Website: http://www.eas-society.org

The European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) was founded in 1964, with the aim of “advancing and exchanging knowledge concerning the causes, natural history, treatment and prevention of atherosclerotic disease” – work that it continues today in areas including myocardial infarction, cerebro- and peripheral vascular disease.

The members and officers of the Society are, and have always been, leaders in basic and clinical research in the field of atherosclerosis. The Society’s expertise has been used to teach clinicians how to manage lipid disorders and how to prevent atherosclerosis. In recent years the Society has made a particular effort to recruit young scientists and clinicians also from other related disciplines.