Heart disease is the world\'s leading cause of death. Diagnostic models based on electrocardiograms (ECGs) are often limited by the scarcity of high-quality data and issues of data imbalance. To address these challenges, we propose a conditional generative adversarial network (CECG-GAN). This strategy enables the generation of samples that closely approximate the distribution of ECG data. Additionally, CECG-GAN addresses waveform jitter, slow processing speeds, and dataset imbalance issues through the integration of a transformer architecture. We evaluated this approach using two datasets: MIT-BIH and CSPC2020. The experimental results demonstrate that CECG-GAN achieves outstanding performance metrics. Notably, the percentage root mean square difference (PRD) reached 55.048, indicating a high degree of similarity between generated and actual ECG waveforms. Additionally, the Fréchet distance (FD) was approximately 1.139, the root mean square error (RMSE) registered at 0.232, and the mean absolute error (MAE) was recorded at 0.166.

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) has emerged as a valuable diagnostic tool for cardiac diseases. However, a significant drawback of CMR is its slow imaging speed, resulting in low patient throughput and compromised clinical diagnostic quality. The limited temporal resolution also causes patient discomfort and introduces artifacts in the images, further diminishing their overall quality and diagnostic value. There has been growing interest in deep learning-based CMR imaging algorithms that can reconstruct high-quality images from highly under-sampled k-space data. However, the development of deep learning methods requires large training datasets, which have so far not been made publicly available for CMR. To address this gap, we released a dataset that includes multi-contrast, multi-view, multi-slice and multi-coil CMR imaging data from 300 subjects. Imaging studies include cardiac cine and mapping sequences. The \'CMRxRecon\' dataset contains raw k-space data and auto-calibration lines. Our aim is to facilitate the advancement of state-of-the-art CMR image reconstruction by introducing standardized evaluation criteria and making the dataset freely accessible to the research community.

BACKGROUND: Left ventricular thrombus (LVT) is a serious complication after myocardial infarction. However, due to its asymptomatic nature, early detection is challenging. We aimed to explore the differences in clinical correlates of LVT found in acute to subacute and chronic phases of myocardial infarction.
METHODS: We collected data from 153 patients who were diagnosed with LVT after myocardial infarction at the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from January 2013 to December 2022. Baseline information, inflammatory markers, transthoracic echocardiograph (TTE) data and other clinical correlates were collected. Patients were categorized into acute to subacute phase group (< 30 days) and chronic phase group (30 days and after) according to the time at which echocardiograph was performed. The resolution of thrombus within 90 days is regarded as the primary endpoint event. We fitted logistic regression models to relating clinical correlates with phase-specific thrombus resolution.
RESULTS: For acute to subacute phase thrombus patients: C-reactive protein levels (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.918-0.983, p = 0.003) were significantly associated with thrombus resolution. For chronic phase thrombus patients: anticoagulant treatment was associated with 5.717-fold odds of thrombus resolution (OR: 5.717, 95% CI: 1.543-21.18, p = 0.009).
CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of CRP were associated with lower likelihood of LVT resolution in acute phase myocardial infarction; Anticoagulant therapy is still needed for thrombus in the chronic stage of myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of hypertensive heart disease (HHD) is high and there is currently no easy way to detect early HHD. Explore the application of radiomics using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) non-enhanced cine sequences in diagnosing HHD and latent cardiac changes caused by hypertension.
METHODS: 132 patients who underwent CMR scanning were divided into groups: HHD (42), hypertension with normal cardiac structure and function (HWN) group (46), and normal control (NOR) group (44). Myocardial regions of the end-diastolic (ED) and end-systolic (ES) phases of the CMR short-axis cine sequence images were segmented into regions of interest (ROI). Three feature subsets (ED, ES, and ED combined with ES) were established after radiomic least absolute shrinkage and selection operator feature selection. Nine radiomic models were built using random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and naive Bayes. Model performance was analyzed using receiver operating characteristic curves, and metrics like accuracy, area under the curve (AUC), precision, recall, and specificity.
RESULTS: The feature subsets included first-order, shape, and texture features. SVM of ED combined with ES achieved the highest accuracy (0.833), with a macro-average AUC of 0.941. AUCs for HHD, HWN, and NOR identification were 0.967, 0.876, and 0.963, respectively. Precisions were 0.972, 0.740, and 0.826; recalls were 0.833, 0.804, and 0.863, respectively; and specificities were 0.989, 0.863, and 0.909, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Radiomics technology using CMR non-enhanced cine sequences can detect early cardiac changes due to hypertension. It holds promise for future use in screening for latent cardiac damage in early HHD.

