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ACS Biomater Sci Eng 2020 04 5;6(4):2135-2145. Epub 2020 Mar 5.

Departament d'Enginyeria Quı́mica and Barcelona Research Center for Multiscale Science and Engineering, EEBE, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, C/Eduard Maristany 10-14, 08019 Barcelona, Spain.

Cys-Arg-Glu-Lys-Ala (CREKA) is an important fibrin-homing pentapeptide that has been extensively demonstrated for diagnoses and therapies (e.g., image diagnosis of tumors and to inhibit tumor cell migration and invasion). Read More

Rev Med Chil 2020 Sep;148(9):1368-1370

Unidad Coronaria, Hospital Militar de Santiago, Santiago, Chile.

We report a 44-year-old male who was admitted for Influenza B and fever, presenting a type I Brugada pattern on the electrocardiogram. He evolved without cardiovascular symptoms. The pharmacological test with intravenous Procainamide reproduced type I Brugada pattern and the programmed electrical stimulation was negative for ventricular arrhythmias. Read More

Int J Cardiol 2021 04 23;328:130-140. Epub 2020 Nov 23.

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia; South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, Australia; Lyell McEwin Hospital, Adelaide, Australia. Electronic address:

Background: To evaluate the risk for ventricular arrhythmia (VA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) and determine the prognostic factors.

Methods And Results: PUBMED, EMBASE and SCOPUS were searched up to 14th April 2020. Studies reporting the incidence of SCD, appropriate ICD therapy in CS patients, or relevant prognostic information in patients having undergone MRI, PET, or programmed electrical stimulation (PES) were included. Read More

J Cell Mol Med 2020 12 1;24(23):13660-13668. Epub 2020 Nov 1.

Department of General Practice/VIP Medical Service, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, China.

Obesity is a significant risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF), which is the most common sustained arrhythmia with increased mortality and morbidity. High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity is associated with the activation of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS). However, the role of ERS in HFD-induced AF remains elusive. Read More

Circ J 2020 11 17;84(12):2158-2165. Epub 2020 Oct 17.

Division of Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center.

Background: The new guideline (NG) published by the Japanese Circulation Society (JCS) places emphasis on previous arrhythmic syncope and inducibility of ventricular fibrillation (VF) by ≤2 extrastimuli during programmed electrical stimulation (PES) for deciding the indication of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator in patients with Brugada syndrome (BrS). This study evaluated the usefulness of the NG and compared it with the former guideline (FG) for risk stratification of patients with BrS.Methods and Results:This was a multicenter (7 Japanese hospitals) retrospective study involving 234 patients with BrS who underwent PES at baseline (226 males; mean age at diagnosis: 44. Read More

J Am Heart Assoc 2020 09 31;9(18):e016084. Epub 2020 Aug 31.

Institute of Biomedical Engineering College of Electrical and Computer Engineering National Chiao Tung University Hsinchu Taiwan.

Background Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are at twice the risk of ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death as the general population. We hypothesize that β-blocker treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is antiarrhythmic by producing synergistic anticatecholaminergic and anti-inflammatory effects. Methods and Results Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) was induced in Lewis rats by immunization with type II collagen in Freund's incomplete adjuvant. Read More

Acta Cardiol 2020 Jul 20:1-20. Epub 2020 Jul 20.

Department of Anesthesiology.

Brugada syndrome (BrS) is an inherited cardiac arrhythmia syndrome that causes a heightened risk for ventricular tachyarrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. BrS is characterised by a coved ST-segment elevation in right precordial leads. The prevalence is estimated to range between 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 2,000 in different populations, with the highest being in Southeast Asia and in males. Read More

Eur Heart J Case Rep 2020 Jun 17;4(3):1-5. Epub 2020 Apr 17.

Department of Cardiology, Leiden Heart-Lung Center, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, the Netherlands.

