BACKGROUND:Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are important risk factors for later-life cardiovascular diseases. SGLT2 (sodium-glucose cotransporter-2) inhibition improves outcomes in heart failure, a later-life risk that disproportionately affects those with preeclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension. SGLT2 inhibition during pregnancy and the postpartum period has not been effectively modeled or tested in superimposed preeclampsia as a potential cardiovascular risk-reducing intervention. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to (1) confirm the phenotype of superimposed preeclampsia in the BPH/2J mouse model, (2) test the short- and long-term obstetrical and cardiovascular effects of administering an SGLT2 inhibitor (dapagliflozin) in pregnancy and the immediate postpartum period in this model, and (3) identify molecular effects of SGLT2 inhibition in cardiovascular tissues during and after a treated pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN:We established the BPH/2J model of superimposed preeclampsia and then randomly assigned pregnant BPH/2J mice with implanted telemetry devices to dapagliflozin-enriched chow or control chow starting early in gestation through 21 days after delivery. Maternal cardiovascular and obstetrical outcomes including circulating plasma protein markers, urine studies, obstetrical ultrasounds, and tissue histopathology were compared between the groups. Hearts and aortae were analyzed using serial echocardiography and spatial transcriptomics in late gestation or at 6 months postpartum. RESULTS:BPH/2J mice had baseline chronic hypertension that worsened in pregnancy with the development of proteinuria and elevated plasma sFlt-1 levels, consistent with superimposed preeclampsia. Mid-gestation systolic blood pressures were higher in the untreated group than the dapagliflozin-treated group (+2.87 mm Hg; P<.001). There were no differences in the number of pups or estimated fetal pup weights between the groups, whereas amniotic fluid volume, placental size, and markers of placental perfusion were improved in the dapagliflozin-treated group. The untreated group had higher aortic peak velocities in late pregnancy compared with the dapagliflozin-treated group (748.1 vs 561.9 mm/s; P=.004×10-3). One maternal death occurred in the untreated group, with no events in the dapagliflozin-treated group. In late life, the untreated group had significant loss of left ventricular function relative to their prepregnancy baseline, whereas dapagliflozin-treated mice had relatively preserved left ventricular function (-20.0% vs -7.6% change; P=.004×10-3; 49.0%±6.34% untreated-baseline to 30.5%±6.78% untreated-aged; 44.9%±8.63% treated-baseline to 36.5%±6.39% treated-aged). Tissue transcriptomic analyses and Masson's trichrome staining demonstrated attenuation of cardiac fibrosis and extracellular remodeling processes with SGLT2 inhibition. CONCLUSION:In a murine model of superimposed preeclampsia, dapagliflozin treatment during pregnancy and the puerperium improved physiological cardiovascular parameters during gestation and cardiac function later in life. This may be related to observed molecular effects of SGLT2 inhibition treatment, particularly its antifibrotic and metabolic actions associated with reduced markers of fibrotic pathologic remodeling in treated BPH/2Js during and after pregnancy.

A 48-year-old male with oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) presented with bilateral diminution of vision. Ocular examination revealed bilateral central corneal thinning, scarring with ectasia, depigmented irides, transillumination defects, and pseudophakia. Examination of the right eye also revealed a hyperoleon, emulsified silicon oil in the vitreous cavity, and an attached retina, while the left eye had a total rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). This case describes a unique set of challenges (the presence of an ectatic scarred cornea and a hypopigmented fundus) and sodium fluorescein dye as an adjunct in the surgical management of a complex RRD. A review of literature highlighting the association of keratoconus and RRD in OCA is also presented in this report.

