Intensive therapeutic education strategy for patients with acute heart failure (EduStra-HF): Design of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Heart failure is associated with reduced quality of life, hospitalizations, death and high healthcare costs. Despite care improvements, the rehospitalization rate after an acute heart failure episode, especially for acute heart failure, remains high.

Methods: The Education Strategy for patients with acute Heart Failure (EduStra-HF; ClinicalTrials.

[Ethnic differences in electrocardiogram between a black African and a white European young adult population under 35 years].

Background: Few studies have reported racial differences of electrocardiogram.

Aim: To compare clinical and electrocardiographic parameters of black African and white European young adults.

Materials And Methods: Students from Cameroon (black group) and France (white group) were recruited (ratio 2/1).

C-reactive protein levels in the brugada syndrome.

Background. Inflammation in the Brugada syndrome (BrS) and its clinical implication have been little studied. Aims.

Decreased right ventricular lateral wall velocities early after cardiac surgery.

Background: Right ventricular (RV) function is less often monitored than left ventricular (LV) function and might influence the postoperative period in patients undergoing coronary bypass or heart valve surgery. Our objective was to compare RV lateral wall velocities before and soon after heart surgery.

Methods: We examined 87 patients before and at a median time of 5 days after surgery with tissue Doppler echocardiography.

Mortality meetings: ethical considerations and adherence to evidence-based practice from 6 years of experience in a mixed cardiac department.

Objective: Most patients die unexpectedly in cardiac departments. We analyzed the ethical issues raised by poor outcomes and the leading causes of hospital deaths including organic causes of deaths, system failures, and questionable caregivers' attitudes.

Method: We analyzed reports from 99 mortality conferences in a mixed cardiac department (surgery and interventional cardiology) where 146 patients died from 2002 to 2008.