In patients with essential hypertension, circulating apelin levels are reduced, and lower plasma apelin is independently associated with more profound left ventricular systolic and diastolic function impairment.

Subclinical left ventricular systolic dysfunction in psoriasis, as evidenced by reduced GLS, is linked with the inflammatory upregulation, and enhanced profibrotic activity (as reflected by elevated serum Gal-3) may be involved in this process. These putative mechanisms may be responsible for the observed higher incidence of heart failure in this disease condition and should be considered as a potential target for preventive and therapeutic measures.

Pulmonary artery aneurysm (PAA) is an uncommon lesion, which may be associated with different etiologies including congenital cardiovascular diseases, systemic vasculitis, connective tissue diseases, infections, and trauma. Idiopathic PAA is sporadically diagnosed by exclusion of concomitant major pathology. We report a case of a 56-year-old female with an idiopathic pulmonary artery dilatation identified fortuitously by echocardiography and confirmed by contrast-enhanced computed tomography. Neither significant pulmonary valve dysfunction nor pulmonary hypertension and other cardiac abnormalities which might contribute to the PAA development were found. Here, we describe echocardiographic and computed tomography findings and review the literature on PAA management.

In patients with HFrEF, improvement in exercise capacity in response to the addition of spironolactone to treatment is more evident in the presence of diabetes, decreased renal function and lower BNP, and improvement in GLS is a contributor to this beneficial effect of MRA.