Why Is Atherosclerosis Important

Many of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease cause problems because they lead to atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the narrowing and thickening of arteries and develops for years without causing symptoms. It can happen in any part of the body. Around the heart, it is known as coronary artery disease, in the legs it is known as peripheral arterial disease. The narrowing and thickening of the arteries is due to the deposition of fatty material, cholesterol and other substances in the walls of blood vessels. The deposits are known as plaques. The rupture of a plaque can lead to stroke or a heart attack. (World Heart Federation).

Nevertheless, there is an understandable and noticeable link between circulatory related diseases and lifestyle diseases, such as Coronary Heart Disease. Coronary heart disease can occur when fatty acids, such as cholesterol in an inadequate diet, build up in the walls of the coronary artery. These fatty deposits collect minerals and harden to become a plaque. Eventually, this plaque grows and can swells up, forming an aneurism. In some cases, this aneurism may burst leading to instant death. As it continues to grow and swell up, it finally blocks the artery completely and forms blood clots. This is known as coronary thrombosis. A myocardial infarction, or in other words as heart attack, occurs when no oxygen is able to reach the coronary artery and thus it is unable to fulfil its role in providing the heart muscle with a sufficient supply of blood. Heart attacks are very common in the society nowadays, especially occurring in smokers or obesity related diseases (Millar, June 2014)

According to the WHO, cardiovascular diseases have been the leading cause of death globally claiming 17 million lives a year, more deaths than all cancer combined (Chiu and Radisic, 2013). Cardiovascular disease is responsible for a preponderance of health problems and its impact is expected to grow further as the population ages. In the UK, NHS spends about £7.74 billion as the expenditure to deal with cardiovascular diseases (Barton et al., 2011). Cardiovascular disease in the form of myocardial infarction has become the principle cause of death in developed countries, accounting for nearly 40% of all deaths (http://www.bhf.org.uk/). Congenital heart defects, which occur in nearly 14 of every 1000 new-born children, is another tragic fact that baffles medical industry (http://www.heart.org/). About 61 million Americans (almost one-fourth of the population) live with cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease, congenital cardiovascular defects, and congestive heart failure.

Atherosclerosis is associated with the major killer ailments in America, which include strokes, heart attacks, as well as peripheral vascular disease. The condition arises when there are a narrowing and hardening of the arteries. This is usually a gradual process, and it slowly blocks the arteries. When this happens, it will impede smooth blood flow. It is estimated that at least one million Americans lost their lives to a condition associated with atherosclerosis for the past few years.

Coronary illness is the development of plaque (fat store on the inward dividers of the veins) in the coronary conduits that supply O2 rich blood to the heart muscle, the development of plaque is called atherosclerosis. After some time passes plaques may solidify therefore limiting blood stream or totally obstructing the corridor. The development of plaque is straightforwardly identified with a people way of life, normal danger elements incorporate stoutness, high blood cholesterol and diabetes. At the point when the endothelium is harmed by blood stream, the cholesterol and fats in the blood get stuck shaping plaques. This outcomes in hypertension due the heart endeavoring to supply obliged levels of blood to the body. In the event that the blood stream to the heart muscles is limited or blocked it may

Cardiovascular disease is the disease that influences the veins which incorporate veins, corridors and vessels and the heart, overall this framework is known as the cardiovascular system. This disease is confounded for the coronary illness and comprises of plentiful issues joined with a natural methodology known as atherosclerosis; when substances develop in the dividers of the conduits. Under the cardiovascular disease flag, there are coronary diseases which influence the corridors, hear musicality issues, known as arrhythmias lastly the cogenital heart defects. The World Health Organization group cardiovascular disease into inherent coronary illness, cerebrovascular disease, coronary infection, rheumatic coronary illness, peripheral arterial disease and the profound vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.

Atherosclerosis develops over the course of 50 years, beginning in the early teenage years. The causes of this process appear to be lipid retention, oxidation, and modification, which provoke chronic inflammation at susceptible sites in the walls of all major conduit arteries. Initial fatty streaks evolve into fibrous plaques, some of which develop into forms that are vulnerable to rupture, causing thrombosis or stenosis. Erosion of the surfaces of some plaques and rupture of a plaque's calcific nodule into the artery lumen also may trigger thrombosis. The process of plaque development is the same regardless of race/ethnicity, sex, or geographic location, apparently worldwide. However, the rate of development is faster in patients with risk

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the most common cause of mortality worldwide, especially in developed countries. But they are also largely preventable, and many studies have tried to clarify the related risk factors, and what could be done to avoid them.

