[Deterioration of kidney function as a risk factor for mortality among patients hospitalized for heart failure].

Background: Acute deterioration of kidney function among patients admitted to the hospital for cardiac failure is associated with an increased mortality.

Aim: To investigate the association between deterioration of kidney function and mortality among patients hospitalized for cardiac failure.

Material And Methods: Patients admitted for decompensated cardiac failure to 14 Chilean hospitals between 2002 and 2009 were incorporated to the study.

[Heart energy metabolism and its role in the treatment of heart failure].

It is unknown why heart failure progresses even when patients are treated with the best therapy available. Evidences suggest that heart failure progression is due to loss of neurohumoral blockade in advanced stages of the disease and to alterations in myocardial metabolism induced, in part, by this neurohumoral activation. Alterations in cardiac energy metabolism, especially those related to substrate utilization and insulin resistance, reduce the efficiency of energy production, causing a heart energy reserve deficit.

Gln(27)-->Glubeta(2)-adrenergic receptor polymorphism in heart failure patients: differential clinical and oxidative response to carvedilol.

We investigated the clinical response of chronic heart failure patients with beta(2)-adrenergic receptor Gln(27)-->Glu polymorphism treated for 6 months with carvedilol, a alpha/beta-antagonist with antioxidant properties. The 6-min. walk test, the left ventricular ejection fraction, heart rate, plasma norepinephrine and malondialdehyde, a stress oxidative marker, concentrations were evaluated at baseline and after treatment for 6 months with carvedilol in 33 stable chronic heart failure patients with the Gln(27)-->Glubeta(2)-adrenergic receptor polymorphism.

[Interactions between beta1 and beta2 adrenergic receptor polymorphisms as risk factors for chronic heart failure].

Background: Beta adrenergic receptors (AR) are highly polymorphic and important regulators of cardiovascular homeostasis. Among these, beta1 and beta2 AR regulate cardiac contractility and frequency and are important pharmacological targets.

Aim: To evaluate genotype and gene-gene interaction between beta1-AR Arg389Gly and beta2-AR Arg16Gly, Gln27Glu and Thr164Ile polymorphisms, as risk factors for HF.

[Inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in patients with chronic heart failure].

Background: In chronic heart failure (CHF), endothelial dysfunction (ED) is a consequence of an imbalance of vascular tone regulating substances. The relationship between ED and inflammation has not been fully investigated.

Aim: To assess the association between inflammation and ED in CHF.

Serum uric acid correlates with extracellular superoxide dismutase activity in patients with chronic heart failure.

Increased serum uric acid has been identified as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, because of its antioxidant capacity, uric acid may play a beneficial role in endothelial function. This paradoxical relationship between uric acid and endothelial function in chronic heart failure patients remains poorly understood.

Pleiotropic effects of atorvastatin in heart failure: role in oxidative stress, inflammation, endothelial function, and exercise capacity.

Background: Increased oxidative stress, a common feature in chronic heart failure, has been associated with inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and extracellular matrix degradation. Statins have known anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects; however, their role in chronic heart failure is still controversial.

Methods: This was a prospective study of 38 patients with stable systolic chronic heart failure.

Effects of carvedilol on oxidative stress and chronotropic response to exercise in patients with chronic heart failure.

Background: Our previous studies suggest that the increase in heart rate from rest to peak exercise is reduced in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and this is associated with increased oxidative stress, as determined by malondialdehyde (MDA) plasma levels.

Aim: To investigate the effects of carvedilol on the heart rate response to exercise and oxidative stress in patients with CHF.

Methods And Results: Thirty stable NYHA classes II-III CHF patients received carvedilol therapy for 6 months, at a mean maintenance dose of 25 mg (range 6.

Effects of carvedilol upon intra- and interventricular synchrony in patients with chronic heart failure.

Radionuclide isotopic ventriculography with phase analysis was performed in 30 patients with stable heart failure (HF), determining left ventricular (LV) and interventricular contraction synchrony at baseline and after 6 months of treatment with maximal tolerated doses of carvedilol. Patients with HF had significant ventricular dyssynchrony compared with a normal population. The 50th percentile of patients with the greatest dyssynchrony at baseline showed significant improvement in ventricular synchrony after receiving carvedilol, and this was correlated positively with a reduction in end-diastolic LV volumes.

Oxidative stress in pericardial fluid and plasma and its association with ventricular function.

Unlabelled: There are no studies evaluating oxidative stress markers both in pericardial fluid and plasma and whether they correlate with cardiac function indexes. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether oxidative stress markers in pericardial fluid and plasma are associated with left ventricular function.

Methods And Results: Twenty-eight consecutive patients (class I or II NYHA) scheduled for myocardial revascularization, valve replacement, valve repair or closure of atrial septal defect.

[Cardiac failure in Chilean hospitals: results of the National Registry of Heart Failure, ICARO].

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a major public health problem. In Chile hospitalized patients due to HF have not been characterized.

Aim: To evaluate clinical profile and outcome of patients hospitalized for heart failure in Chilean hospitals.