Comparative Evaluation of Different Mint Species Based on Their In Vitro Antioxidant and Antibacterial Effect.

In our research six different mint species (peppermint, spearmint (five different chemotypes), Horse mint, mojito mint, apple mint (two different chemotypes), bergamot mint) have been evaluated by referring to their chemical (essential oil (EO) content and composition) and in vitro biological (antibacterial, antioxidant effect) characteristics. The EO amount of the analyzed mint populations varied between 1.99 and 3.

Strain predicts left ventricular functional recovery after acute myocardial infarction with systolic dysfunction.

Objective: Regional and global longitudinal strain (RLS-GLS) are considered reliable indexes of myocardial viability in chronic ischemic patients and prediction of left ventricular (LV) functional recovery after acute myocardial infarction (MI) with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). We tested in the present study whether RLS and GLS could also identify transmural extent of myocardial scar and predict LV functional recovery and remodeling in patients with reduced LVEF after acute MI.

Methods: Echocardiography and late gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance (LGE-CMR) were performed in 71 patients with reduced LVEF (≤45%) after acute MI treated with acute percutaneous coronary intervention.

Impact of video on the understanding and satisfaction of patients receiving informed consent before elective inpatient coronary angiography: A randomized trial.

Background: Appropriate information about the benefits and risks of invasive procedures is crucial, but limited data is available in this field. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incremental value of a short video about coronary angiography compared with standard information, in terms of patient understanding, satisfaction and anxiety.

Methods: This prospective multicenter study included patients admitted for scheduled coronary angiography, who were randomized to receive either standard information or video information by watching a three-dimensional educational video.

Severe liver failure rather than cirrhosis is associated with mortality in patients with infectious endocarditis: a retrospective case-control study.

Background: Data on infectious endocarditis (IE) in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) are sparse. We aimed to describe the characteristics and predictors of mortality from IE in patients with LC.

Patients And Methods: Overall, 101 patients with LC and 101 controls with IE matched for sex, age, date of IE, and diabetes were retrospectively selected in 23 liver units between 2000 and 2013.

[Clinical and angiographic outcomes after implantation of drug-eluting stents in bifurcation lesions with the crush stent technique].

The most common approach in the treatment of bifurcation lesions is stenting only the main branch (MB) with provisional T-stenting of the side branch (SB). However, some bifurcation lesions may have extensive disease within a large SB requiring stenting of this vessel. The "crush" technique, which has been proposed as an alternative approach to other strategies to treat complex bifurcations, is a relatively simple technique that ensures complete coverage of the SB ostium.

[Pericarditis in systemic lupus erythematosus: prevalence and clinical and immunologic characteristics].

Purpose: Our study sought to determine the frequency and clinical and immunologic characteristics of pericarditis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the files of all patients with SLE diagnosed between 1987 and 2005. The study included only those patients who had undergone echocardiography.

[High-risk left main coronary stenting supported by percutaneous Impella Recover LP 2.5 assist device].

Percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) of complex coronary lesions in patients with severely depressed left ventricular (LV) function may increasingly constitute an alternative to surgical revascularization. The availability of hemodynamic support devices offers a promising option to reduce PCI-related complications in such high-risk procedures. We report the case of a successful distal left main coronary artery T-stenting supported by the Impella Recover LP 2.

Risk factors of arterial hypertension after renal transplantation.

Arterial hypertension often present after kidney transplantation is of multifactorial origin. The aim of this study was to determine the role of donor and recipient factors in the development of hypertension after renal transplantation. We retrospectively analyzed the data of 280 patients transplanted between 1985 and 2005, who still had functioning grafts at 1 year after transplantation.

Intracoronary thrombectomy with the export aspiration catheter before angioplasty in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

Objective: We aimed to assess the safety and feasibility of thrombectomy with the Export Aspiration Catheter (EAC) before angioplasty, and its ability to improve angiographic results in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Background: Distal embolization of atherothrombotic material often occurs during angioplasty in STEMI, compromising optimal myocardial reperfusion.

Methods: We performed a thrombus-aspiration with EAC prior to angioplasty in 64 consecutive patients with STEMI.

[Intracoronary thrombectomy with the Export Aspiration Catheter before angioplasty in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction].

Objectives: We aimed to assess the safety and feasibility of thrombectomy with the Export Aspiration Catheter (EAC) before angioplasty, and its ability to improve angiographic results in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Background: Distal embolization of atherothrombotic material often occurs during angioplasty in STEMI, compromising optimal myocardial reperfusion.

