Publications by authors named "Fraz Umar"

Article Synopsis
  • Researchers found that a heart problem called myocardial fibrosis (MF) is linked to serious heart issues like sudden cardiac death (SCD) and dangerous heart rhythms.
  • They studied 700 patients who got devices to help their hearts and looked for signs of MF using special imaging techniques.
  • The results showed that having MF is a strong indicator for predicting SCD and other heart problems, and measuring another type of fibrosis, called gray zone fibrosis (GZF), gives even more useful information about the risks.
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Background: Unlike the relationship with atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, that between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is unclear. Our objectives were to characterize lipid profiles early after heart transplantation (HT) and evaluate the relationship between early LDL-C and the development of CAV.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed consecutive adults who underwent HT at 2 centres during the time period 2010-2018.

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Background: The evolution in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) management has been summarised in three iterations of the European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society (ESC/ERS) guidelines. No study has assessed whether changes in management, as reflected in the changing guidelines, has translated to improved long-term survival in PAH.

Methods: We performed a mixed retrospective/prospective analysis of treatment-naïve, incident PAH patients (n=392) diagnosed at three major centres in Canada from 2009 to 2021.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study looked at how changes in heart signals (QRS) can predict how well a heart treatment (CRT) will work.
  • Researchers checked 26 patients' heart pressure changes while using special heart leads and looked for damaged heart areas (scar) using scans.
  • They found that reducing QRS signals improved heart function during treatment, but scars on the heart made it harder for the treatment to work well.
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Background: Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. There is growing evidence for the effectiveness of catheter ablation in improving outcomes in patients with recurrent VT. Consequently the threshold for referral for VT ablation has fallen over recent years, resulting in increased number of procedures.

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Background: Despite advances in evidence-based pharmacotherapy, the latest National Heart Failure Audit (NHFA) has shown that in-hospital mortality of heart failure (HF) remains high with large interhospital variations. University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire, a tertiary cardiac centre, received a mortality alert of excess HF deaths based on a high Dr Foster hospital standardised mortality ratio (HSMR). This conflicted with our local NHFA data which showed lower than national average mortality rates.

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Background And Aims: Patients with moderate-to-severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) are underrepresented in clinical trials of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT)-defibrillation (CRT-D) or CRT-pacing (CRT-P). We sought to determine whether outcomes after CRT-D are better than after CRT-P over a wide spectrum of CKD.

Methods And Results: Clinical events were quantified in relation to preimplant estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) after CRT-D (n = 410 [39.

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Background Experimental evidence indicates that left ventricular ( LV ) apical pacing is hemodynamically superior to nonapical LV pacing. Some studies have shown that an LV apical lead position is unfavorable in cardiac resynchronization therapy. We sought to determine whether an apical LV lead position influences cardiac mortality after cardiac resynchronization therapy.

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Aims: There is a continuing debate as to whether cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillation (CRT-D) is superior to CRT-pacing (CRT-P), particularly in patients with non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy (NICM). We sought to quantify the clinical outcomes after primary prevention of CRT-D and CRT-P and identify whether these differed according to the aetiology of cardiomyopathy.

Methods And Results: Analyses were undertaken in the total study population of patients treated with CRT-D (n = 551) or CRT-P (n = 999) and in propensity-matched samples.

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Background: Recent studies have cast doubt on the benefit of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) with defibrillation (CRT-D) versus pacing (CRT-P) for patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM). Left ventricular myocardial scar portends poor clinical outcomes.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether CRT-D is superior to CRT-P in patients with NICM either with (+) or without (-) left ventricular midwall fibrosis (MWF), detected by cardiac magnetic resonance.

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Aims: Trials have shown that cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is effective in patients with 'non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy'. Patients with post-surgical valvular cardiomyopathy (PSVCM) have been excluded from such trials. We sought to compare the clinical outcome of CRT in patients with PSVCM, idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM), or ischaemic cardiomyopathy (ICM).

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Background: Left ventricular (LV) mid-wall fibrosis (MWF), which occurs in about a quarter of patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM), is associated with high risk of pump failure. The mid LV wall is the site of circumferential myocardial fibers. We sought to determine the effect of MWF on LV myocardial mechanics.

