Value of N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide levels in different types of Fontan circulation.

Aims: N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is an important biomarker in congestive heart failure. This has also been confirmed in congenital heart disease. However, its clinical value in patients with different types of Fontan circulation remains questionable.

Sense of coherence, rather than exercise capacity, is the stronger predictor to obtain health-related quality of life in adults with congenital heart disease.

Objective: Irrespective of their cardiovascular findings, quality of life in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) is good or even superior to that in healthy controls. The sense of coherence (SOC), a psychological resource that focuses on factors that support human health and well-being, was suggested to act as a potential pathway for maintaining and improving quality of life independently from the disease status.

Patients And Methods: From April 2010 to May 2011, we consecutively included 546 young adults (236 female, median age 26.

Oscillometric carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity estimated with the Vicorder device.

Carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) is associated with an increase in cardiovascular morbidity and all-cause mortality. Noninvasive approach has made this method applicable for the examination of larger populations. This study aimed to obtain reference values of PWV measured with the Vicorder device.

Usefulness of cardiopulmonary exercise testing to predict the development of arterial hypertension in adult patients with repaired isolated coarctation of the aorta.

Background: Patients who underwent surgery for aortic coarctation (COA) have an increased risk of arterial hypertension. We aimed at evaluating (1) differences between hypertensive and non-hypertensive patients and (2) the value of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) to predict the development or progression of hypertension.

Methods: Between 1999 and 2010, CPET was performed in 223 COA-patients of whom 122 had resting blood pressures of <140/90 mmHg without medication, and 101 were considered hypertensive.

Currently, children with congenital heart disease are not limited in their submaximal exercise performance.

Objectives: In several former studies, adolescents and adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) had a reduced exercise capacity even with defects considered to be simple. Currently, children might get better medical management and less restrictions concerning an active lifestyle or sports activities. The exercise performance of this new generation of children with CHD has to be evaluated.

Hemodynamic and genetic analysis in children with idiopathic, heritable, and congenital heart disease associated pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: Aim of this prospective study was to compare clinical and genetic findings in children with idiopathic or heritable pulmonary arterial hypertension (I/HPAH) with children affected with congenital heart defects associated PAH (CHD-APAH).

Methods: Prospectively included were 40 consecutive children with invasively diagnosed I/HPAH or CHD-APAH and 117 relatives. Assessment of family members, pedigree analysis and systematic screening for mutations in TGFß genes were performed.

Health-related quality of life compared with cardiopulmonary exercise testing at the midterm follow-up visit after tetralogy of Fallot repair: a study of the German competence network for congenital heart defects.

This nationwide study aimed to evaluate health-related quality of life (QoL) experienced by children after tetralogy of Fallot repair and to compare self-reported physical ability with objective exercise performance. This prospective nonrandomized, government-funded multicenter study enrolled 168 patients (70 girls; ages 8-16 years) after tetralogy of Fallot repair at eight German heart centers. Health-related QoL was analyzed by the self-reported KINDL-R quality-of-life questionnaire.

Wall shear stress and flow patterns in the ascending aorta in patients with bicuspid aortic valves differ significantly from tricuspid aortic valves: a prospective study.

Aims: We compared flow and wall shear stress (WSS) patterns in the ascending aorta of individuals with either bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) or tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) using four-dimensional cardiovascular magnetic resonance (4D-CMR). BAV are known to be associated with dilation and dissection of the ascending aorta. However, the cause of vessel disease in patients with BAVs is unknown.

Motor training of sixty minutes once per week improves motor ability in children with congenital heart disease and retarded motor development: a pilot study.

Objective: Delay and impairment of motor development is reported in patients with congenital heart disease. This pilot study addressed the feasibility and effect of a low-dose motor training programme of 60 min once per week on motor ability in preschool children with congenital heart disease.

Patients And Methods: In all, 14 children--including four girls, in the age group of 4-6 years--with various types of congenital heart disease performed the motor developmental test MOT 4–6 before and after 3 months of a playful exercise programme of 60 min once a week.

Recommendations for physical activity, recreation sport, and exercise training in paediatric patients with congenital heart disease: a report from the Exercise, Basic & Translational Research Section of the European Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, the European Congenital Heart and Lung Exercise Group, and the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology.

All children have a natural need to move, play, and perform activities. Physical activity is necessary for optimal physical, emotional, and psychosocial development for healthy children as well as children with congenital heart disease (CHD). In this paper we provide recommendations for physical activity, recreational sport, and exercise training in children and adolescents with CHD.

Efficacy of exercise training in pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital heart disease.

Background: The objective of this prospective study was to assess the efficacy of exercise training as add-on to medical therapy in patients with congenital heart disease associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (CHD-APAH).

Methods: Patients with invasively confirmed CHD-APAH received in-hospital exercise training for 3 weeks and continued at home. Efficacy parameters were evaluated at baseline, after 3 and 15 weeks.

Experiences in the creation of an electromyography database to help hand amputated persons.

Currently, trans-radial amputees can only perform a few simple movements with prosthetic hands. This is mainly due to low control capabilities and the long training time that is required to learn controlling them with surface electromyography (sEMG). This is in contrast with recent advances in mechatronics, thanks to which mechanical hands have multiple degrees of freedom and in some cases force control.

Purtscher-like retinopathy and primary hypereosinophilic syndrome association.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe a patient who presented with a Purtscherlike retinopathy and subsequent diagnosis of primary hypereosinophilic syndrome.

Methods: Observational case report.

Patient: A 39-year-old woman presented with a 10-day history of blurry vision and urticarial skin rash.

