Renal denervation prevents subclinical atrial fibrillation in patients with hypertensive heart disease: Randomized, sham-controlled trial.

Background: Catheter-based renal denervation (RD), in addition to pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), reduces atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence in hypertensive patients. Whether RD, without additional PVI, can prevent subclinical atrial fibrillation (SAF) in patients with hypertensive heart disease (HHD) is unknown.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of RD in preventing SAF in patients with HHD.

Food insecurity among students living with HIV: Strengthening safety nets at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa.

The HIV prevalence in South Africa among students at higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2008 was reported to be 3.4%, with the highest HIV prevalence found in the Eastern Cape Province. Students at these facilities are also increasingly affected by socio-economic constraints that may impact on food security.

Genetic Modifiers for the Long-QT Syndrome: How Important Is the Role of Variants in the 3' Untranslated Region of KCNQ1?

Background: Long-QT syndrome is an inherited cardiac channelopathy characterized by delayed repolarization, risk of life-threatening arrhythmia, and significant clinical variability even within families. Three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 3' untranslated region of KCNQ1 were recently suggested to be associated with suppressed gene expression and hence decreased disease severity when located on the same haplotype with a disease-causing KCNQ1 mutation. We sought to replicate this finding in a larger and a genetically more homogeneous population of KCNQ1 mutation carriers.

MYBPH acts as modifier of cardiac hypertrophy in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients.

Left ventricular hypertrophy is a risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is considered a model disease to study causal molecular factors underlying isolated cardiac hypertrophy. However, HCM manifests with various clinical symptoms, even in families bearing the same genetic defects, suggesting that additional factors contribute to hypertrophy.

Instruments measuring blunted affect in schizophrenia: a systematic review.

Blunted affect, also referred to as emotional blunting, is a prominent symptom of schizophrenia. Patients with blunted affect have difficulty in expressing their emotions. The work of Abrams and Taylor and their development of the Rating Scale for Emotional Blunting in the late 1970's was an early indicator that blunted affect could indeed be assessed reliably.