Cardiovascular prevention starts from your mouth

This editorial refers to ‘Improved oral hygiene care attenuates the cardiovascular risk of oral health disease: a population-based study from Korea’, by S.-Y. Park et al., on page 1138

Obesity-Related Endothelial Dysfunction: moving from classical to emerging mechanisms

Abstract Human obesity is associated with vascular endothelial dysfunction, caused by a reduced nitric oxide availability secondary to an enhanced oxidative stress production. Pro-inflammatory cytokine generation, secreted by perivascular adipose tissue, is a major mechanism whereby obesity is associated with a reduced vascular NO availability. Vasculature also represents a source of low-grade inflammation and oxidative stress which contribute to endothelial dysfunction in obese patients. Recently, a direct influence of ghrelin and arginase on endothelial function by interfering with nitric oxide availability was demonstrated in small vessels from patients with obesity

Adapting the Virtual Platooning Concept to Roundabout Crossing

International audienc

Drug-induced hypertension: Know the problem to know how to deal with it

Arterial hypertension remains the world's leading mortality risk factor and despite overwhelming evidence that blood pressure-lowering strategies greatly reduce the cardiovascular risk, a substantial proportion of hypertensive individuals worldwide fail to achieve an optimal blood pressure control under treatment. Among the causes responsible for the gap existing between blood pressure lowering potential of the different antihypertensive treatments and real-life practice is the presence of drug-induced hypertension. Many therapeutic agents or substances may directly favour an increment of blood pressure values or counteract the blood pressure lowering effects of antihypertensive drugs. Excessive water and sodium retention, direct vasoconstriction or sympathomimetic activation are major mechanisms of action of such substances. The present manuscript will review medications and other substances that may increase blood pressure, also suggesting the choice of the more appropriate antihypertensive agents to employ when withdrawal of the substance or drug causing an elevation of blood pressure values is not possible