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Results Fourteen patients were included, of which 4 had congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA) and 10 patients had TGA late after an atrial switch operation. Eight patients (57%) were female. There was a mean of 8 years between the first and second imaging assessment. Only global systemic RV function, fractional area change (FAC), and global longitudinal strain (GLS) were consistently, i.e., at both time points, correlated with CMR-RVEF (global RV function r = -0.77/r = -0.63; FAC r = 0.79/r = 0.67; GLS r = -0.73/r = -0.70, all p-values less then 0.05). The ICC of GLS (0.82 at t = 1, p = 0.006, 0.77 at t = 2, p = 0.024) was higher than the ICC of FAC (0.35 at t = 1, p = 0.196, 0.70 at t = 2, p = 0.051) at both time points. Conclusion GLS appears to be the most robust echocardiographic measurement of systemic RV function with good correlation with CMR-RVEF and reproducibility.Background The cardiac manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) remain unclear. We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of echocardiographic parameters in patients with COVID-19 infection and underlying CVD. Methods One hundred fifty-seven consecutive hospitalized COVID-19 patients were enrolled. The left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) structure and function were assessed using bedside echocardiography. Results Eighty-nine of the 157 patients (56.7%) had underlying CVD. Compared with patients without CVD, those with CVD had a higher mortality (22.5 vs. 4.4%, p = 0.002) and experienced more clinical events including acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute heart injury, or deep vein thrombosis. CVD patients presented with poorer LV diastolic and RV systolic function compared to those without CVD. RV dysfunction (30.3%) was the most frequent, followed by LV diastolic dysfunction (9.0%) and LV systolic dysfunction (5.6%) in CVD patients. CVD patients with high-sensitivity troponin I (hs-TNI) elevation or requiring mechanical ventilation therapy demonstrated worsening RV function compared with those with normal hs-TNI or non-intubated patients, whereas LV systolic or diastolic function was similar. Impaired RV function was associated with elevated hs-TNI level. RV function and elevated hs-TNI level were independent predictors of higher mortality in COVID-19 patients with CVD. Conclusions Patients with COVID-19 infection and underlying CVD displayed impaired LV diastolic and RV function, whereas LV systolic function was normal in most patients. Importantly, RV function parameters are predictive of higher mortality.Background and Aims Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a group of clinical syndromes characterized by rupture or erosion of atherosclerotic unstable plaques. Effective intervention for vulnerable plaques (VP) is of great significance to reduce adverse cardiovascular events. Methods Fbn1C1039G+/- mice were crossbred with LDLR-/- mice to obtain a novel model for atherosclerotic VP. After the mice were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 or 24 weeks, pathological staining and immunohistochemistry analyses were employed to evaluate atherosclerotic lesions. Results Compared to control mice, Fbn1C1039G+/-LDLR-/- mice developed more severe atherosclerotic lesions, and the positive area of oil red O staining in the aortic sinus was significantly increased after 12 weeks (21.7 ± 2.0 vs. 6.3 ± 2.1) and 24 weeks (32.6 ± 2.5 vs. 18.7 ± 2.6) on a HFD. Additional vulnerable plaque characteristics, including significantly larger necrotic cores (280 ± 19 vs. 105 ± 7), thinner fiber caps (14.0 ± 2.8 vs. 32.6 ± 2.7), apparent elastin fiber fragmentation and vessel dilation (3,010 ± 67 vs. 1,465 ± 49), a 2-fold increase in macrophage number (8.5 ± 1.0 vs. 5.0 ± 0.6), obviously decreased smooth muscle cell number (0.6 ± 0.1 vs. 2.1 ± 0.2) and an ~25% decrease in total collagen content (33.6 ± 0.3 vs. find more 44.9 ± 9.1) were observed in Fbn1C1039G+/-LDLR-/- mice compared with control mice after 24 weeks. Furthermore, spontaneous plaque rupture, neovascularization, and intraplaque hemorrhage were detected in the model mouse plaque regions but not in those of the control mice. Conclusions Plaques in Fbn1C1039G+/-LDLR-/- mice fed a HFD show many features of human advanced atherosclerotic unstable plaques. These results suggest that the Fbn1C1039G+/-LDLR-/- mouse is a novel model for investigating the pathological and physiological mechanisms of advanced atherosclerotic unstable plaques.Background Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a critical surrogate outcome for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Recent observational studies identified different predictive lipid parameters, but these have not been fully validated in the Chinese population. This study aimed to compare the predictive value of lipid parameters for cardiovascular outcomes in Chinese statin-naïve patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods We retrospectively recruited statin-naïve patients who underwent PCI for stable angina and acute coronary syndrome at Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2017. A follow-up was conducted via outpatient visits or telephone. We divided patients into three groups based on lipid parameter tertiles. We calculated the hazard ratios (HRs) of the highest and lowest tertiles for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) using multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression. We compared the association strength of lipid parameters with MACEs using the HR of non-LDL-C lipid parameters relative to LDL-C. Results Among 445 included patients, the highest LDL-C, LDL-C/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), atherosclerosis index, and non-HDL-C level tertiles were associated with an average increase of 165% (HR 2.65, confidence interval [CI] 1.26 to 5.61; P = 0.01), 324% (HR 4.24, CI 1.89 to 9.52; P less then 0.001), 152% (HR 2.52, CI 1.22 to 5.22; P = 0.01), and 125% (HR 2.25, CI 1.09 to 4.64; P = 0.01) in the hazard of composite CVD, respectively. Lipoprotein (a) levels did not show a significant association with the endpoints. Except for LDL-C/HDL-C, different lipid parameter HR ratios were less then 1.0; none were statistically significant. Conclusion Compared with non-LDL-C lipid parameters, LDL-C acts better predictive value for cardiovascular outcomes in general Chinese statin-naïve post-PCI patients.