The Brain in Kidney Disease (BRINK) Cohort Study: Design and Baseline Cognitive Function.

Background: The Brain in Kidney Disease (BRINK) Study aims to identify mechanisms that contribute to increased risk for cognitive impairment in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We describe the rationale, design, and methods of the study and report baseline recruitment and cognitive function results.

Study Design: Longitudinal observational cohort study of the epidemiology of cognitive impairment in CKD.

Strategic programming of detection and therapy parameters in implantable cardioverter-defibrillators reduces shocks in primary prevention patients: results from the PREPARE (Primary Prevention Parameters Evaluation) study.

Objectives: Our purpose was to demonstrate that strategically chosen implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) detection and therapy parameters can reduce the combined incidence of device-delivered shocks, arrhythmic syncope, and untreated sustained symptomatic VT/VF (morbidity index).

Background: Strategically chosen ICD VT/VF detection and therapy parameters have been shown in previous studies to reduce the number of shocked episodes. In the PREPARE (Primary Prevention Parameters Evaluation) study, these prior strategies were combined with additional strategies specific to primary prevention patients.