Genetics

Study finds ancestry-driven disparities in pathogenic variation

A lack of diversity in large genomic studies presents a major challenge in understanding how pathogenic variants impact different populations. To address this problem and advance precision medicine for all populations, the ...

Medical research

Novel approach improves heart failure outcomes in animal model

In 2020, heart failure affected about 6.5 million people in the U.S. and 23 million around the world. Despite recent advances, the five-year survival rate remains approximately 50%, indicating an urgent need for a novel perspective ...

Cardiology

New 4D imaging may detect poor pumping in deadly heart disease

In a new study published in iScience, Mayo Clinic researchers found that a novel 4D echo imaging method that measures cardiac strain may detect subtle changes in the heart's dysfunction during acute myocarditis, a deadly ...

Genetics

Gene behind heart defects in Down syndrome identified

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and UCL have identified a gene that causes heart defects in Down syndrome, a condition that results from an additional copy of chromosome 21.

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Human heart

The human heart provides a continuous blood circulation through the cardiac cycle and is one of the most vital organs in the human body. It is divided into four chambers: the two upper chambers are called the left and right atria and two lower chambers are called the right and left ventricles. Normally the right ventricle pumps the same blood amount into the lungs with each bit that the left ventricle pumps out. Physicians commonly refer to the right atrium and right ventricle together as the right heart and to the left atrium and ventricle as the left heart.

The electric energy that stimulates the heart occurs in the sinoatrial node, which produces a definite potential and then discharges, sending an impulse across the atria. The Purkinje fibers transmit the electric charge to the myocardium while the cells of the atrial walls transmit it from cell to cell, making the atrial syncytium.

The human heart and its disorders (cardiopathies) are studied primarily by cardiology.

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