Impact of cannabidiol on myocardial recovery in patients with acute myocarditis: Rationale & design of the ARCHER trial.

Aims: Acute myocarditis, although a rare disease, can be associated with sudden cardiac death or the need for transplantation in both children and young adults. To date, there is no definitive evidence to support the routine use of immunosuppressive therapy or treatment targeting inflammation in patients with myocarditis. Animal models of cardiovascular (CV), as well as neurological diseases, have demonstrated that cannabidiol has significant anti-inflammatory properties and may represent a promising therapy in acute myocarditis.

Hemodynamic and neurochemical determinates of renal function in chronic heart failure.

Abnormal renal function is common in acute and chronic congestive heart failure (CHF) and is related to the severity of congestion. However, treatment of congestion often leads to worsening renal function. Our objective was to explore basal determinants of renal function and their response to hemodynamic interventions.

Interpretation of subgroup results in clinical trial publications: insights from a survey of medical specialists in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Clinicians routinely apply randomized trial evidence to their patients who meet study selection criteria. However, little is known about how clinicians interpret conflicting subgroup data.

Methods: We mailed a self-administered survey to all practicing cardiologists (n = 309) and 695 randomly chosen other specialists in Ontario, Canada.

Clinical prognosis, pre-existing conditions and the use of reperfusion therapy for patients with ST segment elevation acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Some evidence-based therapies are underused in patients with a poor prognosis despite the fact that the survival gains would be highest among such patient subgroups. The extent to which this applies for acute, life-saving therapies is unknown. The impact of prognostic characteristics and pre-existing conditions on the use of reperfusion therapy among eligible patients with acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction is examined.

The relevance of subgroup-specific treatment effects: the Studies Of Left Ventricular Dysfunction (SOLVD) revisited.

Background: The overall effect sizes estimated from randomized clinical trials may not apply similarly to all patients. Univariate subgroup analyses are often used to help determine the generalizability of a trial's results, but may themselves be misleading. We reanalyzed the Studies of Left Ventricular Dysfunction (SOLVD) to determine whether the treatment effect depended on the patients' baseline prognosis, defined on the basis of multiple clinical variables.