"It is well known that passive smoking is harmful for cardiovascular health, but the mechanism has not yet been discovered," said Dr Kaya. "We investigated the effects of passive smoking on the levels of three parameters - mean platelet volume (MPV), carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) and lactate - in an effort to further understand this mechanism...

When aortic walls buckle, the body's main blood pipe forms an ever-growing bulge. To thwart a deadly rupture, a team of Stanford University School of Medicine researchers has found two tiny molecules that may be able to orchestrate an aortic defense...