Premature atrial and ventricular complexes in outpatients referred from a primary care facility.

Background: Premature complexes are common electrocardiographic findings in daily clinical practice that require further evaluation. Investigation may sometimes be complex and expensive. The aim of our study was to analyze variables associated with premature beats identified in outpatients referred from a primary care facility.

Electrocardiograms of adult outpatients followed-up in basic health care units in the community of the South region of São Paulo City.

Objective: The electrocardiogram (ECG) is an important, available, and inexpensive diagnostic tool to assess cardiac symptoms. Few studies address the prevalence of ECG abnormalities or changes of a normal tracing in ECG in outpatients. Our objective was to evaluate ECGs of adult outpatients to determine whether changes from a normal tracing could disclose the patients' cardiovascular health status.

Budd-Chiari syndrome in association with Behçet's disease: review of the literature.

The risk that patients with Behçet's disease may develop various thrombotic complications has been previously described. Although vascular complications from Budd-Chiari syndrome associated with Behçet's disease have been described, the pathogenic mechanisms are still unknown. Severe vascular complications present in Budd-Chiari syndrome associated with Behçet's disease are very common among young male adults.

Budd-Chiari syndrome in a 25-year-old woman with Behçet's disease: a case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: The risk that patients with Behçet's disease will develop thrombotic complications has been previously described. Although it is distributed worldwide, Behçet's disease is rare in the Americas and Europe. Even though the pathogenic mechanisms of vascular complications of Budd-Chiari syndrome in patients with Behçet's disease are unknown, severe vascular complications of Budd-Chiari syndrome associated with Behçet's disease seem to affect mainly young men.

Histoplasmosis in the nasal septum without pulmonary involvement in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: case report and literature review.

Context: Histoplasmosis is a fungal disease caused by inhaling spores of the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. The spores can be found in soil contaminated with bird, bat or chicken feces. Histoplasmosis occurs worldwide and is one of the most common pulmonary and systemic mycoses.

Influence of parasympathetic modulation in doppler mitral inflow velocity in individuals without heart disease.

Background: The relation between left ventricular filing velocities determined by Doppler echocardiography and autonomic nervous system function assessed by heart rate variability (HRV) is unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the autonomic nervous system assessed by the time and frequency domain indices of HRV in the Doppler indices of left ventricular diastolic filling velocities in patients without heart disease.

Methods: We studied 451 healthy individuals (255 female [56.

The effect of dobutamine without and with L-arginine on arterial compliance in heart failure patients.

The effect of dobutamine on carotid and brachial arteries compliance and the association of L-arginine as a potential nitric oxide pathway restorer were evaluated in patients with heart failure. Twenty-seven outpatients participated. Drugs used for the treatment of heart failure were withheld at least 24 hours before the study.

Gender-related associations of increased body mass index with clinical and laboratory variables in individuals with no evidence of heart disease.

Background: In clinical practice, the patients we care for display a wide range of body mass indices, from lean to obese. This finding may be the sole apparent clinical abnormality.

Objective: To evaluate clinical and laboratory variables that might be associated with increased body mass index in asymptomatic men and women with no evidence of heart disease, to provide data to substantiate medical recommendations in a study sample from our everyday practice.

Gender differences in ventricular volumes and left ventricle ejection fraction estimated by myocardial perfusion imaging: comparison of Quantitative Gated SPECT (QGS) and Segami software programs.

Objectives: To test for gender differences in the measurements obtained by Segami and Quantitative Gated SPECT (QGS) software programs.

Methods: 181 asymptomatic individuals without heart disease were submitted to myocardial perfusion imaging. End-diastolic volumes (EDV), end-systolic volumes (ESV) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were measured by QGS and Segami software programs to evaluate the influence of gender, age, weight, height, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, body mass index and body surface area.

Comparison between clinical and autopsy diagnoses in a cardiology hospital.

Background: A few recent studies have evaluated diagnostic accuracy by comparison between clinical and autopsy diagnoses in a hospital specialising in cardiology.

Methods: 406 consecutive autopsy cases during 2 years were studied. Patients were aged 47.

[Cardiovascular health profile of an adult population from the metropolitan region of São Paulo].

Objective: To describe the cardiovascular health profile of an adult population from the metropolitan region of São Paulo, according to the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) criteria.

Methods: Two hundred volunteers of both sexes enrolled in the "Cardiac Evaluation" project of a general outpatient clinic were studied. Data collected included socioeconomic status, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, anthropometric measurements, diet, physical activity, serum lipids, blood glucose and blood pressure.

Socioeconomic factors in the prognosis of heart failure in a Brazilian cohort.

A large body of evidence supports the concept that socioeconomic factors may influence the prognosis of cardiovascular diseases. We studied the influence of socioeconomic factors in the prognosis of heart failure in 494 patients consecutively admitted to the hospital due to worsening of symptoms of heart failure in São Paulo, Brazil. The ages ranged between 15 and 90 (mean 57.

[Lipidic profile of individuals without cardiopathy with overweight and obesity].

Objective: To assess the lipidic profile of overweight and obese individuals submitted to cardiologic assessment and who did not show evidences of cardiopathy.

Methods: Sample with 684 individuals, 389 (56.9%) women and 295 (43.

Planar myocardial perfusion imaging for evaluation of patients with acute chest pain.

Background: Rest single-photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) perfusion imaging identifies acute myocardial ischemia in patients with chest pain in the emergency department; however, the costs are high and radioisotopic services are usually not available 24 h a day. Planar imaging through a portable gamma camera may be useful in this setting. However, planar imaging might be associated with less predictive values in comparison with a gated SPECT imaging.