BACKGROUND Pericardial adhesions are a pathophysiological marker of constrictive pericarditis (CP), which impairs cardiac filling by limiting the total cardiac volume compliance and diastolic filling function. We studied diastolic transmitral flow efficiency as a new parameter of filling function in a pericardial adhesion animal model. We hypothesized that vortex formation time (VFT), an index ...

Sarcomere relaxation depends on dissociation of actin and myosin, which is regulated by a number of factors, including intracellular [MgATP] as well as MgATP hydrolysis products [MgADP] and inorganic phosphate [Pi], pHi, and cytosolic calcium concentration ([Ca2+]c). To distinguish the contribution of MgADP from the other regulators in the development of diastolic dysfunction, we used a strateg...

To elucidate left ventricular (LV) cardiac structure and function in patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension, we studied the relationship between LV geometry and function. We evaluated LV diastolic and systolic functions by M-mode echocardiography in 91 age-matched normotensive control subjects (NT) and 124 patients with essential hypertension. Hypertensive patients were divided i...

impairment of left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic dysfunction to various degrees. These functions are energetically and tightly coupled: 1) at the cellular level, since adenosine triphosphate is a substance essential for both active contraction and relaxation; 2) at the myocardial level, because regional wall motion asynchrony influences global LV diastolic function (contraction-relaxa...

BACKGROUND Cardiac dysfunction is a common cause of weaning failure. Weaning shares some similarities with a cardiac stress test and may challenge active phases of the cardiac cycle-like ventricular contractility and relaxation. This study aimed at assessing systolic and diastolic function during the weaning process and scrutinizing their dynamics during weaning trials. METHODS Echocardiograp...

Overnutrition and insulin resistance are especially prominent risk factors for the development of cardiac diastolic dysfunction in females. We recently reported that consumption of a Western diet (WD) containing excess fat (46%), sucrose (17.5%), and high fructose corn syrup (17.5%) for 16 weeks resulted in cardiac diastolic dysfunction and aortic stiffening in young female mice and that these ...

BACKGROUND Myocardial diastolic tissue velocities are reduced already in newly onset Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Poor disease control may lead to left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction and heart failure. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of exercise training on myocardial diastolic function in T2D patients without ischemic heart disease. METHODS 48 men (52.3 +/- 5.6 yrs)...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the prevalence of diastolic dysfunction in patients with anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and to examine whether the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is associated with diastolic dysfunction independently of valvular abnormalities and systolic dysfunction. METHODS Pulsed, continuous, colour Doppler echocardiography was performed in 179 subjects, of whom 15 were excluded f...