Thyroid and Heart Failure: From Pathophysiology to Clinics - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 8847011426 ISBN 13: 9788847011427

Publisher: Springer, 2009

Synopsis

Both thyroid dysfunction and heart failure show a high prevalence in the adult population. Frequently, in clinical practice, a multidisciplinary approach is useful to optimize the management of patients with these conditions. Although there is no doubt regarding the close link between cardiovascular pathophysiology and thyroid homeostasis, our understanding of this association is far from being exhaustive. Thyroid hormone regulates the expression of cardiac-specific functional contractile and structural proteins and plays a pivotal role in modulating both diastolic and systolic function as well as peripheral vascular resistance. The close relationship between thyroid and heart dysfunction is strongly supported by recent evidence demonstrating that an altered thyroid profile is a negative prognostic predictor in patients with heart failure. The treatment of chronic heart failure, especially in advanced stages of the disease, continues to be an open and challenging field. The potential of novel thyroid hormone therapies that address the molecular biology of thyroid dysfunction and heart failure thus represents an attractive area of multidisciplinary scientific interest. This book is a readable, integrated, and highly up to date presentation of the clinical, pathophysiological, and basic science aspects of thyroid–heart failure interactions. It addresses a complex subject in an approach that targets a large audience of readers.

About this title

About the Author:

Ilaria Capua is "Revolutionary Mind" for 2008.

This acknowledgement was granted by  "Seed Magazine". The American magazine of science and technology each year selects 5 leaders in the international scientific community who have most influenced our opinions on the world, the mind and the universe.
In 2006 virologist Ilaria Capua was studying samples of avian influenza from Africa. The World Health Organization asked Capua to deposit the genetic sequence of one of her samples into a database to which only a select few laboratories had access. She balked. "I said, 'Wait a minute, we're talking about a serious potential threat to human health. We know very little about how this virus is moving. Not enough scientists have had the opportunity to look at this virus.'" So Capua opted to put the sequence in GenBank, an open-access database, where it was downloaded 1,000 times in a single week. Capua's small act of rebellion was just the spark for a much larger challenge to the system. She started speaking out at meetings, urging her colleagues to stop putting their bird flu data in private databases. She joined forces with Peter Bogner, a strategic consultant, and a number of other virologists to establish the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID), a consortium that facilitates collaboration among researchers and requires members to make their work on the virus publicly accessible. Capua hopes the work she's done to open up bird flu research can serve as an example to scientists studying other infectious diseases. Jean-Claude Bradley, a chemist at Drexel University who coined the phrase "open-notebook science," agrees. "That's where open science can really have an effect," Bradley says, "in research on disease processes. We could really use more people who are doing what Capua's doing. I think it makes for better science."

Review:

From the reviews:

"This book presents contributions from preeminent scientists, both bench and clinical, to summarize the important interplay between the failing heart and the thyroid gland. This book attempts to gather the most up-to-date information about the pathophysiological and clinical significance of thyroid disease in relationship to heart failure. Students, physicians in training, and clinicians involved in the management of heart failure patients are the intended readers. ... This is a well designed book for caregivers whose primary focus is heart failure." (David J. Homan, Doody’s Review Service, September, 2009)

About this edition

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 8847011426
• ISBN 13: 9788847011427
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 287
• Editor: Iervasi Giorgio, Pingitore Alessandro