COVID-19 and myocardial injury: Targeting elevated biomarkers for potential novel therapies.

Background: The prevalence of COVID-19 as the primary diagnosis among hospitalized patients with myocardial injury has increased during the pandemic and targeting elevated oxidant stress and inflammatory biomarkers may offer a potential role for novel therapies to improve outcomes.

Methods: At a single VA Medical Center from January 1 through December 31, 2021, troponin assays from patients being evaluated in the Emergency Room for consideration of admission were analyzed and peak levels from each patient were considered abnormal if exceeding the Upper Reference Limit (URL). Among admitted patients with an elevated troponin level, ICD-10 diagnoses were categorized, biomarker elevations were recorded, and independent predictors of death in patients with COVID-19 were determined at a median of 6-months following admission.

Contemporary Use and Implications of Beta-Blockers in Patients With HFmrEF or HFpEF: The DELIVER Trial.

Background: Although beta-blockers are not recommended for the treatment of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) according to the latest European Society of Cardiology and American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology/Heart Failure Society of America guidelines, these therapies remain commonly used for comorbidity management. There has been concern that beta-blockers may adversely influence clinical outcomes by limiting chronotropic response in HFpEF.

Objectives: This study sought to examine the contemporary use and implications of beta-blockers in patients with heart failure with mildly reduced ejection fraction (HFmrEF) or HFpEF.

Drive Time and Receipt of Guideline-Recommended Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment.

Importance: Many patients do not receive recommended services. Drive time to health care services may affect receipt of guideline-recommended care, but this has not been comprehensively studied.

Objective: To assess associations between drive time to care and receipt of guideline-recommended screening, diagnosis, and treatment interventions.

Drimane Sesquiterpene Aldehydes Control Yeast Isolated from Candidemia in Chilean Patients.

J.R. (Winteraceae) produce drimane sesquiterpenoids with activity against yeast.

COVID-19 postacute care major organ damage: a systematic review.

Background: Major organ complications have been reported in patients hospitalised for COVID-19; most studies lacked controls.

Objective: Examine major organ damage postdischarge among adults hospitalised for COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 controls.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Library from 1 January 2020 to 19 May 2021.

Interobserver variability among experienced electrocardiogram readers to diagnose acute thrombotic coronary occlusion in patients with out of hospital cardiac arrest: Impact of metabolic milieu and angiographic culprit.

Objectives: We sought to evaluate interobserver concordance among experienced electrocardiogram (ECG) readers in predicting acute thrombotic coronary occlusion (ATCO) in the context of abnormal metabolic milieu (AMM) following resuscitated out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).

Methods: OHCA patients with initial shockable rhythm who underwent invasive coronary angiography (ICA) were included. AMM was defined as one of: pH < 7.

mRNA-1273 protects against SARS-CoV-2 beta infection in nonhuman primates.

B.1.351 is the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant most resistant to antibody neutralization.

Do not disregard the initial 12 lead ECG after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: It predicts angiographic culprit despite metabolic abnormalities.

Objectives: The initial 12 lead electrocardiogram (ECG) following return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), is often disregarded by clinicians in ability to predict acute thrombotic coronary occlusion (ATCO) due to markedly abnormal metabolic milieu (AMM). We sought to evaluate the accuracy of initial vs. follow-up ECG prior to invasive coronary angiography (ICA) to predict ATCO following resuscitated OHCA.

Evaluation of mRNA-1273 against SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351 Infection in Nonhuman Primates.

Background: Vaccine efficacy against the B.1.351 variant following mRNA-1273 vaccination in humans has not been determined.

The Effect of Medical Scribes in Emergency Departments: A Systematic Review.

Background: Integrating medical scribes with clinicians has been suggested to improve access, quality of care, enhance patient/clinician satisfaction, and increase productivity revenue.

Objective: Conduct a systematic review to evaluate the effects of medical scribes in emergency departments.

Methods: Electronic databases from 2010 through December 2019.

Implications of peripheral oedema in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a heart failure network analysis.

Aims: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a heterogeneous condition, and tissue congestion manifested by oedema is not present in all patients. We compared clinical characteristics, exercise capacity, and outcomes in patients with HFpEF with and without oedema.

Methods And Results: This study was a post hoc analysis of pooled data of patients with left ventricular ejection fraction of ≥50% enrolled in the DOSE, CARRESS-HF, RELAX, ATHENA, ROSE, INDIE, and NEAT trials.

Ultrafiltration in Acute Heart Failure: Implications of Ejection Fraction and Early Response to Treatment From CARRESS-HF.

Background Ultrafiltration is not commonly used because of higher incidence of worsening renal function without improved decongestion. We examined differential outcomes of high versus low fluid removal and preserved versus reduced ejection fraction (EF) in CARRESS-HF (Cardiorenal Rescue Study in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure). Methods and Results Baseline characteristics in the ultrafiltration arm were compared according to 24-hour ultrafiltration-based fluid removal above versus below the median.

