New onset of protein-losing enteropathy in a patient with Fontan circulation after COVID-19 vaccination: dread the cure or the disease?

We present the case of a 31-year-old female with Fontan circulation who developed signs of protein-losing enteropathy 10 days after second COVID-19 vaccination. After standard investigations for identification of potential triggers for protein-losing enteropathy, we concluded that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) booster vaccination could have been the most probable underlying trigger. Prompt investigation of new symptoms post-vaccination in high-risk patients is necessary.

The expanding role of 16s ribosomal RNA PCR in the management of patients with infective endocarditis undergoing cardiac surgery.

Background: Aetiological diagnosis and targeted antibiotic therapy are essential to improve the prognosis of patients with infective endocarditis. Molecular tests on blood have been reported to be effective in identifying the causative organism and are recommended when blood cultures are negative. The role of molecular tests on the surgically excised valve is still unclear and needs further investigation.

Diagnosis and management of peripartum cardiomyopathy and recurrence risk.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare, but serious condition, with a non-negligible risk of adverse events. Several risk factors for PPCM have been individuated over the years, including Afro-American ethnicity, preeclampsia, advanced maternal age, genetic predisposition, multiparity, twin pregnancy, obesity, smoking and diabetes. However, PPCM pathophysiology is still poorly understood, thus making it challenging to develop disease specific therapies.

Surgical valve replacement in adults late after total cavo-pulmonary connection/Fontan procedure.

Objectives: There is dearth of data on long-term outcomes of systemic semilunar (SS) or atrioventricular (AV) valve operation in adult patients with a Fontan circulation. We describe a single-centre experience of adults who underwent valve surgery late after a Fontan procedure.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients with a Fontan circulation who had a reoperation for severe valve disease during adulthood in our centre.

Echocardiographic left atrial stiffness index predicts high left ventricular filling pressures in patients with acute heart failure: an observational study.

Background: In acute heart failure (AHF) patients, non-invasive estimation of left ventricular filling pressures (LVFPs) appears crucial to guide management. Although poorly investigated, left atrial (LA) mechanics play a pivotal role in this setting. This report sought to assess the correlation of echocardiographic LA stiffness index with invasive LVFPs and its diagnostic accuracy as compared to other parameters used in clinical practice.

Pulmonary congestion assessed by lung ultrasound in patients with severe aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation: Prevalence and prognostic implications.

Aims: Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a sensitive tool to assess pulmonary congestion (PC). Few data are available on LUS-PC evaluation in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and prognostic impact of LUS-PC in patients with severe AS before and after TAVI.

An update on the mechanisms of Takotsubo syndrome: "At the end an acute coronary syndrome".

Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is an acute reversible form of myocardial dysfunction, often preceded by a physical or emotional stressful event, that acts as a trigger. Despite, recent advances in the comprehension of the mechanisms leading to TTS, its pathophysiology is far from being completely understood. However, several studies seem to suggest that an acute coronary microvascular dysfunction may represent a crucial pathogenic mechanism involved in TTS occurrence.

Left atrial structural and functional remodelling in Fabry disease and cardiac amyloidosis: A comparative analysis.

Background: Fabry disease (FD) and transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (TTR CA) are cardiomyopathies with hypertrophic phenotype that share several features, including left atrial (LA) enlargement and dysfunction, but direct comparative data are lacking. Aim of the present study was to perform a comparative analysis of LA remodelling between the two diseases.

Methods And Results: In this prospective study, a total of 114 patients (31 FD and 83 TTR CA) were included; all of them had left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), defined as left ventricular (LV) wall thickness ≥ 12 mm.

Clinical staging of Anderson-Fabry cardiomyopathy: An operative proposal.

As a slowly progressive form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), Anderson-Fabry disease (FD) resembles the phenotype of the most common sarcomeric forms, although significant differences in presentation and long-term progression may help determine the correct diagnosis. A variety of electrocardiographic and imaging features of FD cardiomyopathy have been described at different times in the course of the disease, and considerable discrepancies remain regarding the assessment of disease severity by individual physicians. Therefore, we here propose a practical staging of FD cardiomyopathy, in hopes it may represent the standard for cardiac evaluation and facilitate communication between specialized FD centres and primary care physicians.

Mechanisms, prevalence and management of cardiac arrhythmias in cancer patients: a comprehensive review.

Recently, prognosis and survival of cancer patients has improved due to progression and refinement of cancer therapies; however, cardiovascular sequelae in this population augmented and now represent the second cause of death in oncological patients. Initially, the main issue was represented by heart failure and coronary artery disease, but a growing body of evidence has now shed light on the increased arrhythmic risk of this population, atrial fibrillation being the most frequently encountered. Awareness of arrhythmic complications of cancer and its treatments may help oncologists and cardiologists to develop targeted approaches for the management of arrhythmias in this population.

Multi-scale simulations of two dimensional material based devices: the NanoTCAD ViDES suite.

NanoTCAD ViDES (Versatile DEvice Simulator) is an open-source suite of computing codes aimed at assessing the operation and the performance of nanoelectronic devices. It has served the computational nanoelectronic community for almost two decades and it is freely available to researchers around the world in its website (http://vides.nanotcad.

Inflammation across the spectrum of hypertrophic cardiac phenotypes.

The hypertrophic cardiomyopathy phenotype encompasses a heterogeneous spectrum of genetic and acquired diseases characterized by the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy in the absence of abnormal cardiac loading conditions. This "umbrella diagnosis" includes the "classic" hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), due to sarcomere protein gene mutations, and its phenocopies caused by intra- or extracellular deposits, such as Fabry disease (FD) and cardiac amyloidosis (CA). All these conditions share a wide phenotypic variability which results from the combination of genetic and environmental factors and whose pathogenic mediators are poorly understood so far.

An Innovative Fiber-Optic Hydrophone for Seismology: Testing Detection Capacity for Very Low-Energy Earthquakes.

An innovative fiber-optic hydrophone (FOH) was developed and investigated via an experiment at sea; it is capable of operating at a very low frequency of the seismic spectrum and detecting small magnitude earthquakes. The FOH exploits an optical fiber coil wrapped around a sensitive mandrel in a Michelson interferometric configuration. The FOH operated for about seven days at a water depth of 40 m, in the Campi Flegrei volcanic area (Southern Italy), and a few meters from a well-calibrated PZT hydrophone used as a reference.

Left atrial strain analysis improves left ventricular filling pressures non-invasive estimation in the acute phase of Takotsubo syndrome.

Aims: The aim of our study is to assess the ability of left atrial (LA) strain values to improve left ventricular and diastolic pressure (LVEDP) non-invasive estimation as compared with traditional echocardiographic indexes in the acute phase of Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) and to predict adverse in-hospital outcomes in this population.

Methods And Results: Consecutive TTS patients were prospectively enrolled. Left ventricular and diastolic pressure was measured at the time of catheterization.

Rhombohedral-stacked bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides for high-performance atomically thin CMOS devices.

Van der Waals coupling with different stacking configurations is emerging as a powerful method to tune the optical and electronic properties of atomically thin two-dimensional materials. Here, we investigate 3R-stacked transition-metal dichalcogenides as a possible option for high-performance atomically thin field-effect transistors (FETs). We report that the effective mobility of 3R bilayer WS (WSe) is 65% (50%) higher than that of 2H WS (WSe).