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The Purkinje system is a heart structure responsible for transmitting electrical impulses through the ventricles in a fast and coordinated way to trigger mechanical contraction. Estimating a patient-specific compatible Purkinje Network from an electro-anatomical map is a challenging task, that could help to improve models for electrophysiology simulations or provide aid in therapy planning, such as radiofrequency ablation. In this study, we present a methodology to inversely estimate a Purkinje network from a patient's electro-anatomical map. First, we carry out a simulation study to assess the accuracy of the method for different synthetic Purkinje network morphologies and myocardial junction densities. Second, we estimate the Purkinje network from a set of 28 electro-anatomical maps from patients, obtaining an optimal conduction velocity in the Purkinje network of 1.95 ± 0.25 m/s, together with the location of their Purkinje-myocardial junctions, and Purkinje network structure. Our results showed an average local activation time error of 6.8±2.2 ms in the endocardium. Finally, using the personalized Purkinje network, we obtained correlations higher than 0.85 between simulated and clinical 12-lead ECGs.

The emergence of more effective methods for treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has called for more reliable methods of diagnostics, monitoring, and evaluating responses to the treatment. More reports have become available about the relevance of using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for examination of patients with PAH. This review provides data on the significance of MRI for noninvasive evaluation of the heart structure and function in patients with PAH, as well as for visualization and evaluation of the remodeling of the pulmonary circulation. According to the data presented in this review, the results obtained with various, modern MRI technologies can be used for monitoring the effect of treatment and for risk stratification in patients with PAH.

Purpose: To investigate the influence of bexarotene (Bex) on cardiac structure and function in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes mellitus (DM) rats, and the mechanism of action involved. Methods: Four groups of Sprague Dawley rats (n = 40) were used: normal control, DM, DM+ Bex (10 mg/kg/day), and DM+ Bex (20 mg/kg/day) (n = 10). The DM rat model was established by intraperitoneal injection of STZ. Cardiac structure and function of rats were determined and compared. Whole heart and left ventricle were weighed. The protein expressions of Bcl2 and Bax in rat myocardial tissue were determined using Western blotting. Results: Compared to control group, there was significant reduction in the levels of IVSd (inlet ventricular septal defect) and LVPWd (left ventricle posterior wall in diastole) in DM group, but significant increase in these parameters in DM +Bex (20 mg/kg/day) group, relative to DM-treated rats (p < 0.05). Moreover, there were higher expression levels of Bcl2 and Bax in DM group, when compared with normal control, but Bcl2/Bax ratio was significantly lower (p < 0.05). Furthermore, Bcl2 and Bax levels in DM + Bex (20 mg/kg/day) group were significantly lower than those in DM group, while Bcl2/Bax ratio increased significantly (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Bexarotene improves the cardiac structure of DM rats by lowering blood glucose, and by inhibiting ventricular remodeling and cardiomyocyte apoptosis. These findings may be beneficial in the development of new anti-DM drugs.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the critical diseases and the most common cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Therefore, early detection and prediction of such a disease is extremely essential for a healthy life. Cardiac imaging plays an important role in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease but its role has been limited to visual assessment of heart structure and its function. However, with the advanced techniques and tools of big data and machine learning, it become easier to clinician to diagnose the CVD. Stenosis with in the Coronary Arteries (CA) are often determined by using the Coronary Cine Angiogram (CCA). It comes under the invasive image modality. CCA is the effective method to detect and predict the stenosis. In this paper a coronary analysis automation method is proposed in disease diagnosis. The proposed method includes pre-processing, segmentation, identifying vessel path and statistical analysis.

With research progress on longevity, we have gradually recognized that cardiac aging causes changes in heart structure and function, including progressive myocardial remodeling, left ventricular hypertrophy, and decreases in systolic and diastolic function. Elucidating the regulatory mechanisms of cardiac aging is a great challenge for biologists and physicians worldwide. In this review, we discuss several key molecular mechanisms of cardiac aging and possible prevention and treatment methods developed in recent years. Insights into the process and mechanism of cardiac aging are necessary to protect against age-related diseases, extend lifespan, and reduce the increasing burden of cardiovascular disease in elderly individuals. We believe that research on cardiac aging is entering a new era of unique significance for the progress of clinical medicine and social welfare.

