Exercise Intolerance in McArdle Disease: A Role for Cardiac Impairment? A Preliminary Study in Humans and Mice.

Introduction: Whether cardiac impairment can be fully discarded in McArdle disease-the paradigm of "exercise intolerance," caused by inherited deficiency of the skeletal muscle-specific glycogen phosphorylase isoform ("myophosphorylase")-remains to be determined.

Methods: Eight patients with McArdle disease and seven age/sex-matched controls performed a 15-min moderate, constant-load cycle-ergometer exercise bout followed by a maximal ramp test. Electrocardiographic and two-dimensional transthoracic (for cardiac dimension's assessment) and speckle tracking (for left ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS) assessments) echocardiographic evaluations were performed at baseline.

Aortic Diameters and Calcifications in Former World-Class Cyclists.

Purpose: Concerns on whether athletes--particularly older ones--are at an increased risk of pathological aortic dilation exist, and the prevalence of aortic calcifications in these individuals is unknown. We aimed to compare the dimensions, distensibility, and prevalence of calcifications in the thoracic aorta between former male professional cyclists (cases) and sex/age-matched controls.

Methods: We used a retrospective cohort design, where cases were former finishers of at least one Grand Tour (Tour de France, Giro d' Italia or Vuelta a España) and controls were untrained individuals with no previous sports history and free of cardiovascular risk.

Reference ventricular dimensions and function parameters by cardiovascular magnetic resonance in highly trained Caucasian athletes.

Background: Data regarding cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) reference values in athletes have not been well determined yet. Using CMR normal reference values derived from the general population may be misleading in athletes and may have clinical implications.

Aims: To determine reference ventricular dimensions and function parameters and ratios by CMR in high performance athletes.

Myocardial Fibrosis and Coronary Calcifications Caused by Endurance Exercise? Insights from Former Professional Cyclists.

Purpose: This study aimed to compare the prevalence of myocardial fibrosis and coronary calcification in individuals who have performed very high levels of strenuous endurance exercise (SEE; former male professional cyclists) and sex/age-matched controls.

Methods: We used a retrospective cohort study design, where cases were former finishers of ≥1 Grand Tour (Tour de France, Giro d' Italia or Vuelta a España) and controls were untrained individuals free of cardiovascular risk. All participants underwent cardiac magnetic resonance and cardiac computer tomography in the same center during years 2020-2021 to detect myocardial fibrosis (late gadolinium enhancement) and to quantify coronary calcium, respectively.

Normative Values for Sport-Specific Left Ventricular Dimensions and Exercise-Induced Cardiac Remodeling in Elite Spanish Male and Female Athletes.

Background: There is debate about the magnitude of geometrical remodeling [i.e., left ventricle (LV) cavity enlargement vs.