Cardiac electrical and functional activity following an outdoor cold-water swimming event.

Aims: Participation in outdoor cold-water swimming (OCWS) events combines endurance exercise and cold exposure. Concerns have emerged about the potential risk of acute adverse cardiac events during OCWS, particularly during endurance events. We analysed the effect of prolonged OCWS on cardiac function in trained athletes.

Inter-season training effects on cardiovascular health in American-style football players.

Background: Recent studies on American-style football (ASF) athletes raised questions about the impact of training on the cardiovascular phenotype, particularly among linemen players who engage mostly in static exercise during competition and who exhibit concentric cardiac remodeling, often considered maladaptive. We aimed to examine the cardiovascular adaptation to the inter-season mixed-team training program among ASF players.

Methods: A prospective, longitudinal, cohort study was conducted among competitive male ASF players from the University of Montreal before and after an inter-season training, which lasted 7 months.

Sport resumption and quality of life after surgical correction of anomalous origin of a coronary artery from the opposite sinus.

Objectives: We sought to assess the resumption of sport, exercise performances, and quality of life (QoL) in adults and children after surgical repair of anomalous coronary arteries originating from the opposite sinus (ACAOS).

Materials And Methods: Patients who underwent surgical repair for ACAOS between 2002 and 2022 were retrospectively identified. Information about sports activity and exercise performance based on metabolic equivalents of task (METs) calculated at the last exercise stress test, were collected.

Age impacts left atrial functional remodeling in athletes.

Aim: Age-associated changes in cardiac filling and function are well known in the general population. Yet, the effect of aging on left atrial (LA) function, and its interaction with left ventricular (LV) adaptation, remain less described when combined with high-intensity chronic training. We aimed to analyze the effects of aging on LA and LV functions in trained athletes.

Divergent synthesis and biological evaluation of 2-(trifluoromethyl)pyridines as virulence-attenuating inverse agonists targeting PqsR.

A short and divergent route towards new derivatives of 2-(trifluoromethyl)pyridines as potent inverse agonists of the bacterial target PqsR against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infections is described. This Gram-negative pathogen causes severe nosocomial infections and common antibiotic treatment options are rendered ineffective due to resistance issues. Based on an earlier identified optimized hit, we conducted derivatization and rigidification attempts employing two central building blocks.

Volumetric parcellation of the cardiac right ventricle for regional geometric and functional assessment.

3D echocardiography is an increasingly popular tool for assessing cardiac remodelling in the right ventricle (RV). It allows quantification of the cardiac chambers without any geometric assumptions, which is the main weakness of 2D echocardiography. However, regional quantification of geometry and function is limited by the lower spatial and temporal resolution and the scarcity of identifiable anatomical landmarks, especially within the ventricular cavity.

Definition of left ventricular remodelling following ST-elevation myocardial infarction: a systematic review of cardiac magnetic resonance studies in the past decade.

An increase in left ventricular volumes between baseline and follow-up imaging is the main criteria for the quantification of left ventricular remodelling (LVR) after ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), but without consensual definition. We aimed to review the criteria used for the definition of LVR based on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) in STEMI patients. A systematic literature search was conducted using MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library from January 2010 to August 2019.

Analysis of inter-system variability of systolic and diastolic intraventricular pressure gradients derived from color Doppler M-mode echocardiography.

Assessment of intraventricular pressure gradients (IVPG) using color Doppler M-mode echocardiography has gained increasing interest in the evaluation of cardiac function. However, standardized analysis tools for IVPG quantification are missing. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility, the test-retest observer reproducibility, and the inter-system variability of a semi-automated IVPG quantification algorithm.

Prevalence and significance of fragmented QRS complex in lead V1 on the surface electrocardiogram of healthy athletes.

Aims: Limited data exist concerning fragmented QRS complexes (fQRSs) on the surface electrocardiogram (ECG) of apparently healthy athletes. We aimed to study the prevalence and significance of fQRS in lead V1 (fQRSV1), representing right ventricular (RV) activation, regarding training-induced RV morphological remodelling.

Methods And Results: Between January 2017 and August 2019, 434 consecutive non-sedentary subjects underwent preparticipation cardiovascular screening, including a 12-lead ECG.

Echocardiographic evidence of left ventricular untwisting-filling interplay.

Background: Left ventricular untwisting generates an early diastolic intraventricular pressure gradient (DIVPG) than can be quantified by echocardiography. We sought to confirm the quantitative relationship between peak untwisting rate and peak DIVPG in a large adult population.

Methods: From our echocardiographic database, we retrieved all the echocardiograms with a normal left ventricular ejection fraction, for whom color Doppler M-Mode interrogation of mitral inflow was available, and left ventricular untwisting rate was measurable using speckle tracking.

Synergic PDE3 and PDE4 control intracellular cAMP and cardiac excitation-contraction coupling in a porcine model.

Aims: Cyclic AMP phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are important modulators of the cardiac response to β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) stimulation. PDE3 is classically considered as the major cardiac PDE in large mammals and human, while PDE4 is preponderant in rodents. However, it remains unclear whether PDE4 also plays a functional role in large mammals.

Accuracy of speckle tracking in the context of stress echocardiography in short axis view: An in vitro validation study.

Aim: This study aimed to test the accuracy of a speckle tracking algorithm to assess myocardial deformation in a large range of heart rates and strain magnitudes compared to sonomicrometry.

Methods And Results: Using a tissue-mimicking phantom with cyclic radial deformation, radial strain derived from speckle tracking (RS-SpT) of the upper segment was assessed in short axis view by conventional echocardiography (Vivid q, GE) and post-processed with clinical software (EchoPAC, GE). RS-SpT was compared with radial strain measured simultaneously by sonomicrometers (RS-SN).

Standard and Strain Measurements by Echocardiography Detect Early Overloaded Right Ventricular Dysfunction: Validation against Hemodynamic and Myocyte Contractility Changes in a Large Animal Model.

Background: Early detection of right ventricular (RV) failure is required to improve the management of patients with congenital heart diseases. The aim of this study was to validate echocardiography for the early detection of overloaded RV dysfunction, compared with hemodynamic and myocyte contractility assessment.

Methods: Using a porcine model reproducing repaired tetralogy of Fallot, RV function was evaluated over 4 months using standard echocardiography and speckle-tracking compared with hemodynamic parameters (conductance catheter).

Decreased regional left ventricular myocardial strain in type 1 diabetic children: a first sign of diabetic cardiomyopathy?

Background And Objectives: Type 1 diabetes is a major cardiovascular risk factor associated with an excess of mortality in young adults due to premature cardiovascular events, which includes heart failure. The relation between type 1 diabetes and cardiac structure and function in children was poorly documented. Our study investigates (1) whether type 1 diabetic children have echocardiographic signs of subclinical cardiac dysfunction assessed by tissue Doppler strain and (2) whether state of metabolic control and diabetes duration have any influence on the cardiac event.

High-Frame-Rate Echocardiography Using Coherent Compounding With Doppler-Based Motion-Compensation.

High-frame-rate ultrasonography based on coherent compounding of unfocused beams can potentially transform the assessment of cardiac function. As it requires successive waves to be combined coherently, this approach is sensitive to high-velocity tissue motion. We investigated coherent compounding of tilted diverging waves, emitted from a 2.