Theoretical and Practical Aspects of the Nonlinear Dynamics' Methods of Heart Rate Variability Analyses in Tachyarrhythmia Patients Underwent Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation.

Purpose: This study explores the use of heart rate variability (HRV) analysis, a noninvasive technique for assessing the autonomic nervous system, by applying nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory to detect chaotic behavior in RR intervals and assess cardiovascular health.

Methods: Employing the "System Analysis of Heart Rate Dynamics" (SADR) program, this research combines chaos analysis with the short-time Fourier transform to assess nonlinear dynamic parameters in HRV. It includes constructing phase portraits in Takens space and calculating measures of chaos to identify deterministic chaos indicators.

Simultaneous electromechanical monitoring in engineered heart tissues using a mesoscale framework.

Engineered heart tissues (EHTs) generated from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) represent powerful platforms for human cardiac research, especially in drug testing and disease modeling. Here, we report a flexible, three-dimensional electronic framework that enables real-time, spatiotemporal analysis of electrophysiologic and mechanical signals in EHTs under physiological loading conditions for dynamic, noninvasive, longer-term assessments. These electromechanically monitored EHTs support multisite measurements throughout the tissue under baseline conditions and in response to stimuli.

Coordinated transcriptional control of the adult ventricular conduction system.

The cardiac conduction system (CCS) orchestrates the electrical impulses that enable coordinated contraction of the cardiac chambers. The T-box transcription factors and are required for cardiac conduction system development and associated with overlapping and distinct human cardiac conduction system diseases. We evaluated the coordinated role of and in the murine ventricular conduction system (VCS).

Politicizing science funding undermines public trust in science, academic freedom, and the unbiased generation of knowledge.

This commentary documents how federal funding agencies are changing the criteria by which they distribute taxpayer money intended for scientific research. Increasingly, STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine) funding agencies are requiring applicants for funding to include a plan to advance DEI ("Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion") in their proposals and to dedicate a part of the research budget to its implementation. These mandates undermine the academic freedom of researchers and the unbiased generation of knowledge needed for a well-functioning democracy.

Comprehensive Analysis of Anticoagulant Therapy in Patients with Isolated Atrial Flutter.

Limited comparative data exist regarding the risk of cardiogenic emboli in patients with isolated atrial flutter (AFL). Some studies suggest a lower complication risk in AFL compared to atrial fibrillation (AFib), but methodological limitations and conflicting reports necessitate a comprehensive investigation. Our analysis proposes that isolated AFL carries a lower risk of ischemic events and left atrial thrombus formation than AFib.

The Mechanism of Death in Electrocution: A Historical Review of the Literature.

Our present understanding of electrocution followed a long path of detours and speculation. It is now hard to appreciate how mysterious was an unexpected sudden death-without visible trauma-and we should be sympathetic to the surprising theories that came from well-intentioned attempts to find something in the autopsy of an electrocution victim.The early hypotheses (1880s) tended to favor effects on the central nervous system, but the emphasis switched to arterial and hematological mechanisms as well as respiratory arrest (ie, asphyxia) along with a widespread publication debate.

Synthesis of pyrrolo[2,3-]pyridazines and pyrrolo[2,3-]pyridines (6-azaindoles). Experimental and theoretical study.

A new synthetic route towards 6-azaindoles (pyrrolo[2,3-]pyridines) and pyrrolo[2,3-]pyridazines starting from 4-aroyl pyrroles is described. This overall protocol involves: (i) the Vilsmeier-Haack reaction to obtain pyrrolo-2,3-dicarbonyles and (ii) condensation with hydrazines or glycine methyl ester. The reaction mechanism between pyrrolo-2,3-dicarbonyl with phenyl hydrazine and glycine methyl ester has been modelled using DFT calculations to prove the formation of one from two possible isomers of condensation.

Demonstrating a Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCMD) to Enhance the Monitoring and Mechanistic Understanding of Iron Carbonate Crystalline Films.

This paper reports the real time monitoring of siderite deposition, on both Au- and Fe-coated surfaces, using the changes in frequency and dissipation of quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCMD). In an iron chloride solution saturated with carbon dioxide, buffered with sodium bicarbonate to pH 6.8, roughly spherical particles of siderite formed within 15 min, which subsequently deposited on the QCMD crystal surface.

Susceptibility to innate immune activation in genetically mediated myocarditis.

Myocarditis is clinically characterized by chest pain, arrhythmias, and heart failure, and treatment is often supportive. Mutations in DSP, a gene encoding the desmosomal protein desmoplakin, have been increasingly implicated in myocarditis. To model DSP-associated myocarditis and assess the role of innate immunity, we generated engineered heart tissues (EHTs) using human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) from patients with heterozygous DSP truncating variants (DSPtvs) and a gene-edited homozygous deletion cell line (DSP-/-).

"That was one of my most difficult and biggest challenges": experiences, preconditions and preventive measures of health-oriented leadership in virtual teams - A qualitative study with virtual leaders.

Background: Health-oriented leadership (HoL) has a positive impact on health- and work-related outcomes of employees in face-to-face settings. Increased digitization during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to many changes and increased job demands. According to current state of research, HoL in virtual teamwork is insufficiently researched.