Hypertension (HTN) is a major contributor to kidney damage, leading to conditions such as nephrosclerosis and hypertensive nephropathy, significant causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). HTN is also a risk factor for stroke and coronary heart disease. Oxidative stress, inflammation, and activation of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) play critical roles in causing kidney injury in HTN. Genetic and environmental factors influence the susceptibility to hypertensive renal damage, with African American populations having a higher tendency due to genetic variants. Managing blood pressure (BP) effectively with treatments targeting RAAS activation, oxidative stress, and inflammation is crucial in preventing renal damage and the progression of HTN-related CKD and ESRD. Interactions between genetic and environmental factors impacting kidney function abnormalities are central to HTN development. Animal studies indicate that genetic factors significantly influence BP regulation. Anti-natriuretic mechanisms can reset the pressure–natriuresis relationship, requiring a higher BP to excrete sodium matched to intake. Activation of intrarenal angiotensin II receptors contributes to sodium retention and high BP. In HTN, the gut microbiome can affect BP by influencing energy metabolism and inflammatory pathways. Animal models, such as the spontaneously hypertensive rat and the chronic angiotensin II infusion model, mirror human essential hypertension and highlight the significance of the kidney in HTN pathogenesis. Overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays a crucial role in the development and progression of HTN, impacting renal function and BP regulation. Targeting specific NADPH oxidase (NOX) isoforms to inhibit ROS production and enhance antioxidant mechanisms may improve renal structure and function while lowering blood pressure. Therapies like SGLT2 inhibitors and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists have shown promise in reducing oxidative stress, inflammation, and RAAS activity, offering renal and antihypertensive protection in managing HTN and CKD. This review emphasizes the critical role of NOX in the development and progression of HTN, focusing on its impact on renal function and BP regulation. Effective BP management and targeting oxidative stress, inflammation, and RAAS activation, is crucial in preventing renal damage and the progression of HTN-related CKD and ESRD.

Genetic studies of blood pressure (BP) traits to date have been performed on conventional measures by brachial cuff sphygmomanometer for systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP, integrating several physiologic occurrences. Genetic associations with central SBP (cSBP) have not been well-studied. Genetic discovery studies of BP have been most often performed in European-ancestry samples. Here, we investigated genetic associations with cSBP in a Chinese population and functionally validated the impact of a novel associated coiled-coil domain containing 93 (CCDC93) gene on BP regulation. An exome-wide association study (EWAS) was performed using a mixed linear model of non-invasive cSBP and peripheral BP traits in a Han Chinese population (N = 5,954) from Beijing, China genotyped with a customized Illumina ExomeChip array. We identified four SNP-trait associations with three SNPs, including two novel associations (rs2165468-SBP and rs33975708-cSBP). rs33975708 is a coding variant in the CCDC93 gene, c.535C>T, p.Arg179Cys (MAF = 0.15%), and was associated with increased cSBP (β = 29.3 mmHg, P = 1.23x10-7). CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing was used to model the effect of Ccdc93 loss in mice. Homozygous Ccdc93 deletion was lethal prior to day 10.5 of embryonic development. Ccdc93+/- heterozygous mice were viable and morphologically normal, with 1.3-fold lower aortic Ccdc93 protein expression (P = 0.0041) and elevated SBP as compared to littermate Ccdc93+/+ controls (110±8 mmHg vs 125±10 mmHg, P = 0.016). Wire myography of Ccdc93+/- aortae showed impaired acetylcholine-induced relaxation and enhanced phenylephrine-induced contraction. RNA-Seq transcriptome analysis of Ccdc93+/- mouse thoracic aortae identified significantly enriched pathways altered in fatty acid metabolism and mitochondrial metabolism. Plasma free fatty acid levels were elevated in Ccdc93+/- mice (96±7mM vs 124±13mM, P = 0.0031) and aortic mitochondrial dysfunction was observed through aberrant Parkin and Nix protein expression. Together, our genetic and functional studies support a novel role of CCDC93 in the regulation of BP through its effects on vascular mitochondrial function and endothelial function.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibition is linked to the development of hypertension and proteinuria in preeclampsia. This occurs as anti-angiogenic factors from the placenta contribute to pregnancy-related hypertension disorder. Soluble VEGF receptor fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFLT-1) is an anti-angiogenic factor that counteracts VEGF. Levels of sFLT-1 are three times higher in preeclamptic placentas compared to those from normotensive pregnancies, and plasma sFLT-1 levels increase with the severity of preeclampsia. Infusing sFLT-1 in rodents induces hypertension, proteinuria, and glomerular endotheliosis, resembling the human condition of preeclampsia. Currently, there is no effective pharmacological treatment of preeclampsia, and in severe cases, early delivery is often the only effective treatment. In this study, we aim to determine how sFLT-1 exposure affects the activation of the vascular MAPK/ERK pathway and the contractility of the aorta ex-vivo using wire myography, to assess if the MAPK/ERK pathway can be a therapeutic target in preeclampsia. To this end, we treated pregnant female C57BL/6 mice from embryonic day E7.5 to E18.5 with either sFLT-1 (3.7mg/kg/day) or vehicle (phosphate-buffered saline) delivered by osmotic minipumps (intraperitoneal) and carried out non-invasive tail-cuff blood pressure measurements. After sacrifice, we isolated descending thoracic aorta for isometric tension measurements in a wire myograph. Infusion of sFLT-1 resulted in marked systolic blood pressure (SBP) elevation (D increase of 14 mmHg, P=0.0003) and augmented aortic phosphorylated-ERK activation (2-fold increase, P=0.040) by western blot and displayed impaired acetylcholine-induced endothelial relaxation in thoracic aortic segments (P<0.05), providing in vivo evidence of increased vascular p-ERK activation, accompanied by higher SBP and endothelial dysfunction in sFLT-1 - indued mouse model of preeclampsia. Future experiments are aimed to test the effect of pharmacological ERK inhibition in sFLT-1 infusion in vivo . We hypothesize that sFLT-1-induced rise in SBP and vascular p-ERK could be prevented in vivo by treatment with the pharmacological ERK inhibitor.

