Arterial Elastance

Dear Editor, Ticks carry many diseases, bacteria, and viruses and represent a very important healthcare issue both in Croatia and globally. Although most ticks are not infected with pathogens dangerous to humans, some ticks can transmit infectious diseases with significant morbidity and mortality. This is caused by the increasing incidence of many tick-borne diseases over a growing geographical area. Many factors influence which species of ticks are present in a given geographical area, as well as the density of their population and the risk of human exposure to infected ticks...

Ischemic vascular diseases are on the rise globally, including ischemic heart diseases, ischemic cerebrovascular diseases, and ischemic peripheral arterial diseases, posing a significant threat to life. Copper is an essential element in various biological processes, copper deficiency can reduce blood vessel elasticity and increase platelet aggregation, thereby increasing the risk of ischemic vascular disease; however, excess copper ions can lead to cytotoxicity, trigger cell death, and ultimately result in vascular injury through several signaling pathways...

BACKGROUND: IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a recently recognized fibro-inflammatory disorder that can affect almost any organ. IgG4-RD has also been reported in coronary arteries as periarteritis. IgG4-related coronary periarteritis may cause coronary artery aneurysms, and IgG4-related coronary artery aneurysms (IGCAs) are life-threatening. We describe a case of a patient with IGCA that highlights the usefulness and limitations of various IGCA evaluation modalities and provides insight into disease pathophysiology...

INTRODUCTION: During pneumoperitoneum (PNP), airway driving pressure (ΔPRS ) increases due to the stiffness of the chest wall and cephalic shift of the diaphragm, which favors atelectasis. In addition, depending on the mechanical power (MP) formulas, they may lead to different interpretations. METHODS: Patients >18 years of age with body mass index >35 kg/m2 were included in a single-center randomized controlled trial during their admission for bariatric surgery by abdominal laparoscopy...

BACKGROUND: Carotid atherosclerosis is often mentioned as one of the main causes of stroke. Currently, embolization is considered the most common mechanism that causes ischemic strokes due to atherosclerotic lesions in the carotid artery. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound provides relatively inexpensive, noninvasive, real-time measurement of blood flow characteristics and cerebrovascular hemodynamics within brain arteries. The pulsatile index measured by transcranial Doppler is a parameter that indicates the degree of elasticity of the blood vessels of the brain...

Objective: To explore the predictive value of pulmonary effective arterial elastance (Ea) in patients with heart failure (HF). Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study, which retrospectively included 284 patients with HF who underwent right heart catheterization at Heart Failure Center in Fuwai Hospital between September 2013 and February 2022. Data regarding baseline clinical characteristics, hemodynamic profiles, and prognosis were collected. Ea was calculated as mean pulmonary arterial pressure/stroke volume...

BACKGROUND: Stent underexpansion, typically related to lesion calcification, is the strongest predictor of adverse events after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Although uncommon, underexpansion may also occur in non-severely calcified lesions. AIM: We sought to identify the prevalence and anatomical characteristics of underexpansion in non-severely calcified lesions. METHODS: We included 993 patients who underwent optical coherence tomography-guided PCI of 1051 de novo lesions with maximum calcium arc <180°...

Arteriovenous grafts (AVGs) have emerged as the preferred option for constructing hemodialysis access in numerous patients. Clinical trials have demonstrated that decellularized vascular graft exhibits superior patency and excellent biocompatibility compared to polymer materials; however, it still faces challenges such as intimal hyperplasia and luminal dilation. The absence of suitable animal models hinders our ability to describe and explain the pathological phenomena above and in vivo adaptation process of decellularized vascular graft at the molecular level...

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, making the development of non-invasive and simple-to-use tools that bring insights into the state of the cardiovascular system of utmost importance. We investigated the possibility of using peripheral pulse wave recordings to estimate stroke volume (SV) and subject-specific parameters describing the selected properties of the cardiovascular system. Peripheral pressure waveforms were recorded in the radial artery using applanation tonometry (SphygmoCor) in 35 hemodialysis (HD) patients and 14 healthy subjects...

This study aimed to describe the gestational and morphological aspects of the fetuses and their respective umbilical cords from two pregnant wild boars (Sus scrofa). Morphological descriptions were provided for 23 fetuses and the gestational ages were estimated through fetal characteristics and formula application. The specimens were fixed in 10% formalin for subsequent macroscopic and microscopic examination. Histological characterization was performed using haematoxylin-eosin (H&E), Masson's trichrome (MT) and Verhöeff's staining techniques...

