Since the pioneering work of Henry Pickering Bowditch in the late 1800s to early 1900s, cardiac muscle contraction has remained an intensely studied topic for several reasons. The heart is located centrally in our body, and its pumping motion demands the attention of the observer. The contraction of the heart encompasses a complex interplay of mechanical, chemical, and electrical properties, an...

rhododendron dauricum l. is an ancient chinese traditional herb. the pharmacological effects of r. dauricum extract have been shown in chronic tracheitis. the aim of this study was to investigate the cardiovascular effects of rhododendron dauricum l. flavonoids (rf) on rats and its mechanisms. this study was performed in isolated vascular rings and a rat model of myocardial infarction and isola...

background: noninvasive techniques for the localization of the accessory pathways (aps) might help guide mapping procedures and ablation techniques. we sought to examine the diagnostic accuracy of strain imaging for the localization of the aps in wolff-parkinson-white syndrome. methods: w e prospectively studied 25 patients (mean age = 32 ± 17 years, 58.3% men) with evidence of pre-excitation o...

OBJECTIVE The prognosis of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (APH) has been benign, but apical myocardial injury has prognostic importance. We studied functional, morphological and electrocardiographical abnormalities in patients with APH and with apical aneurysm and sought to find parameters that relate to apical myocardial injury. METHODS STUDY DESIGN a multicentre trans-sectional study...

Both myocardial contractility and contraction duration were assessed load-independently in isolated hypertrophic and control rat hearts. Hemodynamic parameters for isolated isovolumically contracting hearts were compared for 7 Wistar rats with DOCA-salt induced hypertrophy (LVH) and 7 controls. Loads were altered by changing the volume of an intraventricular balloon. Myocardial contractility wa...

AIMS To assess whether a quantitative analysis of myocardial contraction bands could aid the postmortem identification of early myocardial infarction, especially if used in conjunction with cardiac isoenzyme activities. METHODS Sixty four coroner's necropsies were grouped by gross and histological findings into 26 cases of definite non-cardiac death, 12 cases of definite myocardial infarction...