Impaired myocardial deformation persists at 2 years in offspring of mothers with diabetes mellitus.

Background: A diabetic intrauterine environment has been proposed as a potential etiological mechanism for in utero programming of cardiac disease, and is associated with impaired fetal cardiac function. We aimed to assess cardiac function in offspring of mothers with diabetes mellitus (ODM) and determine whether fetal cardiac abnormalities persist during follow-up.

Methods: Longitudinal observational study to evaluate and compare myocardial function in 40 ODM to age-matched control offspring (CO).

Sleep-related breathing disorders and cardiometabolic risk factors in pediatric kidney transplant recipients.

Background: SRBDs have been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is a significant cause of mortality in kidney transplant recipients. Few studies have investigated the association between SRBDs and cardiometabolic risk factors in pediatric kidney transplant recipients.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of pediatric kidney transplant recipients using baseline cardiometabolic data from a previous clinical trial (NCT01007994).

Restoration of nocturnal blood pressure dip and reduction of nocturnal blood pressure with evening anti-hypertensive medication administration in pediatric kidney transplant recipients: A pilot randomized clinical trial.

Non-dipping and nocturnal hypertension are commonly found during ABPM in pediatric kidney transplant recipients. These entities are independently associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk in adults. Kidney transplant recipients aged 5-21 years with eGFR > 30 mL/min/1.

Myocardial ischaemia and valve insufficiency caused by a dysplastic aortic valve cusp: a previously unreported unique morphologic anomaly.

Isolated aortic regurgitation and myocardial infarction are a rare congenital defect among neonatal patients. We present a case of a neonate with an unusual aortic valve morphology causing both regurgitation and obstruction of the left coronary artery ostium. Despite both non-invasive and invasive imaging modalities, accurate diagnosis of the valve morphology was only determined by direct visualisation at the time of surgical repair.

A detailed comparison of mouse and human cardiac development.

Background: Mouse mutants are used to model human congenital cardiovascular disease. Few studies exist comparing normal cardiovascular development in mice vs. humans.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor induces cardiomyocyte apoptosis.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that causes cardiac contractile dysfunction, whereas inactivation of MIF improves cardiac function in experimental animal models of sepsis. We used cultured cardiomyocytes to determine whether MIF-induced contractile dysfunction was mediated in part by myocyte apoptosis and to identify MIF-activated intracellular signaling pathways in this process. MIF treatment significantly increased myocyte apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner to 15.