Salt Sensitivity of Blood Pressure.

The year 2024 marks the centennial of the initiation of the American Heart Association. Over the past 100 years, the American Heart Association has led groundbreaking discoveries in cardiovascular disease including salt sensitivity of blood pressure, which has been studied since the mid-1900s. Salt sensitivity of blood pressure is an important risk factor for cardiovascular events, but the phenotype remains unclear because of insufficient understanding of the underlying mechanisms and lack of feasible diagnostic tools. In honor of this centennial, we commemorate the initial discovery of salt sensitivity of blood pressure and chronicle the subsequent scientific discoveries and efforts to mitigate salt-induced cardiovascular disease with American Heart Association leading the way. We also highlight determinants of the pathophysiology of salt sensitivity of blood pressure in humans and recent developments in diagnostic methods and future prospects.

An updated definition of stroke for the 21st century: a statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

Despite the global impact and advances in understanding the pathophysiology of cerebrovascular diseases, the term "stroke" is not consistently defined in clinical practice, in clinical research, or in assessments of the public health. The classic definition is mainly clinical and does not account for advances in science and technology. The Stroke Council of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association convened a writing group to develop an expert consensus document for an updated definition of stroke for the 21st century. Central nervous system infarction is defined as brain, spinal cord, or retinal cell death attributable to ischemia, based on neuropathological, neuroimaging, and/or clinical evidence of permanent injury. Central nervous system infarction occurs over a clinical spectrum: Ischemic stroke specifically refers to central nervous system infarction accompanied by overt symptoms, while silent infarction by definition causes no known symptoms. Stroke also broadly includes intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage. The updated definition of stroke incorporates clinical and tissue criteria and can be incorporated into practice, research, and assessments of the public health.

Circulation Research: origin and early years.

Circulation Research, first published in 1953, was created by the American Heart Association as "the authoritative new journal for investigators of the basic sciences as they apply to the heart and circulation." This review of the early years of the journal highlights the contributions of the first four Editors: Carl J. Wiggers, Carl F. Schmidt, Eugene M. Landis, and Julius H. Comroe, Jr. The success of Circulation Research is seen not only in the high quality of the articles published in its pages but also in the remarkable improvements in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease that have occurred over the past half century.

Martha N. Hill: transformational leader.

Martha N. Hill, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a world-renowned researcher, educator, and nursing leader. Her election as president of the American Heart Association, effective June 1997, places her in one of the highest regarded positions in the field of cardiology. Despite her success on a national and international level, Dr. Hill has managed to continue to mentor and conduct clinical research with her nursing colleagues and students at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Stroke Council of the American Heart Association. The early years.

An account of the origin, within the American Heart Association, of a council devoted to vascular disease of the central nervous system, with particular attention to the context in which that occurred, is presented in this article. The forces of a service-charitable organization, political action, medical practice in general, and interested, strong-witted citizens provided the stimuli for the development of the Stroke Council.