Methods: We performed a thrombus-aspiration with EAC prior to angioplasty in 64 consecutive patients with STEMI.

[Dilated cardiomyopathy secondary to acromegaly].

In acromegaly, dilated cardiomyopathy is rare. Indeed, arterial hypertension, coronary artery disease and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are more common. The authors report a case of a 42-years-old man with dyspnea (class III NYHA) and palpitations.

[Prognostic value of echocardiographic parameters in chronic cardiac insufficiency].

This work was interested in 72 patients (81% males) with chronic heart insufficiency. Ail these patients had a sinusal rythme. The etiology was mainly idiopathic (36%) but also ischemic (64%).

[Assessment of pure isolated mitral valve insufficiency by Doppler echocardiography].

Taking 33 patients having pure MI as a material, the authors find a correlation between regurgitation fraction obtained by calculation of outputs estimated by Touch's method and angiographic values. There is a statistically significant differences (P < 0.001) between regurgitation fraction of grade I to II and grade II to III MI.

[Mitral stenosis secondary to Hurler's syndrome].

Valvular disease in mucopolysaccharidosis type I-Hurler (MPS/1H) is relatively common, but mitral stenosis is very rare in this genetic abnormality. The authors describe the case of a 16-year old girl with Hurler's syndrome diagnosed at 4 years of age. The morphological features were characteristic: bridged nose, thickened lips, macroglassia, short neck (gargoylism, short, thick fingers and limitation of brachial and fore-arm flexion.

[Infectious enterococcal endocarditis associated with Laubry and Pezzi syndrome].

Laubry and Pezzi syndrome is a rare but serious complication of ventricular septal defect that increase the infectious endocarditis risk. Authors report a case of an 18 years old young girl presenting an enterococcus infectious endocarditis associated to Laubry and Pezzi syndrome. Initial course is not favourable requiring a surgical treatment in the acute stage.

[Place of definitive cardiac stimulation in cardiomyopathies and atrial arrhythmia].

Definitive cardiac stimulation ralatually used for brady cardia are going to be in the third millennium the specific therapy of arrhythmia and cardiomyopathy. In the last 10 years, may progress occur in the use of cardiac stimulation as hemodynamic therapy of obstructions hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies resistant to conventional medical treatment. Moreover auricular stimulation present antiarrhythmic effects in some atrial arrhythmias as auricular fibrillations auricular diseases and atypical flutters.

Progesterone and synthetic steroids produce insulin resistance at the post-receptor level in adipocytes of female rats.

The effects of progesterone, its agonists (progestin RU-5020, glucocorticoid RU-26988) and antagonist (antiprogesterone, anti-glucocorticoid RU-486) were tested on isolated fat cells in vitro. When added to the incubation medium, all four steroids decreased basal glucose oxidation. The inhibitory effect of the steroids appeared early (20 min incubation) and was sustained during a 2-h incubation.

Insulin binding and action in adipocytes of pregnant rats: evidence that insulin resistance is caused by post-receptor binding defects.

Insulin resistance was investigated in the adipose cell of rats which were at days 16 and 20 of pregnancy. Data are presented to relate insulin binding and biological effect, which was evaluated by the ability of insulin to stimulate [1-14C]glucose oxidation. Adipocytes from pregnant rats bound more insulin than fat cells from control (non-pregnant) animals and the number of insulin receptors per adipocyte increased during pregnancy.

Glucose metabolism in the female rat adipocyte: lipid synthesis from glucose during pregnancy and progesterone treatment.

Pregnancy and progesterone treatment of ovariectomized rats decrease glucose metabolism through the pentose-phosphate pathway in isolated female rat adipocytes. As demonstrated in previous studies, progesterone directly decreases [1-14C]glucose oxidation through the pentose-phosphate pathway and lipogenesis from [6-14C]glucose, the present study therefore compared glucose-induced lipid synthesis during pregnancy (10, 16 and 20 days of pregnancy) with the effect of progesterone treatment (5 mg/rat per day for 14 days) to shed more light on the role of this steroid in glucose metabolism during pregnancy. The inhibition of [6-14C]glucose incorporation into triacylglycerols in the progesterone-treated rats was comparable to that which occurs during late (20 days) and mid-pregnancy (16 days) but not during early pregnancy (10 days).