T he growth and hypertrophy of left ventricular myocardium in response to pressure or volume overload or segmental loss of functional myocardium was once considered a purely beneficial, structural adaptation to reduce or normalize systolic and/or diastolic wall stress.' This concept has been challenged, however, by a growing body of evidence indicating that most forms of left ventricular hypert...

Left ventricular systolic torsion and diastolic recoil were quantified in 12 human cardiac transplant recipients with surgically implanted intramyocardial markers with the use of computer-aided analysis of biplane cineradiographic images. Measurements were performed between 6 and 16 weeks after surgery and related to the presence or absence of rejection as determined by cardiac biopsy. Torsiona...

Hemodynamics influence cardiac development, and alterations in blood flow may lead to impaired cardiac growth and malformations. The developing myocardium adapts to augmented workload by increasing cell number (hyperplasia). The aim of this study was to determine the influence of alterations in ventricular preload on fetal myocyte proliferation by manipulation of intracardiac shunting at the at...

Heart failure (HF) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the industrialized world. While the transcriptomic changes in end-stage failing myocardium have received much attention, no information is available on the gene expression patterns associated with the development of HF in large mammals. Therefore, we used a well-controlled canine model of tachycardia-induced HF to examine glo...

introduction: cardiac complications, including heart failure, are the most important secondary ones of the thalassemia major disease, which manifests itself in adolescence and early adulthood. appropriate, low cost diagnostic tools available as well as knowing its related factors are the most important components of therapy in these patients, given the importance of these complications, or by e...