Although EF was not different between the two groups, LV 2D speckle tracking longitudinal strain was lower in the obese group, even in the absence of other comorbidities, indicating that obesity effects on LV function is an early finding in obesity.

This study was designed to investigate whether the expression of interleukin 17 (IL-17) is associated with the indeterminate or cardiac clinical forms of Chagas disease and whether IL-17 expression can be correlated with patients' cardiac function. Our results demonstrated that cardiac Chagas patients have a lower intensity of expression of IL-17 by total lymphocytes and lower frequency of circulating T helper 17 cells. Correlative analysis showed that high IL-17 expression was associated with better cardiac function, as determined by left ventricular ejection fraction and left ventricular diastolic diameter values. Therefore, IL-17 expression can be a protective factor to prevent myocardial damage in human Chagas disease.

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