The recent pandemic, covid-19 has largely affected people's lives, health, and productivity. The first case of Covid-19 was recorded on December 31, 2019, in Wuhan, China. Since then, the number of cases has increased exponentially, and subsequently, numerous precautions have been taken to prevent and cure the virus. By May 26, 2021, totally, 168 million cases were reported worldwide, with 3.49 million deaths, and the pandemic is currently underway, with people continuing to get affected and fighting for their lives from this deadly virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also released various precautions and vaccines to combat the pandemic, but these are insufficient to reduce the number of infected cases or save people's lives. The proposed research study discusses about the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and data science techniques for gaining a better understanding of covid-19 virus. This technological advancement can easily make proper judgments about covid-19, as well as the predictions on confirmed & recovered cases and deaths were made by using this technology. The datasets also include previous and current information about covid-19. The proposed research study also discusses about a tool called "Prophet." Prophet is a Facebook open-source tool, which uses the Sklearn model API. The proposed study initially creates a prophet instance and then use its fit and predict methods.

Blockchain technology is a very high powered technology that encounters a vast variety of features. For cloud-edge systems to do data integrity audits blockchain is an authentic tool. Using blockchain hospitals can become nodes to put up distributed ledger that make sure the combat collusion and tamper resistance. It emphasize the role of blockchain in ensuring data integrity, managing access, data security and privacy based on the context of healthcare. Patient histories, healthcare management, efficient data records, access to healthcare datasets that are facilitates by blockchain in the healthcare sector. This paper examines the relation between healthcare sector and blockchain technology that shows features and recent advances. This paper concludes the major role of blockchain in the healthcare sector in developing a well-organized and secured health records.

Deep learning techniques are gradually being utilized in many fields. Healthcare is a field in which deep learning can thrive. The study conducted focuses on using deep learning object detection models to detect dental cavities in an individual’s mouth. These images taken from a camera will be fed live to the object detection model to discover the precise coordinates of dental caries if it happens to exist. Previous studies depict that X-rays were often used for detecting dental caries. This study wants to put emphasis on avoiding the use of X-rays since they have a chance of harming human tissue, as well as, and they cannot detect hidden caries. Thus, it is necessary to detect dental caries in an accurate manner, with the proper tools. Studies have also conducted dental caries prediction using the frontal view of the images only. Some have made use of different angles for the images in the dataset, however, there still lies the problem of capturing the posterior teeth. Roughly 300 images get used, as the dataset, for the training and testing of the object detection model. 80% is used for training whereas 20% is used for testing. Two deep learning frameworks have been proposed to evaluate dental cavities, the You Only Once (YOLO) V3 object detection model and the Faster Region-Convolutional Neural Network object detection model. Our results show that the YOLO V3 model consists of an accuracy of 75%, while Faster R-CNN had an accuracy of 80%. The sensitivity values of YOLO V3 and Faster R-CNN were 76% and 73% respectively. The model with better performance would be used for future development of the product, along with the hardware components. Our hardware components aim to take images from outside the mouth, for the frontal teeth, and take images from inside the mouth, for the posterior teeth.

Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified and validated variants at more than 1000 loci with modest effects on population blood pressure (BP), explaining in aggregate ~6% of the trait variance and highlighting genetic differences in BP regulation in ethnically diverse populations. We performed an exome-wide association study (EWAS) in Han Chinese population (N=5,954) from Beijing and identified 4 EWAS single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-trait associations with 3 SNPs, including two novel associations (rs2165468-peripheral systolic BP and rs33975708-central systolic BP (cSBP). rs33975708 is a coding variant in the coiled-coil domain containing 93 ( CCDC93 ) gene, c.535C>T, p.Arg179Cys (MAF=0.15%) and was associated with substantially increased cSBP (β=29.3 mmHg, P =1.23E-7) in Han Chinese population. CRISPR/Cas9 was used to introduce this variant in mice to investigate vascular molecular mechanisms. While this did not yield a viable mouse with the specific SNP, we did generate mice with an out of frame deletion making a gene knock-out. Ccdc93 deletion ( Ccdc93 -/- ) in its homozygous form was embryonic lethal (<E10.5). Ccdc93 +/- heterozygous mice were viable and morphologically normal and displayed 1.31-fold lower aortic Ccdc93 protein expression (P=0.0041, N=6). Systolic BP was higher in Ccdc93 +/- mice (110±8 mmHg vs 125±10 mmHg, P=0.016, N=5-7) and showed impaired acetylcholine (Ach)-induced relaxation (max Ach 86% vs 68%, P<0.03) and enhanced phenylephrine (PE)-induced contraction (max PE 123% vs 198% normalized to KCL response, P<0.03, N=5) in thoracic aorta ex vivo . Transcriptome analysis by RNA-seq of thoracic aorta identified significantly enriched biological processes in Ccdc93 +/- among the pathways altered in fatty acid metabolic process (adjusted P=2.9E-9) together with mitochondrial metabolism (P=1.3E-14). Plasma free fatty acid levels were higher in Ccdc93 +/- mice (96±7 μM vs 124±13 μM, P=0.0031, N=6) and aortic parkin protein expression, a marker of mitochondrial dysfunction, was 1.63-fold higher (P=0.028, N=6). In conclusion, our genetic and functional studies indicate a potential novel role of CCDC93 on blood pressure regulation through its effects on vascular mitochondrial function.

Normally, balanced three phase networks have zero neutral current. Due to different load profile of consumers, the distribution network becomes unbalance. During unbalanced operating condition, voltage is not equally distributed in the phases because of different load profile of domestic loads at a same time. It results in the neutral wire getting conducted. The load balancing problem is possibly found out by using the inverter which is connected to each consumer of a distribution network and it is typically performed by switching sequence. The status of each switch in distribution systems is naturally represented by binary control switches 0 or 1 which makes suitable algorithm. This paper attempts to find out the solution of load balancing of three phase four wire system. It also enables inverter as dynamic load at a particular time-period to consume required amount of power to balance the three phase circuit. Such a system automate the activity by control strategies with the help of battery backup system. There is only two battery backup units re-arranged to respective phase terminal according to load conditions and logic of the algorithm.

RF filter is critically tuned cavity structure, which has broadly two main functions, i.e. to pass the desired frequencies and to reject as much of the undesired frequencies such as noises. In this study, a new material, i.e. carbon fibre reinforcement polymer (CFRP), is introduced for realization of “S band radio frequency cavity filter” for high-power RF transmission and filtering, for communication satellites. The realization approach covers all the aspects, i.e. from material characterization to actual hardware testing. It starts with detailed CAD modelling of the device, mould design, appropriate layup sequence of CFRP to gain optimized mechanical and thermal properties, mechanical tooling for critical alignment for assembly, metallization like silver plating for improving electrical conductivity and RF performance. To assist and support the design, FE analysis for structural and thermal loads has been done and design margins are calculated which are well within the limit. For RF performance of this filter, performance network analyser (PNA) is used. Measured values of main RF parameters like return loss, insertion loss and frequency drift are 13 db, 0.9 db and 0.7 MHz, respectively.

