Announcements

Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease (JCDD, ISSN: 2308-3425) is an international, scientific, peer-reviewed, open access journal on cardiovascular medicine published monthly online by MDPI, which provides free and unlimited access to the full texts of published articles.

JCDD publishes research articles, review papers, and communications on cardiovascular development, as well as congenital and acquired heart diseases. In 2022, we announced two new Sections: the “Cardiovascular Clinical Research” Section and the “Cardiac Surgery” Section. You may access all the Sections via https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jcdd/sections. We invite you to read our highly cited papers published in 2022:

1. “Mechanisms and Clinical Implications of Endothelial Dysfunction in Arterial Hypertension”
by Pasquale Ambrosino, Tiziana Bachetti, Silvestro Ennio D’Anna, Brurya Galloway, Andrea Bianco, Vito D’Agnano, Antimo Papa, Andrea Motta, Fabio Perrotta and Mauro Maniscalco
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(5), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9050136
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/5/136

2. “Return to Play after SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Competitive Athletes of Distinct Sport Disciplines in Italy: A FMSI (Italian Federation of Sports Medicine) Study”
by Maurizio Casasco, Ferdinando Iellamo, Marco Scorcu, Attilio Parisi, Irena Tavcar, Erica Brugin, Barbara Martini, Chiara Fossati and Fabio Pigozzi
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(2), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9020059
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/2/59

3. “Vitamin D Inhibits IL-6 Pro-Atherothrombotic Effects in Human Endothelial Cells: A Potential Mechanism for Protection against COVID-19 Infection?”
by Giovanni Cimmino, Stefano Conte, Mariarosaria Morello, Grazia Pellegrino, Laura Marra, Andrea Morello, Giuseppe Nicoletti, Gennaro De Rosa, Paolo Golino and Plinio Cirillo
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(1), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9010027
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/1/27

4. “Prognostic Value of Machine Learning in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction”
by Changhu Xiao, Yuan Guo, Kaixuan Zhao, Sha Liu, Nongyue He, Yi He, Shuhong Guo and Zhu Chen
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(2), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9020056
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/2/56

5. “Blood Pressure Increase following COVID-19 Vaccination: A Systematic Overview and Meta-Analysis”
by Fabio Angeli, Gianpaolo Reboldi, Monica Trapasso, Gabriella Santilli, Martina Zappa and Paolo Verdecchia
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(5), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9050150
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/5/150

6. “Cardiotoxicity of Non-Anthracycline Cancer Chemotherapy Agents”
by Alexandros Briasoulis, Angeliki Chasouraki, Alexandros Sianis, Nikolaos Panagiotou, Christos Kourek, Argyrios Ntalianis and Ioannis Paraskevaidis
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(3), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9030066
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/3/66

7. “Advances in the Treatment Strategies in Hypertension: Present and Future”
by Paolo Verdecchia, Claudio Cavallini and Fabio Angeli
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(3), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9030072
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/3/72

8. “Transfer Learning Models for Detecting Six Categories of Phonocardiogram Recordings”
by Miao Wang, Binbin Guo, Yating Hu, Zehang Zhao, Chengyu Liu and Hong Tang
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(3), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9030086
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/3/86

9. “Effects of COVID-19 on Arrhythmia”
by Yujia Zhan, Honghua Yue, Weitao Liang and Zhong Wu
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(9), 292; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9090292
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/9/292

10. “Biventricular versus Conduction System Pacing after Atrioventricular Node Ablation in Heart Failure Patients with Atrial Fibrillation”
by Maja Ivanovski, Miha Mrak, Anja Zupan Mežnar and David Žižek
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(7), 209; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9070209
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/7/209

11. “Electroporation Parameters for Human Cardiomyocyte Ablation In Vitro”
by Jara M. Baena-Montes, Tony O’Halloran, Cormac Clarke, Kevin Donaghey, Eoghan Dunne, Martin O’Halloran and Leo R. Quinlan
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(8), 240; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9080240
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/8/240

12. “Cardioprotective Strategies from Cardiotoxicity in Cancer Patients: A Comprehensive Review”
by Christos Kourek, Maria Touloupaki, Athanasios Rempakos, Konstantinos Loritis, Elias Tsougkos, Ioannis Paraskevaidis and Alexandros Briasoulis
J. Cardiovasc. Dev. Dis. 2022, 9(8), 259; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9080259
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3425/9/8/259

With the first issue released in June 2023, five new MDPI journals disseminating multi-disciplinary science are due to launch, which will cover the subjects of medicine & pharmacology, biology and physical sciences.

The newly launched journals will be overseen by professional Editorial Board Members and Editors to ensure an accurate and rapid publication, rigorous peer review and broad visibility.

