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Left atrial (LA) function and mechanical dispersion changes in breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy remain unclear.LA function and LA mechanical dispersion in breast cancer patients would be impaired after chemotherapy.This single-center retrospective study included 91 consecutive breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy and 30 controls. Patients were examined by echocardiography three times at intervals. Conventional parameters, left ventricular strain, LA strain, and LA mechanical dispersion were evaluated and compared.LA strain during reservoir phase (LASr), conduit phase (LAScd), and contraction phase (LASct) all decreased markedly after chemotherapy and were lower than those of the controls (all p .01). The standard deviation of time to peak positive strain during LA reservoir phase corrected by R-R interval (LA SD-TPSr) was significantly increased after chemotherapy and was higher than that of the controls (p .001). The change of LA function was expressed as Δ. Multivariate linear regression analyses showed that LAVIp (0.399, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.610, 1.756, p = .000) was independently associated with ΔLASr, LAPEF (-0.325, 95% CI: -45.123, -10.676, p = .002) and age (0.227, 95% CI: 0.021, 0.350, p = .027) were independently associated with ΔLAScd, and LAVImax (0.341, 95% CI: 0.192, 0.723, p = .001) was independently associated with ΔLASct. LAVImax (0.505, 95% CI: 0.000, 0.001, p = .039) and mitral E (-0.256, 95% CI: 0.000, 0.000, p = .024）were independently associated with ΔLA SD-TPSr.Mechanical function of LA declined after chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. With the decrease of LA mechanical function, LA mechanical dispersion assessed by two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography increased significantly, and its clinical value needs to be further studied.

Objective We examined the associations among the circadian rhythms of blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and left atrial function in essential hypertensive patients. Methods The study included 237 essential hypertensive patients who completed 24-h ambulatory BP, HR monitoring and two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2DSTE). The strain and strain rate images were studied, and the following parameters were measured: left atrial reservoir strain and strain rate (LAS-S and LASR-S), left atrial conduit strain and strain rate (LAS-E and LASR-E), and left atrial booster strain and strain rate (LAS-A and LASR-A). The left atrial stiffness index (LASI) was identified as the ratio of E/e' to LAS-S. All participants were divided into three groups according to the percentage of nocturnal BP dipping (dippers, nondippers and reverse dippers). Results The LASI was significantly higher in BP reverse dippers than in dippers and nondippers. LAS-S, LAS-E and LASR-E were significantly lower in BP reverse dippers than dippers and nondippers. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that age, night-time mean SBP and the percentage of nocturnal HR decline were independently related to an increased LASI. Conclusion Impairment of the left atrial reservoir and conduit functions was correlated with abnormal BP and HR circadian rhythms in hypertension. Increased left atrial stiffness was associated with night-time SBP and the percentage of nocturnal HR decline.

The Correlation between Left Atrial-Left Ventricular-Arterial Coupling and Circadian Rhythm of Blood Pressure in Hypertension Objective: Hypertension induces left atrial (LA) and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, and arterial stiffness increased. In this study, we further investigated the association between LA-LV-arterial coupling and circadian rhythm of blood pressure (BP) in essential hypertension (HT). Design and Methods: We enrolled 289 HT patients which were evaluated by 2 dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE), ambulatory 24-hour BP monitoring (ABPM) and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV). According to BP patterns, these patients were divided into two groups, which included dippers (n=109), patients with a >10% reduction in BP at nighttime; non-dippers (n=180), patients with a S-S ), LA conduit strain (LA S-E ), and LA booster pump strain (LA S-A ). LA stiffness index (LASI) defined as the ratio of E/e' to LA S-S , and PWV-to-GLS ratio (PWV/GLS) were calculated to reflect LA-LV-arterial coupling. Furthermore, we also explored the correlation between LASI (or PWV/GLS) and ambulatory blood pressure indexes. The related factors were evaluated by multivariate linear regression analysis to find the independent factors. Results: LASI was significantly higher in non-dippers (0.35±0.24) than dippers (0.29±0.12) ( p p S-S , LA S-A and LV GLS were significantly lower in non-dippers than dippers ( p Conclusions: LA and LV myocardial mechanics, and LA-LV-arterial coupling were associated with circadian rhythm of BP. Nocturnal systolic BP was the independent risk factor of abnormal LA-LV-arterial coupling in HT.

