Interstitial Edema of the Interatrial Septum in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and Chronic Heart Failure.

We studied the presence of interstitial edema of the interatrial septum in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) with atrial fibrillation (n=23) or without rhythm disturbances (n=9). The intensity of the MRI signal of the interatrial septum, interventricular septum, and skeletal muscle by T2-weighted MRI and the enhancement index of interatrial septum (the ratio of the signal intensity of the interatrial septum to the signal intensity of the skeletal muscle) were evaluated. The enhancement index of interatrial septum ⩾2 was regarded as an MRI sign of myocardial edema.

Using pulmonary vein diameters for prescribing diuretic therapy and estimating its effectiveness in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction outpatients.

Determining the optimal prescribing and stopping points for diuretic therapy remains a challenge in outpatients who have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. The aim was to study pulmonary vein diameters for prescribing diuretic therapy and estimating its effectiveness in outpatients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction were examined before and after 6 months of standard heart failure therapy, including loop diuretics.

First molecular characterization of Sarcocystis miescheriana in wild boars (Sus scrofa) from Latvia.

Various muscle samples of wild boar (Sus scrofa) from Latvia were studied for the presence of Sarcocystis infection by means of morphological and molecular methods. Sarcocysts were detected in 122 out of 140 (87.1%) wild boar examined.

Diastolic function of the left and right ventricles of the heart in outpatients with arterial hypertension.

Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate the impairment of diastolic function of the left ventricle (LV) and the right ventricle (RV) in arterial hypertension outpatients.

Materials And Methods: Arterial hypertension patients (n = 299) and practically healthy people (n = 62) were examined on an outpatient basis. Echocardiographically, diastolic dysfunctions of both ventricles were evaluated.

Miocene restriction of the Pacific-North Atlantic throughflow strengthened Atlantic overturning circulation.

Export of warm and salty waters from the Caribbean to the North Atlantic is an essential component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). However, there was also an active AMOC during the Miocene, despite evidence for an open Central American Seaway (CAS) that would have allowed low-salinity Pacific waters to enter the Caribbean. To address this apparent contradiction and to constrain the timing of CAS closure we present the first continuous Nd isotope record of intermediate waters in the Florida Strait over the past 12.