In the recent years, the requirement of multilevel inverter is expeditiously increasing in the field of electrical energy utilization. Because the multilevel inverter is a key technology to integrate the renewable energy sources with the grid. Recently, various multilevel inverter topologies have been introduced which required a large number of power switches, gate drive circuit and voltage sources, as a result the complexity of the circuit, power losses and voltage stress on switch increases on the other hand the efficiency of the system reduces. It also produces power quality issues at the generating and distributing utility end. In this paper, a new topology of multilevel inverter with reduced number of power switches and dc voltage sources are presented. The proposed topology has been designed to 9-level inverter with eight unidirectional, one bidirectional and two dc voltage sources. The proposed topology comprises of a H-bridge which synthesize a ac voltage by utilizing almost all possible additive and subtractive cases of the voltage sources with its combinational power switches. The researchers generated optimal switching angles using selective harmonic elimination technique with Genetic Algorithm to reduce the lower order harmonic present in the output voltage of the proposed nine-level inverters. MATLAB/ SIMULINK tool has been used to validate the proposed topology results on various load. The harmonic analysis of nine-level multilevel inverter for R-Ioad and RL-load through analysis by simulation. The proposed topology offers a high-power quality output with THD less than 5% and individual harmonic less than 3% as per the recommendation of IEEE 519.

The banking sector shares a great contribution in maintaining the economy of the country. Default in bank loans shares vital role in risk management of various bank institutions. Bank helps the customer by giving many loans, credit cards, investment, mortgage, and others. Bank loan is also an important part of banking institutions which define as the probability of returning money to the bank by its users. Although, with increase in the participant of banking loan user, the number of defaulters is increasing with the minute and that is leading to huge losses for the banking industry. Machine learning has been used to tackle this issue. This research paper proposes a more accurate way to predict loan defaulters. The model proposed in this paper predicts defaulters using a logistic regression area under Roc curve of 77% which beats the earlier accuracy of 75%. Similarly, in this paper, decision trees, random forest, and the SVM models have been able to achieve better accuracy than the models proposed in the past.

Image captioning is the process of automatically generating appropriate image descriptions of the given images without human intervention and using appropriate algorithms. These descriptions should be in proper sentences with the natural language; hence, the algorithms used to require the fusion of computer vision techniques with those of natural language processing. The rise of social media and cybercrimes has substantially increased the amount of research done in this area. The objective is to generate image captions that are semantically closer to those generated by humans. This paper focuses on the merge architecture used in image captioning process and briefly compares it with the inject architecture also used to find image captions. Optimization of the general algorithm is done by using the vector embeddings of the words obtained from the dataset itself and using concatenation in the merging process. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is compared using a similarity measure and BLEU score.

Organosilane-based thin coating on top of galvannealed (GA) coating, known as secondary coating, provides extra protection from corrosion and thus is used for manufacturing automotive fuel tanks. In the present investigation, resistance seam weldability of 0.8-mm-thick secondary-coated GA interstitial free steel has been evaluated and compared with conventional GA sheets of identical thickness, chemistry, and mechanical properties. It has been found that the 1-3-µm-thick layer of organosilane-based secondary coating increases the electrical contact resistance by up to 50%. Consequently, the heat input increases by 34% when welding secondary coated steel as compared to conventional GA steel. This higher heat-input ensures suitable nugget formation over a wide range of parameters viz. a wider weldability lobe. This paper also addresses the test results on the service life of the welding electrodes. It has been found that the electrodes can withstand up to 30 m of continuous welding of secondary-coated steel without affecting the weld quality in terms of the joint strength. However, for conventional GA sheets, the same electrodes lay up to 20 m of welding length prior to dressing. Higher electrode face widening takes place during welding of plain GA sheets which lowers the current density and thereby affects formation of high-quality weld nugget.

