Ethnicity differences in geometric remodelling and myocardial composition in hypertension unveiled by cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

Aims: Hypertensive patients of African ancestry (Afr-a) have higher incidences of heart failure and worse clinical outcomes than hypertensive patients of European ancestry (Eu-a), yet the underlying mechanisms remain misunderstood. This study investigated right (RV) and left (LV) ventricular remodelling alongside myocardial tissue derangements between Afr-a and Eu-a hypertensives.

Methods And Results: 63 Afr-a and 47 Eu-a hypertensives underwent multi-parametric cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

An artificial intelligence tool for automated analysis of large-scale unstructured clinical cine cardiac magnetic resonance databases.

Aims: Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have been proposed for automating analysis of short-axis (SAX) cine cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), but no CMR analysis tool exists to automatically analyse large (unstructured) clinical CMR datasets. We develop and validate a robust AI tool for start-to-end automatic quantification of cardiac function from SAX cine CMR in large clinical databases.

Methods And Results: Our pipeline for processing and analysing CMR databases includes automated steps to identify the correct data, robust image pre-processing, an AI algorithm for biventricular segmentation of SAX CMR and estimation of functional biomarkers, and automated post-analysis quality control to detect and correct errors.

Relation of Pulse Wave Velocity to Contemporaneous and Historical Blood Pressure in Female Twins.

Background: An association between blood pressure and aortic stiffness is well known, but ambiguity remains as to whether one precedes the other. This study aimed to investigate the association of aortic stiffness with contemporaneous versus historic blood pressure and direction of causality between aortic stiffening and hypertension in female twins.

Methods: Aortic stiffness, measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) was recorded in 2037 female TwinsUK participants (mean age: 62.

Reproducibility of sequential ambulatory blood pressure and pulse wave velocity measurements in normotensive and hypertensive individuals.

Objective: Errors in blood pressure (BP) measurement account for a large proportion of misclassified hypertension diagnoses. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) is often considered to be the gold standard for measurement of BP, but uncertainty remains regarding the degree of measurement error. The aim of this study was to determine reproducibility of sequential ABPM in a population of normotensive and well controlled hypertensive individuals.

Genetic aetiology of blood pressure relates to aortic stiffness with bi-directional causality: evidence from heritability, blood pressure polymorphisms, and Mendelian randomization.

Aims: Haemodynamic determinants of blood pressure (BP) include cardiac output (CO), systemic vascular resistance (SVR), and arterial stiffness. We investigated the heritability of these phenotypes, their association with BP-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and the causal association between BP and arterial stiffness.

Methods And Results: We assessed BP, central BP components, and haemodynamic properties (during a single visit) including CO, SVR, and pulse wave velocity (PWV, measure of arterial stiffness) in 3531 (1934 monozygotic, 1586 dizygotic) female TwinsUK participants.

Comparison of central SBP in children estimated from a brachial cuff alone, brachial cuff-calibrated applanation radial tonometry and brachial cuff-calibrated carotid wall-tracking.

Objectives: We compared the agreement between different techniques to estimate central SBP (cSBP) in children and the relative impact of different methods of measuring peripheral blood pressure (BP).

Methods: A total of 135 children, aged 12.9 ± 3.

Hemodynamic Mechanism of the Age-Related Increase in Pulse Pressure in Women.

We examined the influence of arterial stiffening and ventricular ejection dynamics on the age-related increase in central pulse pressure. A total of 2033 women aged 18 to 91 years from the Twins UK cohort were studied. Aortic flow and central blood pressure were measured by Doppler sonography and carotid tonometry, respectively.

Gut microbial diversity is associated with lower arterial stiffness in women.

Aims: The gut microbiome influences metabolic syndrome (MetS) and inflammation and is therapeutically modifiable. Arterial stiffness is poorly correlated with most traditional risk factors. Our aim was to examine whether gut microbial composition is associated with arterial stiffness.

Arterial stiffening is a heritable trait associated with arterial dilation but not wall thickening: a longitudinal study in the twins UK cohort.

Aims: Vascular ageing is characterized by arterial stiffening, dilation, and arterial wall thickening. We investigated the extent to which these changes are related and their heritability during 5 year follow-up in the Twins UK cohort.

Methods And Results: Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWVcf), carotid diameter, carotid distensibility, and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) were measured in 762 female twins (mean age 57.

Decreased arterial elasticity in children with nondialysis chronic kidney disease is related to blood pressure and not to glomerular filtration rate.

We compared large artery mechanical properties in children with nondialysis stages of chronic kidney disease with those in children with normal renal function, examining the potential effect of blood pressure (BP) components and level of renal dysfunction. Common carotid artery mechanical properties, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, and carotid and peripheral BP were measured in children (n=226) with nondialysis chronic kidney disease (n=188; 11.9±3.

Central aortic blood pressure from ultrasound wall-tracking of the carotid artery in children: comparison with invasive measurements and radial tonometry.

Differences between central aortic root (c) and peripheral (p) systolic blood pressure (SBP) may be particularly marked in children, but noninvasive methods for assessing cSBP in children have not been validated. We compared estimates of cSBP obtained from radiofrequency ultrasound wall tracking of the carotid artery (ART.LAB system) with that measured directly by a catheter in the aortic root at the time of arterial cannulation.

Altered dependence of aortic pulse wave velocity on transmural pressure in hypertension revealing structural change in the aortic wall.

Aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV), a major prognostic indicator of cardiovascular events, may be augmented in hypertension as a result of the aorta being stretched by a higher distending blood pressure or by a structural change. We used a novel technique to modulate intrathoracic pressure and thus aortic transmural pressure (TMP) to examine the variation of intrathoracic aPWV with TMP in hypertensive (n=20; mean±SD age, 52.1±15.

Measurement of pulse wave velocity in children: comparison of volumetric and tonometric sensors, brachial-femoral and carotid-femoral pathways.

Background: Pulse wave velocity (PWV), a measure of arterial stiffness strongly predictive of cardiovascular risk in adults, is usually measured by sequential ECG-referenced carotid and femoral tonometry. A simplified technique, more suitable for use in children, employs simultaneous volumetric recording from a sensor applied over the carotid artery and a cuff applied over the femoral artery or arm and thigh pressure cuffs applied over the brachial and femoral arteries. The purpose of this study was to compare PWV computed over the carotid-femoral path (PWVcf) with that over the brachial-femoral path (PWVbf) using a volumetric system (Vicorder) and to compare values of PWVcf obtained by the volumetric and a tonometric method (SphygmoCor) in children.