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Acquiring pulmonary circulation parameters as a potential marker of cardiopulmonary function is not new. Methods to obtain these parameters have been developed over time, with the latest being first-pass perfusion sequences in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). Even though more data on these parameters has been recently published, different nomenclature and acquisition methods are used across studies; some works even reported conflicting data. The most commonly used circulation parameters obtained using CMR include pulmonary transit time (PTT) and pulmonary transit beats (PTB). PTT is the time needed for a contrast agent (typically gadolinium-based) to circulate from the right ventricle (RV) to the left ventricle (LV). PTB is the number of cardiac cycles the process takes. Some authors also include corrected heart rate (HR) versions along with standard PTT. Besides other methods, CMR offers an option to assess stress circulation parameters, but data are minimal. This review aims to summarize the up-to-date findings and provide an overview of the latest progress on this promising, dynamically evolving topic., Competing Interests: Disclosure: The authors have no conflicts of interest to report., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

In this prospective study involving 37 Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients aged 8-18 years and older, we examined the impact of neurological and cardiac factors on quality of life (QoL). Our findings revealed a negative correlation between upper limb movement and overall mobility, self-service, and usual activities. Ambulatory and non-ambulatory DMD patients showed significant differences in mobility-related parameters. Cardiac evaluations demonstrated associations between mitral annular plane systolic excursion (MAPSE) and mobility-related aspects. The PEDSQL 3.0 neuromuscular model questionnaire further highlighted age-related and movement-related correlations with QoL. The loss of ambulatory status and reduced upper limb movement were negatively associated with QoL, while upper limb movement positively correlated with septal MAPSE. However, no significant associations were found between MAPSE and anxiety/depression. These findings underscore the multifaceted impact of DMD on QoL and emphasize the importance of considering both neurological and cardiac factors in comprehensive patient care., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Juříková, Masárová, Panovský, Pešl, Revendová, Volný, Feitová, Holeček, Kincl, Danhofer, Voháňka, Haberlová and Podolská.)

Background: Female carriers of dystrophin gene mutations (DMD-FC) were previously considered non-manifesting, but in recent decades, cardiomyopathy associated with muscular dystrophy and myocardial fibrosis has been described. Our study aimed to assess prospectively myocardial fibrosis in asymptomatic DMD-FC compared to a sex-matched control group (CG) with similar age distribution using native T 1 mapping and extracellular volume (ECV) quantification by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging., Materials and Methods: 38 DMD-FC with verified genetic mutation and 22 healthy volunteers were included. Using CMR, native T 1 relaxation time and ECV quantification were determined in each group. Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) was assessed in all cases., Results: There were 38 DMD-FC (mean age 39.1 ± 8.8 years) and 22 healthy volunteers (mean age 39.9 ± 12.6 years) imagined by CMR. The mean global native T 1 relaxation time was similar for DMD-FC and CG (1005.1 ± 26.3 ms vs. 1003.5 ± 25.0 ms; p-value = 0.81). Likewise, the mean global ECV value was also similar between the groups (27.92 ± 2.02% vs. 27.10 ± 2.89%; p-value = 0.20). The segmental analysis of mean ECV values according to the American Heart Association classification did not show any differences between DMD-FC and CG. There was a non-significant trend towards higher mean ECV values of DMD-FC in the inferior and inferolateral segments of the myocardium (p-value = 0.075 and 0.070 respectively)., Conclusion: There were no statistically significant differences in the mean global and segmental native T 1 relaxation times and the mean global or segmental ECV values. There was a trend towards higher segmental mean ECV values of DMD-FC in the inferior and inferolateral walls of the myocardium., (© 2023. Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM).)

