Margin between success and failure of PDA stenting for duct-dependent pulmonary circulation.

Objectives: Percutaneous patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) stenting is a therapeutic modality in patients with duct-dependent pulmonary circulation with reported success rates from 80-100%. The current study aims to assess the outcome and the indicators of success for PDA stenting in different ductal morphologies using various approaches.

Methods: A prospective cohort study from a single tertiary center presented from January 2018 to December 2019 that included 96 consecutive infants with ductal-dependent pulmonary circulation and palliated with PDA stenting.

The influence of physiological matrix conditions on permanent culture of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

Cardiomyocytes (CMs) from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells mark an important achievement in the development of in vitro pharmacological, toxicological and developmental assays and in the establishment of protocols for cardiac cell replacement therapy. Using CMs generated from murine embryonic stem cells and iPS cells we found increased cell-matrix interaction and more matured embryoid body (EB) structures in iPS cell-derived EBs. However, neither suspension-culture in form of purified cardiac clusters nor adherence-culture on traditional cell culture plastic allowed for extended culture of CMs.

Evidence for self-maintaining pluripotent murine stem cells in embryoid bodies.

Pluripotent stem cells have great potential for regenerative medicine; however, their clinical use is associated with a risk of tumor formation. We utilized pluripotent cells expressing green fluorescent protein and puromycin resistance under control of the Oct4 promoter to study the persistence of potential pluripotent cells under embryoid body (EB) culture conditions, which are commonly used to obtain organotypic cells. We found that i.

Cardioprotective modulation of cardiac adiponectin and adiponectin receptors by omega-3 in the high-fat fed rats.

Obesity is an important risk factor for heart disease. This study investigated the effects of omega-3 (omega-3) on reversal of high fat (HF) diet-induced changes in the expression of the cardiac adiponectin and adiponectin receptors R1 and R2. Male rats were fed low-fat (LF; 10% energy from fat) or HF (45% energy from fat) for 16 weeks, LF-omega-3 or a HF-omega-3 (LF or HF for 16 weeks supplemented by omega-3 as 36 g/kg diet for the last 6 weeks, respectively) and a HF diet for 10 weeks to demonstrate HF effect before omega-3 administration.

Permanent cardiac pacing in pediatric patients.

Pediatric pacemaker (PM) implants comprise less than 1 % of all PM implants. This study aimed to investigate permanent cardiac pacing among the pediatric population, identifying different indications and complications of pediatric cardiac pacing, especially focusing on the effect of the pacing sites, the PM lead type, and the indications for pacing. The current work is a cross-sectional study of 103 procedures for permanent PM insertion in pediatric patients between January 2001 and December 2010.

A Cre-based double fluorescence indicator system for monitoring cell fusion events and selection of fused cells.

We have established an in vitro Cre/loxP-based assay for monitoring cell fusion events that specifically traces the transport of cytoplasm from one cell to its fusion partner. Cells with a double fluorescence vector indicate fusion with cells expressing Cre recombinase by switching expression from red to green fluorescent protein through a Cre-mediated recombination event that simultaneously activates puromycin-acetyltransferase expression. This strategy allows for both the observation and puromycin selection of indicator cells that have undergone fusion with a Cre recombinase-expressing partner.

Assessment of left internal mammary artery graft patency by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography.

Background: The successful application of noninvasive Doppler spectrum analysis has been reported for the hemodynamic assessment of LIMA graft after myocardial revascularization.

Hypothesis: The objective of this study was to assess the utility of transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTE) in providing information on LIMA flow in patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Methods: In all, 22 patients (aged 62 +/- 8 years) with LIMA graft to the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery who underwent coronary angiography were assessed using high-frequency (5 MHz) transthoracic Doppler echocardiography.