Heart Determination Research Articles

An evaluation study of vital parameter determination with RGB cameras in the field of ambient assisted living

Abstract The remote determination of vital parameters can contribute to the field of ambient assisted living (AAL) to face the challenges of a steadily ageing society. In this study, we examined the possibility to remotely measure the four vital parameters heart rate, respiration rate, oxygen saturation and blood pressure in AAL environments. For this, we evaluated the state of the art, implementations and concepts. While, the determination of heart and respiration rate is ready for usage, further attention has to be paid to the determination of oxygen saturation and blood pressure.

Apigenin Attenuates Experimental Autoimmune Myocarditis by Modulating Th1/Th2 Cytokine Balance in Mice.

This study aims to investigate the protective effect of apigenin on the development of experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) and the underlying mechanisms. An EAM model was induced in BALB/c mice by the injection of porcine cardiac myosin. Apigenin was orally administered from day 1 to 21. The severity of myocarditis was assessed by determination of heart weight/body weight ratio (HW/BW) and histopathological evaluation. Echocardiography was conducted to evaluate the cardiac function and heart structure. Antigen-specific T cell proliferation responses to cardiac myosin were evaluated by the lymphocyte proliferation assay. ELISA was used to determine serum levels of type 1 helper (Th1) and Th2 cytokines. Apigenin treatment significantly decreased HW/BW. Histopathologic analysis showed that the infiltration of inflammatory cells was reduced significantly by apigenin treatment. Meanwhile, apigenin administration effectively ameliorated autoimmune myocarditis-induced cardiac hypertrophy and cardiac dysfunction as well as inhibited lymphocyte proliferation in mice immunized with myosin. Furthermore, Th1 cytokines tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), and interleukin-2 (IL-2) were significantly downregulated, while Th2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-10 were markedly upregulated. The results indicated that apigenin can alleviate EAM due to its immunomodulatory reactions in modification of helper T cell balance.

Myocardial hypertrophy, angiotensin, and ACE inhibitors.

The renin-angiotensin system has long been known as a potent determinant of cardiovascular homeostasis and a powerful regulator of vascular hemodynamics. Over the last twenty years, it has become clear that components of the renin-angiotensin system are present in and, in many instances, synthesized in local tissues. The role of some of these local renin systems is now becoming clear, but the role, if any, of local production of angiotensin II in the heart and vasculature remains unknown. Recent evidence indicates that angiotensin II can serve as a growth factor for a variety of cell types including those in the cardiovascular system, and it thus appears possible that systemically or locally produced angiotensin II could subserve important functions in the determination of heart and vasculature structure. Clinical studies tend to corroborate this possibility. The potent effects of converting enzyme inhibition on the regression of left ventricular hypertrophy, the demonstration that the administration of these agents following myocardial infarction reduces detrimental cardiac remodeling, and the finding that converting enzyme inhibition prolongs survival in congestive heart failure patients all point to an important role of angiotensin II on cardiovascular function and raise the distinct possibility that angiotensin II growth effects are involved in these beneficial responses. Additionally, recent data demonstrate conclusively that under certain circumstances and in certain cell types locally produced angiotensin II can serve as an autocrine growth regulatory factor, further adding support to the idea that local renin systems may play an important role in the determination of cardiovascular structure.

Genetic determination of heart and kidney weights studied using a set of recombinant inbred strains: the relationship to blood pressure

The effects of genetic factors and blood pressure levels on heart and kidney weights were estimated in a set of recombinant inbred (RI) strains obtained by crossing normotensive rat (BN.lx) and genetically hypertensive rat (SHR) progenitor strains. Renal or cardiac hypertrophy in several normotensive RI strains, together with low organ weights in some hypertensive strains, indicate that genetic factors play an important role in heart and kidney weight determination. In RI strains, there was a slight positive correlation between systolic blood pressure and relative heart weight, while relative kidney weight correlated negatively with blood pressure. Indeed, the analysis of the degree of genetic determination in RI strains revealed higher values for the relative kidney weight than for the relative heart weight. Blood pressure has a lower degree of genetic determination than both organs. Several polymorphic loci were found to be associated with organ weight determination. Thus, the analysis of organ weights in RI strains revealed the influence of primary genetic factors rather than secondary blood pressure effects.

Cardiovascular function in extreme obesity.

Abstract Cardiovascular function in 19 patients with obesity has been studied by electrocardiography (ECG), exercise test, determination of heart and blood volumes, and right heart catheterization. Pathological ECG findings appeared in one patient at rest and during exercise, and in another only during exercise. Blood volume was low in relation to body weight, but hemoglobin concentration was normal. Heart volume and stroke volume were normally related to the total amount of hemoglobin (THb), while the working capacity (W170) in eight cases was low in relation to THb. The cardiac output was found to be normal when related to the oxygen intake both at rest and during exercise. There was a statistically significant linear relationship between intravascular pressures and cardiac output. Brachial artery pressures and left ventricle filling pressure were significantly elevated at rest and during exercise, while pulmonary artery pressures and end‐diastolic pressure of the right ventricle showed a statistically significant steeper rise with increase in cardiac output than normally found. It is concluded that the circulatory dimensions and the cardiac output reflect an adequate adaptation to the metabolic demands laid upon the circulation in obesity. The elevated filling pressures of the ventricles and the high systemic and pulmonary vascular resistance, however, suggest that obesity is not without deleterious effect on cardiovascular function.

Influence of the ectoderm on heart differentiation and placement in the chicken embryo.

1. The unilateral or bilateral extirpation of the ectoderm of the P.H.M. region in stages 5 to 8 in the chicken embryo exerts no influence in heart determination and differentiation, since in all the cases a morphological and structurally typical heart is formed. 2. Neither does the extirpation of the ectoderm interfere in the migratory process of the cells of the P.H.M., since, with the exception of one case of cardia bifida, a unique heart is formed in a unique pericardial cavity. 3. The extirpation of the ectoderm exerts a clear influence over the situation of the heart and over its curvatures since when the ablation of the ectoderm is unilateral, the heart is displaced toward the side opposite that of the extirpation. It is, therefore, normal in the extirpations of the left ectoderm and inverted in those of the right. 4. The primary fore-gut pocket does not form on the side where the ectoderm has been extirpated. This, therefore, exerts a clear influence on the formation of the fore-gut pockets and in the form the fore-gut takes. 5. The extirpation of the ectoderm in stages 6 and 7 constantly inhibits the process of the closing of the neural canal in the encephalic region (mesencephalon and anterior part of the rhombencephalon), the neural differentiation normally continuing its process. This suggests that the force of the neural folds during the formation of the neural tube is transmitted to them through the ectoderm.