Effects of hydroxychloroquine treatment on QT interval.

Background: Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been promoted as a potential treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but there are safety concerns.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of HCQ treatment on QT interval.

Methods: We retrospectively studied the electrocardiograms of 819 patients treated with HCQ for rheumatologic diseases from 2000 to 2020.

An international comparison of factors affecting quality of life among patients with congestive heart failure: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: To explore associations among twenty formal and informal, societal and individual-level factors and quality of life (QOL) among people living with congestive heart failure (CHF) in two settings with different healthcare and social care systems and sociocultural contexts.

Setting And Participants: We recruited 367 adult patients with CHF from a single heart failure clinic within two countries with different national social to healthcare spending ratios: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States (US), and Nijmegen, Netherlands (NL).

Design: Cross-sectional survey study.

Targeting pulmonary capillary permeability to reduce lung congestion in heart failure: a randomized, controlled pilot trial.

Aims: Lung congestion in patients with heart failure (HF) has traditionally been treated using interventions that reduce pulmonary capillary hydrostatic pressure. The transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) channel regulates fluid transit across the pulmonary capillary-interface, and represents a novel target to reduce lung water, independent of pulmonary capillary hypertension. This pilot study examined the safety and potential efficacy of TRPV4 blockade as a novel treatment for HF.

[Polymorbidity and its association with the unfavorable course of chronic heart failure in outpatients aged 60 years and older].

This study was carried out to evaluate polymorbidity taking into account geriatric syndromes and their relationship with the course of chronic heart failure (CHF) in outpatients aged 60 years and older. Methods. We conducted an open, prospective, non-randomized study.

Meta-Analysis Comparing Torsemide Versus Furosemide in Patients With Heart Failure.

Although torsemide's oral bioavailability and half-life theoretically render it a more efficient diuretic than furosemide, the clinical outcomes of torsemide compared with furosemide remain unclear. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis, including all published studies that compared torsemide and furosemide use in heart failure patients from January 1996 through August 2019. Nineteen studies (9 randomized control trials [RCTs] and 10 observational studies) with a total of 19,280 patients were included.

[Approaches to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Arterial Hypertension in the Light of European Recommendations].

In this review we present analysis the European recommendations on hypertension - what's new and what has changed in the tactics of managing patients with arterial hypertension (AH). We compared recommendations on hypertension of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Society of hypertension (ESH) 2018 with European recommendations of previous years. In the updated version of guidelines, it is still recommended to determine AH as blood pressure (BP) ≥140 and / or ≥90 mm Hg; to subdivide BP levels into optimal, normal, and high normal, to classify severity of AH as 3 degrees, and to distinguish separately its isolated systolic form.

Renal Effects of Intensive Volume Removal in Heart Failure Patients With Preexisting Worsening Renal Function.

Background The relationship between intensive volume removal in acute decompensated heart failure patients with preexisting worsening renal function (WRF) and renal tubular injury, postdischarge renal function, and clinical outcomes is unknown. Methods and Results We used data from the multicenter CARRESS-HF trial (Cardiorenal Rescue Study in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure) that randomized patients with acute decompensated heart failure and preexisting WRF to intensive volume removal with stepped pharmacological therapy or fixed rate ultrafiltration. Patients in the urinary renal tubular injury biomarker substudy (NAG [N-acetyl-b-D-glucosaminidase], KIM-1 [kidney injury molecule-1], and NGAL [neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin]) were evaluated (N=105).

Clinical observation of a patient with arterial hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

The clinical observation of a postmenopausal patient with the syndrome of obstructive sleep apnea in the outpatient health care stage.

[Not Available].

Aim: to assess the prevalence of bendopnea and association of this symptom with clinical, laboratory and echocardiographic features, clinical outcomes during 2 years of follow-up in ambulatory elderly patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

Materials And Methods: We conducted an open, prospective, non-randomized study of 80 ambulatory patients aged ≥60 years admitted with heart failure II-IV NYHA class CHF. Baseline survey included physical examination, estimation of Charlson comorbidity index, echocardiography and laboratory tests.

High-Sensitivity Troponin I in Hospitalized and Ambulatory Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: Insights From the Heart Failure Clinical Research Network.

Background We sought to study the prevalence of high-sensitivity troponin and its association with cardiac structure and outcomes in ambulatory and hospitalized patients with heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction ( HF p EF ). Methods and Results A post hoc analysis utilized data from HF p EF patients: DOSE (Diuretic Optimization Strategies Evaluation) and CARRESS - HF (Cardiorenal Rescue Study in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure) enrolled patients hospitalized with acute HF p EF , and RELAX (Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibition to Improve Clinical Status and Exercise Capacity in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction) enrolled ambulatory patients with HF p EF . High-sensitivity troponin I (hs-TnI) was measured in hospitalized patients at baseline, at 72 to 96 hours, on day 7, and on day 60.