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Atherosclerosis Research Unit (ARU) serves as the center of
the Keck School's broad research efforts into the dynamics
of atherosclerosis, the thickening and narrowing of the arteries
that significantly increases an individual's risk of heart
attack and stroke.
The Unit brings together physicians and scientists from the
departments of medicine, pathology, surgery and obstetrics
and gynecology-along with scientists from the USC School
of Pharmacy and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory-in
active collaborative studies to better understand, diagnose,
treat and prevent atherosclerosis.
With major funding from the National Institutes of Health,
ARU research focuses on two main areas:
- Atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease prevention
and intervention.
- The development and application of non-invasive imaging
technologies to study the assessment, screening, prevention
and treatment of atherosclerosis.
ARU researchers were among the first to provide evidence
that lowering blood cholesterol can unclog arteries narrowed
by atherosclerosis. ARU work has also revealed that taking
estrogen appears to reverse thickening in the arteries of
healthy, postmenopausal women. Vitamin E and B studies are
underway.
In addition, ARU researchers have developed an imaging technology
called IMT, which uses ultrasound technology to take non-invasive
measurements of arterial disease progression, which the team
has correlated with cardiovascular risk.
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