OBJECTIVE: Oscillometric finger pressing is a smartphone-based blood pressure (BP) monitoring method. Finger photoplethysmography (PPG) oscillations and pressure are measured during a steady increase in finger pressure, and an algorithm computes systolic BP (SP) and diastolic BP (DP) from the measurements. The objective was to assess the impact of finger artery viscoelasticity on the BP computation. METHODS: Nonlinear viscoelastic models relating transmural pressure (finger BP - applied pressure) to PPG oscillations during finger pressing were developed...

Iliac arteries play a crucial role in peripheral blood circulation. They are susceptible to various diseases, including aneurysms and atherosclerosis. Structure, material properties, and biomechanical forces acting on different regions of the iliac vasculature may contribute to the localization and progression of these pathologies. We examined 33 arterial specimens from common iliac (CI), external iliac (EI), and internal iliac (II) arteries obtained from 11 human donors (62 ± 12 years). We conducted morphometric, mechanical, and structural analyses using planar biaxial tests, constitutive modeling, and bi-directional histology on transverse and axial sections...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the flow effects in different degrees of thoracic aortic stent graft protrusion extension by creating bird beak effect simulations using accurate 3D geometry and a realistic, nonlinear, elastic biomechanical model using computer-aided software SolidWorks. METHODS: Segmentation in 3D of an aortic arch from a computed tomography (CT) scan of a real-life patient was performed using SolidWorks. A parametric analysis of three models was performed: (A) Aortic arch with no stent, (B) 3 mm bird-beak configuration, and (C) 6...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In the current work, we present a descriptive fluid-structure interaction computational study of the end-to-side radio-cephalic arteriovenous fistula. This allows us to account for the different thicknesses and elastic properties of the radial artery and cephalic vein. METHODS: The core of the work consists in simulating different arteriovenous fistula configurations obtained by virtually varying the anastomosis angle, i.e. the angle between the end of the cephalic vein and the side of the radial artery...

Cardiovascular calcification is a multifactorial and complex process involving an array of molecular mechanisms eventually leading to calcium deposition within the arterial walls. This process increases arterial stiffness, decreases elasticity, influences shear stress events and is related to an increased risk of morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease. In numerous in vivo and in vitro models, warfarin therapy has been shown to cause vascular calcification in the arterial wall. However, the exact mechanisms of calcification formation with warfarin remain largely unknown, although several molecular pathways have been identified...

OBJECTIVES: Familial Mediterranean fever is an autosomal recessive autoinflammatory inherited disease. We aimed to evaluate cardiac involvement in children with familial Mediterranean fever during the attack-free period. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The prospective study included 75 familial Mediterranean fever patients during the attack-free period and 50 healthy children. Cardiac evaluation was performed using electrocardiography, 24-hour ambulatory Holter monitoring, and conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Atherosclerosis is accompanied by pre-clinical vascular changes that can be detected using ultrasound imaging. We examined the value of such pre-clinical features in identifying young adults who are at risk of developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). METHODS: A total of 2641 individuals free of ASCVD were examined at the mean age of 32 years (range 24-45 years) for carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and carotid plaques, carotid artery elasticity, and brachial artery flow-mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilation (FMD)...

BACKGROUND: Unilateral pulmonary artery (PA) stenosis is common in the transposition of the great arteries (TGA) after arterial switch operation (ASO) but the effects on the right ventricle (RV) remain unclear. AIMS: To assess the effects of unilateral PA stenosis on RV afterload and function in pediatric patients with TGA-ASO. METHODS: In this retrospective study, eight TGA patients with unilateral PA stenosis underwent heart catheterization and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The consequences of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) for right ventricular (RV) function and prognosis in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are poorly described and effects of tricuspid valve repair on the RV are difficult to predict. METHODS: In 92 PAH patients with available cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) studies, TR volume was calculated as the difference between RV stroke volume and forward stroke volume, i.e. pulmonary artery stroke volume...

To maintain efficient myocardial function, optimal coordination between ventricular contraction and the arterial system is required. Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) has been demonstrated to improve left ventricular (LV) function. This study aimed to investigate the impact of CR on ventricular-arterial coupling (VAC) and its components, as well as their associations with changes in LV function in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and preserved or mildly reduced ejection fraction (EF)...