The fraction of assembled actin and the diffusion coefficients of filamentous and nonfilamentous species have been determined by fluorescence photobleaching recovery. For both Mg2+-induced and K+-induced actin assembly, a higher concentration of cation leads to longer filaments. Cytochalasin D reduces the fraction of actin present as assembled filaments. In the absence of Mg2+, the accompanying...

Global and regional systolic function during exercise were studied at cardiac catheterization with biplane cineangiography and micromanometer pressures in three groups of patients: an ischemia group (n = 22) with exercise-induced asynergy from coronary artery disease, a control group with no or minimal cardiovascular disease (n = 5) and a "scar" group (n = 5) with prior infarction and no new as...

BACKGROUND The use of antracycline (ANT) in breast cancer has been associated with adverse cardiac events. Two-dimensional (2D) strain imaging (SI) can provide a more sensitive measure of altered left ventricular (LV) systolic function. We aimed to evaluate the preventive effect of carvedilol administration assessed by SI in a patient with breast cancer treated with ANT. METHODS Patients rece...

BACKGROUND The merits of retaining the subvalvular apparatus during mitral valve replacement for chronic mitral regurgitation have been demonstrated in numerous clinical and laboratory investigations. In this preliminary report, we analyzed the early effects of complete versus partial chordal preservation on left ventricular mechanics. METHODS AND RESULTS Fifty patients undergoing isolated su...

OBJECTIVE Antioxidant therapy has shown some promise in critical care medicine in which glutathione depletion and heart failure are often seen in critically ill patients. This study was designed to examine the impact of glutathione depletion and the free radical scavenger, metallothionein (MT), on cardiac function. DESIGN Friend virus B and MT transgenic mice were given the glutathione syntha...

The cineangiograms of 26 normal subjects were analyzed to study the effect of Starling's mechanism on postextrasystolic potentiation. The end-diastolic volumes (single plane and biplane) of the left ventricle were similar in the regular sinus beat before an extrasystole and sequential sinus beats after an extrasystole. However, the ejection fraction, mean normalized systolic ejection rate, mean...

BackgroundIncreased metabolic rate of hyperglycemia in gestational diabetes causes macrosomia, which can also affect the fetal heart. The thickness of the walls of the heart and its function in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) can change over time before treatment. We aimed to evaluate fetal cardiac structure in terms of ventricular wall thickness and its function in women w...