Background: The purpose of this work was to determine the influence of myocardial wringing on ventricular function in patients with cardiac amyloidosis (CA).Methods: Fifteen healthy volunteers (group 1) and 34 patients with CA (17 with left ventricular ejection fractions [LVEFs] $ 53% [group 2] and 17 with LVEFs < 53% [group 3]) were evaluated using two-dimensional speckletracking echocardiography. A control group of mass-matched patients (n = 20) with left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and LVEFs $ 53% was also included. Longitudinal strain (LS), circumferential strain, and LV twist and torsion were calculated. Deformation index (DefI), a new parameter of wringing, calculated as twist/LS, that takes into account actions that occur simultaneously during LV systole (i.e., longitudinal shortening and twist), was evaluated. Torsional and wringing parameters were calculated according to LVEF.

The alpha hero embodies the hegemonic masculinity that has long dominated romance fiction. The portrayal of this male type is, however, problematized when he is an exotic foreigner, as his hyper-heterosexualized masculinity is often associated with the gender backwardness of his country. This article is concerned with popular romance novels set in Spain in the 1970s. It explores how British authors rely on gender and national clichés that construct an essentialized image of Spanish men. The primitive and instinctual masculinity attributed to them reveals these novels' complicity with the ideology of Britain's superiority.

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Perhaps the most alluring of all Alfred Tennyson's characters, the Lady of Shalott has inspired over the years painters, writers, and musicians alike. Women writers, in particular, have conjured up her figure in their works, some of which feature female characters that feel as forlorn and oppressed by gender role prescriptions.

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