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an abnormal and irregular heartbeat caused by uncoordinated electrical impulses in the left atrium (LA), which could induce lasting changes in the heart tissue or could be a consequence of underlying cardiac disease. This study aimed to assess the left atrial phasic function and deformation in paroxysmal AF (PAF) patients-who had not received radiofrequency ablation and had no signs of permanent AF-using the cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) feature-tracking (FT) technique. Fifty subjects (27 PAF patients and 23 controls) were included and examined with CMR. Their LA volume, LA function, LA longitudinal strain (LS) and LA strain rate were assessed in the LA reservoir, conduit, and contractile phases. PAF patients exhibited higher LA volumes than controls, while their LA emptying fraction and LA LS was significantly lower in all three phases. In contrast, the corresponding emptying volumes (total, passive and active) were similar in both groups. The LA volumetric rates from CMR-derived volume curves differed significantly in PAF patients vs controls in the reservoir and contractile phases. In contrast, the equivalent LV volumetric rates were similar. This study suggests that assessing the LA phasic function could offer insight into early LA impairments for PAF patients., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Rest pulmonary circulation parameters such as pulmonary transit time (PTT), heart rate corrected PTT (PTTc) and pulmonary transit beats (PTB) can be evaluated using several methods, including the first-pass perfusion from cardiovascular magnetic resonance. As previously published, up to 58% of patients after HTx have diastolic dysfunction detectable only in stress conditions. By using adenosine stress perfusion images, stress analogues of the mentioned parameters can be assessed. By dividing stress to rest biomarkers, potential new ratio parameters (PTT ratio and PTTc ratio) can be obtained. The objectives were to (1) provide more evidence about stress pulmonary circulation biomarkers, (2) present stress to rest ratio parameters, and (3) assess these biomarkers in patients with presumed diastolic dysfunction after heart transplant (HTx) and in childhood cancer survivors (CCS) without any signs of diastolic dysfunction. In this retrospective study, 48 patients after HTx, divided into subgroups based on echocardiographic signs of diastolic dysfunction (41 without, 7 with) and 39 CCS were enrolled. PTT was defined as the difference between the onset time of the signal intensity increase in the left and the right ventricle. PTT in rest conditions were without significant differences when comparing the CCS and HTx subgroup without diastolic dysfunction (4.96 ± 0.93 s vs. 5.51 ± 1.14 s, p = 0.063) or with diastolic dysfunction (4.96 ± 0.93 s vs. 6.04 ± 1.13 s, p = 0.13). However, in stress conditions, both PTT and PTTc were significantly lower in the CCS group than in the HTx subgroups, (PTT: 3.76 ± 0.78 s vs. 4.82 ± 1.03 s, p < 0.001; 5.52 ± 1.56 s, p = 0.002). PTT ratio and PTTc ratio were below 1 in all groups. In conclusion, stress pulmonary circulation parameters obtained from CMR showed prolonged PTT and PTTc in HTx groups compared to CCS, which corresponds with the presumption of underlying diastolic dysfunction. The ratio parameters were less than 1., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease affecting different organs including the heart. Myocardial strain analysis could potentially detect the early stages of cardiac dysfunction in sarcoidosis patients. The present study aims to assess the use of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) strain analysis using feature tracking (FT) in the detection of early cardiac involvement in asymptomatic patients with sarcoidosis., Methods: One hundred and thirteen CMR studies of patients with sarcoidosis of the respiratory tract and/or extrapulmonary sarcoidosis without pre-existing known cardiovascular disease were included in the study and analysed using FT and compared to 22 age and gender-matched controls. Global longitudinal strain (GLS), global circumferential strain (GCS) and global radial strain (GRS) of the left ventricle (LV) were measured., Results: The sarcoidosis patients did not significantly differ from the controls in basic demographic data and had normal global and regional systolic LV function-LV ejection fraction (EF) 66 ± 7% vs 65 ± 5% in the controls (p = NS). No statistically significant differences were found in all strain parameters between patients and controls: GLS (- 13.9 ± 3.1 vs. - 14.2 ± 2.5), GCS (- 23.4 ± 4.0 vs. - 22.2 ± 2.9) and GRS (53.4 ± 13.5 vs. 51.2 ± 13.6%) (p = NS)., Conclusion: Patients with sarcoidosis of the respiratory tract and/or extrapulmonary sarcoidosis had normal myocardial deformation measured by CMR-FT derived global strain., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) manifests in males mainly by skeletal muscle impairment, but also by cardiac dysfunction. The assessment of the early phases of cardiac involvement using echocardiography is often very difficult to perform in these patients. The aim of the study was to use cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) strain analysis and mitral annular plane systolic excursion (MAPSE) in the detection of early left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in DMD patients., Methods and Results: In total, 51 male DMD patients and 18 matched controls were examined by CMR. MAPSE measurement and functional analysis using feature tracking (FT) were performed. Three groups of patients were evaluated: A/ patients with LGE and LV EF < 50% (n = 8), B/ patients with LGE and LVEF ≥ 50% (n = 13), and C/ patients without LGE and LVEF ≥ 50% (n = 30). MAPSE and global LV strains of the 3 DMD groups were compared to controls (n = 18). Groups A and B had significantly reduced values of MAPSE, global longitudinal strain (GLS), global circumferential strain (GCS), and global radial strain (GRS) in comparison to controls (p < 0.05). The values of MAPSE (11.6 ± 1.9 v 13.7 ± 2.7 mm) and GCS (- 26.2 ± 4.2 v - 30.0 ± 5.1%) were significantly reduced in group C compared to the controls (p < 0.05)., Conclusion: DMD patients had decreased LV systolic function measured by MAPSE and global LV strain even in the case of normal LV EF and the absence of LGE. FT and MAPSE measurement provide sensitive assessment of early cardiac involvement in DMD patients.

To assess subclinical cardiac function impairment in Duchenne dystrophy (DMD) female carriers. Forty-four female subjects proved as DMD carriers underwent echocardiographic examination including tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) of mitral and tricuspid annulus. Seventeen age-matched healthy female subjects served as controls. A significant differences in peak systolic annular velocity (Sa) between carriers and controls were found for lateral and septal part of the mitral annulus and for tricuspid annulus (0.09 vs. 0.11 m/s, p < 0.001, 0.08 vs. 0.09 m/s, p < 0.01 and 0.13 vs. 0.14 m/s, p = 0.02 respectively). There was also difference in early diastolic velocity (Ea) of the septal part of the mitral annulus (0.11 vs. 0.13 m/s, p = 0.03). The subclinical deterioration of systolic function is presented even in asymptomatic DMD female carriers.

Introduction: Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease affecting in particular the respiratory tract. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), including a measurement of T 1 relaxation time, could potentially detect early stadia of sarcoidosis of the heart. The study aims to assess T 1 mapping in the detection of early cardiac involvement in asymptomatic patients with sarcoidosis., Methods: One hundred and twenty patients with extracardiac sarcoidosis and without any heart disease history were included. One hundred and thirteen of them underwent a CMR examination. The mean time from the diagnosis of sarcoidosis was 0.8 (0.2-3.3) years. Cine images for the assessment of left ventricular (LV) functional parameters and pre- and post-contrast saturation method using adaptive recovery times for cardiac T 1 mapping (SMART 1 Map) and modified Look-Locker inversion recovery (MOLLI) images were acquired for the assessment of native T 1 relaxation time and extracellular volume (ECV). The measured parameters were compared between sarcoidosis patients and 22 controls., Results: The sarcoidosis patients had normal global and regional systolic LV function-LV ejection fraction 65 ± 5% versus 66 ± 7% (p NS). The mean native T 1 relaxation times were not prolonged-1465 ± 93 ms versus 1480 ± 88 ms (p NS) measured by SMART 1 Map and 1317 ± 60 ms versus 1313 ± 83 ms (p NS) measured using a MOLLI sequence. Similarly, the mean ECV values did not increase-16.9 ± 3.9% versus 17.9 ± 3.7% (p NS) measured by SMART 1 Map and 30.9 ± 2.9% versus 31.6 ± 8.3% (p NS) measured using a MOLLI sequence., Conclusion: Myocardial native T 1 relaxation times were not prolonged and ECV was not increased in asymptomatic patients with extracardiac sarcoidosis., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

The effect of the homologous series of 1,1-dialkylpiperidinium bromides on the potassium leakage from Escherichia coli cells has been studied. The minimum concentration for each compound which is able to release maximum of cellular potassium has been determined and correlated with the inhibitory activities of the compounds. The relationship between the structure and the activity enables to consider the K+ leakage as the marker of inhibitory activity of the membrane active antimicrobials.

The paper describes the preparation of 7 novel organic ammonium salts of N-[2-(10-undecenoyloxy)ethyl]-N,N,N-alkyl-dimethylammonium bromides, in which the alkyl chain was gradually lengthened from ethyl to tetradecyl, constantly keeping the other groups (10-undecenoyloxyethyl and methyl) bound to the ammonium nitrogen. In the paper the antimicrobial effect of the prepared ammonium salts and the aggregative properties of their aqueous solutions were studied. The aggregative properties are expressed by the values of the critical concentration of the micelles formation, which were determined tensiometrically and conductometrically. The antimicrobial activity expressed by the minimal inhibition concentration in dependence on the prolongation of the alkyl chain was determined by the dilution test on the strains Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. As follows from the table, all ammonium salts prepared were active in this respect, the most effective ones possessing 6, 8 and 10 carbon atoms in the alkyl chain. They were more effective than the standard Ajatin to all strains of the microorganisms tested. The antimicrobial effect decreased with the increasing length of the alkyl chain. Also the structure--activity relationship was quantified by the QSAR analysis methods using two procedures: the dependence log ck vs. m was linear and the dependence log (1/MIC) vs. m and log (1/MIC) vs. log ck were nonlinear. The calculated coefficients of regression equations and statistical evaluation of dependences are shown in Table 4.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The inhibitory effect of local anaesthetic agents of this type on the bacteria Escherichia coli were evaluated. The dependence between antimicrobial activity and structure (log 1/MIC = f/m) was studied with the use of a bilinear model. In the positional paraisomers a lower effect of spherical and electron effects than in the case of ortho- and meta-isomers is assumed. The efficacy of these agents depends on their lipophilicity. Membrane activity of these agents was confirmed. In subinhibitory concentrations they cause leakage of cytoplasmic material lysis of spheroplasts, they increase the permeability of the membrane for protons and inhibit dehydrogenase activity of cells. The mode of action of heptacainium chloride and its positional isomers on cells is identical and is similar as in organic ammonium salts and amine oxides.

The authors investigated the sensitivity of 10 strains of bacteria genus Clostridium to newly synthetized organic ammonium salts series N-[2-(dodecanoylamino)ethyl] alkyl dimethyl ammonium bromides and N-[2-(dodecanoylamino)ethyl] alkyl dimethyl ammonium bromides. The most effective of the two series of compounds were n-hexyl, n-octyl and n-decyl derivatives, the antibacterial activity of which is comparable with the effectiveness of a selected disinfectant Septonex and is several times greater, as compared with the effectiveness of Ajatin.