A role for serotonin in male sexual preference was recently uncovered by our finding that male mutant mice lacking serotonin have lost sexual preference. Here we show that female mouse mutants lacking either central serotonergic neurons or serotonin prefer female over male genital odors when given a choice, and displayed ...

Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS) is a hereditary autoimmune disease, which clinically and pathogenetically overlaps with SLE and therefore can be regarded as a monogenic variant of SLE. Both conditions are characterized by chronic activation of antiviral type I IFN responses. AGS can be caused by mutations in one of several genes ...

Circadian clocks generate daily rhythms in molecular, cellular, and physiological functions providing temporal dimension to organismal homeostasis. Recent evidence suggests two-way relationship between circadian clocks and aging. While disruption of the circadian clock leads to premature aging in animals, there is also age-related dampening of output rhythms such as sleep/wake ...

Subclones homozygous for JAK2V617F are more common and larger in patients with polycythemia vera compared to essential thrombocythemia, but their role in determining phenotype remains unclear. We genotyped 4564 erythroid colonies from 59 patients with polycythemia vera or essential thrombocythemia to investigate whether the proportion of JAK2V617F -homozygous precursors, compared ...

Organismal lifespan has been the primary readout in aging research. However, how longevity genes control tissue-specific aging remains an open question. To examine the crosstalk between longevity programs and specific tissues during aging, biomarkers of organ-specific aging are urgently needed. Since the earliest signs of aging occur in the skin, ...

Growth hormone (GH) is a key determinant of postnatal growth and plays an important role in the control of metabolism and body composition. Surprisingly, deficiency in GH signaling delays aging and remarkably extends longevity in laboratory mice. In GH-deficient and GH-resistant animals, the "healthspan" is also extended with delays in ...

BackgroundGitelman syndrome (GS) is a rare inherited disorder caused by mutations in SLC12A3, encoding the thiazide-sensitive transporter NCCT (sodium chloride co-transporter) in the distal tubule. It is characterized by renal potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) wasting, relative hypotension and hypocalciuria. However, there is phenotypic variability and long-term studies are scarce.MethodsWe ...

Myricetin is a naturally occurring flavonol found in many plant based food sources. It increases the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans, but the molecular mechanisms are not yet fully understood. We have investigated the impact of this flavonoid on the transcription factors DAF-16 (C. elegans FoxO homologue) and SKN-1 (Nrf2 homologue), ...

Shortening of telomeres, which are essential for maintenance of genomic integrity, is a mechanism commonly associated with the aging process. Here we ascertained whether changes in telomere lengths or telomerase activity correlated with age in normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC), or with phenotypes of aging in breast. Accordingly, flow ...

Age-related osteoporosis is characterized by a decrease in bone-forming capacity mediated by defects in the number and function of osteoblasts. An important cellular mechanism which may in part explain osteoblast dysfunction that occurs with aging is senescence of mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs). In the telomere-based Wrn(-/-) Terc(-/-) model of accelerated ...

Adenosine (ADO) released in the heart results in enhanced coronary blood flow and reduced catecholamine release and myocardial responsiveness to adrenergic stimulation (anti-adrenergic action). ADO release from the adrenergic-stimulated aged heart is less than that from the young adult heart. Because adrenergic signaling in the aged heart is impaired, this ...

Small non-coding microRNAs are believed to be involved in the mechanism of aging but nothing is known on the impact of microRNAs in the progeroid disorder Werner syndrome (WS). WS is a premature aging disorder caused by mutations in a RecQ-like DNA helicase. Mice lacking the helicase domain of the ...

BACKGROUND: Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in children and young adults. This study determined the incidence, etiology, and outcomes of cardiovascular-related out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in individuals less than age 35. METHODS AND RESULTS: A retrospective cohort of OHCA in children and young adults from 1980 ...

Altered Ca(2+) handling may be responsible for the development of cardiac contractile dysfunctions with advanced age. In the present study, we investigated the roles of oxidative damage to sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and expression of Ca(2+)-ATPase (SERCA 2a) and phospholamban in age-associated dysfunction of cardiac SR. SR vesicles were prepared from ...

Fixed-dose combined isosorbide dinitrate/hydralazine (FDC I/H) significantly improved outcomes in patients with advanced heart failure (HF) receiving background neurohormonal therapy in the African-American Heart Failure Trial (A-HeFT). In this analysis, we investigated treatment effects by age <65 or ≥65 years. Time-to-event curves were produced by the Kaplan-Meier method. Hazard ratios ...

BACKGROUND: In Parkinson's disease (PD), alpha-synuclein (AS) aggregates occur frequently in peripheral autonomic nervous system (pANS). Their presence in asymptomatic subjects suggests incidental Lewy-body disease (iLBD) that is thought to reflect pre-clinical PD. Cardiac involvement has been detected in post-mortem studies in both, PD and also in iLBD. In vivo documentation ...

