BackgroundMuscle wasting can be accelerated by chronic diseases such as heart failure and is one of the major causes of disability, morbidity, and mortality in this population. We aimed to investigate the incidence of muscle wasting and its associated factors in dilated cardiomyopathy patients younger than 55 years of age.MethodsBetween April 2014 and December 2015, all symptomatic patients with a diagnosis of non‐ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy who were referred to heart failure clinic were included in our study.Dual energy X‐ray absorptiometry was used to evaluate body composition and identify muscle wasting. Muscle mass was calculated as the ratio of an individual's total lean mass of legs and arms (also called appendicular skeletal muscle) to their squared height (kg/m2). The muscle mass values of less than 5.45 kg/m2 for women and 7.26 kg/m2 for men were considered low.ResultsA total of 55 patients (32 male) were included. The mean (standard deviation) of age was 37.3 (10.1) years, and the mean of left ventricular ejection fraction was 21.4%. Most of the patients were in the New York Heart Association classes of II and II–III. Twenty‐six patients (47.3%) met criteria for muscle wasting. Patients with muscle wasting had lower left ventricular ejection fraction, lower 6‐min walk distance, and higher New York Heart Association function class and hospitalization rate.ConclusionsWe concluded that muscle wasting might be present in younger patients with heart failure, particularly in those who are in worse clinical condition.

Nowadays, the potential beneficial effects of probiotic yogurt as a functional food has raised much interest.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is a stress-induced cardiomyopathy that occurs primarily in postmenopausal women. It mimics clinical picture of acute coronary syndrome with nonobstructive coronary arteries and a characteristic transient left (or bi-) ventricular apical ballooning at angiography. The exact pathogenesis of TCM is not well recognized. Hereby we present an unusual case of TCM that presents with signs and symptoms of acute pericarditis and was also found to have a coexisting coronary muscle bridge on coronary angiography. We discuss the impact of these associations in better understanding of the pathogenesis of TCM.

Background: To date, no study has investigated the effects of probiotic yogurt as a functional food in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the impact of probiotic yogurt versus ordinary yogurt on inflammatory, endothelial, lipid and renal indices in CHF patients. In this randomized, triple-blind clinical trial, 90 patients with CHF were randomly allocated into two groups to take either probiotic or ordinary yogurt for 10 weeks. Serum levels of soluble tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (sTWEAK), soluble cluster of differentiation 163 (sCD163), asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), and lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) were measured by using ELISA kits, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) was measured by calorimetry method at baseline and at the end of trial. The P-value <0.05 was defined as statistically significant.Results: Seventy-eight patients completed the study. At the end of the intervention, the levels of sTWEAK in both groups increased significantly, and this increase was greater in the probiotic yogurt group [691.84 (335.60, 866.95)] compared to control group [581.96 (444.99, 929.40)], and the difference between the groups was statistically significant after adjusting for confounders (P-value: 0.257, adjusted P-value: 0.038). However, no significant differences were found between the groups in the cases of other study indices.Conclusion: Probiotic yogurt may be useful for improving the inflammatory status in patients with CHF through increasing sTWEAK levels, however, further studies are needed in this area.