Analysis of Eye and Head Tracking Movements During a Puck-Hitting Task in Ice Hockey Players, Compared to Wrestlers and Controls.

Background: The study of eye-movement strategies of athletes of various disciplines and skill levels is highly significant for sports psychology, since the results can be used in training to improve performance. Such studies are extremely scarce for ice hockey.

Objective: To determine successful eye-movement strategies for ice hockey players compared to wrestlers and controls (non-athletes) during puck-hitting tasks of various degrees of difficulty, using virtual reality.

Prognostic value of myocardial tissue characterization by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging using T1 mapping in nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of T1 mapping techniques via cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NICM) patients.

Materials And Methods: PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for studies examining the prognostic value of myocardial tissue characterization via CMR imaging with T1 mapping in NICM. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) included cardiac death, ventricular arrhythmia/sudden cardiac death (SCD) events, and heart failure events.

Quantification of epicardial adipose tissue by computed tomographic scanning as a prognostic criterion of atrial fibrillation recurrence after catheter ablation.

Aim    This study focused on a systematic review and meta-analysis on the predictive role of quantifying the epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) volume using data of computed tomography (CT) in patients after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF).Material and methods    We performed a search in PubMed and Google Scholar for studies that examined the predictive value of EAT volume measured by CT for AF recurrence in patients after undergoing pulmonary venous isolation. Risk ratio (RR) values from studies, where similar scoring criteria were available, were pooled for the meta-analysis.

[Comparison of Various Regimens of Antithrombotic Therapy in Patients With Valvular Heart Disease and Coronary Artery Disease After Surgical and Interventional Interventions].

Aim: To evaluate the postoperative incidence of bleeding, incidence of thromboembolic complications, and all-cause mortality in patients with valvular heart disease and ischemic heart disease (IHD) associated with various regimens of the antithrombotic treatment during one year after surgery.

Material And Methods: This study included 271 patients with valvular heart disease and IHD after heart valve replacement and myocardial revascularization from 2009 through 2018. However, during the follow-up period (12 months), contact with 12 patients was lost, and therefore these patients were excluded from the study.

The extent of late gadolinium enhancement predicts mortality, sudden death and major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with nonischaemic cardiomyopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aim: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis with the objective of evaluating the prognostic value of extent of myocardial fibrosis by late gadolinium-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) in non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NICM).

Material And Methods: The databases PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar were searched for studies that investigated the prognostic value of quantification of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in patients with NICM. Unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of uniformly defined predictors were pooled for meta-analysis.

Human Angiotensin I-Converting Enzyme Produced by Different Cells: Classification of the SERS Spectra with Linear Discriminant Analysis.

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) is a peptidase widely presented in human tissues and biological fluids. ACE is a glycoprotein containing 17 potential N-glycosylation sites which can be glycosylated in different ways due to post-translational modification of the protein in different cells. For the first time, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of human ACE from lungs, mainly produced by endothelial cells, ACE from heart, produced by endothelial heart cells and miofibroblasts, and ACE from seminal fluid, produced by epithelial cells, have been compared with full assignment.

Should We Monitor Glucose and Biomarkers in Diabetics over Heart Surgery?

Hyperglycemia is associated with adverse outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). While there is a consensus that blood glucose control may benefit patients undergoing CABG, the role of biomarkers, optimal method, and duration of such monitoring are still unclear. The aim of this study is to define the efficacy of a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) and link it to pro-inflammatory biomarkers while on insulin pump therapy in diabetic patients undergoing CABG.

High On-Treatment Platelet Reactivity Determinants on Dual Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease Before Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Objective: to determine impact of different laboratory and genetic factors on high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HOPR) during dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT).

Methods: We included in this study 94 patients with stable ischemic heart disease (mean age 59±9.67 years).

Conformational fingerprint of blood and tissue ACEs: Personalized approach.

Background: The pattern of binding of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to 18 epitopes on human angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE)-"conformational fingerprint of ACE"-is a sensitive marker of subtle conformational changes of ACE due to mutations, different glycosylation in various cells, the presence of ACE inhibitors and specific effectors, etc.

Methodology/principal Findings: We described in detail the methodology of the conformational fingerprinting of human blood and tissue ACEs that allows detecting differences in surface topography of ACE from different tissues, as well detecting inter-individual differences. Besides, we compared the sensitivity of the detection of ACE inhibitors in the patient's plasma using conformational fingerprinting of ACE (with only 2 mAbs to ACE, 1G12 and 9B9) and already accepted kinetic assay and demonstrated that the mAbs-based assay is an order of magnitude more sensitive.

[Epicardial Fat and Atrial Fibrillation: the Role of Profibrinogenic Mediators].

