Multiparametric Evaluation of Radiomics Features and Dual-Energy CT Iodine Maps for Discrimination and Outcome Prediction of Thymic Masses.

Rationale And Objectives: To investigate the diagnostic value of radiomics features and dual-source dual-energy CT (DECT) based material decomposition in differentiating low-risk thymomas, high-risk thymomas, and thymic carcinomas.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included 32 patients (16 males, mean age 66 ± 14 years) with pathologically confirmed thymic masses who underwent contrast-enhanced DECT between 10/2014 and 01/2023. Two experienced readers evaluated all patients regarding conventional radiomics features, as well as DECT-based features, including attenuation (HU), iodine density (mg/mL), and fat fraction (%).

Homoarginine in the cardiovascular system: Pathophysiology and recent developments.

Upcoming experimental and epidemiological data have identified the endogenous non-proteinogenic amino acid L-homoarginine (L-hArg) not only as a novel biomarker for cardiovascular disease but also as being directly involved in the pathogenesis of cardiac dysfunction. The association of low L-hArg levels with adverse cardiovascular events and mortality has proposed the idea of nutritional supplementation to rescue pathways inversely associated with cardiovascular health. Subsequent clinical and experimental studies contributed significantly to our knowledge of potential effects on the cardiorenal axis, acting either as a biomarker or a cardiovascular active agent.

Cancer patients with venous thromboembolism: Diagnostic and prognostic value of elevated D-dimers.

Background: D-dimer testing is known to have a high sensitivity at simultaneously low specificity, resulting in nonspecific elevations in a variety of conditions.

Methods: This retrospective study sought to assess diagnostic and prognostic features of D-dimers in cancer patients referred to the emergency department for suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). In total, 526 patients with a final adjudicated diagnosis of PE (n = 83) and DVT (n = 69) were enrolled, whereas 374 patients served as the comparative group, in which venous thromboembolism (VTE) has been excluded.

Homoarginine treatment of rats improves cardiac function and remodeling in response to pressure overload.

Low serum concentrations of the amino acid homoarginine (HA) are associated with increased cardiovascular mortality by incompletely understood mechanisms. This study sought to assess the influence of HA on cardiac remodeling in rats undergoing either transaortic banding or inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis by Nω-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (L-NAME). Male Wistar rats (n = 136) underwent sham operation (SH) or aortic banding (AB).

Lung Opacity and Coronary Artery Calcium Score: A Combined Tool for Risk Stratification and Outcome Prediction in COVID-19 Patients.

Purpose: To assess and correlate pulmonary involvement and outcome of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia with the degree of coronary plaque burden based on the CAC-DRS classification (Coronary Artery Calcium Data and Reporting System).

Methods: This retrospective study included 142 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia (58 ± 16 years; 57 women) who underwent non-contrast CT between January 2020 and August 2021 and were followed up for 129 ± 72 days. One experienced blinded radiologist analyzed CT series for the presence and extent of calcified plaque burden according to the visual and quantitative HU-based CAC-DRS Score.

Diagnostic performance and predictive value of D-dimer testing in patients referred to the emergency department for suspected myocardial infarction.

Purpose: The study sought to assess the performance of D-dimer testing for the diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and prediction of outcomes in patients admitted for suspected myocardial infarction (MI).

Results: A total of 3,557 patients with suspected ACS presenting to a single center with a broad range of symptoms including atypical chest pain were retrospectively recruited between 02/2012-01/2019. Of the study cohort, 435 patients had unstable angina (UA), 420 non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), 22 ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and 2,680 non-coronary chest pain.

Impact of Homoarginine on Myocardial Function and Remodeling in a Rat Model of Chronic Renal Failure.

Purpose: Low plasma concentrations of the amino acid homoarginine (HA) have been shown to correlate with adverse cardiovascular outcome, particularly in patients with chronic kidney disease. The present study sought to investigate the effect of HA treatment on cardiac remodeling in rats undergoing artificially induced renal insufficiency by 5/6 nephrectomy (5/6 Nx).

Methods: A total of 33 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into sham and 5/6 Nx groups, receiving either placebo treatment or 400 mg·kg·day HA over a 4-week period.

Recombinant frizzled1 protein attenuated cardiac hypertrophy after myocardial infarction via the canonical Wnt signaling pathway.

Postinfarct cardiac hypertrophy is an independent risk factor for heart failure and sudden death. Regression of cardiac hypertrophy has emerged as a promising strategy in the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI). Here we hypothesized that frizzled1 (FZD1), a receptor of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway, is a novel mediator of ischemia-associated cardiac hypertrophy.

The cardiac microenvironment uses non-canonical WNT signaling to activate monocytes after myocardial infarction.

A disturbed inflammatory response following myocardial infarction (MI) is associated with poor prognosis and increased tissue damage. Monocytes are key players in healing after MI, but little is known about the role of the cardiac niche in monocyte activation. This study investigated microenvironment-dependent changes in inflammatory monocytes after MI RNA sequencing analysis of murine Ly6C monocytes on day 3 after MI revealed differential regulation depending on location.

Closure of patent foramen ovale defects using GORE® CARDIOFORM septal occluder: Results from a prospective European multicenter study.

Aims: The GORE® CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder (GSO) is a novel device designed for rapid and effective closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) which has distinctive features making it suitable for a broad spectrum of anatomical variations. We report the procedural and 6 months follow-up results of the first prospective, multicenter study using GSO.

Methods And Results: This single-arm study included 150 subjects undergoing closure of PFO in 10 European centers.

