It has long been appreciated that elements in individual life-style can have a significant impact on the development of coronary atherosclerosis . Perhaps the least explored of these factors is physical activity . The article by Hambrecht et al . (1) in this issue of the Journal carries investigation of the effect of exercise to the level of quantitative angoography. They studied 62 men with sy...

To investigate the potential role of fluid mechanical factors in the localized genesis and development of atherosclerotic lesions in humans, the exact anatomic locations of atherosclerotic lesions and the flow patterns at such sites in left and right human coronary arteries were studied in detail by flow visualization and high-speed cinemicrographic techniques using five isolated, transparent h...

Lipid-laden macrophages are the predominant cell type in the formative stages of atherosclerosis in most animal models and humans.1–3 Lipid deposition appears as large numbers of intracellular droplets that have a foam-like appearance when paraffin-embedded tissue sections are viewed at high magnification. Consequently, the descriptive name of foam cells is applied to these lipid-laden macropha...

We examined 26 atherosclerotic lesions and 14 nondiseased aorta specimens to detect the periodontopathogenic part of the bacterial 16S rRNA locus by PCR. Treponema denticola sequence of the 16S rRNA locus was found in 6 out of 26 DNA samples (23.1%) from the formalin-fixed, paraffin-embeded atherosclerotic lesions obtained during surgery but not in any of the 14 nondiseased aorta samples from d...

In 1997, a 55-year-old man underwent percutaneous coronary angioplasty (PTCA) of a lesion in the middle segment of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) (Figure, A). He subsequently informed his cardiologist that his twin brother had also been treated successfully with PTCA at another hospital for stenosis of the LAD. The cineangiographic film of the twin brother was retrieved (Jac...

T Advanced Study Institute on Regression of Atherosclerotic Lesions, sponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was held at Maratea, Italy, September 11-23, 1983. The director was M. Rene Malinow and the codirector was Victor Blaton. Fifteen leading research scientists and more than 30 students from Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Africa attended. The institute was designe...

An expanding body of evidence continues to build on the role of platelets as initial actors in the development of atherosclerotic lesions. Platelets bind to leukocytes and endothelial cells, and initiate monocyte transformation into macrophages. Platelets internalize oxidized phospholipids and promote foam cell formation. Platelets also recruit progenitor cells to the scene that are able to dif...

Coronary artery disease is the most important cardiovascular scourage that mankind has faced in the twentieth century. It will continue to be the leading cause of morbidity and death in the next century, both in men and women, and in developing and developed nations alike. The management of coronary artery disease has almost always been based on demonstration of the severity of luminal stenosis...

Calcification can be deposited throughout the vasculature in several forms of calcium phosphate, including calcium hydroxyapatite (CHA). Calcium accumulation in arteries by mineralization and calcium loss from bone by osteoporosis often coexist, and vascular calcification may share common mechanisms with bone remodeling. Deposition of calcification in valves and arteries diminishes the valvular...