Utility of screening computed tomography of chest, abdomen and pelvis in patients after heart transplantation.

Introduction: Malignancy is a late cause of mortality in heart transplant recipients. It is unknown if screening computed tomography scan would lead to early detection of such malignancies or serious vascular anomalies post heart transplantation.

Methods: This is a single center observational study of patients undergoing surveillance computed tomography of chest, abdomen and pelvis at least 5 years after transplantation.

Incidence, risk factors, and clinical outcomes of atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter after heart transplantation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (AFL) after heart transplantation (HT) has been associated with increased mortality. Diverse incidence rates have been reported to date, with no clear classification according to the time of onset of such arrhythmias. We determined the incidence of AF/AFL using the time of onset after HT and analyzed the associated risk factors and outcomes.

Non-invasive cardiac evaluation in heart failure patients using magnetic resonance imaging: a feasibility study.

Background: To assess the feasibility of a fast, flow-insensitive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol in heart failure patients for the evaluation of cardiac function, cardiovascular anatomy, and myocardial viability.

Methods And Results: Thirty-two consecutive patients with left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction and 13 control subjects were prospectively evaluated with MRI. The exam consisted of cine imaging with a steady-state free precession sequence, followed by time-resolved, three-dimensional angiography and delayed, contrast-enhanced imaging.

Heart failure: evaluation of cardiopulmonary transit times with time-resolved MR angiography.

Purpose: To measure cardiopulmonary transit times in patients with heart failure by using low-dose, time-resolved magnetic resonance (MR) angiography and to determine if transit curves reflect conventional MR indexes of cardiac function.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-six patients with heart failure and left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction (17 men and nine women; age range, 22-78 years) and thirteen control subjects (eight men and five women; age range, 23-59 years) were examined with MR imaging. The examination consisted of rapid cine MR imaging throughout the heart, followed by contrast material-enhanced time-resolved three-dimensional MR angiography of the cardiac chambers and pulmonary vasculature.

Negative T waves shortly after ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction are a powerful marker for improved survival rate.

Background: Recent studies have reported that negative T waves in the setting of acute coronary events are associated with Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction flow grade 3 in the infarct-related artery and with improved parameters of ventricular function rather than with ischemia.

Methods: Patients enrolled in the Global Utilization of Streptokinase and Tissue Plasminogen Activator for Occluded Coronary Arteries (GUSTO-I) angiographic substudy (ie, patients with acute infarction randomly assigned to one of 4 thrombolytic regimens who then underwent coronary angiography) were included in this study if they survived at least 24 hours and had no confounding electrocardiographic factors (n = 1505).

Results: More patients had negative T waves develop (NT group, n = 938 [62%]) than not (PT group, n = 567 [38%]).

Staurosporine activates a 60,000 M(r) protein kinase in bovine chromaffin cells that phosphorylates myelin basic protein in vitro.

Bovine chromaffin cells contain a family of renaturable protein kinases. One of these, a 60,000 M(r) kinase (PK60) that phosphorylated myelin basic protein in vitro, was activated fourfold when cells were treated with the protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine. Because staurosporine inhibits protein kinase C, the role of this kinase in the regulation of PK60 activity was investigated.

Nicotinic agonists, phorbol esters, and growth factors activate two extracellular signal-regulated kinases, ERK1 and ERK2, in bovine chromaffin cells.

Treatment of bovine chromaffin cells with nicotinic agonists, phorbol esters, and growth factors increases protein kinase activity toward microtubule-associated protein-2 and myelin basic protein (MBP) in vitro. To characterize the kinases that are activated by these agents, we separated chromaffin cell proteins by electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels into which MBP had been incorporated, allowed the proteins to renature, and then assayed MBP kinase activity by incubating the gels with [gamma-32P]ATP. Chromaffin cells contain a family of kinases that phosphorylate MBP in vitro.