Background Primates represent a unique object for biomedical research, in particular in the field of physiology and pathology of the cardiovascular system. Echocardiography is the most important non-invasive method for the intravital study of the heart structure and function, intracardiac and systemic haemodynamics. The available data on reference values of echocardiographic parameters in primates are limited. Methods We determined and described 29 structural and functional parameters in echocardiographic examination using B-mode (two-dimensional scanning), M-mode (one-dimensional scanning) and in various Doppler modes together with blood pressure in 17 male cynomolgus macaques with an average age of 5.7 ± 0.6 years. We compared available literature data on reference values of echocardiography in this species. Results and conclusions Echocardiographic values in cynomolgus macaques depend on age, sex composition and the anaesthesia method. There is lack of presentation in the published studies of complete list of parameters that can be obtained by echocardiographic examination.

As the core organ of cardiovascular system, fetal heart plays a very important role. With the development of pregnancy, the early fetal heart rate tends to mature, and the corresponding cardiac function tends to mature and stable. But the fetal heart is very fragile during pregnancy. Various diseases during pregnancy directly lead to fetal heart growth restriction, and even lead to fetal heart function damage. Ultrasound image diagnosis is one of the most important diagnostic methods in medical imaging. It is of great significance to detect the early heart structure of the fetus in gynecology and obstetrics. It can detect the early fetal heart in real time and noninvasively. However, the traditional ultrasonic image detection has many disadvantages in the process of application, such as many noise points, low performance of processing algorithm, which to some extent affects the detection performance of ultrasonic image detection in the detection of fetal heart structure in gynecology and obstetrics. Based on the above problems, this paper proposes an adaptive detection algorithm of superimposed moving image based on ultrasonic image detection, which can accurately extract and analyze fetal heart region when the signal-to-noise ratio of ultrasonic image sequence is low. The average anisotropy algorithm is also proposed innovatively in this paper. In order to predict the structure of fetal heart more accurately, the active heart model combining fetal heart structure and motion information is considered in the actual analysis process. Experiments show that the accuracy error of the algorithm is less than 11 pixels.

Background: Atrial fibrillation is still a most common arrhythmia. The incidence increases according to each remodeling of the heart chamber. Valvular and non valvular heart diseases have differences in hemodynamic adaptations that trigger a certain remodeling. However, until now it is not known whether there is a difference between the left heart structure and valvular and non valvular atrial fibrillation. Method: There were 60 patients with atrial fibrillation hospitalized from August 2018 to December 2018. The samples were then divided into 2 groups, namely the valvular and non valvular groups, each with 30 samples. All samples that met the criteria underwent echocardiography. Then comparative statistics were carried out with p values ​​

IntroductionPost-contrast delayed-enhancement MRI helps to show the extent of myocardial infarction (MI), as well as allowing the morphometric analysis of the heart structure, e.g., left ventricular volume (LVV). Here the author deployed Bayesian implementation of statistical inference to determine the difference between the LVV in MI cases and in normal controls.MethodsSixty-seven MI patients and thirty-three controls from the EMIDEC dataset challenge were used. These were acquired at the University Hospital of Dijon (France). A cardiologist with 10 years of experience in cardiology and MRI and a biophysicist with 20 years of experience of cardiovascular MRI supervised the acquisition and annotated the images. ITK-Snap was used to extract the LVV and Bayesian inference were used to investigate the data.ResultsPatients with MI were younger than the controls (58.3 ± 11.5 vs. 66.5 ± 12.9 years; BF10 = 17.9). With age taken into consideration, the patients showed larger LVV relative to the controls (128.1 ± 46.3 vs. 83.4 ± 24.4 cm3; post-hoc BF10 = 12663.8).SummaryUsing Bayesian approach, we can conclude decisively that there is volumetric difference or remodeling in individuals with MI.