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Aims: The clinical response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is variable. Multipoint left ventricular (LV) pacing could achieve more effective haemodynamic response than single-point LV pacing. Deployment of an LV lead over myocardial scar is associated with a poor haemodynamic response to and clinical outcome of CRT.

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Background: Late mechanical activation (LMA) and viability in the left ventricular (LV) myocardium have been proposed as targets for LV pacing during cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether an LV lead position over segments with LMA and no scar improves LV reverse remodeling (LVRR) and clinical outcomes after CRT.

Methods: Feature-tracking and late gadolinium enhancement images were analyzed retrospectively in patients with heart failure (HF) (n = 89; mean age 66.

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Aims: Myocardial deformation is a key to clinical decision-making. Feature-tracking cardiovascular magnetic resonance (FT-CMR) provides quantification of motion and strain using standard steady-state in free-precession (SSFP) imaging, which is part of a routine CMR left ventricular (LV) study protocol. An accepted definition of a normal range is essential if this technique is to enter the clinical arena.

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Background: Myocardial tagging using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is the gold-standard for the assessment of myocardial mechanics. Feature-tracking cardiovascular magnetic resonance (FT-CMR) has been validated against myocardial tagging. We explore the potential of FT-CMR in the assessment of mechanical dyssynchrony, with reference to patients with cardiomyopathy and healthy controls.

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Purpose: To compare cardiovascular magnetic resonance-feature tracking (CMR-FT) with spatial modulation of magnetization (SPAMM) tagged imaging for the calculation of short and long axis Lagrangian strain measures in systole and diastole.

Materials And Methods: Healthy controls (n = 35) and patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (n = 10) were identified prospectively and underwent steady-state free precession (SSFP) cine imaging and SPAMM imaging using a gradient-echo sequence. A timed offline analysis of images acquired at identical horizontal long and short axis slice positions was performed using CMR-FT and dynamic tissue-tagging (CIMTag2D).

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Background: Despite fundoscopy being a key element of any full neurological examination, experience in acute medical admissions units tells us that fundoscopy is rarely, if ever, performed.

Methods: We prospectively studied 92 patients presenting to the acute medical admissions unit of Manor Hospital in Walsall, between February and May 2010, with a range of acute medical conditions for which fundoscopy would be clinically relevant. Appropriate areas of Manor Hospital were surveyed to find the number of available and working fundoscopes.

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Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether left ventricular (LV) midwall fibrosis, detected by midwall hyperenhancement (MWHE) on late gadolinium enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging, predicts mortality and morbidity in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) undergoing cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).

Background: Midwall fibrosis predicts mortality and morbidity in patients with DCM.

Methods: Patients with DCM with (+) or without (-) MWHE (n = 20 and n = 77, respectively) as well as 161 patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) undergoing CRT (n = 258) were followed up for a maximum of 8.

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The aim of this study was to compare rat tissues with respect to their reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) generating activities as a function of age. We quantified the RONS generation in vivo in young (6 months) and in old (30 months) male Sprague-Dawley rats using the recently developed spin trap 1-hydroxy-3-carboxy-pyrrolidine, applied intravenously. This spin trap reacts with superoxide radical and peroxynitrite yielding a stable spin adduct which is detectable by means of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy in frozen tissues.

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Article Synopsis
  • Nitrite can turn into a gas called nitric oxide (NO) in the intestine and other parts of the body, which helps carry oxygen in the blood.
  • The study focused on how nitrite becomes NO in the intestine and whether this helps with blood flow.
  • They found that for NO to lower blood pressure, there needs to be a certain amount in the blood (about 10 microM), but how it works at that level is still a mystery.
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D-lactate is produced by indigenous bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Mammals do not have the enzyme systems to metabolize D-lactate rapidly. The present study was designed to determine the kinetics of circulating D-lactate levels and to examine whether the severity of shock affects circulating D-lactate levels in rats subjected to hemorrhagic/traumatic shock.

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