Atrial Shunting for Heart Failure.

Despite a plethora of pharmacological therapies for heart failure (HF), reducing the symptomatic burden in patients with advanced HF remains an unmet clinical need. Over the past decade, atrial shunting has emerged as a novel therapy for those with symptomatic HF despite optimal guideline-directed medical therapy. Initially thought of as a therapy reserved for those with diastolic HF, the field now spans the entire HF spectrum.

Routine postdilation after 23 mm Sapien 3 Ultra implantation in the aortic position.

Background: Residual transprosthetic gradient (TG) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with balloon-expandable valves (BEV) may be due to suboptimal valve expansion.

Aims: To compare hemodynamics after TAVR with small BEV according to postdilation strategy.

Methods: This observational, retrospective cohort study included 184 consecutive patients from a single center treated with 23 mm Sapien 3 Ultra (Edwards Lifesciences) BEV implantation in the aortic position and enrolled between January 2020 and April 2023.

Survival and readmission among patients with advanced cardiomyopathy undergoing transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair: Are we applying COAPT findings too broadly?

Objective: Transcathether edge-to-edge mitral valve repair (TEER) has been shown to be an effective treatment for secondary mitral regurgitation (MR). However, the outcomes of TEER in patients with severe cardiomyopathy is less clear. The objective of this study is to determine the outcomes of such patients who underwent TEER at our institution.

Racial and socioeconomic disparities in urgent transcatheter mitral valve repair: A National Inpatient Sample analysis.

Background: Cardiac interventions performed urgently are known to be associated with poor outcomes compared with electively performed procedures. Transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair (TMVr) has developed as a reasonable alternative to mitral valve surgery in certain patient populations. We aimed to leverage a national database to identify predictors of urgent versus elective TMVr, as well as the association between urgency and outcomes.

Evaluating the Validity of Risk Scoring in Predicting Pacemaker Rates following Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

Introduction: Requirement of permanent pacemaker (PPM) implantation is a known and common postoperative consequence of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The Emory risk score has been recently developed to help risk stratify the need for PPM insertion in patients undergoing TAVR with SAPIEN 3 valves. Our aim was to assess the validity of this risk score in our patient population, as well as its applicability to patients receiving self-expanding valves.

The Importance of Pre-Operative Imaging and 3-D Printing in Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve-in-Valve Replacement.

Pre-operative multimodality imaging has become an integral part of the planning and execution of transcatheter heart valve procedures. 3D printing of a patient-specific cardiac model is a novel addition to these procedures. This case report discusses the use of pre-operative multimodality imaging, intra-operative fusion imaging, and 3D printing as valuable adjuncts in the planning and simulation of complex structural heart procedures.

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in patients readmitted after open cardiac surgical procedures: A case series.

Objectives: Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is an immune-mediated complication that occurs in a small percentage of patients exposed to heparin. Concerns of HIT are particularly high in patients undergoing cardiac procedures requiring cardiopulmonary bypass, as they are exposed to high doses of heparin intraoperatively. Our aim was to identify and assess the hospital courses of patients who were diagnosed with HIT during readmission following cardiac surgery.

Multifocal extracranial mycotic aneurysms in a patient with endocarditis.

This report describes the case of a 44-year-old man with (formerly ) endocarditis requiring surgical mitral valve replacement who developed multifocal extracranial mycotic aneurysms after the resolution of infection.

Caffeine alters emotion and emotional responses in low habitual caffeine consumers.

Caffeine reliably increases emotional arousal, but it is unclear whether and how it influences other dimensions of emotion such as emotional valence. These experiments documented whether caffeine influences emotion and emotion regulation choice and success. Low to abstinent caffeine consumers (maximum 100 mg/day) completed measures of state anxiety, positive and negative emotion, and salivary cortisol before, 45 min after, and 75 min after consuming 400 mg caffeine or placebo.

Combination Treatment with Sublethal Ionizing Radiation and the Proteasome Inhibitor, Bortezomib, Enhances Death-Receptor Mediated Apoptosis and Anti-Tumor Immune Attack.

