Conventional and Ambulatory Blood Pressure as Predictors of Diastolic Left Ventricular Function in a Flemish Population.

Background: No longitudinal study compared associations of echocardiographic indexes of diastolic left ventricular function studies with conventional (CBP) and daytime ambulatory (ABP) blood pressure in the general population.

Methods And Results: In 780 Flemish (mean age, 50.2 years; 51.

Novel Urinary Peptidomic Classifier Predicts Incident Heart Failure.

Background: Detection of preclinical cardiac dysfunction and prognosis of left ventricular heart failure (HF) would allow targeted intervention, and appears to be the most promising approach in its management. Novel biomarker panels may support this approach and provide new insights into the pathophysiology.

Methods And Results: A retrospective comparison of urinary proteomic profiles generated by mass spectrometric analysis from 49 HF patients, 36 patients who progressed to HF within 2.

Left Ventricular Structure and Function in Relation to Environmental Exposure to Lead and Cadmium.

Background: Experimental studies have demonstrated that lead and cadmium have direct toxic effects on the myocardium, but the few human studies are limited by design, assessment of exposure, and use of heart failure as a late-stage endpoint.

Methods And Results: In a prospective population study, we studied the association of left ventricular (LV) function with blood lead (BPb) and 24-hour urinary cadmium (UCd). In 179 participants randomly recruited from a Flemish population (50.