Wednesday, May 28, 2008

91st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition

Dear All,

Akkaiah participated in 91st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition held at Shaw Conference centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She spoke on "Cardiovascular Agents: Renin Inhibitors."

Cardiovascular disease is a serious global health problem and the world's leading cause of death, with an estimated 17 million people dying from it each year. Coronary heart disease and stroke account for 20-50 percent of all deaths in most countries. These two diseases are the first and third cause of death in industrialized world, and the first and second cause in many developing countries, respectively. Hypertension is a major contributing factor to cardiovascular disease. A number of therapies like diuretics, alpha, and beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers are available for the treatment of hypertension. Despite these therapies 35% of patients do not achieve blood pressure control goals.

In recent years there has been tremendous effort focused on the development of renin inhibitors as a new class of antihypertensitive drugs. These inhibitors offer a novel approach to control hypertension by acting further upstream in the RASS pathway.

In her presentation, akkaiah gave a brief overview of the recent developments and their contributions in the area of renin inhibitors. I also have attended the session on my way back to home from school. Akkaiah's presentation was lively and liked by many.

Have a Good Evening,
AmmaNaana