Some math’s expressions are challenging to type in the calculator. As of this, this paper presents the necessity of developing math scanners that integrated with optical character recognition (OCR) technology for solving mathematical equations quickly and help students to cross-check their solution. The mathematical equation scanner proposed in this work can help to solve simple math equations in an efficient and timely manner. Scanners with OCR engines have been developed for different types of text recognition, and it became an interesting topic for many years. The developed application called M-Scan is an Android mobile application that is integrated with a camera. This camera simply captures the mathematical equations and solves them in a limited time. In this way, this device not only saves time but also increases accuracy with no errors.

Multilevel inverters (MLI) are commonly used for grid integration of renewable energy sources (RES) and for high-power industrial applications. MLI has excellent characteristics, such as high-level output voltage with minimal distortion of harmonics, meeting the requirements of power efficiency. General MLI topologies have a more complicated circuit, with more part numbers, high total cost and area of installation. This paper thus provides a synthesis of knowledge of the various topologies of the MLI and maps the knowledge gaps. The conceptual diagram with the switching sequence table and mathematical equations of the topology has been defined and also covers most of the newly formed MLI, and this paper has effectively outlined the useful information. The need for the hour, along with the required modulation method, is due to a huge number of power semiconductor switch and control circuit isolation, less electronic power switches and dc source. In this article, some of the configurations with less power switches and MLI configuration for induction motor drive are checked.

Men are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), and face higher odds of severe illness and death compared to women. The vascular effects of androgen signaling and inflammatory cytokines in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)-mediated endothelial injury are not defined. We determined the effects of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-mediated endothelial injury under conditions of exposure to androgen dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-α) and tested potentially therapeutic effects of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism by spironolactone. Circulating endothelial injury markers VCAM-1 and E-selectin were measured in men and women diagnosed with COVID-19. Exposure of endothelial cells (ECs) in vitro to DHT exacerbated spike protein S1-mediated endothelial injury transcripts for the cell adhesion molecules E-selectin, VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 and anti-fibrinolytic PAI-1 (p < 0.05), and increased THP-1 monocyte adhesion to ECs (p = 0.032). Spironolactone dramatically reduced DHT+S1-induced endothelial activation. TNF-α exacerbated S1-induced EC activation, which was abrogated by pretreatment with spironolactone. Analysis from patients hospitalized with COVID-19 showed concordant higher circulating VCAM-1 and E-Selectin levels in men, compared to women. A beneficial effect of the FDA-approved drug spironolactone was observed on endothelial cells in vitro, supporting a rationale for further evaluation of mineralocorticoid antagonism as an adjunct treatment in COVID-19.

While exogenous administration of recombinant erythropoietin has been associated with increased risk of hypertension, coronary artery disease, and mortality, it is not known if endogenous circulating erythropoietin level is associated with coronary artery disease and its risk factors. We measured and analyzed epidemiological and genetic associations of circulating plasma erythropoietin levels in 2 population cohorts, from China (N=4329) and the United States (N=3671). In vitro smooth muscle cell responses and in vivo murine studies of erythropoietin exposure were performed. Erythropoietin levels were positively and linearly associated with blood pressure traits and inversely associated with cholesterol levels and red cell indices. Higher erythropoietin level was associated with higher prevalence of hypertension (odds ratio, 1.20 [95% CI, 1.12-1.29], P=4.41x10(-7)) and coronary artery disease (odds ratio, 1.16 [95% CI, 1.00-1.34], P=0.046). In a discovery stage genetic association study of erythropoietin level, we identified a previously reported locus on chromosome 6 (rs7776054 near HBS1L-MYB, P=4.86x10(-25)) and a new locus on chromosome 4 (rs172629 near PDGFRA-KIT, P=2.1x10(-8)), which was independently replicated. Meta-analysis of discovery and replication genetic association results identified a locus on chromosome 22 (rs855791 near TMPRSS6, P=3.60x10(-9)). Erythropoietin administration, within a physiological range of hematocrit achieved, induced hypertension in vivo and increased contraction of vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro. In conclusion, endogenous circulating erythropoietin level is influenced by common genetic variation and is associated with blood pressure traits, hypertension, and coronary artery disease. Vascular effects of erythropoietin demonstrated in vitro and in vivo support a newly discovered mechanism of hypertension and cardiovascular risk with potential implications for erythropoietic support in the clinic.