Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0018801 (heart failure)
 72,216 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This article reviews the homeostasis of water and salt in normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancy. During pre-eclampsia there is a decrease in circulating plasma volume, which the administration of diuretics reduces still further. There is no proof that diuretics have a beneficial effect on prevention or treatment of toxemia of pregnancy. They should thus be regarded as contraindicated, except in cases of cardiac insufficiency and certain renal diseases.
 ...
PMID:Salt, diuretics and pregnancy. 39 74

Mice were treated per os with one oral LD100 of toxic filtrate from a culture of Clostridium botulinum type C. The period between dosing and the first appearance of clinical signs varied greatly (2-31 h) from one animal to another. The duration of the pre-clinical and clinical phases together ranged from 5.5 to greater than 55 h. The duration of the clinical phase alone ranged from 1.25 to greater than 24 h, except for a minority of mice in which death occurred suddenly from apparent heart failure with no premonitory signs 4.75-31 h after dosing. Toxaemia was demonstrable in all mice that had just begun to show a clinical response 3.75-6.5 h after dosing, and in some that had not. Outside these time limits toxaemia was demonstrable only rarely, and beyond 12 h after dosing never. Therefore the many (approximately 50%) mice that began to show clinical signs more than 12 h after dosing had no demonstrable toxaemia throughout the entire clinical phase of the disease. The concentrations of toxin demonstrated in the blood ranged from less than 5 to greater than or equal to 20 (but less than 40) intravenous mouse-lethal doses/ml.
 ...
PMID:Individual variation in botulism. 374 78

Peripartum heart disease is reviewed in the light of reports in the literature and personal experience from the University College Hospital, Ibadan. It is concluded that it is worldwide in distribution but appears most commonly in multiparous black women with a low socioeconomic background. The clinical features are the same as those of dilated cardiomyopathy, with the exception of cases from Zaria, northern Nigeria, where heart failure may be induced by high salt and fluid intake. The possible causes of peripartum heart disease are reviewed. Glomerulonephritis, toxemia of pregnancy, and malnutrition have not been shown convincingly to be causal, and infection, hypertension, and alcoholism have been suggested. Hypertensive heart failure and toxemia of pregnancy can induce peripartum heart disease. It is concluded that the myocardial disorder in peripartum heart disease is probably the same condition as dilated cardiomyopathy, and that infection may be an important element. However, diverse other factors may also play a part.
 ...
PMID:Peripartum heart disease. 384 85

A series of 123 healthy pregnant women (average age: 28 years) was studied by M mode and 2D echocardiography to evaluate the hemodynamic changes due to pregnancy. Latent and asymptomatic pericardial effusion was detected in 19 of the 46 patients in the last stages of pregnancy (32nd to 38th week). The effusion was slight in 13 cases, moderate in 4 cases and voluminous in 2 cases. This was a transient finding, occurring at the end of pregnancy (never before the 32nd week) and regressing totally in the two months post partum. The pregnancy ran its natural course in all 19 patients. None had any specific past medical history or clinical signs of toxemia. Cardiovascular examination was normal in all cases with no signs of pericardial friction rub or of heart failure. However, the blood pressure was raised in 3 of the 19 patients. The ECG was normal in 16 of the 19 cases; non-specific ST-T wave changes were observed in 3 cases. Pericardial effusion was probably related to salt and water retention which often occurs at the end of pregnancy: at this stage the average weight gain was significantly higher (p less than 0,03) in the 19 patients with pericardial effusion than in the 27 patients without (13,6 +/- 4,3 kg compared to 10,9 +/- 3,7 kg). Therefore, pericardial effusion of variable volume but always asymptomatic and latent was observed in 40,1 p. 100 of patients at the end of pregnancy on echocardiographic examination. This previously undocumented finding requires further study to determine the underlying physiopathological mechanism and its exact significance.
 ...
PMID:[Echocardiographic detection of asymptomatic pericardial effusion during normal pregnancy]. 640 17

Histological, electron microscopic, and physiological studies on the myocardium of rats and dogs in severe forms of compression syndrome (6-9 hours of compression and 2-4-7 hours after decompression) revealed three groups of morphological changes underlying cardiac insufficiency: (1) predominantly microcirculatory disorders with mild changes in cardiomyocytes detectable in bradycardia. Under these conditions the development of cardiac weakness may be based on both calcium overloading and reflectory weakening of the heart activity; (2) combination of microcirculatory disorders with marked hypoxic damage of the cardiomyocytes structure detectable under conditions of tachycardia may be an independent cause of the cardiac muscle weakness; (3) changes in the structures of cardiomyocytes responsible for nervous impulses conduction: sarcolemma and its derivatives. Under this condition, the probable cause of cardiac disorders may be electrolyte imbalance accompanying postcompression toxemia.
 ...
PMID:[Ultrastructural bases of heart failure in the early period of the prolonged crush syndrome]. 712 30

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare, idiopathic, life-threatening disease of late pregnancy and early puerperium, occurring in patients with previously healthy hearts. Risk factors include multiparity, age>30 years, African American race, multiple pregnancies, obesity, hypertension, and toxemia. Signs and symptoms of PPCM resemble systolic heart failure, and it is diagnosed by exclusion. An echocardiogram typically reveals an ejection fraction of <45% and/or fractional shortening of <30%, along with a left ventricular end-diastolic dimension>2.7 cm/m2 of body surface area. Early diagnosis and treatment are important for a successful outcome. Management is similar to other forms of systolic heart failure. Patients with PPCM are at high risk of thromboembolism, and therefore anticoagulation therapy should be considered. The prognosis is variable, ranging from complete recovery, to worsening heart failure requiring cardiac transplantation, or death. Future pregnancies are often discouraged because of the high mortality rate and risk of recurrence.
 ...
PMID:Peripartum cardiomyopathy. 1846 6