a. Quality of life. b. Effect on New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class. c. Effect on immunological variables. i. Inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-18. ii. Anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10 and transforming growth factor beta iii. Chemokines such as monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, IL-8 and CCL21. iv. Regulators of hypertrophy such as matrix metalloproteinases, their endogenous inhibitors (i.e., TIMPs) and procollagen III N-terminal.