Please feel free to browse and discover more about the new journals below.

Journal	Founding Editor-in-Chief	Journal topics (selected)
	Prof. Dr. Jun Ma, Peking University, China| Editorial | view inaugural issue	growth and development; diet and nutrients; school health promotion policies and practices; child health and care; adolescent health and wellbeing | view journal scope | submit an article
	Prof. Dr. Bernd Rehm, Griffith University, Australia | Editorial | view inaugural issue	DNA and gene synthesis; synthetic transcription factors; protein engineering; viral engineering; metabolic engineering | view journal scope | submit an article
	Prof. Dr. Varsha Gandhi, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA | Editorial | view inaugural issue	lymphatics; cancers associated with lymphocytes and lymphoblasts; lymphatic tissues; lymphoma; lymphoid leukemia | view journal scope | submit an article
	Dr. Bradley Turner, University of Melbourne, Australia | Editorial | view inaugural issue	multiple sclerosis; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; primary lateral sclerosis; atherosclerosis; systemic sclerosis | view journal scope | submit an article
	Prof. Dr. Clemens Burda, Case Western Reserve University, USA | Editorial | view inaugural issue	Gamma ray, X-ray, and UV–Vis spectroscopies; NIR/mid-infrared/Raman spectroscopy; microwave and THz spectroscopy; high-resolution gas-phase atomic, molecular, and cluster spectroscopy; MS, NMR, and EPR spectroscopy | view journal scope | submit an article

We wish to thank everyone who has supported the development of open access publishing. You are welcome to submit an application to the New Journal Committee (newjournal-committee@mdpi.com) if you would like to create more new journals.

The 2022 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

We are thrilled to announce that 90% of our ranked MDPI journals, specifically 86 out of 96 (captured in the table below), are performing above average in Q1 or Q2. This year, Clarivate has expanded its Impact Factor (IF) awards to include journals in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), providing greater transparency for the full set of journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. As a result, 111 of MDPI journals have received their first IF in 2023, with 37 journals surpassing an IF of 3.0. In total, 208 MDPI journals have been honored with an IF.

Clarivate explains that by "expanding the coverage but holding to highly selective standards, the [Impact Factor] is now a reliable indicator of trustworthiness, as well as a measure of scholarly impact, at the journal level."

Please visit our blog post where we discuss the release of the latest citation metrics with our Indexing Manager, Dr. Constanze Schelhorn, to find out what's different this time around and how to make use of different metrics available.

Note: The Journal of Personalized Medicine's Impact Factor was omitted in the original release and will be assigned separately. Please find the data on the journal webpage in due course.

Source: 2022 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2023)

We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new Editor-in-Chief Prof. Dr. Thomas Brand, who has taken over the editorial leadership of the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease (JCDD, ISSN: 2308-3425), starting from 13 June 2023.

Name: Prof. Dr. Thomas Brand
Homepage: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/t.brand
Affiliation: National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Campus, London W12 0NN, UK
Interests: heart development; cardiac pacemaker development and function; Popeye genes, cAMP signaling

Prof. Dr. Brand was recruited as a professor and chair of Developmental Dynamics in October 2009 from the University of Würzburg, Germany, where he was a professor of molecular developmental biology and head of a working group in cardiac developmental biology since 2004. Between 1994 and 2004, he was a group leader at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Braunschweig, Germany. He did his postdoctoral training from 1991 to 1994 at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, U.S.A. For his Ph.D. thesis from 1988 to 1990, he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Physiological and Clinical Research in Bad Nauheim, Germany. From 1980 to 1987, he studied biology at the University of Bielefeld, Germany.

Prof. Dr. Brand's research initially focused on cardiac development. He was interested in the development of the proepicardium, an embryonic structure that develops into the epicardium and gives rise to cells forming the interstitium and the coronary vasculature. He also worked on the signaling processes involved in left–right asymmetry and the early formation of the embryonic heart. In recent years, he has become interested in a class of membrane proteins, the Popeye proteins, which are strongly expressed in the heart and skeletal muscle and are involved in cyclic nucleotide signaling and the modulation of cardiac pacemaker activity.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Thomas Brand, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area and open access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to become its Editor-in-Chief?

First, I’d like to express my gratitude to my predecessor Prof. Andy Wessels. I would like to thank him for his efforts to develop JCDD into the excellent journal it has become. My initial contact with the journal was by acting as a Guest Editor for several Special Issues (SI). I found it to be extremely easy to work with the excellent editorial team of JCDD, which handled the editorial work with great care and enthusiasm with an eye for detail. They always made it easy to become a Guest Editor and only contacted me when it was required. Thus, when Prof. Wessels asked me to join JCDD as an Associate Editor, I happily agreed. I had the task of looking after the development of the SIs, which have always been an important part of JCDD. I started several SI projects with different colleagues and reviewed those suggested by others. While the journal initially mainly served the Cardiac Development Community, it has now significantly broadened its focus and includes, for example, clinical cardiology, and consists of eleven Sections in total. I think that leading such an excellent journal, which encompasses nearly the entire cardiovascular field, is a great task, and I am looking forward to this exciting opportunity.

