According to the World Health Report (2000 http: / /www. who. int/whr), of the 55 million deaths worldwide in 1999, more than 16 million were secondary to car- diovascular complications. With the prospect of world population increasing from the current level of 6 billion to 9 billion by the middle of this century, the burden of cardiac disease is going to increase astronomically. Furthermore, scientists are being challenged not only to reduce mortality,...