Background: Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a rare congenital disorder resulting in ischaemia and myocardial infarction which can act as a potential substrate for life-threatening arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

Case Summary: A 19-year-old man was admitted to the hospital after successful resuscitation from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) due to ventricular fibrillation occurring during jogging. In the diagnostic work-up of the OHCA, computed tomography identified an ALCAPA. Read More

Int Heart J 2020 Mar 14;61(2):338-346. Epub 2020 Mar 14.

Cardiovascular Research, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Niigata University School of Medicine.

Sympathetic nerve activity has arrhythmogenic potential for ventricular arrhythmias associated with structural heart diseases. However, a sufficient amount of beta-blockers occasionally cannot be prescribed in some patients.An experimental study was performed to clarify the therapeutic effects of bepridil, a multiple ionic current inhibitor that does not affect beta-adrenergic receptors, for premature beats occurring during enhanced sympathetic nerve activity. Read More

J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol 2020 04 25;31(4):943-951. Epub 2020 Feb 25.

Department of Cardiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Introduction: Intra-atrial conduction abnormalities are associated with the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) and cause morphological changes of the unipolar atrial electrogram (U-AEGM). This study examined the impact of different atrial programmed electrical stimulation (APES) protocols on U-AEGM morphology to identify the most optimal APES protocol provoking conduction abnormalities.

Methods: APES techniques (14 protocols) were applied in 30 patients referred for an electrophysiology study, consisting of fixed rate, extra, and decremental stimuli at different frequencies. Read More

JACC Clin Electrophysiol 2020 01 27;6(1):56-69. Epub 2019 Nov 27.

Department of Cardiology, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia; Westmead Applied Research Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address:

Objectives: This study sought to summarize the procedural characteristics and outcomes of patients with structural heart disease (SHD) who have focal ventricular tachycardia (VT).

Background: Scar-mediated re-entry is the predominant mechanism of VT in SHD. Some SHD patients may have a focal VT mechanism that remains poorly described. Read More

Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2020 03 17;318(3):H534-H546. Epub 2020 Jan 17.

Cardiology Division of Cardiology, Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia.

Computational modeling based on experimental data remains an important component in cardiac electrophysiological research, especially because clinical data such as human action potential (AP) dynamics are scarce or limited by practical or ethical concerns. Such modeling has been used to develop and test a variety of mechanistic hypotheses, with the majority of these studies involving the rate dependence of AP duration (APD) including APD restitution and conduction velocity (CV). However, there is very little information regarding the complex dynamics at the boundary of repolarization (or refractoriness) and reexcitability. Read More

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2019 Jul;2019:3799-3802

Functional electrical stimulation has been used in rehabilitation programs for patients with chronic spinal cord injury. When used correctly it is able to improve the well-being of patients. However, when the stimulus is not adequate it can accelerate the process of fatigue, reducing the time available for training the programmed motor activity. Read More

Basic Res Cardiol 2020 01 4;115(2). Epub 2020 Jan 4.

Department of Pharmacology (State-Province Key Laboratories of Biomedicine-Pharmaceutics of China, Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Medicine Research, Ministry of Education), College of Pharmacy, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150081, China.

Ventricular arrhythmia is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in patients with myocardial infarction (MI). Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) has been shown to play an important role in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. However, the effects of FGF21 on ventricular arrhythmias following MI have not been addressed yet. Read More

Pediatr Cardiol 2020 Feb 20;41(2):290-296. Epub 2019 Nov 20.

First Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Medical Centre Mannheim (UMM), University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167, Mannheim, Germany.

Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a rare channelopathy associated with sudden cardiac death (SCD). Although outcome data of adult cohorts are well known, information on children are lacking. The aim of the present study was to analyze the clinical profile, treatment approach and long-term outcome of children affected with BrS. Read More

Biosens Bioelectron 2020 Jan 20;147:111793. Epub 2019 Oct 20.

Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Biochips (C3B), Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA; Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Houston Methodist Institute for Academic Medicine and Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX, 77030, USA; ABTECH Scientific, Inc., Biotechnology Research Park, 800 East Leigh Street, Richmond, VA, 23219, USA. Electronic address:

A new dual-function electrical cell stimulation and recording apparatus (ECSARA) for simultaneously electrically stimulating cellular behavior within programmed stand-off electric fields (EFs) and monitoring cellular responses via AC electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is reported. ECSARA is designed to have a footprint similar to that of a common 24-well cell culture plate within which each well is electrified via a pair of opposing planar titanium electrodes, within the cover (0.10 cm) and base (0. Read More

PLoS Comput Biol 2019 10 28;15(10):e1007421. Epub 2019 Oct 28.

School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.

This paper presents a morphological analysis of fibrotic scarring in non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy, and its relationship to electrical instabilities which underlie reentrant arrhythmias. Two dimensional electrophysiological simulation models were constructed from a set of 699 late gadolinium enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance images originating from 157 patients. Areas of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in each image were assigned one of 10 possible microstructures, which modelled the details of fibrotic scarring an order of magnitude below the MRI scan resolution. Read More

J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol 2019 12 14;30(12):3097-3115. Epub 2019 Nov 14.

Post Graduation Department, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

The recognition of the presence, location, and properties of unusual accessory pathways for atrioventricular conduction is an exciting, but frequently a difficult, challenge for the clinical cardiac arrhythmologist. In this third part of our series of reviews, we discuss the different steps required to come to the correct diagnosis and management decision in patients with nodofascicular, nodoventricular, and fasciculo-ventricular pathways. We also discuss the concealed accessory atrioventricular pathways with the properties of decremental retrograde conduction that are associated with the so-called permanent form of junctional reciprocating tachycardia. Read More

J Colloid Interface Sci 2020 Feb 3;559:65-75. Epub 2019 Oct 3.

School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China. Electronic address:

Electroactive nanofibrous scaffold is a vital tool for the study of the various biological research fields from bioelectronics to regenerative medicine, which can provide cell preferable 3D nanofiber architecture and programmed electrical signal. However, intrinsic non-biodegradability is a major problem that hinders its widespread application in the clinic. Herein, we designed, synthesized, and characterized shell/core poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)/chitosan (CS) nanofibers by combining the electrospinning and recrystallization processes. Read More

J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol 2019 12 16;30(12):3079-3096. Epub 2019 Oct 16.

Post Graduation Department, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Recognition of the presence, location, and properties of unusual accessory pathways for atrioventricular conduction is an exciting, frequently difficult, challenge for the clinical cardiac arrhythmologist. In this second part of our series of reviews relative to this topic, we discuss the steps required to achieve the correct diagnosis and appropriate management in patients with the so-called "Mahaim" variants of pre-excitation. We indicate that, nowadays, it is recognized that these abnormal rhythms are manifest because of the presence of atriofascicular pathways. Read More

Int Heart J 2019 Sep 4;60(5):1168-1175. Epub 2019 Sep 4.

Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University.

The aims of the present study were to investigate the effects of angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitors (ARNi) on the susceptibility of ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) in rats with myocardial infarction (MI) and to explore the related mechanisms.A total of 32 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups: a control group, MI group, and MI+ARNi group. MI was generated by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Read More

Magn Reson Imaging Clin N Am 2019 Aug;27(3):465-473

Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine, 600 North Wolfe Street, Blalock 536, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. Electronic address:

The potential role of cardiac MR imaging in the diagnosis, risk-stratification, and treatment of patients with cardiac arrhythmias is rapidly evolving. Beyond substrate identification and characterization, it is now feasible to perform MR imaging-based noninvasive virtual programmed stimulation to identify potential ablation targets. The next phase of MR imaging-guided electrophysiology may involve intraprocedural guidance of electrophysiologic interventions using real-time MR imaging. Read More

J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol 2019 10 23;30(10):1939-1948. Epub 2019 Jul 23.

Division of Cardiology, Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado.

Introduction: While cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) carries a risk of ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) and sudden cardiac death (SCD), risk stratification of patients with CS and preserved left ventricular/right ventricular (LV/RV) systolic function remains challenging. We sought to evaluate the role of electrophysiologic testing and programmed electrical stimulation of the ventricle (EPS) in patients with suspected CS with preserved ventricular function.

