查看文章

The link between stress and disease has been of paramount interest to researchers and clinicians for decades. Hans Selye was among the first to recognize the effect of stress on disease relevant processes [1], and in tandem, Paul MacLean noted the associations among emotion, the brain, and health [2]. To date, some of the strongest associations have been established between stress and cardiovascular disease (eg, Dimsdale [3]). For example, psychological stress can provoke acute cardiac events [4] and induce transient myocardial ischemia [5], and a number of epidemiological studies have linked anger, hostility, and chronic perceived stress to cardiovascular disease mortality (eg, Haynes, Feinleib, and Kannel [6]; Rosengren et al.[7]). Critical to cardiovascular disease is the health of vascular endothelial cells, which play an essential role in maintaining vascular tone and the integrity of blood vessels …