Background: Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has certain paracrine functions, which could be associated with proinflammatory and fibrotic changes in myocardium even in patients without structural heart disease but with atrial fibrillation (AF).

Purpose: to evaluate interrelationship between clinical data, parameters of tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), EAT thickness estimated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and biochemical markers of fibrosis and inflammation in patients with nonvalvular AF without concomitant ischemic heart disease (IHD).

Materials And Methods: We included in this study 39 AF patients without valvular pathology or IHD with normal or moderately increased left atrial (LA) dimension (mean age 50.

[High On-Treatment Platelet Reactivity Determinants on Dual Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease Before Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention].

Objective: to determine impact of different laboratory and genetic factors on high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HOPR) during dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT).

Methods: We included in this study 94 patients with stable ischemic heart disease (mean age 59±9.67 years).

[Sudden Cardiac Death in Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease: From Mechanisms to Clinical Practice].

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) and acute coronary syndrome are the main cause of sudden cardiac death (SCD). Incidence of SCD in patients after myocardial infarction (MI) is 4-6-fold higher than in general population. The review focuses on electrophysiological changes during acute myocardial ischemia and mechanisms of myocardial electromechanical remodeling in remote period after MI.

Body Mass Index and Plasma P-Selectin before Coronary Stenting Predict High Residual Platelet Reactivity at 6 Months on Dual Antiplatelet Therapy.

Background: High residual platelet reactivity (HRPR) during dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) may impact clinical outcomes following percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). However, whether any biomarkers assessed before PCI at DAPT loading may predict delayed maintenance HRPR is not clear.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether conventional clinical or laboratory indices at loading before stenting may predict HRPR at 6 months of maintenance DAPT.

ACE phenotyping in human heart.

Aims: Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), which metabolizes many peptides and plays a key role in blood pressure regulation and vascular remodeling, is expressed as a type-1 membrane glycoprotein on the surface of different cells, including endothelial cells of the heart. We hypothesized that the local conformation and, therefore, the properties of heart ACE could differ from lung ACE due to different microenvironment in these organs.

Methods And Results: We performed ACE phenotyping (ACE levels, conformation and kinetic characteristics) in the human heart and compared it with that in the lung.

[Noninvasive Electrophysiological Predictors and Biomarkers of Malignant Arrhythmias in Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease: a 2-Year Prospective Follow-up].

Aim: to assess prognostic value of clinical and instrumental parameters, results of noninvasive electrophysiological tests and biomarkers as predictors of malignant ventricular arrhythmias in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) during long-term follow-up as well as during myocardial revascularization surgery and early postoperative period.

Material: We prospectively enrolled 97 patients (mean age 61 ± 10 years) with angiographically confirmed coronary artery disease. Most patients (68%) had heart failure NYHA functional class II-III.

Independent Predictors of Major Adverse Events following Coronary Stenting over 28 Months of Follow-Up.

Background: Despite recent advances in stent design and constantly improving protective pharmacological strategies, complications and adverse events following percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) are still major factors influencing morbidity and mortality. Therefore, predicting secondary vascular occlusions represents an unmet medical need.

Objective: The aim of our study was to triage clinical and laboratory predictors of major adverse clinical events (MACE) following coronary stenting.

Clopidogrel response variability: impact of genetic polymorphism and platelet biomarkers for predicting adverse outcomes poststenting.

The aim of this study was to triage platelet reactivity and adverse vascular outcomes after dual antiplatelet therapy due to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) dependent on CYP2C19*2 and CYP2C19*3 genotypes in patients with coronary artery disease. Fifty-five patients with coronary artery disease were studied serially pre-PCI and post-PCI. Platelet reactivity was assessed by conventional light transmission aggregometry, VerifyNow Analyzer, and thromboelastography with platelet mapping.

[Time course of toxic hypoxic encephalopathy during combined therapy including hyperbaric oxygenation].

The mechanisms of action of hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) in toxic hypoxic encephalopathy (THE) were studied using clinical psychopathological examinations, functional and laboratory tests in 268 patients with THE treated by a therapeutic complex including HBO and 75 patients with THE treated routinely (controls). The earliest possible addition of HBO to a complex of treatment of THE patients led to involution of signs of brain edema shown by computer tomography (CT) and improvement of its functional activity, while in patients exposed to HBO later the psychoorganic symptoms and CT signs of cerebral ischemia did not disappear. Detoxifying, neuroimmunomodulating, and neuroimmunostimulating effects of HBO in THE were demonstrated.

Intracellular distribution and regulation of calpains in the thyroid gland.

We studied the distribution of calpains in various subcellular thyrocyte fractions and evaluated the possibility for direct activation of calpain localized in the plasma membrane by thyrotropin. Direct activation of calpain bound to the plasma membrane did not underlie transduction of the thyrotropin signal to Ca(2+)-dependent proteinases.