Previous reports indicate that the "athlete's heart" is more prominent in males than females, but the mechanisms responsible for this sex difference have not been elucidated. This study examined male-female differences in cardiac mass and volume in highly trained athletes and normally active individuals to assess the relative contributions of ...

Historically, sub-Saharan Africa has reported low levels of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). However as these populations undergo epidemiological transition, this may change. This was an observational cohort study performed at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa. As part of the Heart of Soweto study, a clinical registry captured ...

ObjectiveIn recent analyses of data from a large community sample, negative cross-sectional and prospective associations between cardiac stress reactivity and obesity were observed. The present study reexamined the association between cardiovascular reactivity and adiposity in the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort, with the additional aim of examining the association between cortisol ...

BACKGROUND: Alterations in heart rate variability (HRV) are a potential link between exposure to traffic-related air pollution and cardiovascular mortality. OBJECTIVES: We investigated whether long-term exposure to traffic-related PM(10) (TPM(10)) is associated with HRV in older subjects and/or in participants taking specific cardiovascular treatment or with self-reported heart disease. METHODS: ...

PURPOSE: The effect of advanced age per se versus severity of chronic and acute diseases on the short- and long-term survival of older patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) remains unclear. METHODS: Intensive care unit admissions to the surgical ICU and medical ICU of patients older than 65 years were ...

Aging hallmarks include decreased progenitor cell functions. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway has emerged as a key player in cellular aging in recent years. Wnt activity changes in aged tissues including skin, serum, muscle and artery. In heart, it is hypothesized that Wnt signaling increases with aging and this signaling drives ...

Sudden Cardiac Death. Introduction: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a large public health problem that warrants on-going evaluation in the general population. While single-year community-based studies have been performed there is a lack of studies that have extended evaluation to multiple years in the same community. Methods and Results: From ...

The prevalence of heart failure (HF) among hospitalized elderly patients is high and steadily growing. However, because most studies have focused mostly on young patients, little is known about the clinical characteristics, echocardiographic measures, prognostic factors, and outcome of hospitalized elderly HF patients. We identified all HF patients aged ≥50 ...

Cardiac rehabilitation improves function and compliance and also reduces morbidity and mortality in female and male cardiovascular disease patients but remains significantly underutilized. At every age, and especially in their senior years, female cardiovascular disease patients are under-referred relative to men. Lack of standardized referral processes, misconceptions by physicians and ...

BACKGROUND: -Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is an important clinical tool for serial follow-up of patients with congenital heart disease, but normative data for great vessel dimensions in pediatric subjects are scarce. We investigated ascending aortic (AO) and main pulmonary artery (MPA) dimensions in normal children and young adults in ...

Longitudinal myocardial function has gained more interest in the last years. The mitral annular plane systolic excursion (MAPSE) is an echocardiographic measurement to assess left ventricular (LV) long-axis function in adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate MAPSE values in a healthy pediatric population and to propose reference ...

Alterations at the level of the coronary circulation with aging may play an important role in the evolution of age-associated changes in left ventricular (LV) fibrosis and function. However these age-associated changes in the coronary vasculature remain poorly defined primarily due to the lack of high resolution imaging technologies. The ...

The epicardial halo delineates the heart shadow in fluoroscopy. To establish whether the sign is applicable to pericardiocentesis guidance, three investigators evaluated its intensity as absent = grade 0, indistinct = 0.5, clear = 1, intensive = 2 in posterior-anterior (PA) and lateral fluoroscopies recorded before pericardiocentesis or cardiac catheterization (Philips Integris-II BH3000). Three populations were studied: (a) ...

BACKGROUND: T-wave inversion in right precordial leads V(1)-V(3) is a relatively common finding in a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) of children and adolescents and is infrequently found also in healthy adults. However, this ECG pattern can also be the first presentation of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). The prevalence and prognostic ...

Heart rate variability (HRV) and phase-rectified signal averaging (PRSA) estimates of heart rate dynamics are diminished in older people compared with younger people. However, it is not fully elucidated whether these differences are related to age per se or to the concomitant influence of aerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness (peak oxygen ...

Growth, gravidity and lactation put high demands on the performance of the myocardium. The aim of this study, which was performed in 40 female and 20 male bovines ranging from 1 to 4.5 years old, was to determine gross and microscopic morphometric data of bovine myocardium to establish a comparative measure ...

To identify the basic values of heart rate variability in Pakistani population and to verify our hypothesis that there are gender differences in cardiovascular autonomic modulation. The descriptive cross sectional study based on convenience probability sampling was conducted at Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology/National Institute of Heart Diseases (AFIC/NIHD) Pakistan. ...