Sub-lethal doses of radiation can modulate gene expression, making tumor cells more susceptible to T-cell-mediated immune attack. Proteasome inhibitors demonstrate broad anti-tumor activity in clinical and pre-clinical cancer models. Here, we use a combination treatment of proteasome inhibition and irradiation to further induce immunomodulation of tumor cells that could enhance tumor-specific immune responses.

Nonproteolytic roles of 19S ATPases in transcription of CIITApIV genes.

Accumulating evidence shows the 26S proteasome is involved in the regulation of gene expression. We and others have demonstrated that proteasome components bind to sites of gene transcription, regulate covalent modifications to histones, and are involved in the assembly of activator complexes in mammalian cells. The mechanisms by which the proteasome influences transcription remain unclear, although prior observations suggest both proteolytic and non-proteolytic activities.

The importance of fitting in: conformational preference of selenium 2' modifications in nucleosides and helical structures.

Selenomethionine incorporation has proven useful in X-ray crystallography of proteins to obtain phase information. In nucleic acids, the introduction of selenium to different positions is beneficial for solving the phase problem as well, but its addition to the 2' position also significantly enhances the crystal formation. The selenium modification in a single nucleotide shows a preference towards 2'-endo sugar puckering, which is in conflict with existing crystal structures where the duplex incorporated 2'-selenium-modified nucleotide is exclusively found in a 3'-endo conformation.

E258K HCM-causing mutation in cardiac MyBP-C reduces contractile force and accelerates twitch kinetics by disrupting the cMyBP-C and myosin S2 interaction.

Mutations in cardiac myosin binding protein C (cMyBP-C) are prevalent causes of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Although HCM-causing truncation mutations in cMyBP-C are well studied, the growing number of disease-related cMyBP-C missense mutations remain poorly understood. Our objective was to define the primary contractile effect and molecular disease mechanisms of the prevalent cMyBP-C E258K HCM-causing mutation in nonremodeled murine engineered cardiac tissue (mECT).

Supercooled aqueous nuclear magnetic resonance using agarose gels.

Low-temperature nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), especially under supercooled conditions, can give critical insight into biomolecular systems via slowed dynamics and exchange rates. These conditions can also increase correlation times of small molecules, potentially allowing for NMR structural study of small molecules at moderate field strengths. Agarose gels allow for supercooled conditions and are simple to prepare, invisible to NMR, and noninteractive with most biomolecules and organics.

Recognition of damaged DNA: structure and dynamic markers.

DNA damage, a consequence of external factors and inherent metabolic processes, is omnipresent. Nature has devised multiple strategies to safeguard the genetic information and developed intricate repair mechanisms and pathways to reverse an array of different DNA lesions, including mismatches. Failure of the DNA repair systems may result in mutation, premature ageing, and cancer.

DNA sequence context conceals α-anomeric lesions.

DNA sequence context has long been known to modulate detection and repair of DNA damage. Recent studies using experimental and computational approaches have sought to provide a basis for this observation. We have previously shown that an α-anomeric adenosine (αA) flanked by cytosines (5'CαAC-3') resulted in a kinked DNA duplex with an enlarged minor groove.

Structural basis of the RNase H1 activity on stereo regular borano phosphonate DNA/RNA hybrids.

Numerous DNA chemistries for improving oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN)-based RNA targeting have been explored. The majority of the modifications render the ODN/RNA target insensitive to RNase H1. Borano phosphonate ODN's are among the few modifications that are tolerated by RNase H1.

Thermodynamic profiling of HIV RREIIB RNA-zinc finger interactions.

The interactions between the HIV Rev-responsive element (RRE) RNA and the HIV regulatory protein Rev, are crucial for the HIV life-cycle. Earlier, we showed that single C(2)H(2) zinc fingers (znfs) have the same binding site as the Rev peptide and exhibit nanomolar affinity. In this study, the specific role of amino acid side chains and molecular processes involved with complex formation were investigated by perturbation of the binding energetics via changes in temperature, pH, buffers, and salt concentrations, as well as znf and RNA mutations, by isothermal titration calorimetry.