Publications by authors named "Thomas A Traill"

Background: Physicians spend less time at the bedside in the modern hospital setting which has contributed to a decline in physical diagnosis, and in particular, cardiopulmonary examination skills. This trend may be a source of diagnostic error and threatens to erode the patient-physician relationship. We created a new bedside cardiopulmonary physical diagnosis curriculum and assessed its effects on post-graduate year-1 (PGY-1; interns) attitudes, confidence and skill.

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Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Although evidence of subclinical atherosclerosis in perinatally acquired HIV (PHIV) is available, myocardial infarction has not been described in this population. We report a case of myocardial infarction in a patient with PHIV with a brief literature review.

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A lethal and extensively characterized familial form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC) is due to a point mutation (Arg403Gln) in the cardiac β-myosin heavy chain gene. Although this is associated with abnormal energy metabolism and progression to heart failure in an animal model, in vivo cardiac energetics have not been characterized in patients with this mutation. Noninvasive phosphorus saturation transfer magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to measure the adenosine triphosphate supplied by the creatine kinase (CK) reaction and phosphocreatine, the heart's primary energy reserve, in 9 of 10 patients from a single kindred with HC caused by the Arg403GIn mutation and 17 age-matched healthy controls.

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Dilation of the sinus of Valsalva (SoV) has been increasingly observed after repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). We estimate the prevalence of SoV dilation in adults with repaired TOF and analyze possible factors related to aortic disease. Adults with TOF [n = 109, median age 33.

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Among women with valvular heart disease, those with mitral stenosis carry the greatest potential for problems during pregnancy. Asymptomatic women with aortic stenosis and only mild or moderate left ventricular outflow obstruction generally tolerate pregnancy well, as do those with regurgitant lesions. In Marfan syndrome, pregnancy should not be undertaken if the aortic root dimension exceeds 4 cm.

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Scimitar syndrome is a rare congenital malformation resulting in anomalous pulmonary venous return and lung malformations. Symptoms commonly develop in the first year of life, leading to diagnosis and surgical correction. In this case, the atypical presentation of scimitar syndrome in an adult woman with complaints of dyspnea on exertion is reported.

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