A Novel Quantitative Electrocardiography Strategy Reveals the Electroinhibitory Effect of Tamoxifen on the Mouse Heart.

Tamoxifen, a selective estrogen receptor modulator, was initially used to treat cancer in women and more recently to induce conditional gene editing in rodent hearts. However, little is known about the baseline biological effects of tamoxifen on the myocardium. In order to clarify the short-term effects of tamoxifen on cardiac electrophysiology of myocardium, we applied a single-chest-lead quantitative method and analyzed the short-term electrocardiographic phenotypes induced by tamoxifen in the heart of adult female mice.

Mitral valve repair for degenerative mitral regurgitation in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction: early and mid-term outcomes.

Background: This study aims to evaluate the early and mid-term outcomes of mitral valve repair for degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR) in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

Methods: From January 2005 to December 2016, the profiles of patients with degenerative MR who underwent mitral valve repair at our institution were analyzed. Left ventricular systolic dysfunction was defined as an ejection fraction < 60% or left ventricular end-systolic dimension > 40 mm.

Correction to: SPECT/CT imaging of apoptosis in aortic aneurysm with radiolabeled duramycin.

The original version of this article unfortunately contains errors in Figure 4. An incorrect Figure 4D is published which is actually a repetition of Figure 2C (i.e.

SPECT/CT imaging of apoptosis in aortic aneurysm with radiolabeled duramycin.

The objective of this research was to estimate whether a duramycin probe can be used for apoptosis imaging in patients with aortic aneurysm (AA). Vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) apoptosis has an important influence on AA development. Thus, non-invasive imaging of SMC apoptosis may be able to evaluate AA progress and risk stratification.

Fibrin patch-based insulin-like growth factor-1 gene-modified stem cell transplantation repairs ischemic myocardium.

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), tissue-engineered cardiac patch, and therapeutic gene have all been proposed as promising therapy strategies for cardiac repair after myocardial infarction. In our study, BMSCs were modified with insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) gene, loaded into a fibrin patch, and then transplanted into a porcine model of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) myocardium injury. The results demonstrated that IGF-1 gene overexpression could promote proliferation of endothelial cells and cardiomyocyte-like differentiation of BMSCs in vitro.