ne of the most important medical discoveries of the past two decades has been that the immune system and inflammatory processes are involved in not just a few select disorders, but a wide variety of mental and physical health problems that dominate present-day morbidity and mortality worldwide 1-4. Indeed, chronic inflammatory diseases have been recognized as the most significant cause of death in the world today, with more than 50% of all deaths being attributable to inflammation-related diseases such as ischemic heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and autoimmune and neurodegenerative conditions 5. Evidence is emerging that the risk of developing chronic inflammation can be traced back to early development, and its effects are now known to persist throughout the life span to affect adulthood health and risk of mortality 6-8. In this Perspective, we describe these effects and outline some promising avenues for future research and intervention. Inflammation Inflammation is an evolutionarily conserved process characterized by the activation of immune and non-immune cells that protect the host from bacteria, viruses, toxins and infections by eliminating pathogens and promoting tissue repair and recovery 2,9. Depending on the degree and extent of the inflammatory response, including whether it is systemic or local, metabolic and neuroendocrine changes can occur to conserve metabolic energy and allocate more nutrients to the activated immune system 9-12. Specific biobehavioral effects of inflammation thus include a constellation of energysaving behaviors commonly known as "sickness behaviors, " such as

The aim of this review is to summarize the incidence, prevalence, trend in mortality, and general prognosis of coronary heart disease (CHD) and a related condition, acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Although CHD mortality has gradually declined over the last decades in western countries, this condition still causes about one-third of all deaths in people older than 35 years. This evidence, along with the fact that mortality from CHD is expected to continue increasing in developing countries, illustrates the need for implementing effective primary prevention approaches worldwide and identifying risk groups and areas for possible improvement.

The first part of this article intends to give an applicable framework for the evaluation of endurance capacity as well as for the derivation of exercise prescription by the use of two gas exchange thresholds: aerobic (AerTGE) and anaerobic (AnTGE). AerT GE corresponds to the first increase in blood lactate during incremental exercise whereas AnTGE approximates the maximal lactate steady state. With very few constraints, they are valid in competitive athletes, sedentary subjects, and patients. In the second part of the paper, the practical application of gas exchange thresholds in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies is described, thereby further validating the 2-threshold model. It is shown that AerTGE and AnTGE can reliably distinguish between different states of endurance capacity and that they can well detect training-induced changes. Factors influencing their relationship to the maximal oxygen uptake are discussed. Finally, some approaches of using gas exchange thresholds for exercise prescription in athletes, healthy subjects, and chronically diseased patients are addressed.

Despite strong scientific evidence supporting the benefits of regular exercise for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD), physical inactivity is highly prevalent worldwide. In addition to merely changing well-known risk factors for systemic CVD, regular exercise can also improve cardiovascular health through non-traditional mechanisms. Understanding the pathways through which exercise influences different physiological systems is important and might yield new therapeutic strategies to target pathophysiological mechanisms in CVD. This Review includes a critical discussion of how regular exercise can have antiatherogenic effects in the vasculature, improve autonomic balance (thereby reducing the risk of malignant arrhythmias), and induce cardioprotection against ischaemia-reperfusion injury, independent of effects on traditional CVD risk factors. This Review also describes how exercise promotes a healthy anti-inflammatory milieu (largely through the release of muscle-derived myokines), stimulates myocardial regeneration, and ameliorates age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, a frequently overlooked non-traditional CVD risk factor. Finally, we discuss how the benefits of exercise might also occur via promotion of a healthy gut microbiota. We argue, therefore, that a holistic view of all body systems is necessary and useful when analysing the role of exercise in cardiovascular health.