Studies in humans and in mice have highlighted the importance of short telomeres and impaired mitochondrial function in driving age-related functional decline in the heart. Although telomere and mitochondrial dysfunction have been viewed mainly in isolation, recent studies in telomerase-deficient mice have provided evidence for an intimate link between these ...

Old age is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Several lines of evidence in experimental animal models have indicated the central role of mitochondria both in lifespan determination and in cardiovascular aging. In this article we review the evidence supporting the role of mitochondrial oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage and ...

The prevalence of cardiovascular disease increases with advancing age. Although long-term exposure to cardiovascular risk factors plays a major role in the etiopathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, intrinsic cardiac aging enhances the susceptibility to developing heart pathologies in late life. The progressive decline of cardiomyocyte mitochondrial function is considered a major ...

Aims:  To estimate the annual mortality and the cost of hospital admissions for acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) for New Zealand residents. Methods:  Hospital admissions in 2000-2009 with a principal diagnosis of ARF or RHD (ICD9_AM 390-398; ICD10-AM I00-I099) and deaths in 2000-2007 with RHD as ...

The experiments investigated the effect of age upon atrial electrophysiological properties in Scn5a(+/-) hearts used to model corresponding increases in atrial arrhythmic tendency in human Brugada Syndrome. Atrial action potential initiation, propagation and recovery were compared in young (3 month) and aged (12 month), wild-type (WT) and Scn5a(+/-) hearts. Thus: ...

Tetralogy of Fallot is the most common cyanotic congenital heart defect and accounts for about 5% of all congenital cardiopathies. The definitive treatment modality for tetralogy of Fallot is reparative surgery, which is recommended to be performed by the time of diagnosis. Without surgical repair, most patients would die during ...

Digoxin usage has decreased in the treatment of congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation as a result of its inferiority to beta-adrenergic inhibitors and agents that interfere with the deleterious effects of the activated renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. As a result of reduction of usage and dosage, glycoside toxicity has become an ...

To compare the effectiveness of age-based formula (ABF) and height-based formula (HBF) for pediatric cardiac patients, including patients with failure to thrive (FTT). In a retrospective study of 260 cardiac patients that included those with failure to thrive, aged 2 to 7 years was done. The actual uncuffed endotracheal tube ...

The incidence of heart failure (HF) increases with age. This study sought to determine whether aging exacerbates structural and functional remodeling of the myocardium in HF. HF was induced in young (~18months) and aged sheep (>8years) by right ventricular tachypacing. In non-paced animals, aging was associated with increased left ventricular ...

Unlike young hearts, aged hearts are highly susceptible to early afterdepolarization (EAD)-mediated ventricular fibrillation (VF). This differential may result from age-related structural remodeling (fibrosis) or electrical remodeling of ventricular myocytes or both. We used optical mapping and microelectrode recordings in Langendorff-perfused hearts and patch-clamp recordings in isolated ventricular myocytes from ...

Mechanical valve replacement is associated with complications, however, there is little information on the quality of life (QOL) of octogenarians who had undergone mechanical valve replacement at a relatively younger age. We examined survival, valve-related events, and the QOL of octogenarians who had undergone mechanical valve replacement. A total of ...

BACKGROUND: Primary hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common feline heart disease and has been demonstrated to be inherited in some breeds. However, few studies have compared HCM phenotypes and survival according to breed. OBJECTIVES: To compare epidemiological characteristics, clinical findings, left ventricular (LV) geometric patterns, and survival in several ...

Background: Old age and dyslipidemia increase the occurrence of atrial tachyarrhythmias (ATR). This study investigated the effect of age and hypercholesterolemia on the atrial substrates for ATR. Methods: Five 3-year-old rabbits fed standard chow were categorized into an old-age group, five 3-month-old rabbits fed high cholesterol chow were used as ...

BACKGROUND: Some authors have suggested that sports activity can increase the risk of atrial fibrillation in healthy middle-aged men. Therefore, sport activity, although it prevents coronary artery disease, might be the cause of a potentially dangerous arrhythmia. METHODS: To verify this assumption, we critically analyzed the current literature including original ...

The natural aging process results in the physiological decline of multiple tissues and organ systems. Changes commonly occur with middle age and include decreased skeletal muscle mass, bone mineral density, cardiac output, insulin sensitivity and increased adiposity, all of which can contribute to the onset of sarcopenia, osteoporosis, heart failure ...

BACKGROUND: Right ventricular (RV) failure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), but the longitudinal course of RV volumes through staged palliation (SP) has not been previously investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate RV volume and function longitudinally ...

OBJECTIVE: Shallow chest compressions and incomplete recoil are common during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and negatively affect outcomes. A step stool has the potential to alter these parameters when performing CPR in a bed but the impact has not been quantified. METHODS: We conducted a cross-over design, simulated study of in-hospital ...