Cardiovascular screening in young athletes in Sarajevo Canton

Effects of urotensin II and its specific receptor antagonist urantide on rat vascular smooth muscle cells

We investigated the effects of urantide, a receptor antagonist of urotensin II (U-II), on the expression of U-II and its receptor GPR14 in rat vascular smooth muscle cells. Vascular smooth muscle cells from rat thoracic aorta were cultured by explant method. Subjects in this experiment were divided into eight groups: normal control group (group C), U-II group (group M), positive control group (Flu group) and urantide-treated groups (10⁻¹⁰, 10⁻⁹, 10⁻⁸, 10⁻⁷ and 10⁻⁶ mol/L). Cultured vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro were studied by immunocytochemistry, biochemistry, and flow cytometry. U-II (10⁻⁸ mol/L) promoted the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells at each time point, influenced cell cycle, increased proliferation index and S-phase cell fraction, and dramatically promoted the expression of U-II and GPR14. In the concentration range from 10⁻¹⁰ to 10⁻⁶ mol/L, urantide dramatically inhibited the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells and the protein expression of U-II and GPR14, especially at a concentration of 10⁻⁶ mol/L. U-II, binding with its receptor GPR14, promotes vascular smooth muscle cells proliferation and migration, which can be inhibited by urantide. This study provides an evidence for understanding the effects of U-II and its receptor GPR14 on vascular smooth muscle cells.

Signaling prodromes of sudden cardiac death

The new criteria in detection of ARVC/D produced more subtle noninvasive parameters that raised sensitivity in diagnosis. Since heart rate dynamics have prognostic significance for the progression of a disease and for mortality, the main objective was to explore its value in disclosing risk for serious arrhythmias. Out of 100 ARVC/D patients, 35 with normal ECG Holter recordings (PVC<100) and no medical treatment (either antiarrhythmic or proarrhythmic drugs) were analyzed according to severity of ARVC/D (Group 1/mild, n=23 and Group 2/overt, n=12) and regarding positive late potentials (noise interval between 0.1-0.3 μV). Severity of ARVC/D is defined: group 1 with no clinical recognizable signs and group 2 with clinical readily recognizable signs. Group 3 (control) consisted of 35 randomly assigned healthy subjects. The differences between the 3 groups were assessed by ANOVA followed by Bonferroni`s post hoc multiple-range tests. NLD methods, as opposed to linear time and frequency, show very significant differences between investigated groups vs. control. NLD methods by mean of the standard deviations of all NN intervals of sinus beats for all 5-minute segments (SDNN index) showed prevalence of parasympathetic activity as opposed to control. This was even more obvious through interpolation of data as % of deviation of Mean NN interval in function % frequency (p<0.005). NLD methods describe complex rhythm fluctuations in ARVC/D patients that put insight at proarrhythmic potential of affected subjects. Furthermore, in combination with late potentials they improve recognizing hidden risks for serious arrhythmias.