Background: Alterations in the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) have been described in left ventricular hypertrophy and failure, although results have been inconsistent. The role of the UPS in right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) and failure (RVF) is unknown. Given the greater percent increase in RV mass associated with RV afterload stress, as ...

Objectives: Disappearance of left ventricular hypertrabeculation (LVHT) over time has been occasionally recognized, but absence on echocardiography and autopsy and presence on histological examination after autopsy has not been reported. Methods: Routine investigations such as chocardiography, cardiac MRI and coronary angiography were applied. Autopsy studies included macroscopic inspection and dissection ...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs of ~22 nucleotides which act as down regulators of gene expression in the post-transcription level and/or in the translation level. Several studies have shown that the process of their maturation is rather crucial for the development of cardiovascular system thus their regulation (up-,down-) is implicated ...

MicroRNAs are a class of evolutionarily small non-coding RNAs of 19 to 25 nucleotides in length, that represent one of the most exciting areas of current medical science as they can regulate a complex regulatory network of gene expression and physiologic processes including differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis in a highly ...

The increasing prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) as well as its' monitoring remain the crucial problems and fields of long debate. Thus, several circulating biomarkers have been found during the last decade and examined in terms of their potential to assist in the prognosis of CAD. Of great interest, ...

Cardiac remodelling is a major determinant of heart failure (HF) and is characterised by cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, oxidative stress and myocytes apoptosis. Hesperetin, which belongs to the flavonoid subgroup of citrus flavonoids, is the main flavonoid in oranges and possesses multiple pharmacological properties. However, its role in cardiac remodelling remains ...

AIMS: Low prevalence of detectable cardiac troponin in healthy people and low-risk patients previously curtailed its use. With a new high-sensitive cardiac troponin assay (hs-cTnT), concentrations below conventional detection may have prognostic value, notably in combination with N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP). METHODS AND RESULTS: Biomarker concentrations were determined from ...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy of a three-dimensional dual phase (3D DP) whole-heart technique for cardiac volumetric assessment in pediatric patients with cardiac abnormalities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The institutional approved this study, and informed consent was obtained from patients or their guardians. This prospective study involved 31 pediatric patients (mean ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate myocardial findings of F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT) after thoracic radiotherapy. METHODS: F-Fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT examination was performed in 38 patients at least 4 months after radiotherapy. Patients with known cardiac diseases, high cardiovascular risk factors, or diabetes mellitus were excluded. RESULTS: ...

BACKGROUND:: Cardiac dysfunction is a well-known complication of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). However, the clinical significance of cardiac complications is largely unknown. OBJECTIVE:: To determine whether cardiac complications are independently related to outcomes, and to identify potential predictors associated with these complications. METHODS:: We extracted all hospitalizations for aSAH from ...

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the relationship between fibrosis imaged by delayed enhancement (DE) MRI and atrial electrograms in persistent atrial fibrillation. BACKGROUND: Atrial fractionated electrograms (CFAE) are strongly related to slow anisotropic conduction. Their relationship to atrial fibrosis has not yet been investigated. METHODS: Atrial high resolution MRI of 18 patients ...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: A variety of cardiac magnetic resonance indexes predict mid-term prognosis in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients. The extent of transmural necrosis permits simple and accurate prediction of systolic recovery. However, its long-term prognostic value beyond a comprehensive clinical and cardiac magnetic resonance evaluation is unknown. We hypothesized ...

By the time it was appreciated that the positive inotropic effect of cardiac glycosides is due to inhibition of the membrane Na(+)-K(+) pump, glycosides had been used for treatment of heart failure on an empiric basis for ~200 years. The subsequent documentation of their lack of clinical efficacy and possible ...

Rationale: CD73 (ecto-5'-nucleotidase) on immune cells is emerging as critical pathway and therapeutic target in cardiovascular and autoimmune disorders. Objective: Here we investigated the role of CD73 in post infarction inflammation, cardiac repair and remodelling in mice after reperfused myocardial infarction (50 min ischemia). Methods and Results: We found that ...

Noncompaction refers to an uncommon structural abnormality of the heart's ventricular myocardium characterized by an abnormally thick layer of left ventricular trabeculations, as well as hypoplastic papillary muscles. The condition is associated with a variable clinical phenotype including heart failure, thromboembolism, and sudden death. In this retrospective study of fetal ...

Congenital heart diseases are some of the most common human birth defects. Though some congenital heart defects can be surgically corrected, treatment options for other congenital heart diseases are very limited. In many congenital heart diseases, genetic defects lead to impaired embryonic heart development or growth. One of the key ...

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is effective for the treatment of patients with heart failure and a wide QRS duration, particularly left bundle branch block. However, subjects with right bundle branch block (RBBB) do not appear to benefit from CRT. The aim of this study was to determine whether patients with ...