The current epidemic of coronary heart diseases continues to increase as “cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally resulting in about 30% of deaths annually” (Jaleta, Gudina, & Getinet, 2014) and with Atherosclerosis being one of the top diseases among African Americans and obese children. Atherosclerosis is described as the disease of clogged arteries from buildup of plaque, causing arteries to become narrow, thick, and stiff which makes blood flow very difficult to pass. As many factors do contribute to the growth of this disease, this literature review will discuss the factors of the African American race as well as children being affected by Atherosclerosis. The substances of the plaque is usually composed of cholesterol, fat, and calcium which sticks together to harden over time in the walls of the arteries. As a result of such action, narrowed arteries can cause blood clots which can overtime lead to a heart attack. Although it is a treatable condition, lots of preventable methods are required to see improvements such as nutrition and exercise.

Presently, the treatment strategies used are risk factor modification, conventional pharmacology and surgical revascularization. These strategies have hitherto not been of enormous solution as the disease progression still result in recurrent symptoms. This has now led to the exploitation of advances in comprehending the vascular biology of atherogenesis to introduce novel cell and molecular-based therapies. The application of immunomodulation, lipid-lowering agents like statins, gene transfer, antisense technology and so on has resulted in new therapeutic strategies to interrupt cell proliferation and disorder of the vessel wall. In this essay, immunomudulation and lipid-lowering agent shall be discussed.

Leo is a middle-aged male, who has been diagnosed as having a disorder called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a vascular disease that occludes (blocks) arteries and weakens arterial walls (2014, Patton & Thibodeau p.394). Leo is experiencing pain while walking, because the hardened of the arteries is blocking the flow of blood to his legs. In addition, the thickening of and calcification reduce the flow of blood to the tissues”(2014, Patton & Thibodeau p.397). Individuals that suffering with this life threaten, blood vessel disorder are living in pain. The potential damage is cause can lead to a myocardial infarction. If Leo substance damage to this extreme he may benefit from a surgical replacement to restore his blood flow (2014, Patton & Thibodeau). In essence, there is no cure for atherosclerosis. Often people opt for surgery because treatment only slow down or halt the disease. The pain Leo feels when he walks is triggered by stiffening or hardening of the artery walls. When plaque clogs up the artery, it disrupts the flow of blood in the entire body. Leo’s physician may recommend vasodilators drugs to trigger the smooth muscles of the arterial walls to relax and dilate his arteries (2014, Patton &

Since atherosclerosis has been identified as an inflammatory disorder, there has been much interest in the effect of n-3 fatty acids on inflammation. Dietary supplementation with ALA significantly decreased inflammatory markers in a study in middle aged men. Hypotensive Effects: Although ALA is a precursor of EPA and DHA, it may have inde-pendent effects on blood pressure and blood

The pathogenesis of arthrosclerosis is a progressive disease of the vascular system, it starts while we are young and progresses throughout our lives. The progression of arthrosclerosis, starts with an injury to the endothelial lining of the arteries, from such diseases as, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and smoking. The damage to the endothelial cells causes dysfunction and the area with endothelial cell inflammation draws leukocytes, cholesterol, vascular smooth muscle cells and other debris, the buildup creates atherosclerotic plaque deposits in areas on an artery wall causing an inflammatory process (Hoffman, 2007).

McGarry PA, McMohan CA, Montenegro MR et al. General findings ‎of the International Atherosclerosis Project. Lab Invest 1968; 18:498-‎‎502.‎

Two experimental systems will be used to determine if Mad1 overexpression promotes atherosclerosis. Both sets of experiments are routinely performed in the laboratory of Dr. Lian-Wang Guo and will be performed in collaboration with him. First, a mechanical injury model will be used to determine if elevated levels of Mad1 promote intimal hyperplasia. To generate the mechanical injury, mice will be anesthetized and undergo bilateral endoluminal injury to the femoral artery by passing a 0.25 mm diameter angioplasty guidewire 3 times 56. 1 and 3 days post-injury, protein expression will be determined by immunoblot. HA and Mad1 antibodies will be used to measure expression and localization of endogenous and inducible Mad1. PCNA will be used as a marker of VSMC proliferation.