Question

You are to present a research proposal with regards to the topic of "Investigation of the Mechanical Properties of Atherosclerotic Plaque Tissue", however for this to be successful, a "good" research question(s) must be made. Give examples of "good" research question(s) to motivate the said topic and go further from here. The idea need not to be original but should be researchable and presentable to fellow academics. The Internet is there at your disposal. It is important to take into consideration that this research question(s) can define the topic, define the research nature of the research endeavour (i.e. to explain, to discover, to describe, to compare etc.), define the questions of interest (i.e. who, what, when, why or how etc.), define the constructs and variables and what their effects are.

Answer 1

Mechanical Properties of Atherosclerotic Tissues:

The investigation of mechanical properties of atherosclerotic vessel walls was largely academic until 1980, when the mechanical properties began to be seen as more important for clinical issues. The reasons for the shift in perception are reviewed, and some characteristics of the mechanical properties, pertaining to elastic behavior and ultimate strength (and deformation) are outlined. Much research effort in the past dozen years has been devoted to investigating matrix metalloproteinases, as these are seen as contributing to weakening of plaque tissues, and some results of incubation with collagenase on mechanical properties are included.

Atherosclerosis is a disorder of blood vessels in humans, dominantly in arteries. It appears to begin early in life, perhaps even before birth. Its progression with age varies widely between individuals. It is usually widespread among arteries in those persons notably affected by it, though arteries in the arms are relatively spared. Its variability between individuals led to many anecdotal descriptions in the earlier pathological literature. Some features of its local arterial appearance are robust. Forms of atherosclerosis can be induced in some animal species which are used in experimental research but it is not indiginous in them to the extent it is to so many humans in the First World. The composite structure of each of the principal layers of blood vessels (intima, media and adventitia), both as to structural proteins and cell contents, and organization, were well described for normal vessels by the 1950s, and the relative significance of elastin and collagen in determining the nonlinear mechanical properties had been demonstrated, elastin being important at low stresses and elongations and collagen being dominant at higher stresses. Around this period there was also a vigorous development of analysis of themechanical properties of rubber and other polymers. There is a popular conception that the arteries ‘harden’ with progression of age, implying a progressive shift in mechanical properties (it was also noted that the calcium content of arterial walls increases with age, the calcium sometimes appearing in small, plate-like segments that crunch under a scalpel, but commonly the calcium is more evenly and finely distributed). However, the definitive evidence for atherosclerosis is not based on a measure of mechanical properties of a blood vessel but upon features found in pathohistological examination of arterial tissue. Typical features include thickening (and sometimes thinning) of the principal layers of arteries, diffuse and focal inclusion of lipids including cholesterol, incorporation of fibrin from the blood, changes in population densities of cells, and attraction of monocytes from the blood to adhesion and intimal entry. Clinical manifestations involving profound local atherosclerosis include claudication, some angina, myocardial infarctions and thrombotic strokes, and effects of regional ischemia. (Haemorrhagic strokes are associated with bleeding from blood vessels, typically within the subarachnoid space, not necessarily associated with atherosclerosis. Bow hunter’s stroke is characterized by perfusion insufficiency associated with occlusion or stenosis of the vertebral artery associated with head movements. Neither of these types of stroke are, therefore, directly associated with atherosclerosis.) For many years the ischemia associated with atherosclerosis was read from pathology to be consequent upon thrombosis, often in association with arterial stenosis, and treatment focussed first upon diminishing the tendency for thrombi to form without turning patients into persons with very long bleeding times. A widely effective acute treatment of angina (still in use) involved administering vascular smooth-muscle relaxants, perceived as reducing stenosis as the arteries enlarge in diameter. A more chronically-effective treatment for reducing stenosis in coronary arteries is by balloon angioplasty, a procedure often accompanied by elective stenting. Stents are pre-fabricated lengths of cylindrical mesh structures inserted at a ballooned site for locally propping the vessel open.

Perceptions of Significant Aspects of Atherosclerosis to 1980:

Atherosclerosis is widely regarded as a progressive disorder, although there may be episodes of quiescence and even recession. For routine autopsy reports, there are standard grading templates based on examination of segments of vessels that have been slit open parallel to their central axes and pinned out (along the separated edges) on a wax tray so as to show their lumenal aspect. Such standards are very useful in encouraging a consistent level of description of gross pathology that presents itself in a great profusion of individual details. However, the procedure may have contributed to delayed recognition of positive remodeling