Associations of HIV and prevalent type 2 diabetes mellitus in the context of obesity in South Africa.

Background: It is unclear how rising obesity among people with HIV (PWH) impacts their risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (diabetes). We examined associations between HIV, prevalent diabetes and adiposity among South African PWH and their peers without HIV (PWOH).

Methods: HIV status was ascertained by antibody testing.

Effect of prior tuberculosis on cardiovascular status in perinatally HIV-1-infected adolescents.

Whether, and how, co-occurring HIV-1 infection (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB) impact cardiovascular status, especially in adolescents with perinatally acquired HIV (APHIV), have not been examined. We hypothesized that APHIV with previous active TB have worse cardiac efficiency than APHIV without TB, which is mediated by increased inflammation. Arterial elastance (Ea) and ventricular end-systolic elastance (Ees) were assessed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance, and ventriculoarterial coupling (VAC) estimated as Ea/Ees ratio.

Cardioprotective effects of antiretroviral treatment in adolescents with perinatal HIV infection are heterogeneous depending on age at treatment initiation.

The cardioprotective effects of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in adolescents with perinatal HIV infection (APHIV) may depend on age at ART initiation. We used cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) to characterize and compare residual cardiac changes in apparently healthy APHIV with early and delayed ART initiation compared to sex- and age-similar HIV uninfected peers. We defined early and delayed ART as, respectively, treatment initiated at <5 years and ≥5 years of age.

Liver disease is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular outcomes - A UK Biobank study.

Background & Aims: Chronic liver disease (CLD) is associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. We investigated whether early signs of liver disease (measured by iron-corrected T1-mapping [cT1]) were associated with an increased risk of major CVD events.

Methods: Liver disease activity (cT1) and fat (proton density fat fraction [PDFF]) were measured using LiverMultiScan® between January 2016 and February 2020 in the UK Biobank imaging sub-study.

Clinical features, spectrum of causal genetic mutations and outcome of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in South Africans.

Background: Little is known about the clinical characteristics, spectrum of causal genetic mutations and outcome of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in Africans. The objective of this study was to delineate the clinical and genetic features and outcome of HCM in African patients.

Methods: Information on clinical presentation, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic findings, and outcome of cases with HCM was collected from the Cardiac Clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital over a mean duration of follow up of 9.

Diagnosing cardiac disease during pregnancy: imaging modalities.

Pregnant women with known or suspected cardiovascular disease (CVD) often require cardiovascular imaging during pregnancy. The accepted maximum limit of ionising radiation exposure to the foetus during pregnancy is a cumulative dose of 5 rad. Concerns related to imaging modalities that involve ionising radiation include teratogenesis, mutagenesis and childhood malignancy.

Aortic 4D flow: quantification of signal-to-noise ratio as a function of field strength and contrast enhancement for 1.5T, 3T, and 7T.

Purpose: To investigate for the first time the feasibility of aortic four-dimensional (4D) flow at 7T, both contrast enhanced (CE) and non-CE. To quantify the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in aortic 4D flow as a function of field strength and CE with gadobenate dimeglumine (MultiHance).

Methods: Six healthy male volunteers were scanned at 1.

Subclinical myocardial inflammation and diffuse fibrosis are common in systemic sclerosis--a clinical study using myocardial T1-mapping and extracellular volume quantification.

Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is characterised by multi-organ tissue fibrosis including the myocardium. Diffuse myocardial fibrosis can be detected non-invasively by T1 and extracellular volume (ECV) quantification, while focal myocardial inflammation and fibrosis may be detected by T2-weighted and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), respectively, using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). We hypothesised that multiparametric CMR can detect subclinical myocardial involvement in patients with SSc.

Observational study of regional aortic size referenced to body size: production of a cardiovascular magnetic resonance nomogram.

Background: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is regarded as the gold standard for clinical assessment of the aorta, but normal dimensions are usually referenced to echocardiographic and computed tomography data and no large CMR normal reference range exists. As a result we aimed to 1) produce a normal CMR reference range of aortic diameters and 2) investigate the relationship between regional aortic size and body surface area (BSA) in a large group of healthy subjects with no vascular risk factors.

Methods: 447 subjects (208 male, aged 19-70 years) without identifiable cardiac risk factors (BMI range 15.

Normal variation of magnetic resonance T1 relaxation times in the human population at 1.5 T using ShMOLLI.

Background: Quantitative T1-mapping is rapidly becoming a clinical tool in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) to objectively distinguish normal from diseased myocardium. The usefulness of any quantitative technique to identify disease lies in its ability to detect significant differences from an established range of normal values. We aimed to assess the variability of myocardial T1 relaxation times in the normal human population estimated with recently proposed Shortened Modified Look-Locker Inversion recovery (ShMOLLI) T1 mapping technique.

Feasibility and safety of high-dose adenosine perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

Introduction: Adenosine is the most widely used vasodilator stress agent for cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) perfusion studies. With the standard dose of 140 mcg/kg/min some patients fail to demonstrate characteristic haemodynamic changes: a significant increase in heart rate (HR) and mild decrease in systolic blood pressure (SBP). Whether an increase in the rate of adenosine infusion would improve peripheral and, likely, coronary vasodilatation in those patients is unknown.