{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.015531660692951015, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0035842293906810036, 'mean_word_length': 5.113138686131387, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
St Cyres lecture. Endothelium in control.

Clinical science has evolved since the days of Sir Thomas Lewis, who gave the St Cyres lecture in 1931 and whose eponymous chair I occupy. It involves still the penetration of astute clinical observation, but has come increasingly to embrace the elucidation of underlying mechanisms in the more controlled conditions of the laboratory. Its compass is being stretched by the reductionism of molecular and cell biology, but these exciting developments do not exonerate us from the ever daunting task of seeking to understand the coordinated behaviour of the whole. Perhaps biomathematics will give new impetus to our efforts to discern form in the noise. Never was there greater need for cross-talk between the different scientific disciplines and between scientists and clinicians. The greatest growth area in cardiovascular science over recent years must surely be in the role of endothelium. Not only is there a lot of it-equivalent in mass to five normal hearts and in area to half a dozen tennis courts per standard 70 kg man-but it is coming to be recognised as a cardiovascular endocrine organ in its own right, occupying a critically strategic interface between blood and body, and subserving a multitude of regulatory roles. These range from acting as a selective permeability barrier, through vasomotor control, proand antithrombotic mechanisms and regulation of vascular growth, to metabolic and immunological activity. We here consider just one-namely the production of endothelium derived relaxing factor (EDRF), a powerful vasodilator substance released from the endothelium of all blood vessels of all species studied.