Proceedings of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, 2002

Abstract

This issue of Hypertension contains selected manuscripts based on presentations made at the 56th Annual Fall Conference and Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association Council for High Blood Pressure Research. The meeting was held in Orlando, Florida, September 25 through 28, 2002. The conference was preceded by the Workshop on Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in the Cardiovascular System and Its Role in the Pathophysiology of Hypertension, Cardiovascular Disease, and Renal Disease, which was organized by Dr Ernesto Schiffrin. The program for the conference included 87 oral presentations and 253 posters that were selected from a record number 550 submitted abstracts. These presentations covered a variety of topics: from genetics, molecular biology, receptors, vascular biology, and signal transduction to clinical hypertension and obesity. Presenters were encouraged to submit manuscripts that would be considered for publication in this proceedings issue of Hypertension . Most of the manuscripts were reviewed by two referees and two members of the Publications Committee. There were 137 manuscripts submitted and 37 (27%) accepted for publication. This compares to the 127±5 manuscripts submitted and 72±4 (57±2%) accepted each year over the last 4 years. The marked reduction in this year’s acceptance rate was mandated by the American Heart Association and is in accordance with current American Heart Association policy for scientific journals. Thus, only the manuscripts that were highly meritorious and that required minor or no revisions were accepted. Unfortunately, these rigorous criteria eliminated …