ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) represents an emerging pathology in modern medicine. Transthoracic echocardiography is an inexpensive and reproducible method and it is the most commonly used non-invasive diagnostic tool to asses pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) and the function of the right ventricle. Although, the right heart catheterization is still considered as t...

Background: Elevation in PA pressures has been observed by 2D echo in some but not all hypertensive patients. The mechanism and hemodynamic impact of pulmonary hypertension in these patients remains unclear. Methods: We reviewed echoes of all patients referred with systemic hypertension between 9/2006 to 5/2009 to identify those patients with left ventricular hypertrophy, normal systolic functi...

INTRODUCTION Adenotonsillar hyperplasia (ATH) and allergic rhinitis (AR) are the most common causes of upper airway obstruction in children. Such diseases, by affecting the upper airways, can cause chronic alveolar hypoventilation, pulmonary vasoconstriction and pulmonary hypertension, which in some cases, are irreversible. OBJECTIVE This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the prevalence...

BACKGROUND Bronchiectasis may have deleterious effects on cardiac function secondary to pulmonary hypertension (PH). This study was designed to assess cardiac function and determine the prevalence of PH in patients with cystic and cylindrical bronchiectasis. METHODS A cross-sectional study of patients with bronchiectasis diagnosed by CT scan was conducted at King Khalid University Hospital, R...

OBJECTIVE This study explored the oxidative stress effects of the NADPH oxidase-ROS-NF-κB transduction pathway and vascular peroxidase 1 (VPO1) on patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) combined with pulmonary hypertension (PH). PATIENTS AND METHODS 30 patients with pure COPD and 30 patients with stable COPD combined with PH, who were admitted to our hospital from January ...

AIMS To determine the value of echocardiography including tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and right ventricular (RV) speckle tracking analysis for the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and discrimination between pre- and postcapillary PH. METHODS AND RESULTS 155 consecutive patients (mean age 70.5±13.0 years, 81 [52%] male gender, BMI 27.2±6.1 kg/m(2)) with PH undergoing right heart cathe...

Abstract Background Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is an established prognosticator in patients with mitral regurgitation (MR). However, a substantial proportion of MR presents without PH at rest but may develop during exercise. Previous studies already demonstrated the prevalence and prognostic impact bicycle Until now, there are no data on exercise assessed by handgrip Purpose To assess predicto...

The impairment of the right ventricle (RV) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is usually related to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). New echocardiographic techniques, such as 3-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) and 2-dimensional speckle tracking (2DSTE), allow an accurate evaluation of the RV function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the RV function using 3DE and 2DSTE in SSc patients wit...

Background: Exercise-induced pulmonary hypertension (EIPH) can be caused not only by pulmonary vas‐ culopathy, but also by a significant increase in left ventricular (LV) filling pressure. This study evaluated the influence of LV diastolic function on EIPH in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods: The study included 222 SSc patients (age 58.9 ± 13.1 years, 85% female) and 30 controls ...

Membrane bioenergetics are universal, yet the phospholipid membranes of archaea and bacteria-the deepest branches in the tree of life-are fundamentally different. This deep divergence in membrane chemistry is reflected in other stark differences between the two domains, including ion pumping and DNA replication. We resolve this paradox by considering the energy requirements of the last universa...