2. What are your plans and vision for the journal?

JCDD is a unique journal, in that it has the words “development” and “disease” in its title and thus it aims at both normal heart development and disease processes. Heart development not only means cardiac development in the embryo, but also the role of the different cell lineages that make up the heart and their fate in disease. It involves the maturation processes of the heart during postnatal life, which will determine how myocytes react to injury, and even includes degenerative processes during aging of the heart. Cardiovascular disease is an even larger topic and includes both pediatric heart disease as well as the many forms of genetic and acquired heart disease, as well as clinical cardiology, which has recently become a major focus of JCDD. The vast array of topics in one journal can only be properly handled by the introduction of substructures. Thus, apart from our excellent Editorial Board (EB), we will also rely on the expertise of Section Editors-in-Chief (SEiC), who will be recruited for each of the different Sections. This will ensure a vital resource of expertise to enable rigorous peer review to allow the publication of excellent manuscripts with high impact. This journal will soon celebrate its 10^th birthday, and there are already several 10^th Anniversary SIs announced on the JCDD website. While SIs, which are often proposed by our Guest Editors, will remain an important element of JCDD, I especially hope that we will become more attractive as a journal where researchers will choose to publish their original work. I believe that this will be key to further growth of the journal in the future. I hope that our excellent EB will assist me in attracting manuscripts to our journal or even publish articles themselves in JCDD.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?

Cardiovascular science has always been an important research topic, mainly because of the devastating consequences of being born with a dysfunctional heart or developing cardiovascular disease in later life. Making predictions about this research field may require looking through a crystal ball. Scientific history has taught us that there will be quantum leaps that cannot be easily predicted, even a few years before they occur. Think about the advances that became possible with pluripotent stem cells, gene editing or polymerase chain reaction many years back. Novel technologies have a strong impact on the way we do research. Scientific progress is often technology-driven, and I expect this to happen also in the future. Thus, I could simply answer the question by saying: I don’t know, let’s wait and see. However, extrapolating from where we are, I expect that we will soon have a pretty good idea of the different cell lineages present in our heart during development, and of changes in response to acquired or genetically determined heart disease as well. Of course, research will become more and more reliant on big data and on artificial intelligence. It may soon become normal to have a virtual colleague on our side who will help us to write research articles. We might gain a proper understanding of the molecular basis of heart disease. Our enlarging toolbox to model heart disease in a dish with the help of iPSCs, organoids and organ-on-a-chip technology will be of great help in this regard. What is certain is that the future will be exciting.

4. What do you think of the development of open access literature in the publishing field?

To answer this question, I would like to travel back in time, when my first paper ever was published, and I received the glossy preprints with my name on it. It was a glorious feeling and a special moment. I had the feeling that it is great being a scientist and being able to publish work, which might have a lasting impact. I also remember when I had my first journal cover, which I was able to see when I entered the library. This was all a long time ago and publishing research has become very different. I hardly ever go into the library anymore, and nowadays, we can access and read most research articles instantaneously unless they are behind a paywall. Most articles, which we find on PubMed, are accessible from our computer screen. However, this is only true when one is part of a large research organization, but maybe less true for scientists working at a small university or in a developing country. Publishing in an open access journal makes it possible for publicly funded research to become accessible to everybody worldwide. Therefore, it is an important element for the idea of global dissipation of research results and to inform and educate people irrespective of where they live. It is a proper attempt to become inclusive and to involve everybody.

We warmly welcome our new Editor-in-Chief and wish the journal every success in the future.

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Gaetano Santulli has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Basic and Translational Cardiovascular Research” in the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease (JCDD, ISSN: 2308-3425).

Dr. Gaetano Santulli, M.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Cardiology and Molecular Pharmacology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, USA. Dr. Santulli’s lab studies the functional role of calcium and non-coding RNAs in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. Dr. Santulli elucidated the fundamental mechanisms underlying the key role of intracellular calcium release channels in heart failure and diabetes, both in patients and in preclinical models.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Gaetano Santulli, who shared his vision for the Section with us as well as his views on the research area and open access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take on the role of its Section Editor-in-Chief?

Having a specific section dedicated to basic and translational science is extremely important to advance clinical research.

2. What is your vision for the journal?

With the help of the other members of the Editorial Board, we will do our best to improve the quality of the published papers.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?

