Preservation of the heart in ancient Egyptian mummies: A computed tomography investigation with focus on the myocardium.

The ancient Egyptians considered the heart to be the most important organ. The belief that the heart remained in the body is widespread in the archeological and paleopathological literature. The purpose of this study was to perform an overview of the preserved intrathoracic structures and thoracic and abdominal cavity filling, and to determine the prevalence and computed tomography (CT) characteristics of the myocardium in the preserved hearts of ancient Egyptian mummies.

Thin filament cardiomyopathies: A review of genetics, disease mechanisms, and emerging therapeutics.

All muscle contraction occurs due to the cyclical interaction between sarcomeric thin and thick filament proteins within the myocyte. The thin filament consists of the proteins actin, tropomyosin, Troponin C, Troponin I, and Troponin T. Mutations in these proteins can result in various forms of cardiomyopathy, including hypertrophic, restrictive, and dilated phenotypes and account for as many as 30% of all cases of inherited cardiomyopathy.

Prevalence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment in indigenous Bolivian forager-horticulturalists.

Introduction: We evaluated the prevalence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in indigenous Tsimane and Moseten, who lead a subsistence lifestyle.

Methods: Participants from population-based samples ≥ 60 years of age (n = 623) were assessed using adapted versions of the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination, informant interview, longitudinal cognitive testing and brain computed tomography (CT) scans.

Results: Tsimane exhibited five cases of dementia (among n = 435; crude prevalence = 1.

Very Low Prevalence and Incidence of Atrial Fibrillation among Bolivian Forager-Farmers.

Background: Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia in post-industrialized populations. Older age, hypertension, obesity, chronic inflammation, and diabetes are significant atrial fibrillation risk factors, suggesting that modern urban environments may promote atrial fibrillation.

Objective: Here we assess atrial fibrillation prevalence and incidence among tropical horticulturalists of the Bolivian Amazon with high levels of physical activity, a lean diet, and minimal coronary atherosclerosis, but also high infectious disease burden and associated inflammation.

Prognostic usefulness of planar I-MIBG scintigraphic images of myocardial sympathetic innervation in congestive heart failure: Follow-Up data from ADMIRE-HF.

Background: To evaluate whether planar I-MIBG myocardial scintigraphy predicts risk of death in heart failure (HF) patients up to 5 years after imaging.

Methods And Results: Subjects from ADMIRE-HF were followed for approximately 5 years after imaging (964 subjects, median follow-up 62.7 months).

Left main and triple vessel dissection 2 months postpartum.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a rare cause of acute coronary syndrome. The majority of cases reported in the literature involve a single vessel; multivessel and left main (LM) coronary artery involvement is rare. We present a case of triple vessel and LM SCAD in a postpartum patient and review the literature regarding percutaneous coronary intervention in the setting of SCAD.

How B-Type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) and Body Weight Changes Vary in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction Compared With Reduced Ejection Fraction: Secondary Results of the HABIT (HF Assessment With BNP in the Home) Trial.

Background: Heart failure is a common cause of hospitalization and can be divided into types with preserved and reduced ejection fraction (HFpEF and HFrEF, respectively). In this subanalysis of the HABIT (Heart Failure Assessment With BNP in the Home) trial, we examined the differences between home B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) testing and weight monitoring in patients with HFpEF and with HFrEF before decompensation.

Methods And Results: This was a retrospective review of patients with HFpEF and HFrEF from the HABIT trial.

Why did ancient people have atherosclerosis?: from autopsies to computed tomography to potential causes.

Computed tomographic findings of atherosclerosis in the ancient cultures of Egypt, Peru, the American Southwest and the Aleutian Islands challenge our understanding of the fundamental causes of atherosclerosis. Could these findings be true? Is so, what traditional risk factors might be present in these cultures that could explain this apparent paradox? The recent computed tomographic findings are consistent with multiple autopsy studies dating as far back as 1852 that demonstrate calcific atherosclerosis in ancient Egyptians and Peruvians. A nontraditional cause of atherosclerosis that could explain this burden of atherosclerosis is the microbial and parasitic inflammatory burden likely to be present in ancient cultures inherently lacking modern hygiene and antimicrobials.

Funerary artifacts, social status, and atherosclerosis in ancient peruvian mummy bundles.

Background: Evidence of atherosclerotic plaques in ancient populations has led to the reconsideration of risk factors for heart disease and of the common belief that it is a disease of modern times.

Methods: Fifty-one wrapped mummy bundles excavated from the sites of Huallamarca, Pedreros, and Rinconada La Molina from the Puruchuco Museum collection in Lima, Peru, were scanned using computed tomography to investigate the presence of atherosclerosis. Funerary artifacts contained within the undisturbed mummy bundles were analyzed as an attempt to infer the social status of the individuals to correlate social status with evidence of heart disease in this ancient Peruvian group.

Atherosclerosis in ancient humans, accelerated aging syndromes and normal aging: is lamin a protein a common link?

Imaging studies of ancient human mummies have demonstrated the presence of vascular calcification that is consistent with the presence of atherosclerosis. These findings have stimulated interest in the underlying biological processes that might impart to humans an inherent predisposition to the development of atherosclerosis. Clues to these processes may possibly be found in accelerated aging syndromes, such as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), an ultra-rare disorder characterized by premature aging phenotypes, including very aggressive forms of atherosclerosis, occurring in childhood.

Genomic correlates of atherosclerosis in ancient humans.

Paleogenetics offers a unique opportunity to study human evolution, population dynamics, and disease evolution in situ. Although histologic and computed x-ray tomographic investigations of ancient mummies have clearly shown that atherosclerosis has been present in humans for more than 5,000 years, limited data are available on the presence of genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease in ancient human populations. In a previous whole-genome study of the Tyrolean Iceman, a 5,300-year-old glacier mummy from the Alps, an increased risk for coronary heart disease was detected.

Atherosclerosis in ancient and modern Egyptians: the Horus study.

Background: Although atherosclerosis is usually thought of as a disease of modernity, the Horus Team has previously reported atherosclerotic vascular calcifications on computed tomographic (CT) scans in ancient Egyptians.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare patterns and demographic characteristics of this disease among Egyptians from ancient and modern eras.

Methods: We compared the presence and extent of vascular calcifications from whole-body CT scans performed on 178 modern Egyptians from Cairo undergoing positron emission tomography (PET)/CT for cancer staging to CT scans of 76 Egyptian mummies (3100 bce to 364 ce).

Computed tomographic evidence of atherosclerosis in the mummified remains of humans from around the world.

Although atherosclerosis is widely thought to be a disease of modernity, computed tomographic evidence of atherosclerosis has been found in the bodies of a large number of mummies. This article reviews the findings of atherosclerotic calcifications in the remains of ancient people-humans who lived across a very wide span of human history and over most of the inhabited globe. These people had a wide range of diets and lifestyles and traditional modern risk factors do not thoroughly explain the presence and easy detectability of this disease.

Is atherosclerosis fundamental to human aging? Lessons from ancient mummies.

Case reports from Johan Czermak, Marc Ruffer, and others a century or more ago demonstrated ancient Egyptians had atherosclerosis three millennia ago. The Horus study team extended their findings, demonstrating that atherosclerosis was prevalent among 76 ancient Egyptian mummies and among 61 mummies from each of the ancient cultures of Peru, the American Southwest, and the Aleutian Islands. These findings challenge the assumption that atherosclerosis is a modern disease caused by present day risk factors.

Primary results of the HABIT Trial (heart failure assessment with BNP in the home).

Objectives: This study was a multicenter, single-arm, double-blinded observational prospective clinical trial designed to monitor daily concentrations of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and to determine how these concentrations correlate with acute clinical heart failure decompensation (ADHF) and related adverse clinical outcomes in at-risk HF patients.

Background: Although BNP at discharge is predictive of 30-day outcomes, outpatient serial testing may improve the risk of detecting early decompensation.

Methods: A total of 163 patients with HF signs and symptoms of ADHF discharged from the hospital or in an outpatient setting measured their weight and BNP levels daily for 60 days with a finger-stick test.

Atherosclerosis across 4000 years of human history: the Horus study of four ancient populations.

Background: Atherosclerosis is thought to be a disease of modern human beings and related to contemporary lifestyles. However, its prevalence before the modern era is unknown. We aimed to evaluate preindustrial populations for atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in Egyptian women: 1570 BCE-2011 CE.

Background: Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is often thought of as a disease of modernity, a disease affecting primarily men and a disease primarily affecting members of affluent Western societies.

Methods: We reviewed CT scans for evidence of vascular calcification as a manifestation of atherosclerosis in ancient Egyptian female mummies and compared the results to clinical features of contemporary Egyptian women, who are suffering from an epidemic of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Results: The common assumption that atherosclerosis is strictly a modern disease which spares women, mainly affecting men, is not true.

Atherosclerosis in ancient Egyptian mummies: the Horus study.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether ancient Egyptians had atherosclerosis.

Background: The worldwide burden of atherosclerotic disease continues to rise and parallels the spread of diet, lifestyles, and environmental risk factors associated with the developed world. It is tempting to conclude that atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is exclusively a disease of modern society and did not affect our ancient ancestors.

The RegEx trial: a randomized, double-blind, placebo- and active-controlled pilot study combining regadenoson, a selective A(2A) adenosine agonist, with low-level exercise, in patients undergoing myocardial perfusion imaging.

Background: Although vasodilator stress myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is increasingly performed with exercise, adenosine A(2A) receptor agonists have not been studied with exercise.

Objectives: To determine the safety of administering regadenoson during exercise and, secondarily, to evaluate image quality, patient acceptance, and detection of perfusion defects.

Methods: Patients requiring pharmacologic MPI received a standard adenosine-supine protocol (AdenoSup, n = 60) and were then randomized (2:1) in a double-blind manner to low-level exercise with bolus intravenous injection of regadenoson (RegEx, n = 39) or placebo (PlcEx, n = 21).