The Role of Environmental Agents in Cardiovascular Disease
August 6 and 7, 2002, Durham, NC
August 6 (Morning)
Keynote Speakers
Mark J. Utell, M.D., University of Rochester
Kenneth S. Ramos, Ph.D., Texas A&M University
Paul Gilman, Ph.D., ORD, EPA
August 6 (Afternoon)
Breakout Sessions:
Currently scheduled breakout sessions:
1. Cardiovascular Epidemiology:
Risk Factors from Environmental and Occupational Exposure
This session will focus on epidemiological evidence for associations between exposure to environmental agents and cardiovascular disease, and on new and innovative epidemiological and statistical methodologies for identifying these associations.
2. Particulate Air Pollution and Myocardial Infarction
Numerous studies have shown an association between exposure to PM and increased mortality, particularly in elderly people with pre-existing cardiopulmonary disease. This session will focus on the evidence that PM exposure may cause increased myocardial infarctions, as well as potential mechanisms by which this could occur.
3. Environmental Agents and Vascular Disease
The session will focus on the role of environmental agents in the pathogenesis of vascular disorders including vascular remodeling, atherosclerosis and hypertension. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of vascular injury will be explored. Recent advances in the identification and molecular characterization of key enzyme systems and gene regulatory networks involved in phenotypic control of vascular cell proliferation and differentiation and apoptosis will be discussed.
4. Environmental Modulation of Myocardial Excitability
This session will focus on current evidence demonstrating how environmental agents affect cardiac electrophysiological properties and the autonomic regulation of the heart. Also, participants will discuss the possible effects of environmental toxins on the expression, regulation, and the function of specific membrane channels determining excitability, conduction, excitation-contraction coupling, and arrhythmia formation.
5. Cardiovascular Oxidative Stress and Environmental Pollutants
This session will deal with oxidative mechanisms of cardiovascular injury. These include reperfusion injury mechanisms as well as the existing evidence and potential for oxidative mechanisms that play a role in cardiac responses to environmental pollutants.
6. Environmental Toxicity and Cardiovascular Development
This session will deal with developmental systems, such as signaling pathways, which may be perturbed by environmental agents that cause cardiac teratogenesis, novel animal models and methodologies to study these mechanisms, and identification of cardiac teratogens.
August 7 (Morning)
Presentations of Recommendations from Breakout Sessions
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