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(Circulation. 2004;110:2073.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Issue Highlights

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

CORONARY ARTERY CALCIFICATION AND FAMILY HISTORY OF PREMATURE CORONARY HEART DISEASE: SIBLING HISTORY IS MORE STRONGLY ASSOCIATED THAN PARENTAL HISTORY, by Nasir et al.

Contemporary noninvasive imaging techniques allow a new window into the determinants and associations of subclinical atherosclerosis in large populations. In this issue of Circulation, Nasir and colleagues find, in >8000 asymptomatic subjects, that self-reported family history of premature coronary heart disease is associated with a significant increase in the prevalence and magnitude of coronary artery calcium (by electron beam CT imaging), a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis. Moreover, in a novel finding, sibling history of premature coronary heart disease is more powerfully associated with coronary artery calcium than parental history. In an accompanying editorial, O’Donnell discusses the importance of family history in the setting of growing access to genomic analyses and addresses the issue of self-reported versus validated family history. See pp 2074 and 2150.

SCN5A MUTATION ASSOCIATED WITH DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY, CONDUCTION DISORDER, AND ARRHYTHMIA, by McNair et al.

Dissecting the molecular details of Nature’s ’experiments’: Research investigating the mechanisms by which some families have a unique predisposition to cardiovascular disorders continues to provide new insights into the molecular basis of disease. In this issue of Circulation, McNair et al show convincing evidence that a single base substitution in the cardiac sodium channel gene is the cause of one family’s autosomal dominant inheritance of progressive conduction system disease and cardiomyopathy. The point mutation leads to a single–amino acid substitution in the sodium channel, changing the charge of one segment of the protein and likely the voltage dependence of channel gating. This adds to a growing list of "channelopathies" and will help stimulate future research to develop novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment . . . [Full Text of this Article]