Very promising.

4. What do you think of the development of open access in the publishing field?

It is a complex matter. Published research should be open to everybody, but publishing has some costs. Academia should definitely have a more active role in the publishing field.

We warmly welcome Dr. Gaetano Santulli as Section Editor-in-Chief of “Basic and Translational Cardiovascular Research”, and we look forward to achieving great success under his leadership.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Matteo Bertini has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section "Electrophysiology and Cardiovascular Physiology" in the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease (JCDD, ISSN: 2308-3425).

Prof. Dr. Matteo Bertini is an Associate Professor of Cardiology with a full professor qualification from the University of Ferrara. He is the head of the EP lab in the Cardiology Unit of the University Hospital of Ferrara, with a research focus on (i) arrhythmias, (ii) cardiac pacing, (iii) sudden death prevention, (iv) genetics and (v) ablations. He obtained a degree in medicine and surgery, and then completed a specialty in cardiology with a subspecialty in electrophysiology. He also obtained two Ph.Ds.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Matteo Bertini, who shared his vision for the Section with us as well as his views on the research area and open access publishing:

Being a Section Editor-in-Chief of JCDD represents the possibility of participating decisively in the process of scientific advancement in this area of investigation. The "Electrophysiology and Cardiovascular Physiology" Section is facing several innovations both in cardiac pacing and ablation field; therefore, it is very appealing to share this new evidence in a dedicated journal.

By covering a wide range of topics in cardiac pacing and ablations, JCDD is becoming a reference in this research area. Open access means that the research findings are available to all, promoting faster and more effective development of knowledge around the world.

The future of this investigation field is going to revolutionize the EP world, in particular, thanks to the conduction system pacing and other innovations such as cardiac pacing and electrophysiology which joined again as a unique field that covers all arrhythmias treatments from brady to tachy.

Open access is inevitable for the capillary diffusion of knowledge. Everyone around the world can have full access to scientific information published in all scientific journals. Thus, open access represents a necessity in a democratic system.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Matteo Bertini as Section Editor-in-Chief of “Electrophysiology and Cardiovascular Physiology”, and we look forward to achieving many milestones under his leadership.

Physical exercise has a well-established role in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. However, many issues in the relationship between physical exercise and cardiovascular health remain unresolved. For example, more effective exercise protocols and exercise volume needed for counteracting cardiovascular risk factors have not yet been established. Similarly, short- and long-term central cardiac adaptation to different exercise modalities in healthy individuals and in subjects with cardiovascular diseases are still poorly understood. This webinar focuses on the effects of single bouts of exercise, as well as the effects of long-term training programs. By conceiving physical exercise as a real therapeutic intervention, this webinar aspires to contribute to clarifying what the most effective modalities and doses of physical exercise are for improving cardiovascular outcomes.

Date: 7 April 2023
Time: 3:00 pm CEST | 9:00 am EST | 9:00 pm CST Asia

Program:

This is a free webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized. In case you cannot attend, register anyway and we will let you know when the recording is available to watch.

Webinar Chairs and Keynote Speakers:

Prof. Ferdinando Iellamo
Department of Clinical Sciences and Translational Medicine, University Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

Dr. Giuseppe Caminiti
Department of Human Science and Promotion of Quality of Life, San Raffaele Open University, Rome, Italy

Prof. Barry A. Franklin
Preventive Cardiology/Cardiac Rehabilitation, Corewell Health—William Beaumont University Hospital, Royal Oak, USA

Prof. Maurizio Volterrani
Cardio Pulmonary Department, IRCCS San Raffaele, Rome, Italy

Relevant Special Issue/Topic:

Title: “Cardiovascular Effects and Benefits of Exercise II”
Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Ferdinando Iellamo and Dr. Giuseppe Caminiti
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2023

As a leading open access publisher, MDPI provides scholars with a high-quality and rich academic exchange platform by continuously expanding into new and exciting research areas.

In December 2022, MDPI launched five new journals, covering multiple subjects such as life sciences, biology, medicine and pharmacology, social sciences and humanities. These new journals are being edited by established scholars across the world.

If you are interested in creating more open access journals with us to publish cutting-edge research, please send your journal proposal application to newjournal-committee@mdpi.com.

MDPI is pleased to announce that we now display the co-authors’ email addresses in addition to the corresponding author’s email address on the webpage of published papers, protected by Captcha. For more information about this change, please visit the journal’s instructions for authors page. 

We believe this change will facilitate academic discussions and advance our cause of open science and research. The corresponding authors are responsible for communicating with their co-authors and indicating in our system (https://susy.mdpi.com/) if co-authors would prefer for their email addresses not to be displayed.