22/12/2011 by Craig.

This themed meeting of the Physiological Society was held in the Surgeons’ Hall, Royal College of Surgeons of

Nanospaces was a new topic for me and so the introductory lecture by Casey van Breemen was a welcome start.  These nanospaces create microdomains in which the smallest of changes in ionic balance can result in profound changes in local concentration.  These nanospaces were beautifully modelled by Nicola Farneli who also suggested that a 1 ion change in a nanospace can cause a 2uM change in concentration!

Michael Sanderson showed some amazing images of Ca++ waves in bronchial smooth muscle.  The technique of imaging whole tissue slices of lung was fascinating.  MS also showed some nice experiments which distinguished Ca++ level from Ca++ sensitivity.  Sticking with the lung; Mark Evans talked on Ca++ signalling in pulmonary vascular smooth muscle.  

Moving away from Ca++; Fiona Lynch delivered an excellent presentation on the importance of perivascular fat, and in particular adiponectin, on the regulation of vascular tone.

Overall, this was an excellent meeting covering many aspects of the cardiovascular system.  The pubs in

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07/11/2011 by Craig.

One of our directors (Dr Craig Daly) recently attended the opening of the new Glasgow Science Centre exhibition ‘Images of Science’.  C3 were delighted to have one of their own images included in the exhibition which is mounted outside the science center on the clyde walkway.

http://www.cardiovascular.org/5.html

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18/05/2011 by Craig.

We are delighted to report that Professor Ian McGrath has just been awarded this year’s JR Vane medal by the British Pharmacological Society.  Read more about the award here;

http://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/news/headline_198227_en.html

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11/05/2011 by Craig.

In the last few years there has been a steadily increasing interest in the possible importance of perivascular fat.  Like the endothelium (pre 1980’s), the perivascular adipocytes were previously thought to be unimportant and were discarded prior to investigation of the physiology and pharmacology of isolated vascular segments.  With the benefit of hindsight, that might have been a bad idea.  A full blog discussing the role of perivascular adipocytes in the cardiovascular system will soon be published on the Biopta website.  See blogroll for a direct link.

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28/02/2011 by Craig.

This seminar (22^nd Feb 2011) was hosted by NEXXUS who invited Dr Colin Berry and Prof.

This was an excellent event with two very knowledgeable speakers.

Dr Berry told us about novel technologies to guide risk assessment and treatment in Heart Disease.  It would appear that the incidence of cardiac-related mortality is increasing due to the increased number of people living with (i.e. surviving a first incident) heart disease.  There are a number of new and emerging technologies for imaging the heart and coronary vessels (in particular OCT) which should markedly improve early diagnosis of potential heart problems.

Prof Walters began by pointing to the relative lack of funding available for the study of cerbrovascular disease (compared with levels of cardiac-related funding).  This is surprising given the huge costs (£3 billion p/a) of treatment to the NHS in caring for stroke patients.  Drug therapy appears not to be very successful with thrombolytics offering the best outcome.  The pathophysiology is complex, but fortunately new high resolution imaging modalities may prove crucial in determining the need (or not) for surgery.

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28/02/2011 by Craig.

The seminar (22^nd Feb 2011) was beautifully delivered by Prof Tony Hegarty who spoke about the importance of perivascular fat (i.e. the fat around blood vessels).  Most experiments on isolated blood vessels are done after the fat has been carefully removed.  However, recent evidence has suggested that this fat has a powerful anti-contractile effect and should be considered to be part of the vascular wall.

Adipose tissue is an important endocrine organ and secretes a host of ‘adipokines’ which have an effect on the cardiovascular system.  One such adipokine, Adiponectin, has very beneficial properties and is anti-arthrogenic.  Unfortunately, in cases of obesity the levels of adiponectin fall thus making the person more susceptible to cardiovascular disease.

Prof Hegarty suggests that stimulation of beta3-adrenoceptors on adipocytes may be cause release of adiponectin.  Thus noradrenaline and adrenaline are implicated in the control of adipokine release.

The importance of the link between the adrenergic system and adipose tissue has not been widely studied.

The possible links between adipose tissue, the adrenergic system, diabetes and hypertension are only now becoming clear.  Much more research is required though.

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07/02/2011 by Craig.

This was the title of the lecture given today at the Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre by Prof. Graham Watt.  

First the bad news; Life expectancy (related to cardiovascular disease) has not improved over the past 10-20 years.  

Cigarette smoking is one of the biggest risks here in

If you are interested in knowing your own risk of developing a cardiovascular disease check out the ASSIGN website

www.assignscore.net

Be warned, your postcode influences your risk.

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07/02/2011 by Craig.

As always this was a great (intimate meeting).  At £10 a head for registration it is probably the best value for money of any of the regular cardiovascular meetings.  There must have been around 60 delegates as the treasurer had £600 in his bag when we arrived at the pub to watch the Scotland vs

This was the 14^th annual meeting of the forum and the usual high standard was maintained. Check out the home page for more details

http://www.scf.strath.ac.uk/.

Speakers presented on a broad range of topics from clinical trials to cell signalling (and everything in between).  The two hour poster session gave PhD students and young postcdocs the chance to ‘cut their teeth’ in a pleasant and relatively informal environment.

The take-home message for me was that; in order to reduce you risk of cardiovascular disease you need to lie on a sunny beach (absorbing vitamin D) eating dark chocolate.  I kid you not!  This has got to the best news since red wine was discovered to have loads of anti-oxidant benefits.  Looks like my lifestyle aint so bad after all.

Next cardiovascular forum is in

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04/02/2011 by Craig.

Last week I attended the British Pharmacological Society workshop on Hypertension.  This was a fantastic meeting with a great line-up of speakers.

Prof. Tom McDonald gavea very polished talk on the epidemiology of hypertension.  Prof McDonald reminded us that for every 1kg of weight we gain our blood pressure goes up by 1mmHg.  The cure for hypertension is therefore not to weigh yourself :-)  Anyway, in one school of thought we are ALL hypertensive!

Does it matter how we measure blood pressure?  Prof John Potter says yes and presented some interesting data regarding the various devices that are available.

Next, Dr Ian Wilkinson posed the question; Does it matter where we measure blood pressure?  Basically, yes it does and dont believe what the technology tells you.  It might be better to do it at home over an extended period of time and then average the results.  A one off measurement by your GP is not that reliable.

Dr Rupert Payne told us about the risks of contracting a cardiovascular disease.  Bottom line - if you live long enough you WILL get a cardiovascular disease.  At age 65 you have 20% chance of developing a cardiovascular disease.

Dugs to treat Hypertension.  Prof. Simon Maxwell cast a bit (maybe a lot) of doubt on various clinical trials.  One problem is that patients tend to be rather old and have quite advanced hypertension.  The studies tend to be a bit too short.

‘There is no such thing as hypertension’.  As ever, Prof. Gordon McInnes likes to stir things up a bit and after listening to his argument that high blood pressure means nothing more than ‘higher risk of cardiovascular problems’, I think I agree.

Prof Morris Brown told us about Renin profiling and combination therapy.  It seems that for hypertension treatment, 2 drugs are better than 1.

We are all in a randomised clinical trial of the function of SNPs!  Dr Aroon Hingorani gave the best genetics talk I’ve ever heard.  I’m pretty convinced that hypertension is written in your genes.

 Fantastic meeting so full marks to the organisers

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04/02/2011 by Craig.

The Scottish Cardiovascular Forum meets annually and tomorrow it all happens in Aberdeen.  I will post a report early next week.

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