Pacemaker cells are involved in regulating numerous essential biological functions. These cells exhibit spontaneous activities in isolation, due to the various membrane ion channels. Background conductances (ILeak) are responsible for the depolarized resting membrane potential of numerous pacemaker cells, largely due to a high sodium component (INa Leak); however, their molecular identity remai...

BACKGROUND To analyze the 10-year experience of single chamber permanent epicardial pacemaker placement for children with congenital heart diseases (CHD) after surgical repair. METHODS Between 2002 and 2014, a total of 35 patients with CHD (age: 26.9 ± 23.2 months, weight: 9.7 ± 5.6 kg) received permanent epicardial pacemaker placement following corrective surgery. Echocardiography and progra...

AIMS After decades of experience and strongly improved technology, service time of pacemaker generators is expected to increase. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a retrospective review of a large cohort of patients with a pacemaker. METHODS We reviewed data collected between 1984 and 2006 in the first national Dutch pacemaker registry. This registry covered 96% of all generators implante...

Circadian pacemaker neurons in the Drosophila brain control daily rhythms in locomotor activity. These pacemaker neurons can be subdivided into early or late groups depending on whether rhythms in period (per) and timeless (tim) expression are initiated at the first instar (L1) larval stage or during metamorphosis, respectively. Because CLOCK-CYCLE (CLK-CYC) heterodimers initiate circadian osci...

Neuromodulators are integral parts of a neuronal network, and unraveling how these substances alter neuronal activity is critical for understanding how networks generate patterned activity and, ultimately, behavior. In this study, we examined the cellular mechanisms underlying the excitatory action of substance P (SP) on the respiratory network isolated in spontaneously active transverse slice ...

One hundred thirty patients have had 244 pacemakers of five types implanted at Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital in the past eight years. There has been I 0.50 probabilIty of successful unit function at only 12 months with epicardial units. All transvenous units used have had a 0.50 probabilIty of unit success at more than 17 months. This fact, combined with the lower frequency of early death wi...

AIMS To evaluate the complication rate differences between elderly and younger patients who receive a permanent pacemaker implantation. METHODS We reviewed all cases admitted to our institution between January 2008 and June 2009 with symptomatic bradyarrhythmia for whom a permanent pacemaker was implanted. Beginning in June 2009, we prospectively collected data from all patients with the same...

transcatheteraortic valve implantation, first introduced in 2002, has been established as an alternative modality for patients deemed not suitable for open-heart surgery. the anatomical vicinity of the atrioventricular node and the his bundle to the non-coronary and rightcoronary aortic cusps predisposes patients to conduction abnormalities in case of severe calcification or mechanical trauma d...

Clinical dilemmas arise when patients with a non-magnetic resonance (MR) conditional pacemaker are required to undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We encountered a pacemaker patient with debilitating non-motor symptoms of Parkinson׳s disease, who required an MRI prior to deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. MRI was performed safely without adverse events despite the presence of a convent...