Multicenter cohort study on duration of antiarrhythmic medication for supraventricular tachycardia in infants.

Antiarrhythmic medication (AM) is commonly used to prevent supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) recurrence in infants. Our aim was to determine whether a shorter duration of AM is sufficient to prevent atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (AVRT) recurrence and evaluate risk factors for recurrence of SVT after discontinued AM.This multicenter cohort study included all infants diagnosed with SVT in the five university hospitals in Finland between 2005 and 2017.

Detailed prenatal and postnatal MRI findings and clinical analysis of RAF1 in Noonan syndrome.

Noonan syndrome is a genetically heterogeneous developmental disorder, which usually includes findings such as short stature, facial dysmorphia, cardiac abnormalities and a varying degree of intellectual disability. We present a unique case of a rare variant of Noonan syndrome in a very preterm female infant born at 28 + 4 gestational weeks, with abnormal radiological findings visible at fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and evolution of the brain lesions during infancy.

Occurrence and Features of Childhood Myocarditis: A Nationwide Study in Finland.

Background: Epidemiology of myocarditis in childhood is largely unknown. Men are known to have a higher incidence of myocarditis than women in adults aged <50 years, but whether this is true by sex in pediatric age groups is unknown. We set out to study the occurrence and potential sex differences of myocarditis in a general pediatric population.

[Myocarditis in children--a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge].

Viral infections are the most common causes of myocarditis in children. Chronic myocardial injury may develop following an immune or autoimmune reaction triggered or maintained by an infection, or can be part of a systemic autoimmune disease. Although many of the children having developed myocarditis are symptomless, initial symptoms may include cardiac insufficiency, arrhythmias and sudden death.

Simultaneous presence of human herpesvirus 6 and adenovirus infections in intestinal intussusception of young children.

Aim: This prospective study investigated the role of viral infections in the pathogenesis of intussusception, including human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6), a known lymphotropic virus.

Methods: Fifty-three children with intussusception treated in hospital were enroled, and children of comparable age and gender served as controls. Blood, stool and throat swab specimens, as well as mesenteric lymph nodes and pieces of intestine from patients requiring surgery were tested for various viruses by PCR methods.

ANKRD1, the gene encoding cardiac ankyrin repeat protein, is a novel dilated cardiomyopathy gene.

Objectives: We evaluated ankyrin repeat domain 1 (ANKRD1), the gene encoding cardiac ankyrin repeat protein (CARP), as a novel candidate gene for dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) through mutation analysis of a cohort of familial or idiopathic DCM patients, based on the hypothesis that inherited dysfunction of mechanical stretch-based signaling is present in a subset of DCM patients.

Background: CARP, a transcription coinhibitor, is a member of the titin-N2A mechanosensory complex and translocates to the nucleus in response to stretch. It is up-regulated in cardiac failure and hypertrophy and represses expression of sarcomeric proteins.

Mutations in PDLIM3 and MYOZ1 encoding myocyte Z line proteins are infrequently found in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), characterized by ventricular dilation and decreased systolic function, is estimated to be of genetic origin in up to 50% of cases. In the present study, we investigated the role of two genes, encoding the Z line proteins PDZ and LIM domain protein 3 (PDLIM3) and myozenin-1 (MYOZ1), in the etiology of DCM. The coding regions of PDLIM3 and MYOZ1 were first amplified from the genomic DNA of 185 unrelated DCM patients by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), followed by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) analysis.

Cardiomyocyte apoptosis in experimental coxsackievirus B3 myocarditis.

Introduction: Viruses are known to induce apoptosis in their host cells. We studied whether cardiomyocyte apoptosis occurs upon coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) infection and whether virus-associated apoptosis plays a role in the pathogenesis of experimental myocarditis.

Methods: BALB/c mice were infected with two variants of CVB3 causing either mild or severe myocarditis.