Cardiac remodeling in elite young Asian female soccer players.

Introduction: An athlete's heart (AH) varies depending on race, sex, age, and the type and intensity of training. Given that soccer is a common sport, evaluation of cardiac function in soccer players is important; however, few studies have analyzed adolescent soccer players. Therefore, this study, aimed to identify early changes in AH in soccer players by evaluating the echocardiographic findings of adolescent Asian female soccer players for whom existing data are scarce.

Aborted sudden cardiac death in a young male with rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) causes coronary artery atherosclerosis with a similar risk as diabetes or hypertension. However, coronary artery disease (CAD) is rare in young patients, especially in those presenting as chronic total occlusion (CTO). We report a rare case of aborted sudden cardiac death in a 26-year-old patient with a six-year history of RA.

Assessing Cardiovascular Risk with Coronary Artery Calcium and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Patients with Negative Stress Echocardiography.

: The role of treadmill stress echocardiography (TSE) in symptomatic patients may be limited. We evaluated whether carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores can predict cardiovascular (CV) outcomes in patients with negative TSE. : Patients who had negative TSE and measured cIMT or CAC scoring were enrolled and followed up.

Recurrent Acute Coronary Syndrome in Young Man with Familial Hypercholesterolemia: Efficacy of Evolocumab Add-On Treatment Demonstrated via Serial Coronary Angiography.

In patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), lipid-lowering therapy plays an important role in the prevention of the recurrence of cardiovascular disease. Recent guidelines recommend the use of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors in patients with ACS if their low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels are not adequately controlled with statins and ezetimibe. Based on this, we report a case in which administering a PCSK9 inhibitor successfully lowered the patient's LDL-C level to the target level and managed the coronary artery disease (CAD) recurrence.

Double-chambered left ventricle with a thrombus in an asymptomatic patient: A case report.

Background: Double-chambered left ventricle (DCLV) is an extremely rare congenital disease in which the left ventricle (LV) is divided by abnormal muscle tissue. Due to its rarity, there is a lack of data on the disease, including its diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. Accordingly, we report a case in which DCLV was diagnosed and followed up.

Independent Clinical Impacts of Procedural Complexity on Ischemic and Bleeding Events in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction: Long-Term Clinical Study.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between a complex percutaneous coronary intervention (C-PCI) and long-term clinical outcomes in the AMI cohort. A total of 10,329 patients were categorized into the C-PCI and non-C-PCI groups. The primary ischemic endpoint was a composite of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs, cardiac death, myocardial infarction, stent thrombosis and revascularization).

Prognostic Impact of the HFA-PEFF Score in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction and an Intermediate to High HFA-PEFF Score.

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of the HFA-PEFF score in predicting the long-term risks in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and an HFA-PEFF score ≥ 2. The subjects were divided according to their HFA-PEFF score into intermediate (2−3 points) and high (4−6 points) score groups. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality.

Slow Heart Rate Recovery Is Associated with Increased Exercise-induced Arterial Stiffness in Normotensive Patients without Overt Atherosclerosis.

Background: This study evaluated whether blunted autonomic activity as measured by heart rate recovery (HRR) was associated with increased arterial stiffness, especially increased exercise-induced arterial stiffness, in normotensive patients without overt atherosclerosis.

Methods: One hundred fifty-four normotensive patients without overt atherosclerosis who had undergone a treadmill exercise test were consecutively enrolled. HRR was measured at one minute after exercise.

Acromegaly with Normal Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Levels and Congestive Heart Failure as the First Clinical Manifestation.

The leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with acromegaly is cardiovascular complications. Myocardial exposure to excessive growth hormone can cause ventricular hypertrophy, hypertension, arrhythmia, and diastolic dysfunction. However, congestive heart failure as a result of systolic dysfunction is observed only rarely in patients with acromegaly.

A latent autoimmune diabetes in adults patient manifesting severe musculoskeletal complications.

Patients with diabetes have many different kinds of complications involving multiple organs, but those involving the musculoskeletal system are relatively uncommon. Diabetic muscle infarction (DMI) is a rare, painful, and potentially serious condition in patients with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. A 35-year-old man diagnosed with type 2 diabetes eight years ago, visited with severe muscle pain in the right anteromedial thigh without any event of trauma.

The value of assessing myocardial deformation at recovery after dobutamine stress echocardiography.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether performing an assessment of myocardial deformation using speckle tracking imaging during the recovery period after dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) allows detection of significant coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with chest discomfort.

Methods: DSE and coronary angiography were performed in 44 patients with chest discomfort. The mean global longitudinal peak systolic strain (GLS) was measured at rest, at low stress (dobutamine infusion rate of 10 µg/kg/min) and at recovery (5 min after cessation of dobutamine infusion) of DSE using automated function imaging with apical views.

Evolutionary change mimicking apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a patient with takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

In this report, we introduce a case of thickening of the involved left ventricular apical segment on echocardiography and deep T-wave inversions in precordial leads on electrocardiography transiently seen in the course of recovery from biventricular takotsubo cardiomyopathy, mimicking apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This result suggests that the echocardiographic finding of transient myocardial edema can be identified by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Additionally, it persisted a few weeks after full functional recovery.

Biodegradable nanoparticles containing TLR3 or TLR9 agonists together with antigen enhance MHC-restricted presentation of the antigen.

The effects of intraphagosomal toll-like receptor (TLR) activation on the MHC-restricted presentation of exogenous antigen were examined in dendritic cells (DCs). For phagosomal targeting, nanoparticles containing both a TLR agonist and a model antigen, ovalbumin (OVA), were prepared using biodegradable polymer poly(D,L-lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) and were then opsonized with mouse IgG. After incubating mouse DCs with the nanoparticles, the efficacy of OVA peptide presentation was evaluated using OVA-specific CD8 and CD4 T cells.

Cyclosporin A and tacrolimus, but not rapamycin, inhibit MHC-restricted antigen presentation pathways in dendritic cells.

The main targets for the immunosuppressive calcineurin inhibitors, cyclosporin A (CsA) and tacrolimus, have been considered to be activated T cells, but not antigen-presenting cells. Here we demonstrate that CsA and tacrolimus, but not rapamycin, inhibit major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted antigen presentation in dendritic cells (DCs). Microencapsulated ovalbumin (OVA) was efficiently captured, processed, and presented on both class I MHC molecules (cross-presentation) as well as on class II MHC molecules.

Identification of hepatitis C virus core domain inducing suppression of allostimulatory capacity of dendritic cells.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is remarkably efficient at establishing chronic infection. One of the reasons for this appears to be the suppression of the accessory cell function of professional antigen presenting cells. In the present study, the immunosuppressive activity of HCV protein was examined on dendritic cells (DCs) generated from mouse bone marrow progenitor cells in vitro.