Latest Advances in Annuloplasty Protheses for Valvular Reconstructive Surgery.

This is the third and final part of our update on the latest advances in cardiac valvular replacement. Part 1 was dedicated to cardiac valvular replacement, and Part 2 focused on transcatheter cardiac valvular treatment. This part concerns annuloplasty prostheses for valvular reconstructive surgery.

Lower Functional Connectivity in Vestibular-Limbic Networks in Individuals With Subclinical Agoraphobia.

Agoraphobia was described in 1871 as a condition of fear-related alterations in spatial orientation and locomotor control triggered by places or situations that might cause a patient to panic and feel trapped. In contemporary nosology, however, this original concept of agoraphobia was split into two diagnostic entities, i.e.

Regulation of PDE5 expression in human aorta and thoracic aortic aneurysms.

Aneurysms and dissections affecting thoracic aorta are associated with smooth muscle cell (SMC) dysfunction. NO/cGMP signaling pathway in smooth muscle cells has been shown to be affected in sporadic thoracic aortic aneurysms. We analyzed the mRNA levels of PDE5, a cGMP-hydrolyzing enzyme highly expressed in aortic SMCs, that regulates arterious vascular tone by lowering cGMP levels.

The Association Between Mutuality, Anxiety, and Depression in Heart Failure Patient-Caregiver Dyads: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model Analysis.

Background: Heart failure (HF) patient-caregiver dyads experience severe psychological problems, such as anxiety and depression. A variable that has been found to be associated with anxiety and depression in patients and caregivers in severe chronic conditions is mutuality. However, this association has not been explored in HF patient-caregiver dyads to date.

Variability and Reproducibility of Directed and Undirected Functional MRI Connectomes in the Human Brain.

A growing number of studies are focusing on methods to estimate and analyze the functional connectome of the human brain. Graph theoretical measures are commonly employed to interpret and synthesize complex network-related information. While resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) is often employed in this context, it is known to exhibit poor reproducibility, a key factor which is commonly neglected in typical cohort studies using connectomics-related measures as biomarkers.

Influence of preparedness on anxiety, depression, and quality of life in caregivers of heart failure patients: Testing a model of path analysis.

Objectives: Testing the influence of heart failure (HF) caregiver preparedness on anxiety and depression, and the influence of HF caregiver anxiety and depression on caregiver physical and mental QOL.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we used the Caregiver Preparedness Scale (CPS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) with the anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D) subscales, and the Short-Form 12 (SF-12) measuring the physical component summary (PCS) and the mental component summary (MCS) of QOL. Socio-demographic data and patients' clinic data were also collected.