Stress perception, coping behaviors and work-privacy conflict of student midwives in times of COVID-19 pandemic: the "Healthy MidStudents" study in Germany.

Background: Student midwives deliver care for women under challenging job demands, which may affect their mental health- thus creating a high need for health promotion. Given the lack of research addressing this topic, the aim of this study is to examine the links between stress perception, coping behaviors, work-privacy conflict, and perception of COVID-19 pandemic impact on studies of student midwives in northern Germany.

Methods: Data were collected using a cross-sectional online-survey at nine midwifery study sites in northern Germany from October 2022 to January 2023.

[Expectations And Motivations Of Young Occupational Medical Physicians: A Quantitative Survey Of Five German Academies].

Study Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of future occupational physicians and to evaluate their expectations from and motivations for undertaking postgraduate medical education courses in occupational medicine. This will provide a basis for further increasing the attractiveness of occupational medicine as a discipline in preventive medicine and counteracting the shortage of occupational medical physicians.

Methods: At five locations in Germany, physicians in postgraduate medical education courses in occupational medicine were asked about their expectations from occupational medicine, their reasons for starting postgraduate medical education courses, and their assessment of these courses.

Moderate Endurance Exercise Increases Arrhythmia Susceptibility and Modulates Cardiac Structure and Function in a Sexually Dimorphic Manner.

Background: Although moderate endurance exercise has been reported to improve cardiovascular health, its effects on cardiac structure and function are not fully characterized, especially with respect to sexual dimorphism. We aimed to assess the effects of moderate endurance exercise on cardiac physiology in male versus female mice.

Methods And Results: C57BL/6J mice of both sexes were run on a treadmill for 6 weeks.

Optical mapping and optogenetics in cardiac electrophysiology research and therapy: a state-of-the-art review.

State-of-the-art innovations in optical cardiac electrophysiology are significantly enhancing cardiac research. A potential leap into patient care is now on the horizon. Optical mapping, using fluorescent probes and high-speed cameras, offers detailed insights into cardiac activity and arrhythmias by analysing electrical signals, calcium dynamics, and metabolism.

A Genomic Link From Heart Failure to Atrial Fibrillation Risk: FOG2 Modulates a TBX5/GATA4-Dependent Atrial Gene Regulatory Network.

Background: The relationship between heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) is clear, with up to half of patients with HF progressing to AF. The pathophysiological basis of AF in the context of HF is presumed to result from atrial remodeling. Upregulation of the transcription factor FOG2 (friend of GATA2; encoded by ) is observed in human ventricles during HF and causes HF in mice.

Pseudo Four-Component Synthesis of 5,6-Dihydroindolo[2,1-]isoquinolines.

An easy synthesis of novel highly functionalized 5,6-dihydroindolo[2,1-]isoquinolines was developed via a pseudo four-component domino reaction of 1-aroyl-3,4-dihydroisoquinolines, terminal α,β-ynones, and malononitrile. The selective formation of this biologically relevant heterocyclic core was achieved using a one-pot approach under microwave irradiation. The formation of the same skeleton through the reaction of 5,6-dihydropyrrolo[2,1-]isoquinolines with malonic acid dinitrile supports the proposed mechanism, involving the intermediate product of the three-component reaction.

Sympathetic remodeling and altered angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 localization occur in patients with cardiac disease but are not exacerbated by severe COVID-19.

Purpose: Remodeling of sympathetic nerves and ACE2 has been implicated in cardiac pathology, and ACE2 also serves as a receptor for SARS-CoV-2. However, there is limited histological knowledge about the transmural distribution of sympathetic nerves and the cellular localization and distribution of ACE2 in human left ventricles from normal or diseased hearts. Goals of this study were to establish the normal pattern for these parameters and determine changes that occurred in decedents with cardiovascular disease alone compared to those with cardiac pathology and severe COVID-19.

Anthracycline cardiotoxicity is exacerbated by global p38β genetic ablation in a sexually dimorphic manner but unaltered by cardiomyocyte-specific p38α loss.

Severe cardiotoxic effects limit the efficacy of doxorubicin (DOX) as a chemotherapeutic agent. Activation of intracellular stress signaling networks, including p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), has been implicated in DOX-induced cardiotoxicity (DIC). However, the roles of the individual p38 isoforms in DIC remain incompletely elucidated.

Ryanodine receptor inhibition with acute dantrolene treatment reduces arrhythmia susceptibility in human hearts.

Ryanodine receptor 2 (RyR2) hyperactivity is observed in structural heart diseases that are a result of ischemia or heart failure. It causes abnormal calcium handling and calcium leaks that cause metabolic, electrical, and mechanical dysfunction, which can trigger arrhythmias. Here, we tested the antiarrhythmic potential of dantrolene (RyR inhibitor) in human hearts.

A Sewing Approach to the Fabrication of Eco/bioresorbable Electronics.

Eco/bioresorbable electronics represent an emerging class of technology defined by an ability to dissolve or otherwise harmlessly disappear in environmental or biological surroundings after a period of stable operation. The resulting devices provide unique capabilities as temporary biomedical implants, environmental sensors, and related systems. Recent publications report schemes to overcome challenges in fabrication that follow from the low thermostability and/or high chemical reactivity of the eco/bioresorbable constituent materials.