Aim
To evaluate whether Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) inoculation could induce cardiac remodelling in rats.
Materials and Methods
The study was conducted on 33 Wistar rats, which were ...distributed in the following experimental groups: not inoculated; inoculated with 1 × 108 CFU/ml of bacteria; inoculated with 3 × 108 CFU/ml of bacteria. The animals were inoculated at baseline and on the 15th day of follow‐up. Blood collection was performed at baseline and 60 min after each inoculation. At 29 days, the animals were subjected to echocardiography and at 30 days to haemodynamic studies before sacrificing them.
Results
Impact of the bacteria was more evident in rats that received higher P. gingivalis concentration. Thus, 3 × 108 CFU/ml of bacteria increased the rectal temperature and water content in the lung as well as myocardial necrosis and fibrosis. P. gingivalis induced the intensification of DNA fragmentation and increased the levels of malondialdehyde, oxidized proteins, and macrophage expression in the myocardium. These findings were associated with lower LV isovolumetric relaxation time, +dP/dt, –dP/dt, and higher end‐diastolic pressure.
Conclusions
P. gingivalis bacteraemia is significantly associated with adverse cardiac remodelling and may play a biological role in the genesis of heart failure.
Abstract Background: Due to its poor prognosis and mortality rates, heart failure (HF) has been recognized as a malignant condition, comparable to some cancers in developed countries. Objectives: To ...compare mortality from HF and prevalent cancers using data from a nationwide database in Brazil. Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study using secondary data obtained from Brazilian administrative databases of death records and hospitalization claims maintained by the Ministry of Health. Data were analyzed according to main diagnosis, year of occurrence (2005-2015), sex and age group. Descriptive analyses of absolute number of events, hospitalization rate, mortality rate, and in-hospital mortality rate were performed. Results: The selected cancers accounted for higher mortality, lower hospitalization and higher in-hospital mortality rates than HF. In a group analysis, HF showed mortality rates of 100-150 per 100,000 inhabitants over the period, lower than the selected cancers. However, HF had a higher mortality rate than each type of cancer, even when compared to the most prevalent and deadly ones. Regarding hospitalization rates, HF was associated with a higher risk of hospitalization when compared to cancer-related conditions as a group. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that HF has an important impact on mortality, hospitalization and in-hospital mortality, comparable to or even worse than some types of cancer, representing a potential burden to the healthcare system.
Pharmacoinvasive strategy is an effective myocardial reperfusion therapy when primary percutaneous coronary intervention (p-PCI) cannot be performed in a timely manner.
Authors sought to evaluate ...metrics of care and cardiovascular outcomes in a decade-long registry of a pharmacoinvasive strategy network for the treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Data from a local network including patients undergoing fibrinolysis in county hospitals and systematically transferred to the tertiary center were accessed from March 2010 to September 2020. Numerical variables were described as median and interquartile range. Area under the curve (AUC-ROC) was used to analyze the predictive value of TIMI and GRACE scores for in-hospital mortality.
A total of 2,710 consecutive STEMI patients aged 59 51-66 years, 815 women (30.1%) and 837 individuals with diabetes (30.9%) were analyzed. The time from symptom onset to first-medical-contact was 120 60-210 minutes and the door-to-needle time was 70 43-115 minutes. Rescue-PCI was required in 929 patients (34.3%), in whom the fibrinolytic-catheterization time was 7.2 4.9-11.8 hours, compared to 15.7 6.8-22,7 hours in those who had successful lytic reperfusion. All cause in-hospital mortality occurred in 151 (5.6%) patients, reinfarction in 47 (1.7%) and ischemic stroke in 33 (1.2%). Major bleeding occurred in 73 (2.7%) patients, including 19 (0.7%) cases of intracranial bleeding. C-statistic confirmed that both scores had high predictive values for in-hospital mortality, demonstrated by TIMI AUC-ROC of 0.80 0,77-0.84 and GRACE AUC-ROC of 0.86 0.83-0.89.
In a real world registry of a decade-long network for the treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction based on the pharmacoinvasive strategy, low rates of in-hospital mortality and cardiovascular outcomes were observed, despite prolonged time metrics for both fibrinolytic therapy and rescue-PCI. Register Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02090712 date of first registration 18/03/2014.
