[Value of the Valsalva maneuver for evaluating systole heart function].

Many tests and examinations are used for diagnosing heart failure. Their accuracy tends to vary, echocardiography representing the gold standard. The Valsalva maneuver involves an easy-to-perform test for assessing the cardiac ejection fraction.

Circadian modulation of QT rate dependence in healthy volunteers: gender and age differences.

QT rate dependence is known to be linked with both circadian variations of the autonomic tone and gender. However, age and heart rate variability (HRV) influences are not well established. The QT/RR relationship was evaluated, separately during the day and at night, on 24-hour electrocardiogram in 60 healthy subjects (30 men) divided into three homogeneous groups (group 1, 20-29; group 2 30-39; group 3, 40-50 years).

A comparison of quality-of-life in patients with dual chamber pacemakers and individually programmed atrioventricular delays.

Dual chamber pacemakers are increasingly implanted to achieve optimal hemodynamics by AV synchrony, but the effect of AV delay programming on the patient's quality-of-life has been less well studied. The influence of an individually programmed AV delay between 100 and 250 ms on quality-of-life was investigated in a randomized, double-blind crossover study of 13 patients (69 +/- 10 years of age) with dual chamber pacemakers implanted because of high degree AV block. During radionuclide ventriculography at rest, the "optimal AV delay" with the maximal left ventricular ejection fraction and the "most unfavorable AV delay" with the least ejection fraction were determined.