Optimizing Sedation Strategies in the Cardiac ICU: Induction, Maintenance and Weaning.

Purpose Of Review: We aim to summarize the available literature guiding tailored sedation practices for specific conditions encountered in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CICU).

Recent Findings: Data specific for the CICU population is lacking. Preclinical data and observational studies guide sedation approaches for specific pathologies that we have used to generate a guideline for sedative choice for various scenarios.

DETEXA: declarative extensible text exploration and analysis through SQL.

Metadata enrichment through text mining techniques is becoming one of the most significant tasks in digital libraries. Due to the exponential increase of open access publications, several new challenges have emerged. Raw data are usually big, unstructured, and come from heterogeneous data sources.

Predictors of Hospital Admissions for Ventricular Arrhythmia or Cardiac Arrest in Patients With Cardiomyopathy.

Although ventricular dysfunction is associated with the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmia (VA), most patients with cardiomyopathy do not experience VA. We therefore investigated other predictors of VA in a large contemporary cohort of patients with cardiomyopathy. All patients at a large academic medical system with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤50% were enrolled at the time of first documented low LVEF.

Cell-Derived Microparticles and Acute Coronary Syndromes: Is there a Predictive Role for Microparticles?

Background: Despite the recent advances in the treatment of Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS), patients with ACS are still exposed to an increased risk for adverse cardiovascular events, while their prognosis is difficult to determine. Experimental and clinical studies have shown that cell-derived Microparticles (MPs) are associated with the underlying pathophysiological processes that are responsible for atherogenesis and may be causally implicated in the induction of atherothrombosis.

Objective: In the present article, we aimed to review the available evidence regarding the predictive role of MPs in patients with ACS.

Plasma signature of apoptotic microvesicles is associated with endothelial dysfunction and plaque rupture in acute coronary syndromes.

Objective: Circulating microvesicles (MV) are surrogate biomarkers of atherosclerosis. However, their role in acute coronary syndromes (ACS) has not been fully elucidated yet. We sought to examine the association of circulating apoptotic MVs with ACS pathophysiology.