Men have higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) but lower risk of autoimmune disorders than women. The actions of sex steroids may be involved in the sexual dimorphism of these diseases. Although testosterone, ...

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease that can lead to clinical complications such as myocardial infarction and stroke. Expressed in both vascular and inflammatory cells, adhesion molecule CD44 can be cleaved from the ...

A critical step in the development of atherosclerotic lesions appears to be the retention of low density lipoproteins (LDL) in the arterial wall, mediated by negatively charged proteoglycans (PG). Retained LDL is susceptible ...

Childhood obesity is an emerging risk factor for disease and mortality worldwide. Thecardiovascular consequences and prevention thereof need to be further investigated. Exerciseand weight loss are well examined and effective ...

Obesity is associated with a low-grade chronic inflammation with increased levels of proinflammatory markers in the circulation and local inflammation in the adipose tissue. In this thesis, two aspects of obesity-related ...

Childhood obesity is an emerging risk factor for disease and mortality worldwide. The cardiovascular consequences and prevention thereof need to be further investigated. Exercise and weight loss are well examined and ...

The search for embolic sources has high priority in patients presenting with suspected cerebral embolism. Non-invasive cardiovascular ultrasound is frequently used to reveal the presence of carotid stenosis and cardiac ...

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a clustering of cardiovascular disease CVD) risk factors. Pro-spective studies have demonstrated that patients with MetS are about three times more likely to experience CVD events than those ...

The complement system plays an essential role in the humoral immune response. Activated complement has diverse functions, including the initiation of inflammation, recruitment of leukocytes, clearance of immune complexes, ...

Platelet-derived growth factor B (PDGF-B) is vital for microvascular development, and retention of PDGF-B to extracellular matrix (ECM) is important in this process. However, the role and source of PDGF-B in development ...