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HomeCirculationVol. 113, No. 5Issue Highlights Free AccessIn BriefPDF/EPUBAboutView PDFView EPUBSections ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload citationsTrack citationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InMendeleyReddit Jump toFree AccessIn BriefPDF/EPUBIssue Highlights Originally published7 Feb 2006https://doi.org/10.1161/circ.113.5.597Circulation. 2006;113:597PATIENTS WITH ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME SHOW OLIGOCLONAL T-CELL RECRUITMENT WITHIN UNSTABLE PLAQUE: EVIDENCE FOR A LOCAL, INTRACORONARY IMMUNOLOGIC MECHANISM, by De Palma et al.Do immune cells influence the stability of atherosclerotic plaques and contribute to myocardial infarction? In this issue of Circulation, De Palma and colleagues address this question by studying whether immune-driven T-lymphocyte recruitment occurs in unstable plaque of patients with acute coronary syndromes. By examining blood and coronary plaques obtained by atherectomy, the authors compared the T-cells in patients with either unstable or chronic stable angina. They report that unstable plaques have markedly increased T-cell infiltration and that this observation did not require a systemic immunologic activation. These findings demonstrate the complex inflammatory response that occurs in unstable coronary plaque and suggest potential new targets for intervention and prevention. See p 640.PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF AORTIC PULSE WAVE VELOCITY AS INDEX OF ARTERIAL STIFFNESS IN THE GENERAL POPULATION, by Willum Hansen et al.As part of the aging process, the aorta stiffens, and the forward pulse wave travels faster with resultant higher systolic and lower diastolic blood pressure. The aortic pulse wave velocity (APWV) is a measure of central arterial stiffness and can be measured easily at the bedside by recording the arterial wave simultaneously at the left common carotid and femoral arteries. This study of 1678 individuals from the general Danish population evaluated the prognostic value of APWV. Over a median follow-up of 9.4 years, 154 cardiovascular events occurred, and higher APWV was associated with a greater incidence of cardiovascular events after adjusting for other risk factors. This study adds to the previous literature on the utility of APWV in patients with hypertension, diabetes, and end-stage renal disease and elderly hospitalized patients; it also provides important new information about the prognostic importance of measurements of arterial stiffness in the general population. See p 664.ADMINISTRATION OF HEMATOPOIETIC CYTOKINES IN THE SUBACUTE PHASE AFTER CEREBRAL INFARCTION IS EFFECTIVE FOR FUNCTIONAL RECOVERY FACILITATING PROLIFERATION OF INTRINSIC NEURAL STEM/PROGENITOR CELLS AND TRANSITION OF BONE MARROW–DERIVED NEURONAL CELLS, by Kawada et al.Cytokine therapy is neuroprotective in the setting of cerebral infarction. In this issue of Circulation, Kawada and colleagues show that delivery of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and stem cell factor in the subacute phase (11–20 days) after middle cerebral artery ligation leads to better motor performance and higher brain function than delivery in the acute phase (1–10 days). The improvements in the subacute phase coincided with increased homing of bone marrow-derived progenitor cells to the infarct region and the proliferation of intrinsic neuronal progenitor cells. These data suggest that hematopoietic cytokine therapy could be more effective in treating stroke when it is administered at later time points when acute inflammation recedes. See p 701.Visit http://circ.ahajournals.org:Images in Cardiovascular MedicineCulprit Lesion Seen 1 Hour Before Occlusion: Limits of Coronary Angiography in Detecting Vulnerable Plaques. See p e61.The Blue Man: Amiodarone-Induced Skin Discoloration. See p e63.Intra-Arterial Thrombolysis for Left Middle Cerebral Artery Embolic Stroke During Coronary Angiography. See p e64. Download figureDownload PowerPointBook ReviewPlatelet Function: Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment. See p e67.CorrespondenceSee p e68. Previous Back to top Next FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails February 7, 2006Vol 113, Issue 5 Advertisement Article InformationMetrics https://doi.org/10.1161/circ.113.5.597 Originally publishedFebruary 7, 2006 PDF download Advertisement