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The prevalence and outcomes of the unicuspid aortic valve (UAV) in patients undergoing the Ross procedure have been strongly underreported in the current literature. We sought to evaluate this in comparison with bicuspid (BAV) and tricuspid valve (TAV) in our Ross cohort. This was a retrospective observational study of patients undergoing the Ross procedure at 2 dedicated centers between 2009 and 2020. Primary end points were the risks of midterm autograft reoperation and the onset of at least moderate aortic regurgitation during follow-up. The secondary end point was to compare the perioperative outcomes between the groups. Included in the analysis were 286 patients, of those 39% with UAV, 52% with BAV, and 9% with TAV. UAV patients were operated on at the youngest age (P <.001) and more often for a combined hemodynamic aortic valve pathology (P =.02). They had the largest aortic root dimensions: annulus (P =.01), Valsalva sinuses (P =.11), sinotubular junction (P =.001), and ascending aorta (P <.0001). The risks of reoperation (P =.86) and the onset of aortic regurgitation (P =.75) were comparable among the groups over the follow-up of 4.1 years. There was no difference in perioperative outcomes. UAV is a separate unit characterized by a distinct hemodynamic pathology and generated aortopathy. It is not associated with a higher risk of reoperation or new onset of aortic regurgitation after the Ross procedure in the midterm postoperatively. At the current state, UAV remains acceptable for the Ross procedure. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Repolarization processes in female and male are different. This study provided pilot data on automatic measurements of QT intervals in heart transplant (HT) recipients stratified according to the sex of the recipient and the donor. Methods and results The following groups were analyzed: Group A—20 males with male heart, group B—14 females with male heart, group C—13 females with female heart, group D—11 males with female heart, group E—20 healthy males, and group F—20 healthy females. Twelve-lead electrocardiograms were digitally captured during autonomic provocative test of five postural 8-minute stages—supine, unsupported sitting, supine, unsupported standing, and supine. Fridericia formula was used for heart rate correction together with a generic correction for QT/RR hysteresis. Neither female nor male HT recipients exhibit any differences in QTc interval duration related to the sex of the donor. There was, however, a trend towards longer QTc intervals in female HT recipients compared to male HT recipients irrespective of the sex of the donor. The QTc differences between healthy control females and males were highly statistically significant proving the assay sensitivity of the study. Conclusion The available pilot data suggest that in HT patients, the sex of the donor has little influence on the QTc interval of the transplanted heart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case of re-use of a previously transplanted heart after brain death of the first recipient is reported. The second recipient was a 60-year-old man who suffered end-stage ischemic heart disease. The operative and postoperative course was uneventful, with the exception of secondary diabetes. The patient is post-transplantation by more than 10 months and is now in New York Heart Association functional class I. This case confirms the possibility of using this procedure, particularly in the situation when there is a shortage of organ donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Treatment of aortic-valve disease in young patients still poses challenges. The Ross procedure offers several potential advantages that may translate to improved long-term outcomes.Objectives: This study reports long-term outcomes after the Ross procedure.Methods: Adult patients who were included in the Ross Registry between 1988 and 2018 were analyzed. Endpoints were overall survival, reintervention, and major adverse events at maximum follow-up. Multivariable regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors for survival and the need of Ross-related reintervention.Results: There were 2,444 adult patients with a mean age of 44.1 ± 11.7 years identified. Early mortality was 1.0%. Estimated survival after 25 years was 75.8% and did not statistically differ from the general population (p = 0.189). The risk for autograft reintervention was 0.69% per patient-year and 0.62% per patient-year for right-ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) reintervention. Larger aortic annulus diameter (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.12/mm; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.05 to 1.19/mm; p < 0.001) and pre-operative presence of pure aortic insufficiency (HR: 1.74; 95% CI: 1.13 to 2.68; p = 0.01) were independent predictors for autograft reintervention, whereas the use of a biological valve (HR: 8.09; 95% CI: 5.01 to 13.08; p < 0.001) and patient age (HR: 0.97 per year; 95% CI: 0.96 to 0.99; p = 0.001) were independent predictors for RVOT reintervention. Major bleeding, valve thrombosis, permanent stroke, and endocarditis occurred with an incidence of 0.15% per patient-year, 0.07% per patient-year, 0.13%, and 0.36% per patient-year, respectively.Conclusions: The Ross procedure provides excellent survival over a follow-up period of up to 25 years. The rates of reintervention, anticoagulation-related morbidity, and endocarditis were very low. This procedure should therefore be considered as a very suitable treatment option in young patients suffering from aortic-valve disease. (Long-Term Follow-up After the Autograft Aortic Valve Procedure [Ross Operation]; NCT00708409). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc acetate dihydrate, lithium hydroxide monohydrate, and anhydrous ethanol as starting compounds are used for the synthesis of Li containing zinc oxide nanoparticles with different emission colours. The emission colour depends on addition of lithium hydroxide and changes from cyan to green-yellow. Photoluminescence spectra of synthesized nanoparticles are recalculated into CIExyY colorimetric model which characterizes the emission colour considering the whole distribution of intensities of the obtained spectra in visible region. This study gives an overlook of the changes which occur when changing the amount of dopant in the process of synthesis. In addition to colour characterization, nanoparticle size distributions and aggregation are discussed. The results demonstrate that the applied method is able to produce lithium-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles with tuneable emission within the range of about 60 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The MCP-1/CCL2 as well as RANTES/CCL5 chemokines are potent chemoattractants involved in immunoregulatory and inflammatory processes of rheumatoid arthritis. Recent studies demonstrated elevated levels of MCP-1 and RANTES in plasma, synovial fluid, and the synovial tissue of patients with RA. To examine the relationship among MCP-1 and RANTES single nucleotide polymorphisms and circulating levels and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a total of 156 RA patients and 125 controls were recruited into the study. An association of −855 C/G MCP-1 polymorphism to IgM RF within the RA patients was observed. The lowest circulating levels of RANTES were observed in the AA variant of RANTES −403 G/A polymorphism. Furthermore, an association of −403 AA variant to circulating levels of IL-15 and IL-10 was found. No associations of factors describing rheumatoid arthritis (RFs, ANA, anti-CCP-positive/negative, DAS 28 score and number of swollen joints) with MCP-1 levels, genotype distribution, allelic frequencies and/or frequencies of haplotypes composed of all three studied polymorphisms in promoter region of MCP-1, and RANTES polymorphism were observed. We conclude that the RANTES promoter polymorphism is associated to circulating levels of RANTES, IL15 and IL10. However, our findings suggest that polymorphisms in the MCP-1 and RANTES gene promoters do not contribute significantly to the interindividual RA susceptibility and/or severity in Caucasians. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]