[Music for your heart].

Music is an important tool to improve our human condition and better our mood, but the interesting thing is that some types of music seem to have "medicinal" qualities, so that they have coined the term "music therapy" to define the potential benefits on our body. However, we do not know if these effects can be measured and reproduced, as well as they are able to work on the cardiovascular system. Listening to music allows to explore deep and complex aspects of our soul, but also modulates the rhythm of some physiological components of our heart.

[Journey around the heart in the movies of the last century: from Charlie Chaplin to the present day].

Imagine a journey through the cinema's history to recover the figure of the doctor in the last century. At the same time, we have found that the progress of medicine has conditioned the stories told on the big screen. Cardiology has achieved a leading role at the cinema when technological innovations have begun to emerge, from the '60s onwards.

[The heart of Italians. A population survey on the perception and evaluation of the National Health Service by citizens with heart disease and without heart disease (with special reference to cardiology)].

Background: The purpose of this study was to collect information to understand how citizens perceive the National Health System (NHS), and what is the degree of confidence they have in the NHS.

Methods: We carried out an opinion poll with the Demos & Pi group on the perception of the NHS by Italian citizens, with particular reference to the activities related to cardiology, by interviewing 2311 people with a set of 33 questions, about the perception of their health status, lifestyles, the propensity to use public or private services, consideration of the level of the NHS, and the trust in the medical profession. The subjects included were also preliminarily stratified according to the presence or absence of heart disease.

[Preventive cardiology: comparisons of European and Italian projects with the Cardiac Units from Emilia Romagna region. A workshop of IACPR/GICR - Emilia Romagna].

A workshop endorsed by the Italian Association of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation--Emilia Romagna Section--held in Piacenza in May 2011, gave the opportunity to discuss the emerging role of Preventive Cardiology in the modern era. From the new documents recently published by the European and Italian Scientific Associations, the barriers in their implementation, and the contribution of the health care providers, physicians, nurses, both in primary and secondary prevention were discussed. The local initiatives of cardiac prevention in different areas were presented and compared.

[Advantages and limitations of the cardiovascular risk charts].

The absolute risk of cardiovascular events depends on the individual's global risk profile, obtained from estimating the effects of multiple risk factors in the subject. Several risk charts have been prepared by National Societies to calculate the probability of an individual to suffer coronary events during a 10-year follow-up period. In 1998 the Joint Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology published a risk chart which was diffused to promote primary prevention in the general population.

Elevated cardiac troponin levels predict the risk of adverse outcome in patients with acute coronary syndromes.

Background: Elevations of cardiac troponin T or I are predictive of adverse outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndromes. However, odds ratios (ORs) vary substantially between studies. This investigation refines these values by means of a meta-analysis.

Transient sympathovagal imbalance triggers "ischemic" sudden death in patients undergoing electrocardiographic Holter monitoring.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between "ischemic" sudden death (arrhythmic death preceded by ST segment shift) and autonomic nervous system activity. Background. Mechanisms precipitating sudden death are poorly known despite the importance of detecting functional factors that may contribute to such a fatal event.

[A transient decrease in heart rate variability in patients with sudden "ischemic" death during Holter monitoring].

Background: Mechanisms precipitating sudden death are poorly known, in spite of the importance to detect functional factors which may contribute to such fatal event. Aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between "ischemic" sudden death (ISD: arrhythmic death preceded by acute myocardial ischemia) and autonomic nervous system activity.

Methods: We analysed the tapes of 6 patients (pts) (5 males; 67 +/- 12 yrs) suffering ISD during Holter monitoring (HM).

Relation of severity of symptoms to transient myocardial ischemia and prognosis in unstable angina.

Objectives: This study was undertaken to compare the relative power of the severity of angina versus that of any other clinical, electrocardiographic (ECG) and angiographic findings in predicting the risk of subsequent in-hospital coronary events in patients admitted to the coronary care unit for treatment of unstable angina.

Background: The presence or absence of chest pain has traditionally been used to guide management and therapy of unstable angina. However, recent studies raised the possibility that the cumulative duration of ischemia may be an additional index of prognosis.

Vasotonic angina: a spectrum of ischemic syndromes involving functional abnormalities of the epicardial and microvascular coronary circulation.

Objectives: The present study was undertaken to investigate the response of large and small coronary arteries in a subgroup of patients with no or minimal coronary artery disease found to have objective signs of myocardial ischemia.

Background: Many patients apparently have normal coronary arteries despite abnormal electrocardiographic (ECG) changes during spontaneous anginal attacks or exercise stress testing.