To determine the feasibility of simultaneously conducting history and physical (HP), limb-lead electrocardiogram (ECG), and preparticipation echocardiography by frontline providers (PEFP) at one screening station.This cross-sectional study compares limb-lead versus 12-lead ECG as part of a preparticipation physical examination (PPE) including HP and PEFP conducted in year 1 and year 2 on 2 cohorts (n = 36, n = 53, respectively) of college athletes at one institution. Year 1 screening was conducted at 3 stations, one station per screening component. Time to complete each station was recorded, and total time for screening was the summation of times for each station. Year 2 screening was conducted at one station; timing began when the patient entered the room and ended when all 3 components of screening were complete. An unpaired t test was used to compare the mean time difference between years 1 and 2 screening stations.Year 1 screening time was significantly longer than time to complete cardiac screening using the year 2 protocol (10.51 ± 1.98 vs 3.96 ± 1.43 minutes, respectively; P0.001). Five athletes in year 1 and 3 athletes in year 2 were referred to cardiology for further evaluation; all athletes were ultimately cleared to participate.A comprehensive PPE can be completed in a timely fashion using a single screening station and limb-lead ECG to improve efficiency, while still allowing providers to gather information on history, physical examination, heart rhythm, and heart structure. This strategy may serve as a potential solution in the longstanding debate over best practices for PPEs.

According to own data, 74% of patients with hemorrhagic vasculitis have sonographic signs of liver steatosis, but its influence on clinical and laboratory parameters of vasculitis is not established yet. The aim – to reveal the pathogenetic links of liver steatosis influence using correlation analysis, which could help in the planning of management strategy. Matherial and methods. We retrospectively analyzed the data of 50 inpatients with the help of Pearson’s correlation analysis. Results. In patients with hemorrhagic vasculitis, liver steatosis was more prominent in older ones and in higher body weight patients. Liver steatosis was accompanied by more significant changes in the right ventricle, left atrium, and aorta. It was also associated with systemic inflammation activity, serum proteolytic and thrombotic activity. In patients with liver steatosis, their age – a non-modifiable cardiovascular risk factor – was strongly associated with the deterioration of heart condition and changes of serum proteolytic and thrombotic activity, which, in turn, creates the background for adverse cardiovascular events. Liver steatosis was accompanied by the activation of systemic inflammation, which led to the transformation into steatohepatitis. Conclusion. The influence onto the liver steatosis is the only way of prevention of cardiovascular events and steatohepatitis in patients with hemorrhagic vasculitis., По нашим данным, у 74% пациентов с геморрагическим васкулитом наблюдаются сонографические признаки стеатоза печени, хотя его влияние на клинические и лабораторные проявления до сих пор точно не встановлены. Цель – определение патогенетических звеньев влияния стеатоза печени по корреляционному анализу для планирования стратегии и тактики ведення таких пациентов.Материал и методы. Ретроспективно проанализированы результаты обследования 50 стационарных пациентов с корреляционным анализом Пирсона.Результаты. У пациентов с геморрагическим васкулитом стеатоз печени был более выраженным у старших по возрасту и с большей массой тела лиц с более выраженными изменениями правого желудочка, левого предсердия и аорты и ассоциировался с активностью системного воспаления, протеолитической и тромботической активностью сыворотки крови. При стеатозе печени немодифицированный фактор риска – возраст - четко ассоциировался с ухудшением состояния сердца и изменениями протеолитической и тромботической активности сыворотки крови, что создает основу для кардиоваскулярных событий. Стеатоз печени сопровождался активацией системного воспалення, что приводит к переходу в стеатогепатит., За нашими даними, у 74% пацієнтів із геморагічним васкулітом спостерігалися сонографічні ознаки стеатозу печінки, однак його вплив на клінічні та лабораторні прояви дотепер точно не встановлений. Мета - визначення патогенетичних ланок впливу стеатозу печінки за кореляційним аналізом для планування стратегії та тактики ведення таких пацієнтів.Матеріал і методи. Ретроспективно проаналізовано результати обстеження 50 стаціонарних пацієнтів за кореляційним аналізом Пірсона.Результати. У пацієнтів із геморагічним васкулітом стеатоз печінки був більш вираженим у старших за віком та більших за масою осіб із вираженішими змінами правого шлуночка, лівого передсердя та аорти й асоціювався з активністю системного запалення, протеолітичною та тромботичною активністю сироватки. За умов стеатозу печінки немодифікований фактор ризику – вік - чітко асоціювався з погіршенням стану серця та змінами протеолітичної та тромботичної активності сироватки крові, що створює підґрунтя для кардіоваскулярних подій. Стеатоз печінки супроводжується активацією системного запалення, що призводить до переходу у стеатогепатит. Висновок. Єдиним шляхом профілактики кардіоваскулярних подій та стеатогепатиту є вплив на стадії стеатозу печінки.

