EFT, BMI, and TG may play an important role in predicting serum FGF-21 level which may be a potential therapeutic target in cardiometabolic disorders in the future.

In patients with HCM, LA phasic functions, PWD, and NT-proBNP levels predict future development of AF. Assessment of LA phasic functions during routine echocardiographic evaluation and measuring NT-proBNP levels and PWD values of patients with HCM during daily practice may provide important data in predicting those at high risk of AF occurrence.

Objective:Cardiac fibrosis is an important contributor to adverse left ventricular (LV) remodeling and arrhythmias in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a novel marker of cardiac fibrosis and inflammation. In this study, we investigated Gal-3 levels in patients with HCM and controls and assessed the relationship between Gal-3 level and echocardiographic indices using strain echocardiography in patients with HCM.Methods:Forty patients with HCM in sinus rhythm and 35 healthy controls were prospectively enrolled in this case-control study. The HCM diagnosis was based on two-dimensional echocardiographic demonstration of a hypertrophied and non-dilated left ventricle (LV) with a wall thickness ≥15 mm in one or more LV myocardial segments in the absence of any cardiac or systemic disease capable of inducing LV hypertrophy. Patients with one of the followings were excluded: coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation episodes on 24-h Holter electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring, history of an invasive intervention to alleviate an LV outflow (LVOT) obstruction, inadequate image quality, renal disease, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, liver cirrhosis, and pulmonary fibrosis. Global LV longitudinal, circumferential strain and strain rates, peak torsion, and LV mass index (LVMI) of all subjects were assessed by echocardiography. Gal-3 levels were measured in all subjects.Results:Left ventricular global longitudinal strain (-13.37±4.6% vs. -18.93±2.5%, p<0.001) and strain rate (0.66±0.22 s-1 vs. 1.08±0.14 s-1, respectively; p<0.001) values were lower in patients with HCM than in controls. Gal-3 levels were significantly higher in patients with HCM than in controls (16.9±6.64 ng/mL vs. 13.21±3.42 ng/mL, p=0.005). Gal-3 levels were associated with the thickness of the interventricular septum (r=0.444, p=0.004) and LVMI (r=0.365, p=0.021); however, they were not associated with LV global longitudinal strain (p=0.42) or strain rate (p=0.28).Conclusion:Gal-3 levels increased and were correlated with the degree of LV hypertrophy in patients with HCM. Gal-3 is not a good marker of decreased myocardial LV diastolic and systolic functions in these patients.

NT-proBNP secretion begins in the early phase of the disease before the increase in diastolic pressure becomes overt. While there was a strong correlation between the plasma NT-proBNP levels and iron overload, there was no correlation between NT-proBNP levels and diastolic dysfunction parameters in patients in the third decade of life.

Background: We evaluated the associations among the well-known atrial fibrillation (AF) predictors including P-wave dispersion (PWD), intra-and inter-atrial electromechanical dyssynchrony (EMD), left atrial (LA) phasic functions, and plasma N-terminal prohormone of B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels, in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM p = 0.001), p = 0.03), p = 0.006), but not, however, to LAAEFr (p = 0.4). The plasma NT-proBNP levels of patients were not correlated with either (Cardiol J 2015; 22, 1: 94-100)

There may be racial differences in the frequency of valvular and aortopathy phenotypes in patients with BAV. BAV phenotypes differ with respect to aortic stenosis and aortopathy phenotypes. TEE may have good diagnostic utility in differentiating BAV phenotypes.

Objective: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a disease of the myocardium with an autosomal-dominant pattern of inheritance mainly caused by single heterozygous mutations in sarcomere genes. In this study we aimed to detect the presence of R403QLW, V606M, K615N, and R663H mutations in beta-myosin heavy-chain gene (MYH7) and figure out the genotype-phenotype correlations in Turkish patients with HCM. Methods: This case-control study based on genotype-phenotype correlation included 69 patients (mean age, years: 50±13.16) diagnosed with HCM constituting the study group and 50 healthy individuals (mean age, years: 52±1.4) constituting the control group. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and the genotyping of mutations was performed by real-time PCR technique and high resolution melting analysis. Associations between categoric variables were determined using chi-square tests. Differences between two groups were compared with unpaired Student's t-test for continuous variables. Results: None of the patients in the HCM group were carrying the index mutations. One healthy individual was found to be heterozygous for the R663H mutation with mildly abnormal IVS and LVPW thickness. The allele frequency for R663H (G>A) mutation was found to be 0.01% in control group. Conclusion: We performed a mutational screening of 6 HCM-associated mutations in 69 Turkish HCM patients (not previously studied except R403Q). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of the mutations between the patients with HCM and the healthy controls (p>0.05). (Anadolu Kardiyol Derg 2014; 14: 244-50)

The benefits of LSG on LV and LA function may be observed even in the early postoperative phase. The resulting weight loss correlates with LV and LA reverse remodeling in severely obese patients.