The continuous rise of incidence and prevalence of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes is an unprecedented global health concern. These conditions all lead to long-term cardiovascular complications related to impaired lifestyle and work productivity, as well as early death from coronary artery disease, stroke, and renal failure.

The pathogenesis of these micro- and macrovascular complications is complex, but disregulated inflammation and oxidative stress play a dominant role. The numerous involved mediators and biochemical pathways, their activation, response to stimuli, and responsiveness to therapy remain poorly defined. Gaining in-depth and definitive knowledge on these issues is an indispensable prerequisite to develop evidence-based prevention, management, and treatment.

We invite investigators to contribute original research and review articles that will stimulate the understanding of molecular events biochemically linking inflammation, oxidative stress, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes, as related to the evolution of cardiovascular disease. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Definition of novel biomarkers of inflammation/oxidative stress in these conditions
• Standardization of current methodologies to assess inflammation and oxidative stress (cytokines, chemokines, etc.) across large population studies
• Characterization of specific patterns of functional alteration in immune cells
• Effects of age on aggressiveness of inflammatory and oxidative processes (early childhood versus later onset)
• Role of gene expression/epigenetics in inflammatory/oxidative stress pathways
• Interaction of inflammation, oxidative stress, and exercise (optimization of exercise intensity/formats)
• The role of chronic anti-inflammatory therapy
• Correlations between early vascular alterations and increased inflammation/oxidative stress

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jdr/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: