Comprehensive exploration of unexplained dyspnoea in subjects with normal ejection fraction and low natriuretic peptides.

Background: Unexplained exertional dyspnoea without significant elevation of natriuretic peptides is common. One of the causes might be early heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Aims: This study aimed to characterize patients with exertional dyspnoea and normal/near-to-normal N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels with regard to early stages of HFpEF and non-cardiac causes.

Clinical outcomes for 2788 patients with transthyretin amyloidosis: Tafamidis meglumine early access program in France.

Background: Early access experience in France with tafamidis meglumine, a selective transthyretin stabilizer for transthyretin-related amyloidosis cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), following transthyretin-related amyloidosis (ATTR) polyneuropathy approval and positive ATTR-ACT study results.

Aim: To describe the characteristics and clinical outcomes for patients in the French ATTR-CM tafamidis meglumine early access programme (28 Nov 2018 to 01 Jun 2021).

Methods: Patients with confirmed ATTR-CM received tafamidis meglumine 20mg/day or 80mg/day.

Cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction after radiation therapy for breast cancer: results from the BACCARAT cohort study.

Background: Radiation therapy (RT) for breast cancer (BC) can result in subtle cardiac dysfunction that can occur early after treatment. In 2022, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) published the first guidelines in cardio-oncology with a harmonized definition of cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD). The aim of this study was to evaluate CTRCD occurrence over 24 months of follow-up after RT in BC patients and to analyze the association with cardiac radiation exposure.

The D-HCM score, a new diagnostic tool for distinguishing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from hypertensive cardiopathy.

Aim: The diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) with moderate hypertrophy is challenging. Hypertensive heart disease (HHD) is the most common differential diagnosis that mimics the LVH of HCM. The aim of this study was to compare the QRS duration in HCM and HHD to create a novel diagnostic tool to identify primary HCM.

Descriptive study of the clinical and myocardial status of a population with anatomopathological aortic valve amyloidosis.

Background: Aortic stenosis (AS) and transthyretin (ATTR) cardiac amyloidosis (CA) share the same clinical profiles and cardiac phenotype. Amyloid deposits have been frequently reported in aortic valves of patients with severe AS referred for surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). The aim of this study was to determine the clinical and myocardial status of patients with aortic valve amyloidosis after aortic valve surgery.

Identification of Prominin-2 as a new player of cardiomyocyte senescence in the aging heart.

The aging heart is characterized by a number of structural changes leading to ventricular stiffness, impaired resistance to stress and increased risk of developing heart failure (HF). Genetic or pharmacological removal of senescent cells has recently demonstrated the possibility to relieve some cardiac aging features such as hypertrophy and fibrosis. However, the contribution of the different cell types in cardiac aging remains fragmentary due to a lack of cell-specific markers.

On the Supposed Mass of Entropy and That of Information.

In the theory of special relativity, energy can be found in two forms: kinetic energy and rest mass. The potential energy of a body is actually stored in the form of rest mass, the interaction energy too, but temperature is not. Information acquired about a dynamical system can be potentially used to extract useful work from it.

Transthyretin amyloid polyneuropathy in France: A cross-sectional study with 413 patients and real-world tafamidis meglumine use (2009-2019).

Objective: We aimed to describe characteristics of patients with ATTR variant polyneuropathy (ATTRv-PN) and ATTRv-mixed and assess the real-world use and safety profile of tafamidis meglumine 20mg.

Methods: Thirty-eight French hospitals were invited. Patient files were reviewed to identify clinical manifestations, diagnostic methods, and treatment compliance.

Catheter ablation of atrial arrhythmias in cardiac amyloidosis: Impact on heart failure and mortality.

Background: Atrial arrhythmias (AA) commonly affect patients with cardiac amyloidosis (CA) and are a contributing risk factor for the development of heart failure (HF). This study sought to investigate the long-term efficacy and impact of catheter ablation on HF progression in patients with CA and AA.

Methods: Thirty-one patients with CA and AA undergoing catheter ablation were retrospectively included (transthyretin-ATTR CA 61% and light chain-AL CA 39%).

Towards etiological treatments in cardiomyopathies.

This review proposes to look at the evolution of cardiomyopathy treatments in the light of advances in diagnostic techniques, which have enabled to move from a mechanistic to a phenotypic and then etiological approach. The article goes beyond the ejection fraction approach, and look at new therapies that target the pathophysiological pathways of cardiomyopathies, either by targeting the phenotype, or by targeting the etiology. The evolution of HCM treatments is detailed, culminating in the latest etiological treatments such as mavacamten in sarcomeric HCM, tafamidis in transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis and migalastat in Fabry disease.

Frailty in Older Patients with Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis.

Background-Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CA) prevalence increases with age. The interplay between frailty and heart failure has been increasingly recognized. The objective of this study is to compare clinical, biological, and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) characteristics of older ATTR-CA patients according to the G8 frailty screening tool.

Incidence and survival of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy from a French nationwide study of in- and out-patient databases.

Background: Precise data about ATTR-CM incidence rates at national level are scarce. Consequently, this study aimed to estimate the annual incidence and survival of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) in France between 2011 and 2019 using real world data. We used the French nationwide exhaustive data (SNDS database) gathering in- and out-patient claims.

Electrical surface properties of nanoporous alumina membranes: influence of nanochannels' curvature, roughness and composition studied electrokinetic experiments.

Among classical nanoporous oxide membranes, anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes, made of non-connected, parallel and ordered nanochannels, are very interesting nanoporous model systems widely used for multiple applications. Since most of these applications involve local phenomena at the nanochannel surface, the fine description of the electrical surface behavior in aqueous solution is thus of primordial interest. Here, we use an original experimental approach combining several electrokinetic techniques (tangential and transverse streaming potential as well as electrophoretic mobility experiments) to measure the -potential and determine the surface isoelectric points (IEPs) of several AAOs having different characteristic sizes and compositions.

Thermodynamical versus Logical Irreversibility: A Concrete Objection to Landauer's Principle.

Landauer's principle states that the logical irreversibility of an operation, such as erasing one bit, whatever its physical implementation, necessarily implies its thermodynamical irreversibility. In this paper, a very simple counterexample of physical implementation (that uses a two-to-one relation between logic and thermodynamic states) is given that allows one bit to be erased in a thermodynamical quasistatic manner (i.e.

IPSC derived cardiac fibroblasts of DMD patients show compromised actin microfilaments, metabolic shift and pro-fibrotic phenotype.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe form of muscular dystrophy caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. We characterized which isoforms of dystrophin were expressed by human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiac fibroblasts obtained from control and DMD patients. Distinct dystrophin isoforms were observed; however, highest molecular weight isoform was absent in DMD patients carrying exon deletions or mutations in the dystrophin gene.