Atherosclerosis is a disease characterized by the deposition of fatty substances called plaques in the walls of medium and large arteries. Depending on which arteries are affected, it can lead to leg pain, erectile dysfunction, cardiovascular disease and heart attack or stroke. It is the main cause of death in developed countries. The disease often starts in childhood and the arteries become clogged over many years, initially without symptoms.Mechanism of the disease High blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, sedentary life style, hormone status and age are all risk factors for atherosclerosis. These factors conspire to cause tears to the lining of the medium and large arteries, which results in fatty deposits, inflammation, and ultimately narrowing of the afflicted arteries. High blood pressure provides the shear force to produce tears in the fragile endothelium, the lining of the arteries. Cholesterol migrates into these torn sections when concentrations of LDL, or low density lipoprotein are high. Smoking has a direct toxic effect on the arterial wall, causing an inflammatory response. Exercise modifies many of these risk factors, ultimately lowering the inflammatory response of the arterial walls. Hormones, especially the presence of estrogen, has a healing effect on the arterial walls. The resident cells interpret this as an intrusion, "call for help", and inflammation results. Immune cells called monocytes circulating in the blood enter the artery wall, turn into macrophages and ingest the LDL particles, thereby turning into large "foam cells". The inflammation also causes a fibrous cap to be formed between the fatty deposits and the artery. These capped fatty deposits (called atheromas) narrow the blood vessel. This can lead to narrowing (stenosis) of the artery. The atheromas are fragile. When they rupture, a partial blockage can be quickly converted into a complete obstruction, resulting in a heart attack or stroke, depend ...

Category: Heart and Vascular

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• Coronary heart disease a href=http://pheeds.com/index.html?Pheeds Home/a | BRa href=http://pheeds.com/Coronary_heart_disease.html?More Coronary heart disease articles pheeds/a nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; BRnbsp;BR h1Coronary heart disease/h1Coronary heart disease (CHD), also called coronary artery disease and atherosclerotic heart disease, may be caused by inflammation of the lining of the arteries which allows A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/p/pl/plaque.html? title=Plaqueatheromatous plaquess/A (caused by the buildup of A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/c/ch/cholesterol.html? title=Cholesterolcholesterol/A in the vessel wall) to form, limiting blood flow to the heart muscle. p p Table of contents A CLASS=internal HREF=#Pathophysiology1 Pathophysiology/ABR A CLASS=internal HREF=#Angina2 Angina/ABR A CLASS=internal HREF=#Prevention3 Prevention/ABR P A NAME=PathophysiologyH2Pathophysiology/H2p Limitation of blood flow to the heart causes ischemia (cell starvation secondary to a lack of oxygen) of the myocardial cells. When myocardial cells die from lack of A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/o/ox/oxygen.html? title=Oxygenoxygen/A, this is called a A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/h/he/heart_attack.html? title=Heart attackmyocardial infarction/A (commonly called a A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/h/he/heart_attack.html? title=Heart attackheart attack/A), and leads to heart muscle damage and later scarring. Myocardial infarction can result from the sudden occlusion of a corona ...

Category: Heart and Vascular

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• High density lipoprotein a href=http://pheeds.com/index.html?Pheeds Home/a | BRa href=http://pheeds.com/High_density_lipoprotein.html?More High density lipoprotein articles pheeds/a nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; BRnbsp;BR h1High density lipoprotein/h1 High density lipoproteins (HDL) are a class of lipoproteins that carry A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/c/ch/cholesterol.html? title=Cholesterolcholesterol/A from the body's tissues to the A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/l/li/liver.html? title=Liverliver/A.p Because HDL can remove cholesterol from the arteries, and transport it back to the liver for excretion, it is seen as a good lipoprotein. When measuring cholesterol, any contained in HDL particles is not a threat to the body's cardiovascular health. (In contrast to bad A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/l/lo/low_density_lipoprotein.html? title=Low density lipoproteinLDL/A cholesterol.)p HDL are the smallest and densest lipoproteins, and are composed of a high proportion of A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/p/pr/protein.html? title=Proteinprotein/A. The liver synthesises these lipoproteins as empty proteins and they pick up cholesterol and increase in size as the circulate through the bloodstream.p Men tend to have noticably lower HDL levels than women (men also have an increased risk of heart disease).p Epidemiological studies show that high concentrations of HDL (over 60 mg/dL) have protective value against cardiovascular diseases (such as ischemic A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/ ...

Category: Cholesterol News

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• Little-Known Fat Can Be a Heartbreaker (HealthDay) HealthDay - FRIDAY, Oct. 10 (HealthDay News) -- If you#39;re worried about reducing your risk of heart disease, you probably already know that you should quit smoking, eat a healthful diet, exercise regularly, keep your blood pressure in check, and make sure your cholesterol levels aren#39;t too high.

Category: Heart and Vascular

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• Lipoprotein a href=http://pheeds.com/index.html?Pheeds Home/a | BR a href=http://pheeds.com/Lipoprotein.html?More Lipoprotein articles pheeds/a nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; BRnbsp;BR h1Lipoprotein/h1A lipoprotein is a biochemical assembly that contains both A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/p/pr/protein.html? title=Proteinproteins/A and A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/l/li/lipid.html? title=Lipidlipids/A and may be structural or A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/e/en/enzyme.html? title=Enzymecatalytic/A in function. Lipoproteins may be A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/e/en/enzyme.html? title=Enzymeenzymes/A, proton pumps, ion pumps, or some combination of these functions. Examples include the A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/h/hi/high_density_lipoprotein.html? title=High density lipoproteinhigh density/A and A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/l/lo/low_density_lipoprotein.html? title=Low density lipoproteinlow density/A lipoproteins of the A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/b/bl/blood.html? title=Bloodblood/A and the A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/c/cy/cytochrome.html? title=Cytochrometransmembrane proteins/A of the A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/m/mi/mitochondrion.html? title=Mitochondrionmitochondrion/A and the A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/c/ch/chloroplast.html? title=Chloroplastchloroplast/A. p The lipids are often an essential part of the complex, even if they seem to have no catalytic activity themselves. To isolate transmembrane lipoproteins from their associated A HREF=http://phe ...

Category: Cholesterol News

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• Low density lipoprotein a href=http://pheeds.com/index.html?Pheeds Home/a | BR a href=http://pheeds.com/Low_density_lipoprotein.html?More Low density lipoprotein articles pheeds/a nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; BRnbsp;BR h1Low density lipoprotein/h1 Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is a A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/l/li/lipoprotein.html? title=Lipoproteinlipoprotein/A that carries A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/c/ch/cholesterol.html? title=Cholesterolcholesterol/A around the body, for use by various cells.p Because LDL transports cholesterol to the A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/a/ar/artery.html? title=Arteryarteries/A, increased levels are associated with A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/a/at/atherosclerosis.html? title=Atherosclerosisatherosclerosis/A, and thus myocardial infarctions and A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/t/th/the_strokes.html? title=The Strokesstrokes/A. This is why cholesterol inside LDL lipoproteins is called bad cholesterol.p LDL is formed as VLDL lipoproteins lose A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/t/tr/triglyceride.html? title=Triglyceridetriglyceride/A, and become smaller and denser containing a higher proportion of cholesterol.p A NAME=Recommended rangeH2Recommended range/H2 The American Heart Association provides a set of guidelines for fasting LDL levels and risk for A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/i/is/ischaemic_heart_disease.html? title=Ischaemic heart diseaseheart disease/A. ; Less than 100 A HREF=http://pheeds.com/info/guide/m/mi/milligram.ht ...

Category: Cholesterol News

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