Cardiac auscultation simulator embedded in virtual learning environment to support medical teaching.

Heart auscultation remains as an important clinical tool in heart disease diagnostics. A prototype was developed, using an existing database of clinical and cardiac sounds of pregnant women [1]. The context for virtual learning is cardiac disease during pregnancy (Partum and Post Partum situations).

Identification of a Novel Agonist-Like Autoantibody in Preeclamptic Patients.

Background: Recent studies have shown that preeclampsia (PE) is associated with the presence of autoantibodies (AABs) that activate the angiotensin II AT1 receptor, which could contribute to many of the symptoms of PE.

Methods: To investigate the frequency and the targets of AABs in preeclamptic women (31 cases) and healthy pregnant normotensive women (29 cases) in Brazil, antibodies from serum samples were detected by a bioassay using spontaneously beating neonatal rat cardiomyocytes in culture. In the cardiomyocytes, the agonistic AABs induce a positive or negative chronotropic response, mimicking the corresponding receptor agonists.