INTRODUCTION: Left ventricular non-compaction is a rare congenital heart disease, and is most commonly diagnosed via two-dimensional echocardiography according to echocardiographic criteria. Recently, transthoracic three-dimensional echocardiography has become available in the clinical setting. CASE PRESENTATION: We present two isolated cases of left ventricular non-compaction from Japan (in an 84-year-old woman ...

Nitric oxide (NO) is often used to treat heart failure accompanied with pulmonary edema. According to present knowledge, however, NO donors are contraindicated when systolic blood pressure is less than 90 mmHg. Based on recent findings and our own clinical experience, we formulated a hypothesis about the new breakthrough complex ...

BACKGROUND: Few works have evaluated the effect of statins on left ventricular dysfunction in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), by using tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). We therefore aimed to investigate whether atorvastatin treatment may influence prognosis and myocardial performance evaluated by TDI in subjects with CHF. METHODS: Five hundred ...

Three separate venous systems drain the blood returning from the heart walls. These veins are characterised by remarkable variability in terms of frequency, size and course. The knowledge of cardiac venous anatomy is of primary importance during interventional cardiac procedures that require catheterisation of cardiac veins. Some anatomical variants may ...

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the efficacy of radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in the evaluation of cardiac outcome in optimally treated diabetic patients without manifestations of coronary artery disease (CAD) in relation to the inherent clinical risk. METHODS: Follow-up data were collected from 86 diabetic patients who had undergone adenosine ...

The emergence of implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) as a clinically proven measure for preventing sudden cardiac death has resulted in the need to incorporate more complex algorithms than those previously seen in pacemakers alone. These have been designed to ensure the requirements for pacing are met without impinging on the ...

Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained arrhythmia. Because of its potentially serious clinical consequences (heart failure, stroke, and cognitive impairment), atrial fibrillation has important socioeconomic and health implications. This article reviews the major studies on the epidemiology of atrial fibrillation in Spain. Recent data suggest that in people older ...

Non-coding RNAs, especially microRNAs (miRNAs), have been recently found to play a major role in the post-transcriptional regulation of both development and dysfunction of the cardiovascular system. Mechanistically, the induction or repression of miRNAs occurring in cardiovascular dysfunction triggers downstream cardiac events in a cell-type-specific manner. More importantly, the endogenous ...

A 58-year-old Japanese female was referred to our hospital. Although the electrocardiogram showed ST elevation, coronary angiography showed intact coronary artery. We diagnosed Takotsubo cardiomyopathy and a left ventricular thrombus. Anticoagulation was administered; however, the left ventricular thrombus had become mobile and protrusive. We extirpated the left ventricular thrombus via ...

We present the case of a 66 year old male who presented with dyspnea and reduced exercise tolerance. Echocardiography demonstrated impaired left ventricular (LV) function and restrictive diastolic function with pronounced concentric left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) without a history of hypertension and no aortic valve stenosis. Differential diagnostics of concentric ...

BACKGROUND: In this research, an extension to our previous work published in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine in 2009, we studied subjects that differed in terms of age and training status and assessed the impact of prolonged exercise on systolic and left ventricular diastolic function and cardiac biomarkers levels, ...

AIMS: While chronic alterations in cardiac triacylglycerol (TAG) metabolism and accumulation are associated with cardiomyopathy, it is unclear whether TAG catabolizing enzymes such as adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) play a role in acquired cardiomyopathies. Importantly, germline deletion of ATGL leads to marked cardiac steatosis and heart failure in part through ...

Biomarkers play an important role in heart failure. They provide us information about the mechanisms involved in specific types of heart failure and can identify patients at higher risk. Although the majority of biomarker studies in heart failure focus on their prognostic value, the clinical applicability of prognostication in heart ...

Several lines of evidence suggest that proteasomes are involved in multiple aspects of myocardial physiology and pathology, including myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. It is well established that the 26S proteasome is an ATP dependent enzyme and that ischemic heart disease is associated with changes in the ATP content of the cardiomyocyte. ...

BACKGROUND: The natural history of myopericarditis/perimyocarditis is poorly known and recently published data have presented contrasting data on their outcomes. The aim of the present article is to assess their prognosis in a multicenter, prospective cohort study. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 486 patients (median age 39 years, range ...

[RATIONALE] Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist exendin-4 (Ex-4) is a remedy for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Ex-4 ameliorates cardiac dysfunction induced by myocardial infarction in preclinical and clinical settings. However, it remains unclear whether Ex-4 may modulate diabetic cardiomyopathy. [METHODS AND RESULTS] We tested the impact of Ex-4 on ...

High myocardial diastolic stiffness has usually been attributed to excessive myocardial collagen deposition. Over the last decennium stiff cardiomyocytes were also identified as important contributors to high myocardial diastolic stiffness especially in heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF)(1-3). Cardiomyocyte stiffness relates to elasticity of the giant cytoskeletal protein ...