UNASSIGNED: Sepsis remains a major source of morbidity and mortality in neonates, and characterization of immune regulation in the neonatal septic response remains limited. HVEM is a checkpoint regulator which can both stimulate or inhibit immune responses and demonstrates altered expression after sepsis. We hypothesized that signaling via HVEM would be essential for the neonatal response to sepsis, and that therefore blockade of this pathway would improve survival to septic challenge.
UNASSIGNED: To explore this, neonatal mice were treated with cecal slurry (CS), CS with Anti-HVEM antibody (CS-Ab) or CS with isotype (CS-IT) and followed for 7-day survival. Mice from all treatment groups had thymus, lung, kidney and peritoneal fluid harvested, weighed, and stained for histologic evaluation, and changes in cardiac function were assessed with echocardiography.
UNASSIGNED: Mortality was significantly higher for CS-Ab mice (72.2%) than for CS-IT mice (22.2%). CS resulted in dysregulated alveolar remodeling, but CS-Ab lungs demonstrated significantly less dysfunctional alveolar remodeling than CS alone (MCL 121.0 CS vs. 87.6 CS-Ab), as well as increased renal tubular vacuolization. No morphologic differences in alveolar septation or thymic karyorrhexis were found between CS-Ab and CS-IT. CS-Ab pups exhibited a marked decrease in heart rate (390.3 Sh vs. 342.1 CS-Ab), stroke volume (13.08 CS-IT vs. 8.83 CS-Ab) and ultimately cardiac output (4.90 Sh vs. 3.02 CS-Ab) as well as a significant increase in ejection fraction (73.74 Sh vs. 83.75 CS-Ab) and cardiac strain (40.74 Sh vs. 51.16 CS-Ab) as compared to CS-IT or Sham animals.
UNASSIGNED: While receptor ligation of aspects of HVEM signaling, via antibody blockade, appears to mitigate aspects of lung injury and thymic involution, stimulatory signaling via HVEM still seems to be necessary for vascular and hemodynamic resilience and overall neonatal mouse survival in response to this experimental polymicrobial septic insult. This dissonance in the activity of anti-HVEM neutralizing antibody in neonatal animals speaks to the differences in how septic cardiac dysfunction should be considered and approached in the neonatal population.

BACKGROUND: Heart disease is the leading cause of death in many countries around the world and is linked to numerous complications. In addition to conventional pharmacological treatments, complementary and alternative medicines like massage and dry cupping are employed to help manage the disease and its symptoms. This study aimed to compare the effects of massage and dry cupping on dysrhythmia in patients with heart diseases.
METHODS: This randomized parallel controlled clinical trial study was conducted in two critical care units of Shafa hospital in Kerman, southeastern Iran, in 2019-2020. A total of 90 eligible patients were allocated into three groups: massage (n = 30), dry cupping (n = 30), and control (n = 30) using a stratified block randomization method. In the massage group, the head and face were massaged for three consecutive nights, while the dry cupping group received dry cupping between the fifth cervical vertebra and the second thoracic vertebra for the same duration. Each intervention session lasted 15 min. Data collection tools included a socio-demographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire, a form for hemodynamic parameters (systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and peripheral oxygen saturation), and a form for assessing dysrhythmia using electrocardiogram readings. Dysrhythmia in the participants was evaluated after each session.
RESULTS: The results within each group indicated a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of dysrhythmia in the dry cupping group after the intervention (P < 0.05), but this difference was not statistically significant in the massage and control groups. However, when comparing between the groups, no significant difference was found among the three groups. Additionally, there was no significant difference in the type of dysrhythmia between the groups (P > 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: While there was no difference in the type of dysrhythmia between the three groups, the additional reduction of dysrhythmia in the dry cupping group could hold clinical significance. Further studies are recommended to validate or refute the findings of the present study.

