Society The Basic

Nitric oxide NO is one of the most remarkable biological molecules characterized at the turn of XX century Small in size but ubiquitous and complex in its network of molecular cellular and organ inter tions NO plays an important role in mammalian and non mammalian biology The scope and versatility of NO actions on the biological systems range from neuromodulation and regulation of cardiovascular homeostasis to cell signaling and immunity An impressive array of physiologic and pathologic reactions are controlled by or associated with changes in the biological specter of NO The career of NO in science started from a handful of publications written before 1986 to more than 52 000 contributions at the end of 2002 Pubmed National Library of Medicine More than 15 000 publications deal with the effects of NO in the cardiovascular system The NO field has been recently knighted with the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to R F Furchgott F Murad and L J Ignarro Research in the field of nitric oxide NO has grown exponentially since 1998 when three prominent researchers were recognized by Nobel prize awards With the expansion in knowledge and the growing number of publications on the role of NO in several disciplines it has become necessary to separately review the current knowledge of the role of NO in the pathophysiology and therapeutics of the major cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis acute coronary syndromes and myocardial infarction and heart failure The emerging literature on the therapeutic implications of NO in pulmonary hypertension is also reviewed This first volume is a compilation of a series of comprehensive review articles on selected topics that were published in the Journal of Heart Failure Reviews The 20 excellent articles were contributed by some of the leading basic and clinician scientists in the field The articles are well balanced and address clinically pertinent issues The book