**Meet the editor**

Luigi Gianturco, MD, is a cardiologist at ICBM Hospital of Vigevano, Italy. From 2009 to 2017 he was a cardiologist at IRCCS, Orthopedic Institute R. Galeazzi, University of Milan, where he was also Vice Chief of the Cardiology Unit and Assistant Manager. He graduated cum laude from University "La Sapienza" of Rome in 2003 and gained a postgraduate master's degree in Clin-

ical Echocardiography at the University of Milan in 2009. He has several communications or published works in national and international journals. Luigi is Chief of the Italian Soccer Referees' Medical Committee (since 2013), a member of the e-Cardiology Working Group of the European Society of Cardiology, and has a passion for reading and writing.

Contents

**Preface VII**

Bahar Uslu

Chapter 1 **Focus on Coronary Atherosclerosis 3**

**Embryologic Life 21**

**Section 2 Atherosclerosis Mechanisms 29**

Akio Nakamura

**Section 3 Organ Manifestations 71**

**Countries 73**

and Marek J. Dąbrowski

Hakan Saçlı, İbrahim Kara and Mehmet Kaan Kırali

Chapter 4 **Effects of Nicotine Contained in Tobacco Mainstream Smoke on**

Chapter 5 **Food Restriction and Atherosclerotic Plaque Stabilization 61**

Chapter 6 **Atherothrombosis as a Leading Cause of Acute Coronary**

Dorien G. De Munck, Guido R.Y. De Meyer and Wim Martinet

**Syndromes and Stroke: The Main Killers in Developed**

Ewelina Dziedzic, Michał Machowski, Małgorzata Oleszczak-Kostyra

Chapter 2 **Early Stages of Atherosclerosis Documented in Early**

Chapter 3 **Inflammatory Mechanisms in Atherosclerosis 31** Ida Gregersen and Bente Halvorsen

**Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells 47**

**Section 1 Introduction 1**