The QRS-T angle, as an index of non-invasive cardioelectric vector, is closely related to the change of heart structure and function. There are different methedologies to measure the QRS-T angle, which can be roughly dividedinto two types: plane angle and space angle. Studies show that the influence factors include two aspects of physiology and pathology of the angle, in pathological ways, the disease such as myocardial hypertrophy, myocardial ischemia, hypertension, ventricular arrhythmia has larger clinical significance. In recent years, the research on the risk stratification of the QRS-T angle on sudden death has made great progress, but there are still some disputes about whether the space angle can be replaced by the plane angle and the range of normal value and so on.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the basic treatment for heart failure and sequential treatment with rh-brain natriuretic peptide (rhBNP) alone or the combination of rhBNP and sacubitril/valsartan. Cardiac structure, pulmonary artery pressure, inflammation and oxidative stress in patients with acute heart failure were evaluated. Three hundred patients with acute heart failure were included. According to the random number table method, the patients were divided into 3 groups of 100 patients per group: the standard treatment group (treated with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, β receptor blocker, and corticosteroid antagonist), rhBNP group (basic treatment combined with rhBNP) and sequential treatment group (basic treatment for heart failure combined with rhBNP followed by sacubitril/valsartan). The changes in NT-probrain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels, cardiac troponin T (cTnT) levels, cardiac structure, pulmonary artery pressure, and the levels inflammatory factors and oxidative stress factors were compared among the 3 groups at 1, 4, 12, and 36 weeks after treatment. The sequential treatment group displayed superior outcomes than the standard treatment group and the rhBNP group in terms of left atrium diameter, left ventricular end diastolic volume, left ventricular ejection fraction, pulmonary artery pressure, NT-proBNP levels, and cTnT levels, which respond to damage to the heart structure and myocardium. This result may be related to the decreased levels of inflammatory factors and the correction of oxidative stress imbalance. Sacubitril/valsartan significantly reduce the serum levels of inflammatory factors in patients with acute heart failure while decreasing the levels of oxidizing factors and increasing the levels of antioxidant factors. These changes may be one of the explanations for the better cardiac structure and better pulmonary artery pressure observed in the sequential treatment group.

Cardiac regeneration is an ancestral trait in vertebrates that is lost both as more recent vertebrate lineages evolved to adapt to new environments and selective pressures, and as members of certain species developmentally progress towards their adult forms. While higher vertebrates like humans and rodents resolve cardiac injury with permanent fibrosis and loss of cardiac output as adults, neonates of these same species can fully regenerate heart structure and function after injury – as can adult lower vertebrates like many teleost fish and urodele amphibians. Recent research has elucidated several broad factors hypothesized to contribute to this loss of cardiac regenerative potential both evolutionarily and developmentally: an oxygen-rich environment, vertebrate thermogenesis, a complex adaptive immune system, and cancer risk trade-offs. In this review, we discuss the evidence for these hypotheses as well as the cellular participators and molecular regulators by which they act to govern heart regeneration in vertebrates.

