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In clinical practice, Astragali Radix (Astragalus), the root of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge, has been widely applied to treat patients with viral diseases, including viral myocarditis in China. The present study was designed to evaluate the protective effects of Astragalus on the function of sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA2) activity and endothelin system at acute and chronic periods of myocarditis mice induced by CVB₃ infection. Astragalus feeding (2.2 mg/kg/day) could significantly increase the survival rate, alleviate pathological alterations and serum cardiac troponin I (cTnI), as well as restore impaired SERCA activity at the acute stage. Low affinity and capacity of ETR were reversed with Astragalus after the first CVB₃ inoculation up to 7 days and after the second virus inoculation up to 150 days. In the meantime, the contents of cardiac ET-1 and ANP were reduced. Comparison the myocarditis mice treated with Perindopril (0.44 mg/kg/day), an ACE inhibitor, shows that Astragalus achieved a similar effect on survival rate, SERCA2 and ET system. These results indicated that the beneficial effects of Astragalus and Perindopril for treating viral myocarditis might be partly mediated by preserving the functions of SERCA 2 activity and ET system.

Elite athletics requires maximum effort by the pursuer, exposing the tendons, ligaments and muscles, including the heart muscle, to intense and frequent mechanical and metabolic demands, which may increase the susceptibility to, and severity of, infections in these tissues. Furthermore, intense and frequent exercise with insufficient resting periods can compromise the immune system. Muscles and tendons are more vulnerable to overuse injuries in the recovery period following various infections. Although the etiology and pathogenesis of a substantial proportion of cases of tendinitis and tendinosis are still largely unknown, gram-positive cocci prevail as the most common etiologies in soft tissue infections. The recent identification of binding sites of staphylococci to intercellular tissue matrix components have opened up the possibility of selectively blocking such binding by prior vaccination. New molecular biological methods, enabling the identification of slow-growing bacteria that are difficult to culture, including Bartonella and Rickettsia, have created the possibility of studying the potential role also of such organisms in soft tissue conditions, including myocarditis. Acute myocarditis remains the most frequent form of myocarditis, commonly emerging in the course of an acute respiratory infection. Since myocarditis episodes are frequently subclinical and self-healing, athletes (and others) should generally be recommended rest during infections, especially during the early phase of the infection.

Ventricular interdependence is an important part of heart function, and hence a key mediator of most pathological consequences of its impairment. It can only be explained by accounting for overall chamber deformation as well as cardiac dimensions and nonlinear material properties. Further, clinically useful interpretation of imaging data about pathological alterations in chamber geometry is hampered by lack of understanding of its significance in cardiac function. A model has been developed which describes the ventricles and septum as portions of ellipsoid shells, allowing structural characterization of diastolic ventricular interaction over arbitrary ranges of chamber pressures and volumes as well as intrathoracic pressures. Chamber configuration is derived as a function of pressure gradients by combining shell element equilibrium equations through static boundary conditions applied at the sulcus. Coupling coefficients between state variables are then calculated by letting the system evolve quasistatically through the solution space. The model is used to simulate a number of cardiac pathologies (constrictive pericarditis, restrictive myocarditis, left/right free wall and septal hypertrophy, left dilatative cardiomyopathy) and quantify their effect on ventricular pressure–pressure coupling as well as diastolic pressure–volume relationships. Results match experimental observations where available. The model can aid in interpreting diagnostic data about chamber geometry in a quantitative manner, and the differential effect of cardiac pathologies with otherwise similar phenomenology on ventricular interaction can serve as a discriminating diagnostic criterion.

Myocarditis is an uncommon presentation in systemic sclerosis. We report the case of a patient who developed myocarditis on the initial diagnosis of systemic sclerosis and was successfully managed with optimal medical treatment, including immunosuppression. This case was able to raise awareness in recognizing the heart as an organ of involvement in systemic sclerosis and showed the importance of screening for heart involvement in the management of systemic sclerosis. The management of primary myocardial involvement in systemic sclerosis was also reviewed.