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(Circulation. 2006;113:919.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Issue Highlights

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	DETECTION OF DIVERSE BACTERIAL SIGNATURES IN ATHEROSCLEROTIC LESIONS OF PATIENTS WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE, by Ott et al.

 
In this issue of Circulation, Ott and colleagues systematically evaluated the presence and spectrum of bacteria in coronary atherosclerotic lesions based on their molecular phylogeny signatures. A high overall bacterial diversity of more than 50 different species was detected in catheter-based atherectomy tissues from 38 patients, indicating diverse bacterial colonization of arterial lesions. The findings of this study have important implications for the infection hypothesis in the pathophysiology of coronary atherosclerosis—namely, diverse bacterial colonization may be more important than a single pathogen. Although large randomized trials have failed to show a benefit for specific antibiotics in the treatment of coronary heart disease, this study suggests the possibility of a far more complex biology in which diverse bacterial agents colonizing atheromatous lesions are in a position to act as additional factors modulating disease progression. See p 929.

	NOVEL SPECKLE-TRACKING RADIAL STRAIN FROM ROUTINE BLACK-AND-WHITE ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC IMAGES TO QUANTIFY DYSSYNCHRONY AND PREDICT RESPONSE TO CARDIAC RESYNCHRONIZATION THERAPY, by Suffoletto et al.

 
Mechanical dyssynchrony is increasingly being recognized as an important contributor to left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in patients with depressed LV systolic function. Quantification of dyssynchrony has potential diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic importance. In this issue of Circulation, Suffoletto and colleagues describe a novel technique in which radial strain at several points of the LV is measured using speckle tracking. Dyssynchrony by this technique correlates with tissue Doppler, is less angle dependent than the Doppler approach, and correlates well with the acute hemodynamic and chronic response. Lead placement that was found to be concordant with the site of the latest mechanical activation by speckle tracking was associated with greater improvement in ejection . . . [Full Text of this Article]