This study evaluated the effects of the herbal medicine red orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) and swimming for 84 days on the animal, heart, and abdominal fat weight and the histomorphometric aspects of heart and total cholesterol of Wistar rats. The rats were divided into seven experimental groups of 12 animals each, consisting of a normocaloric diet (Dn), hypercaloric diet (Dh), normocaloric diet and herbal medicine (DnH), hypercaloric diet and herbal medicine (DhH), normocaloric diet and swimming (DnS), hypercaloric diet and swimming (DhS), and hypercaloric diet, swimming, and herbal medicine (DhSH). The data were analyzed statistically by the Tukey test and considered significant when p

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is the non-cellular component in the cardiac microenvironment, and serves essential structural and regulatory roles in establishing and maintaining tissue architecture and cellular function. The patterns of molecular and biochemical ECM alterations in developing and adult hearts depend on the underlying injury type. In addition to exploring how the ECM regulates heart structure and function in heart development and repair, this review conducts an inclusive discussion of recent developments in the role, function, and epigenetic guidelines of the ECM. Moreover, it contributes to the development of new therapeutics for cardiovascular disease.

The left atrial appendage (LAA) is a heart structure with known prothrombogenic and pro-arrhythmogenic properties.The aim of this study was to evaluate the specific anatomy of the LAA and to create a simple classification system based on the shape of its body.This study investigated 200 randomly selected autopsied human hearts (25.0% females, 46.6±19.1 years old). Three (3) types of LAAs were distinguished: the cauliflower type (no bend, limited overall length, compact structure [36.5%]); the chicken wing type (substantial bend in the dominant lobe [37.5%]), and the arrowhead type (no bend, one dominant lobe of substantial length [26.0%]). Additional accessory lobes were present in 55.5% of all LAAs. Significant variations between category types were noted in LAA length (chicken wing: 35.7±9.8 mm, arrowhead: 30.8±10.1 mm, cauliflower: 22.3±9.6 mm [p0.001]) and in the thickness of pectinate muscles located within the LAA apex (arrowhead: 1.2±0.7 mm; cauliflower: 1.1±0.6 mm; chicken wing: 0.9±0.6 mm [p0.001]). Left atrial appendage volume and orifice size were not affected by the type of LAA shape. The age of the donor was positively correlated with LAA volume (r=0.29, p=0.005), body length (r=0.26, p=0.012), and area of the orifice (r=0.36, p0.001). Donors with an oval LAA orifice were significantly older than those with round orifices (50.2±16.6 vs 43.7±20.4 years [p=0.014]) and had significantly heavier hearts (458.2±104.8 vs 409.6±114.1g [p=0.002]).This study delivered a new simple classification system of the LAA based on its body shape. An increase in age and heart weight was associated with LAA enlargement and a more oval-shaped orifice. Results of current study may help to estimate the different thrombogenic properties associated with each LAA type and be an assistance during planning and performing interventions on LAA.

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is a commonly used method to assess the function and structure of the cardiovascular system. Separating the heart structure from Cardiac MRI is an important step in calculating the cardiac function index. The automatic segmentation algorithm can significantly reduce the workload of the doctor. Most of the current automatic segmentation algorithm has a large calculation amount and size, has high requirements on the hardware. Based on the U-Net model, this paper proposes a lightweight full convolution model with separable convolution and residual connection. Experiments show that the model reduces the number of parameters while ensuring learning ability and balances speed and accuracy.

Aim. The study was aimed on the importance evaluation of the false chords (FC) diagnostics in the left ventricle (LV) of the heart at early age to predict connective tissue dysplasia (CTD) development. Material and methods. The study performed at cardiorheumatological department of MAI “CCCH №11” of Yekaterinburg city. Case histories of 200 patients analyzed, of those had undergone treatment in the department last 6 months. Group consisted of children aged 1 month to 17 year old, mean age 9,7±4,6 y. o. Phenotype of CTD was evaluated according to theGent score criteria (2010) and the Score by Kadurina T. I. et al. Heart structure and functioning were assessed with bi-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography. Statistics was done with SPSS Statistics 17.0 and Microsoft Office Excel 2013. Results. All children had phenotype markers of CTD syndrome. Significance assessment of CTD by Kadurina score was 8,1±3,8 (2-33) points, that is grade 1 severity of CTD. In 17% (n=34) of children there was moderate CTD grade, and in 10% (n=20) there were dysplastic changes in ≥3 organ systems. Most of patients (95,5%) had FC (2,0±0,5 U) localized in various areas of the LV. Chords always correlated with phenotypic CTD markers in other physiological systems. And the number of concomitant markers significantly increased with the children’s age. Conclusion. In most cases CTD syndrome is associated with the changes in the heart, and FC inLV can be regarded as easy approachable and most early and reliable phenotypical marker of this systemic disorder.