Damage to the heart can start the repair process and cause cardiac remodeling. B cells play an important role in this process. B cells are recruited to the injured place and activate cardiac remodeling through secreting antibodies and cytokines. Different types of B cells showed specific functions in the heart. Among all types of B cells, heart-associated B cells play a vital role in the heart by secreting TGFβ1. B cells participate in the activation of fibroblasts and promote cardiac fibrosis. Four subtypes of B cells in the heart revealed the relationship between the B cells\' heterogeneity and cardiac remodeling. Many cardiovascular diseases like atherosclerosis, heart failure (HF), hypertension, myocardial infarction (MI), and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) are related to B cells. The primary mechanisms of these B cell-related activities will be discussed in this review, which may also suggest potential novel therapeutic targets.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to classify idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) patients with cardiac involvement (IIM-CI) into different categories based on their clinical phenotypes via cluster analysis and to explore their differences in outcomes.
METHODS: IIM-CI patients admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2015 to June 2021 were retrieved. The clinical data, laboratory examinations, and treatment were retrospectively reviewed, and the outcome was traced. A second-order clustering method was employed for categorization.
RESULTS: A total of 88 IIM-CI patients were enrolled in this study and were classified into two categories through cluster analysis. Category I consisted of patients who exhibited distinct cardiac structural and functional changes, such as enlargement of atriums and/or ventricles, along with the remarkable heart insufficiency biomarkers, whereas patients of category II displayed more widely systemic injuries and intensive skeletal muscle weakness. In comparison, pulmonary hypertension (58.8% vs 16.7%, p < 0.01), arrhythmia (82.4% vs 27.8%, p < 0.01), and positive serum anti-mitochondrial-M2 antibody (52.9% vs 5.6%, p < 0.01) were more prevalent in category I than in category II, and serum N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels (1703.5 pg/L vs 364.0 pg/L, p = 0.02) were significantly elevated in category I, whereas skeletal muscle weakness (50.0% vs 74.1%, p = 0.02), interstitial lung disease (20.6% vs 63.0%, p < 0.01), skin rash (11.8% vs 48.1%, p < 0.01), arthralgia (2.9% vs 27.8%, p < 0.01), fever (2.9% vs 27.8%, p < 0.01), and dysphagia (2.9% vs 22.2%, p < 0.01) were more common in category II patients. Heart failure was the primary cause of death in category I, but severe pneumonia was predominantly responsible for deaths in category II.
CONCLUSIONS: Two categories of IIM-CI were identified based on clinical features with distinctive characteristics. Two categories exhibited differences in clinical manifestations, autoantibody profiles, and the primary cause of death.

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BACKGROUND: Chronic lung and heart diseases are more likely to lead an intensive end point after stroke onset. We aimed to investigate characteristics and outcomes of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) in patients with acute large vessel occlusion stroke (ALVOS) and identify the role of comorbid chronic cardiopulmonary diseases in ALVOS pathogenesis.
METHODS: In this single-center retrospective study, 191 consecutive patients who underwent EVT due to large vessel occlusion stroke in neurological intensive care unit were included. The chronic cardiopulmonary comorbidities and several conventional stroke risk factors were assessed. The primary efficacy outcome was functional independence (defined as a mRS of 0 to 2) at day 90. The primary safety outcomes were death within 90 days and the occurrence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage(sICH). Univariate analysis was applied to evaluate the relationship between factors and clinical outcomes, and logistic regression model were developed to predict the prognosis of ALVOS.
RESULTS: Endovascular therapy in ALVOS patients with chronic cardiopulmonary diseases, as compared with those without comorbidity, was associated with an unfavorable shift in the NHISS 24 h after EVT [8(4,15.25) versus 12(7.5,18.5), P = 0.005] and the lower percentage of patients who were functionally independent at 90 days, defined as a score on the modified Rankin scale of 0 to 2 (51.6% versus 25.4%, P = 0.000). There was no significant between-group difference in the frequency of mortality (12.1% versus 14.9%, P = 0.580) and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (13.7% versus 19.4%, P = 0.302) or of serious adverse events. Moreover, a prediction model showed that existence of cardiopulmonary comorbidities (OR = 0.456, 95%CI 0.209 to 0.992, P = 0.048) was independently associated with functional independence at day 90.
CONCLUSIONS: EVT was safe in ALVOS patients with chronic cardiopulmonary diseases, whereas the unfavorable outcomes were achieved in such patients. Moreover, cardiopulmonary comorbidity had certain clinical predictive value for worse stroke prognosis.