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  • Editorial: Shedding light on the “smoker's paradox”

    Smoking is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease and the leading modifiable cause of death and disability worldwide [  ]. Smoking is also linked to several malignancies, peripheral arterial disease, cerebrovascular accidents, sudden cardiac death, aortic and coronary aneurysms, and other vascular pathologies [  ,  ]. The key pathophysiological mechanisms by which smoking causes cardiovascular and other illnesses is the initiation of atherogenesis, endothelial dysfunction with a reduction in nitric oxide release and bioavailability, augmented platelet aggregability, increased blood viscosity, oxidation of atherogenic lipids (low-density lipoprotein), increase in oxidative stress, decrease in high-density lipoprotein, induction of chronic inflammatory milieu (increase in white blood cells and C-reactive protein), increased homocysteine levels, insulin resistance, and a shift toward procoagulant state in the circulatory system [  ].

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