BackgroundEmpagliflozin (empa), a selective sodium–glucose cotransporter (SGLT)2 inhibitor, reduced cardiovascular mortality and hospitalization for heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes at high cardiovascular risk independent of glycemic control. The cardiovascular protective effect of empa was evaluated in an experimental model of metabolic syndrome, the obese ZSF1 rat, and its’ lean control.MethodsLean and obese ZSF1 rats were either non-treated or treated with empa (30 mg/kg/day) for 6 weeks. Vascular reactivity was assessed using mesenteric artery rings, systolic blood pressure by tail-cuff sphygmomanometry, heart function and structural changes by echocardiography, and protein expression levels by Western blot analysis.ResultsEmpa treatment reduced blood glucose levels from 275 to 196 mg/dl in obese ZSF1 rats whereas normoglycemia (134 mg/dl) was present in control lean ZSF1 rats and was unaffected by empa. Obese ZSF1 rats showed increased systolic blood pressure, and blunted endothelium-dependent relaxations associated with the appearance of endothelium-dependent contractile responses (EDCFs) compared to control lean rats. These effects were prevented by the empa treatment. Obese ZSF1 rats showed increased weight of the heart and of the left ventricle volume without the presence of diastolic or systolic dysfunction, which were improved by the empa treatment. An increased expression level of senescence markers (p53, p21, p16), tissue factor, VCAM-1, SGLT1 and SGLT2 and a down-regulation of eNOS were observed in the aortic inner curvature compared to the outer one in the control lean rats, which were prevented by the empa treatment. In the obese ZSF1 rats, no such effects were observed. The empa treatment reduced the increased body weight and weight of lungs, spleen, liver and perirenal fat, hyperglycemia and the increased levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides in obese ZSF1 rats, and increased blood ketone levels and urinary glucose excretion in control lean and obese ZSF1 rats.ConclusionEmpa reduced glucose levels by 28% and improved both endothelial function and cardiac remodeling in the obese ZSF1 rat. Empa also reduced the increased expression level of senescence, and atherothrombotic markers at arterial sites at risk in the control lean, but not obese, ZSF1 rat.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of birth defects, which occurs 1 in every 110 births in the United States. CHD usually comes with severe variations in heart structure and great artery connections that can be classified into many types. Thus highly specialized domain knowledge and time-consuming human process is needed to analyze the associated medical images. On the other hand, due to the complexity of CHD and the lack of dataset, little has been explored on the automatic diagnosis (classification) of CHDs. In this paper, we present ImageCHD, the first medical image dataset for CHD classification. ImageCHD contains 110 3D Computed Tomography (CT) images covering most types of CHD, which is of decent size compared with existing medical imaging datasets. Classification of CHDs requires the identification of large structural changes without any local tissue changes, with limited data. It is an example of a larger class of problems that are quite difficult for current machine-learning based vision methods to solve. To demonstrate this, we further present a baseline framework for automatic classification of CHD, based on a state-of-the-art CHD segmentation method. Experimental results show that the baseline framework can only achieve a classification accuracy of 82.0% under selective prediction scheme with 88.4% coverage, leaving big room for further improvement. We hope that ImageCHD can stimulate further research and lead to innovative and generic solutions that would have an impact in multiple domains. Our dataset is released to the public [1].

