Background: Heart failure (HF) has become one of the most prevalent cardiovascular problems worldwide. Considering the beneficial effects of probiotics on human health, we aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of oral administration of Lactobacillus paracasei in HF induced by isoproterenol. Methods: Forty Wistar male rats weighing 80g on average were randomly assigned to five grou...

The myocardial protection allowed great advance in cardiac surgery, decreasing the mortality and making more feasible complex surgeries. Lately, the patient population elected for cardiac procedures has been changing towards elderly patients with ventricular function depressed and myocardial hypertrophy. The myocardial hypertrophy condition represents a great challenge since the beginning of th...

BACKGROUND Pressure-induced left ventricular hypertrophy is one of the mechanisms responsible for an impaired coronary vasodilating capacity leading to myocardial ischemia and angina. The aim of the study was to investigate myocardial perfusion using cardiovascular magnetic resonance in patients with arterial hypertension and a history of chest pain and normal coronary angiography, and to estim...

although involvement of the heart by malignant lymphoma is relatively common, it is unusual to be detected premortem. we report a case of hodgkin's lymphoma who presented with systemic signs and symptoms including abdominal distension, weakness, pallor, chills and fever, hepatosplenomegaly and generalized lymphadenopathy as well as signs of heart failure. echocardiography revealed lucent myocar...

Background and objectives: Resveratrol(3,5,4′-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene) is a natural polyphenole phytoalexin which exerts potential cardioprotective effects, but the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for these effects are still unknown. Cardiac renin angiotensin system (RAS) over-activation plays an important role in pathogenesis of left ventricula...

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that, in diabetic pregnancies, left atrial shortening fraction (LASF) is decreased in fetuses with myocardial hypertrophy, compared to those without hypertrophy and to fetuses of non-diabetic mothers. METHODS Fetal echocardiography was performed in women with pre-existing or gestational diabetes and in non-diabetic controls between 25 weeks' gestation and term...

BACKGROUND Patients with aortic stenosis have a period of compensated left ventricular hypertrophy but may eventually develop congestive heart failure. Previous experimental studies showed either normal myocardial contractility in mild short-term pressure overload or myocardial dysfunction with severe pressure overload. Transition from compensated left ventricular hypertrophy to myocardial dysf...

Calcineurin has recently been implicated as a mediator in the signaling pathways that transform intracellular calcium signals to the phenotype of myocardial hypertrophy. The present study was conducted to examine the effects of cyclosporin A (CsA), an inhibitor of calcineurin, on myocardial hypertrophy and remodeling during congestive heart failure (CHF) in rats. After ligation of the left coro...