Air Pollution and Myocardial Infarction-A New Smoker's Paradox?

Ambient air pollution is a significant public health concern, known to affect cardiovascular health adversely. Research has identified both long-term and short-term cardiovascular risks associated with various air pollutants, including those linked to acute coronary syndromes. However, the observed effects are rather small, with most data sourced from highly polluted regions.

Myeloid sarcoma of the heart-A clinicopathological correlation.

A 63-year-old woman with a history of acute myeloid leukemia followed by stem cell transplantation presented with acute heart failure. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction with severe ventricular hypertrophy and signs of elevated filling pressures indicating infiltrative cardiomyopathy. She died from cardiac arrest due to cardiogenic shock.

Impact of SGLT2-Inhibitor Therapy on Survival in Patients with Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy: Analysis of a Prospective Registry Study.

Patients with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) represent a high-risk heart failure population with continued unmet therapeutic needs. Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) improve cardiovascular outcomes in patients with heart failure across the whole spectrum of ejection fraction, and first evidence regarding their safety and effectiveness in patients with ATTR-CM is arising. This study investigates the association between SGLT2i therapy and clinical outcomes in these patients.

Impact of empagliflozin on cardiac structure and function assessed by echocardiography after myocardial infarction: a post-hoc sub-analysis of the emmy trial.

Background: Empagliflozin administered after acute myocardial infarction proofed to improve cardiometabolic parameters and biomarkers, but the impact on cardiac function is still largely unknown. The aim of this post-hoc echocardiographic sub-analysis of the EMMY trial was to provide in-depth echocardiographic analysis on the effects of empagliflozin versus placebo on standard and novel echocardiographic structural and functional parameters after acute myocardial infarction.

Methods: In this post-hoc analysis of the EMMY trial a subset of 313 patients (157 empagliflozin vs.

MetSCORE: a molecular metric to evaluate the risk of metabolic syndrome based on serum NMR metabolomics.

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of medical conditions and risk factors correlating with insulin resistance that increase the risk of developing cardiometabolic health problems. The specific criteria for diagnosing MetS vary among different medical organizations but are typically based on the evaluation of abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia. A unique, quantitative and independent estimation of the risk of MetS based only on quantitative biomarkers is highly desirable for the comparison between patients and to study the individual progression of the disease in a quantitative manner.

JNJ-7184, a respiratory syncytial virus inhibitor targeting the connector domain of the viral polymerase.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause pulmonary complications in infants, elderly and immunocompromised patients. While two vaccines and two prophylactic monoclonal antibodies are now available, treatment options are still needed. JNJ-7184 is a non-nucleoside inhibitor of the RSV-Large (L) polymerase, displaying potent inhibition of both RSV-A and -B strains.

The Prognostic Value of Right Ventricular Function in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure-A Prospective Study.

In patients with stable chronic heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) provides limited prognostic value, especially in patients with moderately to severely reduced LVEF. Echocardiographic parameters of right ventricular function may be associated with adverse clinical events in these patients. Therefore, we analyzed 164 patients with HFrEF in a prospective single-center cohort study to evaluate whether the parameters of right ventricular function are associated with worsening heart failure (WHF) hospitalizations, cardiovascular and all-cause deaths and combined endpoints.

A truncated HIV Tat demonstrates potent and specific latency reversal activity.

A major barrier to HIV-1 cure is caused by the pool of latently infected CD4 T-cells that persist under combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). This latent reservoir is capable of producing replication-competent infectious viruses once prolonged suppressive cART is withdrawn. Inducing the reactivation of HIV-1 gene expression in T-cells harboring a latent provirus in people living with HIV-1 under cART may result in depletion of this latent reservoir due to cytopathic effects or immune clearance.

Non-invasive estimation of left ventricular systolic peak pressure: a prerequisite to calculate myocardial work in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.

Aims: Myocardial work (MyW) is an echocardiographically derived parameter to estimate myocardial performance. The calculation of MyW utilizes pressure strain loops from global longitudinal strain and brachial blood pressure (BP) as a surrogate of left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP). Since LVSP cannot be equated with BP in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), we explored whether LVSP can be derived non-invasively by combining Doppler gradients and BP.

Burden of untreated transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy on patients and their caregivers by disease severity: results from a multicenter, non-interventional, real-world study.

Background: The humanistic burden of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is poorly defined.

Methods: An international study to comprehensively characterize the burden of ATTR-CM on patients naïve to disease-modifying therapy and their unpaid primary caregivers using study-specific and established surveys (patients: Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire Overall Summary [KCCQ-OS], 12-Item Short Form Health Survey [SF-12], Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS], Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System [PROMIS] Fatigue and Dyspnea; caregivers: SF-12, HADS, PROMIS Fatigue, Zarit Burden Interview [ZBI]). All data were summarized descriptively.

Supervised exercise training in patients with advanced heart failure and left ventricular assist device: A multicentre randomized controlled trial (Ex-VAD trial).

Aims: Small studies and observations suggested that exercise training may improve peak oxygen consumption (peakVO ) in patients with advanced heart failure and left ventricular assist device (LVAD). We investigated whether in this patient group a supervised exercise training can improve exercise capacity.

Methods And Results: In this multicentre, prospective, randomized, controlled trial, patients with stable heart failure and LVAD were randomly assigned (2:1) to 12 weeks of supervised exercise training or usual care, with 12 weeks of follow-up.

Non-eligibility for pivotal HFpEF/HFmrEF outcome trials and mortality in a contemporary heart failure cohort.

Pivotal outcome trials targeting heart failure with preserved (HFpEF) and mildly-reduced ejection fraction (HFmrEF) may have excluded patients at highest risk of poor outcomes. We aimed to assess eligibility for HFpEF/HFmrEF outcome trials in an unselected heart failure cohort and its association with all-cause mortality. Among 32.

AMH in Males: Effects of Body Size and Composition on Serum AMH Levels.

Serum concentrations of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) have been found to decrease with increasing body mass index (BMI) in many studies. It is not yet clear whether this stems from an adverse effect of adiposity on AMH production, or from dilution due to the greater blood volume that accompanies a larger body size. To investigate a possible hemodilution effect, we explored the relationships between serum AMH levels and different parameters of body composition using linear regression models in a cohort of adult males.

Urinary Peptide to Creatinine Ratio (UCPCR) as Indicator for Metabolic Risk in Apparently Healthy Adults-A BioPersMed Cohort Study.

-peptide is produced in equimolar amounts with insulin from pancreatic beta cells, and thus is a fundamental biomarker for beta cell function. A non-invasive urinary -peptide-to-creatinine ratio (UCPCR) has attracted attention as a biomarker for metabolic conditions. However, the UCPCR as an indicative risk predictor for prediabetes is still being investigated.

Transesophageal echocardiography-guided versus fluoroscopy-guided patent foramen ovale closure: A single center registry.

Background: Percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) is conventionally performed under continuous transesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) guidance. We aimed to evaluate whether a simplified procedural approach, including pure fluoroscopy-guidance and final TEE control, as well as an aimed 'next-day-discharge' is comparable with the conventional TEE-guided procedure in terms of periprocedural and intermediate-term outcomes.

Methods: All patients who underwent a PFO closure at our center between 2010 and 2022 were retrospectively included.