Design of a noninvasive face mask for ocular occlusion in rats and assessment in a visual discrimination paradigm.

The rat visual system is structured such that the large (>90 %) majority of retinal ganglion axons reach the contralateral lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and visual cortex (V1). This anatomical design allows for the relatively selective activation of one cerebral hemisphere under monocular viewing conditions. Here, we describe the design of a harness and face mask allowing simple and noninvasive monocular occlusion in rats.

Influence of gallic acid and tannic acid on the mechanical and barrier properties of wheat gluten films.

Vital wheat gluten, a byproduct of wheat starch production, is a highly functional ingredient having a unique viscoelasticity that makes it ideal for the production of edible biodegradable films. However, its functional properties must be modified to ensure sufficient strength and elasticity, in addition to water vapor barrier properties. In this study, vital gluten was modified using tannic and gallic acid.

Importance of characteristics and modalities of physical activity and exercise in the management of cardiovascular health in individuals with cardiovascular risk factors: recommendations from the EACPR. Part II.

In a previous paper, as the first of a series of three on the importance of characteristics and modalities of physical activity (PA) and exercise in the management of cardiovascular health within the general population, we concluded that, in the population at large, PA and aerobic exercise capacity clearly are inversely associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality and that a dose–response curve on cardiovascular outcome has been demonstrated in most studies. More and more evidence is accumulated that engaging in regular PA and exercise interventions are essential components for reducing the severity of cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity and abdominal fat, high BP, metabolic risk factors, and systemic inflammation. However, it is less clear whether and which type of PA and exercise intervention (aerobic exercise, dynamic resistive exercise, or both) or characteristic of exercise (frequency, intensity, time or duration, and volume) would yield more benefit for each separate risk factor.

Physical and psychological maltreatment in childhood and later health problems in women: an exploratory investigation of the roles of perceived stress and coping strategies.

Objective: This retrospective, cross-sectional study investigated the association between childhood physical and psychological maltreatment and self-reported physical health concerns in adult women. The mediating roles of perceived stress and coping strategies were examined.

Methods: Participants were 235 women (aged 18-59 years) recruited from the community.

Shifts in exercise capacity are not reported adequately in patients with congenital heart disease.

Objective: In cross-sectional studies, self-reported health status and quality of life have only poorly correlated with objective exercise capacity in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). We tested the hypothesis whether longitudinal changes in exercise ability are related to changes in self-reported quality of life.

Patients And Methods: One hundred eighty-two patients (79 female, 103 male, age 14-70 years) with various congenital heart defects were investigated twice.

Are the products of statistical learning abstract or stimulus-specific?

Learners can segment potential lexical units from syllable streams when statistically variable transitional probabilities between adjacent syllables are the only cues to word boundaries. Here we examine the nature of the representations that result from statistical learning by assessing learners' ability to generalize across acoustically different stimuli. In three experiments, we compare two possibilities: that the products of statistical segmentation processes are abstract and generalizable representations, or, alternatively, that products of statistical learning are stimulus-bound and restricted to perceptually similar instances.

Increase in N-terminus-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide during exercise of patients with univentricular heart after a total cavopulmonary connection.

An increase in N-terminus pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) during exercise is related to myocardial ischemia, myocardial dysfunction, and inflammatory stress. Its value for patients with a univentricular heart after total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) is unknown. For 66 patients with TCPC, a cardiopulmonary exercise test was performed.

Tricuspid valve surgery improves cardiac output and exercise performance in patients with Ebstein's anomaly.

Background: Clinical, hemodynamic and functional effects of tricuspid valve surgery in patients with Ebstein's anomaly are not well understood.

Methods: Sixteen patients (median age of 27.7 years) were examined before and eight months after surgery by means of echocardiography, cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and cardiopulmonary exercise testing.

Survey of ixodid ticks and two tick-borne pathogens in African buffaloes, Syncerus caffer, from the Caprivi Strip, Namibia.

A capture operation to ascertain health status in free-ranging buffaloes from six different areas in the Caprivi Strip in the northeast corner of Namibia was conducted in October 2009. Basic information on the ticks and tick-borne pathogens normally found in wildlife from this area are scarce. The objective of this study was to assess the host status of African buffaloes, Syncerus caffer, for ixodid ticks and two selected tick-borne pathogens in the Caprivi Strip, a key area bordering Angola, Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

Persistent superior exercise performance and quality of life long-term after arterial switch operation compared to that after atrial redirection.

Background: In the end of the last century arterial switch operation (ASO) replaced atrial redirection according to Senning or Mustard as the surgical technique for infants with transposition of the great arteries (TGA). Better survival with the new technique has been shown. However, exercise performance and quality of life have not yet been compared directly.

Long-term myocardial scarring after operation for anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery.

Background: Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a very rare disease. Accordingly, the incidence and distribution of myocardial scarring in long-term follow-up of patients after successful surgery of ALCAPA is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the distribution of left ventricular (LV) myocardial scarring by late gadolinium enhancement magnetic resonance in these patients.

The Adult Patient with Eisenmenger Syndrome: A Medical Update after Dana Point Part III: Specific Management and Surgical Aspects.

Eisenmenger syndrome is the most severe form of pulmonary arterial hypertension and arises on the basis of congenital heart disease with a systemic-to-pulmonary shunt. Due to the chronic slow progressive hypoxemia with central cyanosis, adult patients with the Eisenmenger syndrome suffer from a complex and multisystemic disorder including coagulation disorders (bleeding complications and paradoxical embolisms), renal dysfunction, hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, heart failure, reduced quality of life and premature death.For a long time, therapy has been limited to symptomatic options or lung or combined heart-lung transplantation.