This study aimed to evaluate left atrial (LA) mechanics using two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (2DSTE) and investigate their correlations with measures of target organ damage (TOD) in hypertension. We enrolled 42 healthy controls (Group I) and 286 hypertension patients: Group II (n = 79) had an LA volume index (LAVI)

The left atrium (LA) is a dynamic apparatus that modulates left ventricular (LV) filling and cardiovascular performance with its reservoir, conduit, and booster pump functions. We used two dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2DSTE)-based strain and strain rate imaging to evaluate LA

Background In the initiation and maintenance of arrhythmia, inflammatory processes play an important role. IL-2 is a pro-inflammatory factor which is associated with the morbidity of arrhythmias, however, how IL-2 affects the cardiac electrophysiology is still unknown. Methods In the present study, we observed the effect of IL-2 by qRT-PCR on the transcription of ion channel genes including SCN2A, SCN3A, SCN4A, SCN5A, SCN9A, SCN10A, SCN1B, SCN2B, SCN3B, KCNN1, KCNJ5, KCNE1, KCNE2, KCNE3, KCND3, KCNQ1, KCNA5, KCNH2 and CACNA1C. Western blot assays and electrophysiological studies were performed to demonstrate the effect of IL-2 on the translation of SCN3B/scn3b and sodium currents. Results The results showed that transcriptional level of SCN3B was up-regulated significantly in Hela cells (3.28-fold, p = 0.022 compared with the control group). Consistent results were verified in HL-1 cells (3.73-fold, p = 0.012 compared with the control group). The result of electrophysiological studies showed that sodium current density increased significantly in cells which treated by IL-2 and the effect of IL-2 on sodium currents was independent of SCN3B (1.4 folds, p = 0.023). Western blot analysis showed IL-2 lead to the significantly increasing of p53 and scn3b (2.1 folds, p = 0.021 for p53; 3.1 folds, p = 0.023 for scn3b) in HL-1 cells. Consistent results were showed in HEK293 cells using qRT-PCR analysis (1.43 folds for P53, p = 0.022; 1.57 folds for SCN3B, p = 0.05). Conclusions The present study suggested that IL-2, may play role in the arrhythmia by regulating the expression of SCN3B and sodium current density. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12872-015-0179-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

To explore the clinical characteristics and risk factors of peripheral arterial thromboembolism (PAT) in patients with non valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF).A total of 18 456 patients admitted in our hospital and diagnosed with NVAF were included in this study. The study population was divided into three groups [PAT group, cerebral thromboembolism (CT) group and no thromboembolism group]. Risk factors of PAT were assessed by multivariate logistic regression.The incidence of PAT and CT was 1.1% (204 cases) and 27.8% (5 132 cases), respectively. The in-hospital mortality of PAT group was 11.8% (24/204), in which the in-hospital mortality due to mesenteric arterial thromboembolism (37.5%, 6/16) was the highest. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that vascular disease (OR = 3.9, 95% CI 2.13-7.08, P0.01), age ≥ 65 years (OR = 2.7, 95% CI 1.66-4.27, P0.01), hypertension (OR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.36-3.34, P0.01), history of stroke/TIA/arterial thromboembolism (OR = 2.0, 95% CI 1.26-3.17, P0.01) and congestive heart failure (OR = 1.9, 95% CI 1.22-2.86, P0.01) were independent risk factors of PAT. Prevalence of vascular disease and histories of PAT was higher in PAT group than in CT group (P0.01), while CHADS2 and CHA2DS2VASc scores were similar between the PAT and CT groups.PAT is not uncommon in NVAF patients, risk factors for PAT in NVAF patients are vascular disease, advanced age, hypertension, history of stroke/TIA/arterial thromboembolism and congestive heart failure.