What Is the Response Seen During Para-Hisian Pacing?

We present an interesting tracing of para-Hisian pacing in a 45-year-old man with an episode of narrow complex tachycardia and past recurrent palpitations.

Successful continuous positive airway pressure treatment reduces skin sympathetic nerve activity in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with cardiovascular diseases and increased sympathetic tone. We previously demonstrated that patients with OSA have increased skin sympathetic nerve activity (SKNA).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment reduces SKNA.

Pulmonary Artery Pressure Monitoring Effectively Guides Management to Reduce Heart Failure Hospitalizations in Obesity.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the impact of therapy guided by pulmonary artery (PA) pressure monitoring in patients with heart failure (HF) and obesity.

Background: Obesity is prevalent in HF and associated with volume retention, but it complicates clinical assessment of congestion.

Methods: The CardioMEMS Post Approval Study was a prospective, multicenter, open-label trial in 1,200 patients with New York Heart Association functional class III HF and prior HF hospitalization (HFH) within 12 months.

Skin sympathetic nerve activity as a biomarker of fitness.

Background: Exercise stress testing is frequently used to expose cardiac arrhythmias. Aerobic exercise conditioning has been used as a nonpharmacologic antiarrhythmic intervention.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that noninvasively recorded skin sympathetic nerve activity (SKNA) is increased during exercise and that SKNA response varies according to fitness levels.

Cardiomyocyte microRNA-150 confers cardiac protection and directly represses proapoptotic small proline-rich protein 1A.

MicroRNA-150 (miR-150) is downregulated in patients with multiple cardiovascular diseases and in diverse mouse models of heart failure (HF). miR-150 is significantly associated with HF severity and outcome in humans. We previously reported that miR-150 is activated by β-blocker carvedilol (Carv) and plays a protective role in the heart using a systemic miR-150 KO mouse model.

Ventricular Assist Devices and Chronic Kidney Replacement Therapy: Technology and Outcomes.

Heart failure and kidney failure are very common conditions, precipitating and exacerbating each other. Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) represent a relatively new technology for treatment of advanced heart failure. Kidney dysfunction, if present, makes candidate selection for LVADs challenging and contributes to multiple complications while the patients are on an LVAD support.

A Unique Case of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Myocarditis Complicated by Plasmapheresis-Responsive Cardiogenic Shock.

A 25-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus complicated by biventricular failure with a history of multiple admissions presented with cardiogenic shock unresponsive to steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin, cyclophosphamide, and required extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation. Left ventricular function eventually recovered after plasmapheresis. ().

Erythrocyte Long-Chain ω-3 Fatty Acids Are Positively Associated with Lean Mass and Grip Strength in Women with Recent Diagnoses of Breast Cancer.

Background: Sarcopenia may hasten the risk of mortality in women with breast cancer. Long-chain omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCn-3PUFAs) may favor muscle mass which, in turn, could enhance resilience of cancer patients toward cancer treatment.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to measure the relation of erythrocyte LCn-3PUFA concentrations with lean mass, grip strength, and postprandial energy metabolism in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

Inhibition of Small-Conductance, Ca-Activated K Current by Ondansetron.

Small-conductance Ca-activated K channels (SK channels) have been proposed as antiarrhythmic targets for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. We previously demonstrated that the 5-HT receptor antagonist ondansetron inhibits heterologously expressed, human SK2 (hSK2) currents as well as native cardiac SK currents in a physiological extra-/intracellular [K] gradient at therapeutic (i.e.

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance in women with cardiovascular disease: position statement from the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR).

This document is a position statement from the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) on recommendations for clinical utilization of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in women with cardiovascular disease. The document was prepared by the SCMR Consensus Group on CMR Imaging for Female Patients with Cardiovascular Disease and endorsed by the SCMR Publications Committee and SCMR Executive Committee. The goals of this document are to (1) guide the informed selection of cardiovascular imaging methods, (2) inform clinical decision-making, (3) educate stakeholders on the advantages of CMR in specific clinical scenarios, and (4) empower patients with clinical evidence to participate in their clinical care.

Heart Transplantation in Mustard Patients Bridged With Continuous Flow Systemic Ventricular Assist Device - A Case Report and Review of Literature.