Methods: One hundred twenty consecutive patients with biopsy-proven extracardiac sarcoidosis and preserved LV/RV systolic function underwent EPS. Read More

JACC Clin Electrophysiol 2019 06 1;5(6):719-727. Epub 2019 May 1.

Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Electronic address:

Objectives: This study sought to determine the impact of repeat catheter ablation (CA) prior to hospital discharge based on inducibility of clinical ventricular tachycardia (VT) during noninvasive programmed ventricular stimulation (NIPS).

Background: Inducibility of clinical VT during NIPS performed several days after CA identifies patients at high risk of recurrence. The impact of NIPS-guided repeat CA has not been reported. Read More

Int Heart J 2019 May 17;60(3):761-767. Epub 2019 May 17.

Cardiovascular Center, Sakurabashi-Watanabe Hospital.

A 70-year-old woman was admitted for treatment of supraventricular tachycardia. Ventriculoatrial conduction was revealed through programmed ventricular stimulation; the coronary sinus ostium (CSos) was the earliest atrial activation site. The fast-slow forms of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) were induced by ventricular extra-stimuli. Read More

Sci Rep 2019 05 6;9(1):6930. Epub 2019 May 6.

Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Complete atrioventricular block (CAVB) is a life-threatening arrhythmia. A small animal model of chronic CAVB that properly reflects clinical indices of bradycardia would accelerate the understanding of disease progression and pathophysiology, and the development of therapeutic strategies. We sought to develop a surgical model of CAVB in adult rats, which could recapitulate structural remodeling and arrhythmogenicity expected in chronic CAVB. Read More

Ann Phys Rehabil Med 2020 May 19;63(3):195-201. Epub 2019 Apr 19.

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Nîmes University Hospital, 30240 Le Grau du Roi, France.

Background: Functional electrical stimulation (FES) can be used for compensation of foot-drop for post-stroke individuals by pre-programmed fixed stimulation; however, this stimulation seems no more effective than mechanical ankle foot orthoses.

Objective: We evaluated the metrological quality of inertial sensors for movement reconstruction as compared with the gold-standard motion capturing system, to couple FES with inertial sensors to improve dorsiflexion on the paretic side, by using an adaptive stimulation taking into account individuals' performance post-stroke.

Methods: Adults with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke presenting foot-drop and able to walk 10m, were included from May 2016 to June 2017. Read More

Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol 2019 09 16;24(5):e12650. Epub 2019 Apr 16.

Faculdade Ciências Médicas, Ciências Médicas-MG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Background: The differential diagnosis of a supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is accomplished using a number of pacing maneuvers. The incidence and mechanism of a single ventricular premature beat (VPB) on initiation and termination of tachycardia were evaluated during programmed electrical stimulation (PES) of the heart in patients with the two most common regular SVTs: atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia (AVNRT) and orthodromic atrioventricular tachycardia (AVRT).

Methods: Three hundred and thirty-seven consecutive patients aged above 18 years with an inducible sustained AVNRT or AVRT were prospectively enrolled. Read More

Redox Biol 2019 06 2;24:101186. Epub 2019 Apr 2.

Department of Cardiology, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China. Electronic address:

Sympathetic nerve hyperactivity is a primary reason for fatal ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) following myocardial infarction (MI). Pro-inflammatory cytokines produced in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) post-MI are associated with sympathetic overexcitation; however, the precise mechanism needs further investigation. Our aim was to explore the mechanism of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and its downstream molecular pathway in mediating sympathetic activity post-MI within the PVN. Read More

Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2019 Mar;23(5):2200-2207

Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Ruian, China.

Objective: Both atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF) are increasingly prevalent and related to high hospitalization rate and mortality. AF is a cause as well as a consequence of HF, with complicated interactions resulting in impairment of cardiac systolic and diastolic function. Conversely, the complex structural and neurohormonal alterations in HF contribute to the occurrence and development of AF. Read More