ABSTRACT
This review explores gender disparities in cardiac electrophysiology, highlighting differences in the electrical activity of the heart between men and women. It emphasizes the importance of understanding these variances for correct diagnosis and effective treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. Women show distinct cardiac characteristics influenced by sex hormones, affecting their susceptibility to various arrhythmias. The manuscript covers the classification, mechanisms, and management of arrhythmias in women, considering factors such as pregnancy and menopause. By addressing these gender-specific nuances, it aims to improve healthcare practices and outcomes for female patients with cardiac rhythm disorders.
Esta revisión explora las disparidades de género en la electrofisiología cardiaca, destacando las diferencias en la actividad eléctrica del corazón entre hombres y mujeres. Se enfatiza la importancia de comprender estas variaciones para un diagnóstico correcto y un tratamiento efectivo de las arritmias cardiacas. Las mujeres muestran características cardiacas distintas influenciadas por las hormonas sexuales, lo que afecta su susceptibilidad a diversas arritmias. La revisión abarca la clasificación, los mecanismos y el manejo de las arritmias en las mujeres, considerando factores como el embarazo y la menopausia. Al abordar estos matices específicos de género, el objetivo es mejorar las prácticas de atención médica y los resultados para las pacientes de sexo femenino con trastornos del ritmo cardiaco.
Subject(s)
Arrhythmias, Cardiac , Humans , Female , Arrhythmias, Cardiac/physiopathology , Arrhythmias, Cardiac/diagnosis , Sex Factors , Pregnancy , Male , Gonadal Steroid Hormones , Menopause/physiology , Healthcare DisparitiesABSTRACT
We have addressed the control of longitudinal axon pathfinding in the developing hindbrain, including the caudal projections of reticular and raphe neurons. To test potential sources of guidance signals, we assessed axon outgrowth from embryonic rat hindbrain explants cultured in collagen gels at a distance from explants of midbrain-hindbrain boundary (isthmus), caudal hindbrain, or cervical spinal cord. Our results showed that the isthmus inhibited caudally directed axon outgrowth by 80% relative to controls, whereas rostrally directed axon outgrowth was unaffected. Moreover, caudal hindbrain or cervical spinal cord explants did not inhibit caudal axons. Immunohistochemistry for reticular and raphe neuronal markers indicated that the caudal, but not the rostral projections of these neuronal subpopulations were inhibited by isthmic explants. Companion studies in chick embryos showed that, when the hindbrain was surgically separated from the isthmus, caudal reticulospinal axon projections failed to form and that descending pioneer axons of the medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) play an important role in the caudal reticulospinal projection. Taken together, these results suggest that diffusible chemorepellent or nonpermissive signals from the isthmus and substrate-anchored signals on the pioneer MLF axons are involved in the caudal direction of reticulospinal projections and might influence other longitudinal axon projections in the brainstem.