Thirty four-year-old male with history of D-transposition of the great arteries (D-TGA) who underwent Mustard operation at 14 months of age presented in cardiogenic shock secondary to severe systemic right ventricular failure. Catheterization revealed significantly increased pulmonary pressures. Due to the patient's inotrope dependence and prohibitive pulmonary hypertension, he underwent implantation of a Heart Ware HVAD® for systemic RV support.

Abnormal Cardiac Repolarization After Seizure Episodes in Structural Brain Diseases: Cardiac Manifestation of Electrical Remodeling in the Brain?

Background Abnormal cardiac repolarization is observed in patients with epilepsy and can be associated with sudden death. We investigated whether structural brain abnormalities are correlated with abnormal cardiac repolarizations in patients with seizure or epilepsy. Methods and Results We retrospectively analyzed and compared 12-lead ECG parameters following seizures between patients with and without structural brain abnormalities.

Acute Biventricular Heart Failure After COVID-19 Infection in an Orthotropic Heart Transplant Patient: A Case Report.

The cardiac effects of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) include myocarditis, takotsubo cardiomyopathy, pericardial effusion, and cardioembolic events in the general population. The effects of SARS-CoV-2 in heart transplant patients are unclear. We describe a case of myocarditis in the transplanted heart that responded to methylprednisolone.

COVID-19 in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease.

Background: Adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) have been considered potentially high risk for novel coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) mortality or other complications.

Objectives: This study sought to define the impact of COVID-19 in adults with CHD and to identify risk factors associated with adverse outcomes.

Methods: Adults (age 18 years or older) with CHD and with confirmed or clinically suspected COVID-19 were included from CHD centers worldwide.

Survival on Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Cardiogenic Shock: Which Lactate Is Most Useful?

Prognostic significance of elevated serum lactate in patients on venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is widely known. Our objective was to study the utility of lactate measured at different points of time and lactate clearance in predicting the two study endpoints: successful ECMO weaning and hospital survival. Among 238 consecutive patients treated with ECMO, lactic acid was collected before initiating ECMO and then on days 1, 3, 5, and 10 while on ECMO.

Cardiac Rehabilitation for Patients With Heart Failure: JACC Expert Panel.

Cardiac rehabilitation is defined as a multidisciplinary program that includes exercise training, cardiac risk factor modification, psychosocial assessment, and outcomes assessment. Exercise training and other components of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are safe and beneficial and result in significant improvements in quality of life, functional capacity, exercise performance, and heart failure (HF)-related hospitalizations in patients with HF. Despite outcome benefits, cost-effectiveness, and strong practice guideline recommendations, CR remains underused.

Safety and feasibility of dopamine-atropine stress echocardiography.

Background: Dobutamine-atropine stress echocardiography (DSE) has lower sensitivity in patients with advanced liver disease (ALD) due to vasodilation.

Hypothesis: Dopamine-atropine stress echocardiography (DopSE) may be an alternative to DSE in ALD patients by improving the blood pressure response to stress.

Methods: The safety and tolerability of DSE and DopSE were compared in 10 volunteers.

Permissive Modulation of Sphingosine-1-Phosphate-Enhanced Intracellular Calcium on BK Channel of Chromaffin Cells.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), is a signaling sphingolipid which acts as a bioactive lipid mediator. We assessed whether S1P had multiplex effects in regulating the large-conductance Ca-activated K channel (BK) in catecholamine-secreting chromaffin cells. Using multiple patch-clamp modes, Ca imaging, and computational modeling, we evaluated the effects of S1P on the Ca-activated K currents () in bovine adrenal chromaffin cells and in a pheochromocytoma cell line (PC12).

Introducing echocardiography to medical students: A novel echocardiography E-Learning experience.

Background: Echocardiography is fundamental in the understanding of cardiology; however, echocardiography is not routinely taught in medical schools. The aim of this study is to assess whether teaching echocardiography to preclinical medical students using an e-learning software (ELS) is practical and appropriate.

Methods: From 2017 to 2019, 1084 second-year medical students at Indiana University School of Medicine were introduced to echocardiography by using the ELS.

Fulminant myocarditis: COVID or not COVID? Reinfection or co-infection?

We describe a unique case of fulminant myocarditis in a patient with presumed SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. Patient had initial infection 4 months backand had COVID-19 antibody at the time of presentation. Endomyocardial biopsy showed lymphocytic myocarditis, that is usually seen in viral myocarditis.