Respiratory muscle unloading through proportional assist ventilation (PAV) may enhance leg oxygen delivery, thereby speeding off-exercise oxygen uptake (
) kinetics in patients with heart failure ...with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF).
Ten male patients (HFrEF = 26 ± 9%, age 50 ± 13 years, and body mass index 25 ± 3 kg m
) underwent two constant work rate tests at 80% peak of maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test to tolerance under PAV and sham ventilation. Post-exercise kinetics of
, vastus lateralis deoxyhemoglobin (deoxy-Hb + Mb) by near-infrared spectroscopy, and cardiac output (Q
) by impedance cardiography were assessed.
PAV prolonged exercise tolerance compared with sham (587 ± 390 s vs. 444 ± 296 s, respectively;
= 0.01). PAV significantly accelerated
recovery (
= 56 ± 22 s vs. 77 ± 42 s;
< 0.05), being associated with a faster decline in Δdeoxy-Hb + Mb and Q
compared with sham (
= 31 ± 19 s vs. 42 ± 22 s and 39 ± 22 s vs. 78 ± 46 s,
< 0.05). Faster off-exercise decrease in Q
with PAV was related to longer exercise duration (
= -0.76;
< 0.05).
PAV accelerates the recovery of central hemodynamics and muscle oxygenation in HFrEF. These beneficial effects might prove useful to improve the tolerance to repeated exercise during cardiac rehabilitation.
In heart transplantation (HT) recipients, several factors are critical to promptly adopting appropriate rehabilitation strategies and may be important to predict outcomes way after surgery. This ...study aimed to determine preoperative patient-related risk factors that could adversely affect the postoperative clinical course of patients undergoing HT.
Twenty-one hospitalized patients with heart failure undergoing HT were evaluated according to respiratory muscle strength and functional capacity before HT. Mechanical ventilation (MV) time, reintubation rate, and intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay were recorded, and assessed postoperatively.
Inspiratory muscle strength as absolute and percentpredicted values were strongly correlated with MV time (r=-0.61 and r=-0.70, respectively, at P<0.001). Concerning ICU length of stay, only maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) absolute and percent-predicted values were significantly associated. The absolute |MIP| was significantly negatively correlated with ICU length of stay (r=-0.58 at P=0.006) and the percent-predicted MIP was also significantly negatively correlated with ICU length of stay (r=-0.68 at P=0.0007). No associations were observed between preoperative functional capacity, age, sex, and clinical characteristics and MV time and ICU length of stay in the cohort included in this study. Patients with respiratory muscle weakness had a higher prevalence of prolonged MV, reintubation, and delayed ICU length of stay.
An impairment of preoperative MIP was associated with poorer short-term outcomes following HT. As such, inspiratory muscle strength is an important clinical preoperative marker in patients undergoing HT.
Left atrial volume (LAV) is a predictor of prognosis in patients with heart failure.
We aimed to evaluate the determinants of LAV in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
Ninety patients with ...DCM and left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction ≤ 0.50 were included. LAV was measured with real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (eco3D). The variables evaluated were heart rate, systolic blood pressure, LV end-diastolic volume and end-systolic volume and ejection fraction (eco3D), mitral inflow E wave, tissue Doppler e' wave, E/e' ratio, intraventricular dyssynchrony, 3D dyssynchrony index and mitral regurgitation vena contracta. Pearson's coefficient was used to identify the correlation of the LAV with the assessed variables. A multiple linear regression model was developed that included LAV as the dependent variable and the variables correlated with it as the predictive variables.
Mean age was 52 ± 11 years-old, LV ejection fraction: 31.5 ± 8.0% (16-50%) and LAV: 39.2±15.7 ml/m2. The variables that correlated with the LAV were LV end-diastolic volume (r = 0.38; p < 0.01), LV end-systolic volume (r = 0.43; p < 0.001), LV ejection fraction (r = -0.36; p < 0.01), E wave (r = 0.50; p < 0.01), E/e' ratio (r = 0.51; p < 0.01) and mitral regurgitation (r = 0.53; p < 0.01). A multivariate analysis identified the E/e' ratio (p = 0.02) and mitral regurgitation (p = 0.02) as the only independent variables associated with LAV increase.
The LAV is independently determined by LV filling pressures (E/e' ratio) and mitral regurgitation in DCM.