BACKGROUND: Viral cardiac infection represents a significant clinical challenge encompassing several etiological agents, disease stages, complex presentation, and a resulting lack of mechanistic ...

It has variably been estimated that between 800 000 and 1 million patients with congenital heart disease are now adults and that by 2010 more patients older than 16 years will undergo surgery for ...

Background:Timing and trajectories of cardiovascular risk factor (CVRF) development in relation to atrial fibrillation (AF) have not been described previously. We assessed trajectories of CVRF and in ...

Background—Sudden cardiac death in children is a rare but devastating event. Experts have debated the merits of community-based screening programs using an ECG and targeting 2 potential high-risk gro ...

Background— This study assessed functional performance, calf muscle characteristics, peripheral nerve function, and quality of life in asymptomatic persons with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Met ...

Rationale: The transverse tubule (T-tubule) system is the ultrastructural substrate for excitation–contraction coupling in ventricular myocytes; T-tubule disorganization and loss are linked to ...

In the current issue of Circulation, Svensjö et al 1 report on an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening program for 65-year-old men in central Sweden. Using the standard screening test (ultrasound ...

Background—Premature atrial contractions (PACs) are independent predictors of atrial fibrillation, stroke, and death. However, little is known about PAC frequency in the general population and its as ...

It has long been recognized that coronary artery disease comprises a wide spectrum of conditions, ranging from chronic stable angina to acute myocardial infarction. Unstable angina, in the middle of ...

Background— Titin is a giant protein crucial for the assembly and elasticity of the sarcomere. Recently, titin has been linked to signal transduction through its kinase domain, which has been propose ...

Background—Patients with mechanical heart valves require life-long anticoagulation. We report here the first large and comparative series of consecutive patients anticoagulated with low molecular wei ...

Although the primary cardiology team can initiate evaluation, treatment, and longitudinal care, referral to multidisciplinary hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) centers with appropriate expertise can ...