Multimodality imaging approach to cardiac amyloidosis: part 2.

With recent advances in cardiac imaging, genetics, and treatment options, cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is now recognized as an important and under diagnosed condition contributing to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although still considered a rare disease, CA is now recognized as an important contributor to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) and low gradient aortic stenosis, two important conditions commonly faced in clinical practice. This review uses clinical scenarios to highlight the complementary role of traditional imaging tools such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and echocardiography (echo) in conjunction with advanced cardiac imaging with cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and nuclear cardiac scintigraphy using bone avid tracers in the comprehensive workup of CA.

Anti-inflammatory and angiogenic effects of exercise training in cardiac muscle of diabetic mice.

Improved glycemic control and cardiovascular function are major benefits of regular exercise training (ET) in type 2 diabetes. Recent work has demonstrated that ET improves cardiac and vascular functions independent of obesity, inflammation, and glucose control in the diabetic db/db mouse. In this study, we determined whether ET can overcome the effects of elevated inflammatory cytokines and hyperglycemia on markers of cardiac angiogenesis and inflammation in the diabetic mouse.

Treadmill exercise training fails to reverse defects in glucose, insulin and muscle GLUT4 content in the db/db mouse model of diabetes.

Objective: Regular exercise is recommended for the treatment of type 2 diabetes because of the benefits on body weight and glycemic control. The present study was designed to compare the impact of voluntary wheel and forced treadmill running on the metabolic state in the db/db mouse model of type 2 diabetes. Our hypothesis is that voluntary exercise training reduces body weight, blood glucose and insulin levels and restores GLUT4 levels in skeletal muscle, whereas forced exercise training produces a greater effect.

High frequencies of clindamycin and tetracycline resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus pulsed-field type USA300 isolates collected at a Boston ambulatory health center.

Individual or multiple resistance to clindamycin, tetracycline, erythromycin, levofloxacin, or mupirocin was detected in a large proportion of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus pulsed-field type USA300 isolates collected at an ambulatory health center in Boston. The clindamycin, tetracycline, and mupirocin resistance genes identified in these isolates are commonly associated with plasmids.