BACKGROUND: -Despite improvements in the care of patients who have received cardiac transplants, coronary allograft vasculopathy (CAV) remains the most prevalent cause of late allograft failure and cardiac mortality. Few proven therapies are available for this important disease. The presence of coronary collaterals imparts a favorable prognosis in patients with ...

Objectives: A prolonged QRS duration has been associated with an unfavorable prognosis in chronic compensated heart failure (HF). However, its predictive value during an admission for acute HF is limited, even in HF with a preserved ejection fraction (EF). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic utility ...

Objectives: Coronary artery disease (CAD)-associated ischemic heart failure is characterized by dysregulated gene expression which is partly mediated by microRNAs (miRNAs). While the muscle-specific miR-1 and miR-133 are involved in cardiac development and hypertrophy, their role in heart failure resulting from CAD is unknown. We, therefore, tested the hypothesis that ...

Rapid accumulation of pericardial fluid can lead to tamponade, resulting in cardiac chambers' collapse, which can lead to hemodynamic and clinical instability, potentially needing emergent pericardiocentesis. Pleural effusion should also be considered as a potential, if rare, cause of cardiac chambers' collapse and possibly cardiac tamponade. This phenomenon has clinical ...

Secondary mitral regurgitation (MR) has been extensively studied in heart failure due to reduced ejection fraction. In contrast, the occurrence and the pathogenesis of secondary MR are much less known in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The present review aimed at describing this common but ignored feature of ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the frequency and common locations of myocardial fat and its associated factors using coronary CT angiography (CCTA) in patients without cardiac disease. METHODS: Using CCTA findings for 298 consecutive patients without cardiac disease, we categorized the myocardium into nine locations, scored fat in those locations, and correlated ...

Abstract Objective: To compare cardiac function between fetuses with and without intracardiac echogenic foci (IEFs) by conventional echocardiography and tissue Doppler (TD) imaging. Methods: Fetuses having IEF and no additional cardiac or extracardiac anomaly between 20 and 28 weeks (median 22 weeks) of gestation (n = 61) were compared with healthy fetuses ...

AIMS: The importance of specific-site pacing is increasingly recognized in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Using current pacing technology, site selection is still largely limited by coronary vein anatomy, whereas left ventricular (LV) endocardial pacing using current lead technology is risky and challenging. To overcome limitations and complications with current LV ...

OBJECTIVE: Anthracyclines such as doxorubicin are an effective class of antineoplastic agents. Despite its efficacy in the treatment of a variety of cancers, the clinical use of doxorubicin is limited by cardiac side effects. While it has been suggested that doxorubicin alters myocardial fatty acid metabolism, it is poorly understood ...

A 38 year old female with a known history of rheumatic heart disease for 10 years presented with a history of breathlessness, dysphagia and hoarseness of voice for 6 months. On physical examination she had pan systolic murmur at apical area. Electrocardiogram showed atrial fibrillation. Chest radiography in posteroanterior view ...

Approximately half of heart failure patients have a normal ejection fraction, a condition designated as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). This heart failure subtype disproportionately affects women and the elderly and is commonly associated with other cardiovascular comorbidities, such as hypertension and diabetes. HFpEF is increasing at a ...

In this issue of Circulation, two studies examine the value (cost-effectiveness) of two rapidly changing technologies: ventricular assist devices (VADs) as a bridge to transplant for patients with heart failure, and left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion as an alternative to anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation. Both heart failure and atrial fibrillation ...

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) has a pivotal role in the pathogenesis and maintenance of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Catheter-based renal denervation (RDN) is associated with a reduction of central sympathetic activity, muscle sympathetic nerve activity, and blood pressure in resistant hypertension. As renal afferent nerves are regulators of central ...

Pharmacological treatment of atrial fibrillation in the context of heart failure poses numerous challenges. Management decisions are limited by contraindications to several drugs and the paucity of robust clinical trials that provide evidence-based guidance. This review proposes a structured action plan for managing atrial fibrillation coexisting with heart failure that ...

BACKGROUND: POSTPROCEDURAL MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION (TYPE 4A) HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE AN ADVERSE PROGNOSTIC INDICATOR AFTER ELECTIVE PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTION (PCI). THE CARDIAC REMOTE ISCHEMIC PRECONDITIONING IN CORONARY STENTING (CRISP STENT) STUDY DEMONSTRATED THAT REMOTE ISCHEMIC PRECONDITIONING REDUCED PROCEDURAL SYMPTOMS, ECG ST-SEGMENT DEVIATION, AND CARDIAC TROPONIN I RELEASE AFTER ELECTIVE ...

The SRY-related HMG-box 5 (SOX5) gene encodes a member of the SOX family of transcription factors. Recently, genome-wide association studies have implicated SOX5 as a candidate gene for susceptibility to four cardiac-related endophenotypes: higher resting heart rate (RHR), the electrocardiographic PR interval, atrial fibrillation (AF) and left ventricular mass (LVM). ...