Methods: Twenty-five patients with no or minimal (< 30% stenosis) coronary artery disease were chosen from a pool initially selected on the basis of spontaneous anginal attacks and ST segment shifts in the anterior leads.

[Regional coronary blood flow in patients with acute myocardial infarct treated by systemic fibrinolysis].

Thrombolysis has been reported to restore coronary blood flow in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, the relationship between fibrinolytic treatment and evidence of myocardial reperfusion has not been adequately assessed. Accordingly, we measured great cardiac vein blood flow (GCVF:thermodilution) in 12 patients (Group 1) presenting with AMI (chest pain < 4 hours and ST elevation in the anterior leads) before and following i.

[The differentiated effects of fibrinolysis on the coronary flow in patients with unstable angina].

Background: Intracoronary (i.c.) thrombus is a frequent finding in patients (pts) with unstable angina (UA).

Transient ischaemia refractory to conventional medical treatment in unstable angina: angiographic correlates and prognostic implications.

Complex stenosis morphology is frequently seen in patients with unstable angina. However, its relation to transient myocardial ischaemia and clinical outcome has not been adequately elucidated. We studied 86 patients admitted to the Coronary Care Unit for unstable angina; all patients underwent ECG Holter monitoring during the first 2-4 days, while receiving intensive triple drug treatment.

Coronary hemodynamic effects of systemic thrombolysis in patients with unstable angina.

Intracoronary (i.c.) thrombus is a frequent finding in patients with unstable angina (UA).

Prognostic significance of silent myocardial ischemia in variant angina pectoris.

The present study investigates the prognostic significance of silent myocardial ischemia in variant angina. Forty-eight-hour Holter monitoring and coronary angiography were performed in 54 patients with transient ST elevation and no history of myocardial infarction admitted to the coronary care unit for worsening of symptoms. Coronary artery spasm was documented in most of these patients.

Angiographic morphology in unstable angina and its relation to transient myocardial ischemia and hospital outcome.

Complex stenosis morphology frequently occurs in patients with unstable angina pectoris. However, its relation to transient myocardial ischemia and hospital outcome has not been ascertained. To address this issue, 88 patients with significant (greater than or equal to 50%) coronary artery disease presenting with angina--new onset (n = 38), worsening (n = 20) or at rest (n = 30)-were studied.

[Variant angina which interacts with two phenomena: local hypersensitivity and abnormal response in the coronary tree to vasoconstrictor stimuli].

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the vasomotion of the entire coronary tree in variant angina, particularly focusing the attention on the behaviour of the "non spastic" epicardial vessels, using a quantitative coronary technique. Two different groups of patients served as controls. The first group consisted of 10 patients with accessory nodal pathway but without any sign of myocardial ischemia (Group I).

ST/HR slope during prostacyclin treatment: an improved method to identify patients with advanced coronary artery disease.

Constriction of atherosclerotic coronary segments during exercise may further reduce coronary flow reserve in patients with coronary artery disease. This could influence the linear regression analysis of the heart rate-related changes in ST-segment depression (ST/HR slope) thereby limiting the accuracy of this method in identifying the severity of the disease. To test this hypothesis, the exercise related ST/HR slopes on placebo were compared with those obtained during coronary vasodilation induced by a prostacyclin analogue (iloprost 6 ng kg-1 min-1) in 42 anginal patients with documented coronary artery disease.

[Abnormal coronary response to vasomotor stimuli: analogies between variant angina and X syndrome].

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of hyperventilation (HV) and of ic nitroglycerin (NTG) on coronary diameters and hemodynamics in 32 patients with angina pectoris. Of these, 10 patients had stable angina and critical coronary artery disease (CAD, Group I), 12 patients with variant angina (VA) and no or minor coronary atherosclerosis (Group II), and 10 patients with angina and normal coronary arteries (syndrome X (SX), Group III). All patients underwent coronary angiography as well as right heart catheterization; measurements of left anterior descending coronary diameters (mid segment), great cardiac vein blood flow, aortic pressure and coronary resistance were performed on baseline, after HV and following NTG.

Effect of oral levodopa and carbidopa on coronary spasm in variant angina pectoris.

The effect of oral administration of 500 mg of levodopa with 50 mg of carbidopa, a peripheral dopadecarboxylase inhibitor, on coronary vasomotion during vasoconstrictor stimuli was examined in 15 patients with variant angina presenting with hyperventilation-induced myocardial ischemia. Patients were studied during 3 noninvasive sessions and 1 angiographic session. In all sessions the basic protocol consisted of provocation of coronary spasm by hyperventilation before and 2 hours after levodopa and carbidopa administration.