Purpose: Diffusion MRI requires acquisition of multiple diffusion‐weighted images, resulting in long scan times. Here, we investigate combining compressed sensing and a fast imaging sequence to dramatically reduce acquisition times in cardiac diffusion MRI. Methods: Fully sampled and prospectively undersampled diffusion tensor imaging data were acquired in five rat hearts at acceleration factors of between two and six using a fast spin echo (FSE) sequence. Images were reconstructed using a compressed sensing framework, enforcing sparsity by means of decomposition by adaptive dictionaries. A tensor was fit to the reconstructed images and fiber tractography was performed. Results: Acceleration factors of up to six were achieved, with a modest increase in root mean square error of mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA), and helix angle. At an acceleration factor of six, mean values of ADC and FA were within 2.5% and 5% of the ground truth, respectively. Marginal differences were observed in the fiber tracts. Conclusion: We developed a new k‐space sampling strategy for acquiring prospectively undersampled diffusion‐weighted data, and validated a novel compressed sensing reconstruction algorithm based on adaptive dictionaries. The k‐space undersampling and FSE acquisition each reduced acquisition times by up to 6× and 8×, respectively, as compared to fully sampled spin echo imaging. Magn Reson Med 76:248–258, 2016.

This paper is the outcome of the fourth UC Davis Systems Approach to Understanding Cardiac Excitation-Contraction Coupling and Arrhythmias Symposium, a biannual event that aims to bring together leading experts in subfields of cardiovascular biomedicine to focus on topics of importance to the field. The theme of the 2016 symposium was 'K+ Channels and Regulation'. Experts in the field contributed their experimental and mathematical modelling perspectives and discussed emerging questions, controversies and challenges on the topic of cardiac K+ channels. This paper summarizes the topics of formal presentations and informal discussions from the symposium on the structural basis of voltage-gated K+ channel function, as well as the mechanisms involved in regulation of K+ channel gating, expression and membrane localization. Given the critical role for K+ channels in determining the rate of cardiac repolarization, it is hardly surprising that essentially every aspect of K+ channel function is exquisitely regulated in cardiac myocytes. This regulation is complex and highly interrelated to other aspects of myocardial function. K+ channel regulatory mechanisms alter, and are altered by, physiological challenges, pathophysiological conditions, and pharmacological agents. An accompanying paper focuses on the integrative role of K+ channels in cardiac electrophysiology, i.e. how K+ currents shape the cardiac action potential, and how their dysfunction can lead to arrhythmias, and discusses K+ channel-based therapeutics. A fundamental understanding of K+ channel regulatory mechanisms and disease processes is fundamental to reveal new targets for human therapy.

Accurate age- and sex-related normal reference values of ventricular structure and function are important to determine the level of dysfunction in patients. The aim of this study therefore was to document normal age range sex-related measurements of LV structural and functional measurements to serve such purpose.We evaluated left ventricular structure and function in 293 healthy subjects between 20 and 90 years with equally distributed gender. Doppler echocardiography was used including measure of both systolic and diastolic functions.Due to systolic LV function, only long axis function correlated with age (r = 0·55, P0·01) and the correlation was stronger in females. Concerning diastolic function, there was a strong age correlation in all parameters used (r = 0·40-0·74, P0·001). Due to LV structural changes over age, females showed a larger reduction in end-diastolic volumes, but no or trivial difference in wall thickness after the age of 60 years.Age is associated with significant normal changes in left ventricular structure and function, which should be considered when deciding on normality. These changes are related to systemic arterial changes as well as body stature, thus reflecting overall body ageing process. Furthermore, normal cardiac ageing in females might partly explain the higher prevalence of heart failure with preserved ejection in females.

Primary cardiac angiosarcomas are frequently found at a large size with infiltration into the adjacent heart structure owing to their asymptomatic characteristics until an advanced stage. Therefore, extensive resection is often required to achieve a good prognosis. We herein report a case of entire circumferential resection of the right atrium surrounded by angiosarcoma and excellent three-dimensional reconstruction of the right atrium.

Background: Hypertensive condition can lead to abnormalities in heart structure and electrical activity. The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a recording of the electrical activity of the heart and widely used to diagnose and detect heart problem. Objective: We conducted a comparative ECG analysis between two hypertension models (L-NAME and SHR) and their controls (Wistar and Wistar-Kyoto) at six and 15 th week of age. Methods: Blood pressure was measured at the end of the 15 th week, and electrocardiography was performed [...]