Anterior Aortic Plane Systolic Excursion: A Novel Indicator of Transplant-Free Survival in Systemic Light-Chain Amyloidosis.

Background: Anterior aortic plane systolic excursion (AAPSE) was evaluated in the present pilot study as a novel echocardiographic indicator of transplant-free survival in patients with systemic light-chain amyloidosis.

Methods: Eighty-nine patients with light-chain amyloidosis were included in the post-hoc analysis. A subgroup of 54 patients with biopsy-proven cardiac amyloid infiltration were compared with 41 healthy individuals to evaluate the discriminative ability of echocardiographic findings.

Cardiac Effects of Attenuating Gsα - Dependent Signaling.

Aims: Inhibition of β-adrenergic signalling plays a key role in treatment of heart failure. Gsα is essential for β-adrenergic signal transduction. In order to reduce side-effects of beta-adrenergic inhibition diminishing β-adrenergic signalling in the heart at the level of Gsα is a promising option.

Using the GORE® Septal Occluder (GSO) in challenging patent foramen ovale (PFO) anatomies.

Objectives: We assessed efficacy and safety of the Gore(®) Septal Occluder (GSO) for patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure focusing on patients with challenging septal anatomies.

Background: In times of controversial discussion whether percutaneous PFO closure is superior to medical therapy for the prevention of recurrent embolic events after cryptogenic stroke, patient selection should mainly focus on individuals with an increased likelihood that the ischaemic event is related to the PFO. In this context, specific septal anatomies-such as the presence of an atrial septal aneurysm as well as long PFO tunnel anatomy-have been associated with a higher rate of cerebrovascular accidents.

Prognostic significance of semiautomatic quantification of left ventricular long axis shortening in systemic light-chain amyloidosis.

Aims: To assess left ventricular long axis shortening (LAS) in patients with AL amyloidosis as a potential predictor for outcome.

Methods And Results: We performed a de novo echocardiographic analysis of LAS in 120 patients with biopsy-proven AL amyloidosis evaluated at first presentation before specific treatment. Additionally, 47 control subjects were analyzed retrospectivly.

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II couples Wnt signaling with histone deacetylase 4 and mediates dishevelled-induced cardiomyopathy.

Activation of Wnt signaling results in maladaptive cardiac remodeling and cardiomyopathy. Recently, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) was reported to be a pivotal participant in myocardial remodeling. Because CaMKII was suggested as a downstream target of noncanonical Wnt signaling, we aimed to elucidate the role of CaMKII in dishevelled-1-induced cardiomyopathy and the mechanisms underlying its function.

Essential role of sympathetic endothelin A receptors for adverse cardiac remodeling.

In preclinical studies, endothelin receptor A (ETA) antagonists (ETAi) attenuated the progression of heart failure (HF). However, clinical HF trials failed to demonstrate beneficial effects of ETAi. These conflicting data may be explained by the possibility that established HF drugs such as adrenergic receptor blockers interfered with the mechanism of ETAi action in clinical trials.

Dapper-1 is essential for Wnt5a induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy by regulating the Wnt/PCP pathway.

The Wnt signaling pathway was identified as crucial mediator of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. In this study we found that activation of non-canonical Wnt signaling by Wnt5a stimulates protein synthesis and enlargement of cardiomyocyte surface area. These hypertrophic features were inhibited in Dapper-1 (Dpr1) depleted cells.

Quantitative analysis of left ventricular strain using cardiac computed tomography.

Objectives: To investigate whether cardiac computed tomography (CCT) can determine left ventricular (LV) radial, circumferential and longitudinal myocardial deformation in comparison to two-dimensional echocardiography in patients with congestive heart failure.

Background: Echocardiography allows for accurate assessment of strain with high temporal resolution. A reduced strain is associated with a poor prognosis in cardiomyopathies.

DYRK2 negatively regulates cardiomyocyte growth by mediating repressor function of GSK-3β on eIF2Bε.

Background: A prerequisite of hypertrophic response of the myocardium is an increase in protein synthesis. A central regulator of translation initiation is Eukaryotic initiation factor 2B (eIF2B). Here we assessed the hypothesis that regulation of protein synthesis via eIF2Bε is essential to cardiac hypertrophic response in vivo.

Dapper-1 induces myocardial remodeling through activation of canonical Wnt signaling in cardiomyocytes.

Heart failure has an increasing contribution to cardiovascular disease burden and is governed by the myocardial remodeling process. The contribution of Wnt signaling to cardiac remodeling has recently drawn significant attention. Here, we report that upregulation of Dapper-1 in a transgenic mouse model activates the canonical/β-catenin-dependent Wnt pathway through dishevelled-2.

Inhibition of apoptosis by the intrinsic but not the extrinsic apoptotic pathway in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion.

Summary: The detailed molecular mechanisms following activation of apoptosis in ischemia-reperfusion injury are unknown. This study using different transgenic mouse models provided first evidence that apoptosis in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury is rather linked to the mitochondrial pathway than to death receptor pathway.

Introduction: There is a wealth of evidence for activation of apoptosis in ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy.

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding.

Longitudinal left ventricular function for prediction of survival in systemic light-chain amyloidosis: incremental value compared with clinical and biochemical markers.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine whether longitudinal left ventricular (LV) function provides prognostic information in a large cohort of patients with systemic light-chain (AL) amyloidosis.

Background: AL amyloidosis is associated with a high incidence of cardiovascular events. Reduced myocardial longitudinal function is one of the hallmarks of myocardial involvement in this rare disease.