Unicorn: Anomalous Double Ostium Left Main Coronary Artery With Intra-Mural Connection - Diagnosed with Multi-Modality Imaging.

Case report of a unicorn: anomalous double ostium left main coronary artery with common intra-mural connection. Three-dimensional virtual endo-luminal angioscopy and catheter-based imaging confirmed the diagnosis, subsequently avoiding cardiac surgical intervention.

The impact of ovariectomy on calcium homeostasis and myofilament calcium sensitivity in the aging mouse heart.

This study determined whether deficiency of ovarian estrogen starting very early in life promoted age-associated Ca(2+) dysregulation and contractile dysfunction in isolated ventricular myocytes. Myocytes were isolated from anesthetized C57BL/6 female mice. Animals received an ovariectomy or sham-operation at one month and were aged to ~24 months.

A practical method of measuring oxygen consumption in children with complex mixing circulations by the use of thermodilution cardiac output studies.

Objective: We describe a method to measure oxygen consumption (VO2) and pulmonary vascular resistive index (PVRI) based on thermodilution cardiac output in patients with complex mixing circulations. We apply this method to patients with a bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis (BDCPA). We compare our measured VO2 with a predicted VO2 based on a formula using height and weight.

Dexamethasone given to premature infants and cardiac diastolic function in early childhood.

Objectives: To determine if dexamethasone given to premature infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia would result in cardiac diastolic dysfunction in early childhood, a topic unstudied in humans.

Study Design: We compared seven children ages 3 to 8 years born at 26 weeks' gestation and given dexamethasone for bronchopulmonary dysplasia with eight gestation-matched and age-matched control children using echocardiography to assess measures of systolic and diastolic function. All dexamethasone patients had resolved hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Benefits of an international working exchange in pediatric cardiology.

This report describes a 1-year exchange between members of two pediatric cardiology centers: one in Canada and one in Australia. Five cardiologists participated in sequence, fully engaging in the activities of the host department. The motivation of the exchange was broadly educational including clinical experience, shared expertise, teaching, and research collaboration.

Patent ductus arteriosus remodels cardiac sensory neuronal chemotransduction.

We sought to determine the capacity of neonatal ventricular sensory nerve endings (neurites) to transduce the cardiac milieu in the presence of cardiovascular pathology. The spontaneous activity generated by nodose ganglion cardiac afferent neurons was identified in situ using extracellular recording techniques in two groups of piglets approximately 2 weeks old: (i). controls that underwent sham operations (n=19 piglets) 2 weeks earlier and (ii).

Surgery modifies cardiac sensory transduction.

Objective: We sought to determine whether cardiac surgery, specifically the placement of an incision within a ventricular wall, affects the capacity of regional cardiac sensory nerve terminals (neurites) to transduce the local cardiac milieu.

Methods: The capacity of sensory neurites in the right ventricular outflow tract associated with afferent neurons in nodose ganglia to transduce their mechanical and chemical milieu was studied in 11 anesthetized pigs before and after performing a local ventriculotomy.

Results: Right ventricular outflow tract sensory neurites associated with 23 nodose ganglion afferent neurons were identified that transduced local mechanical deformation along with substance P.