STUDY OBJECTIVE Within Europe, a pronounced geographical gradient of mortality from ischaemic heart disease has been observed with the highest burden in the north east and the lowest in the south west. The study objective was to compare mortality from ischaemic heart disease between former East and West Germany since reunification. DESIGN Analyses of age standardised mortality rates from isch...

Congenital heart disease places a significant burden on the individual, family and community despite significant advances in our understanding of aetiology and treatment. Early research in ischaemic heart disease has paved the way for stem cell technology and bioengineering, which promises to improve both structural and functional aspects of disease. Stem cell therapy has demonstrated significa...

The relative importance of systolic blood pressure (SBP) versus diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in predicting the risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) mortality is controversial. We have re-examined SBP compared to D BP and other combinations of SBP and D BP in predicting the risk of IHD mortality in a long-term cohort study oflO,541 men and women in the West of Scotland. During a mean fo...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of physical activity on plasma fibrinogen and factor VII activity and thus on the risk of ischaemic heart disease. DESIGN Cross sectional survey. SETTING Ten group practices in the Medical Research Council's General Practice Research Framework. PATIENTS 3967 men aged 45-69 attending screening clinics for the thrombosis prevention trial. METHODS Structured ...

Recent progress in molecular and cellular biology has led to the development of numerous effective cardiovascular drugs. However, there are still a number of diseases for which no known effective therapy exists, such as peripheral arterial disease, ischaemic heart disease, restenosis after angioplasty, and vascular bypass graft occlusion. Currently, gene therapy is emerging as a potential strat...