Association of Modifiable Lifestyle Risk Factors with High-Sensitivity Troponin T and I Concentrations and Clinical Outcomes.

Aims: We aimed to investigate the association between the burden of modifiable lifestyle risk factors (modLRF) with high-sensitivity cardiac troponins T and I (hsTnT/I) and clinical outcomes in a contemporary cohort.

Methods: Patients undergoing coronary angiography with available hsTnT/I concentrations and information about modLRF were included in the current single-centre study. The modLRF investigated were overweight, lack of physical activity, poor adherence to a Mediterranean diet and current smoking.

Temporal trends and outcomes of acute ischaemic strokes in patients hospitalised for percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: Acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a rare, but debilitating, complication. However, contemporary data from real-world unselected patients are scarce.

Aims: We aimed to explore the temporal trends, outcomes and variables associated with AIS as well as in-hospital all-cause mortality in a nationwide cohort.

Impact of Lipoprotein(a) Level on Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol- or Apolipoprotein B-Related Risk of Coronary Heart Disease.

Background: Conventional low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) quantification includes cholesterol attributable to lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)-C) due to their overlapping densities.

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to compare the association between LDL-C and LDL-C corrected for Lp(a)-C (LDL) with incident coronary heart disease (CHD) in the general population and to investigate whether concomitant Lp(a) values influence the association of LDL-C or apolipoprotein B (apoB) with coronary events.

Methods: Among 68,748 CHD-free subjects at baseline LDL was calculated as "LDL-C-Lp(a)-C," where Lp(a)-C was 30% or 17.

Sex differences in lipidomic and bile acid plasma profiles in patients with and without coronary artery disease.

Background: Lipids, including phospholipids and bile acids, exert various signaling effects and are thought to contribute to the development of coronary artery disease (CAD). Here, we aimed to compare lipidomic and bile acid profiles in the blood of patients with and without CAD stratified by sex.

Methods: From 2015 to 2022, 3,012 patients who underwent coronary angiography were recruited in the INTERCATH cohort.

[Impact of cardiovascular diseases on fitness to drive: mobility limitations in the elderly].

The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases increases with age. Common symptoms such as dyspnea, chest pain, dizziness, or syncope can impact driving fitness. Due to a growing number of private drivers aged 65 and older and an increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, questions regarding driving fitness restrictions for cardiological patients are gaining prominence in clinical settings.

C-reactive protein modifies lipoprotein(a)-related risk for coronary heart disease: the BiomarCaRE project.

Background And Aims: Recent investigations have suggested an interdependence of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)]-related risk for cardiovascular disease with background inflammatory burden. The aim the present analysis was to investigate whether high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) modulates the association between Lp(a) and coronary heart disease (CHD) in the general population.

Methods: Data from 71 678 participants from 8 European prospective population-based cohort studies were used (65 661 without/6017 with established CHD at baseline; median follow-up 9.

Procedural and one-year outcomes of robotic-assisted versus manual percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: Robotic-assisted percutaneous coronary intervention (rPCI) has proven to be feasible and safe. Comparative analyses of rPCI versus manual PCI (mPCI) are scarce.

Aims: We aimed to investigate procedural aspects and outcomes of rPCI using the second-generation CorPath GRX Vascular Robotic System compared with mPCI in patients with chronic coronary syndrome and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction acute coronary syndrome.

Inflammatory burden, lifestyle and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: insights from a population based cohort study.

The inflammatory burden as measured by high-sensitivity C-reactive Protein (hsCRP) is recognized as a cardiovascular risk factor, which can however be affected by lifestyle-related risk factors (LRF). Up-to-date the interplay between hsCRP, LRF and presence and extent of atherosclerotic disease is still largely unknown, which we therefore sought to investigate in a contemporary population-based cohort. We included participants from the cross-sectional population-based Hamburg City Health Study.

Antiplatelet drugs do not protect from platelet-leukocyte aggregation in coronary artery disease.

Background: Despite advances in cardiovascular medicine, coronary artery disease (CAD) remains a leading cause of mortality. Among the pathophysiological features of this condition, platelet-leukocyte aggregates (PLAs) require further attention, either as diagnostic/prognostic disease markers or as potential interventional targets.

Objectives: In this study, we characterized PLAs in patients with CAD.

Left ventricular myocardial strain responding to chronic pressure overload in patients with resistant hypertension evaluated by feature-tracking CMR.

Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the alterations of myocardial deformation responding to long-standing pressure overload and the effects of focal myocardial fibrosis using feature-tracking cardiac magnetic resonance (FT-CMR) in patients with resistant hypertension (RH).

Methods: Consecutive RH patients were prospectively recruited and underwent CMR at a single institution. FT-CMR analyses based on cine images were applied to measure left ventricular (LV) peak systolic global longitudinal (GLS), radial (GRS), and circumferential strain (GCS).

Mechanical thrombectomy in ischemic stroke after cardiovascular procedures: a propensity-matched cohort analysis.

Background: Stroke after a cardiovascular procedure (CVP) is a devastating complication adversely affecting outcome. Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) has not been investigated systematically in this population.

Objective: To carry out a retrospective study in patients undergoing MT for early stroke after CVP, aiming to further characterize this cohort of patients, and to evaluate the efficacy, safety, procedural characteristics, and outcome of MT.

Association of High-Sensitivity Troponin T and I Blood Concentrations With All-Cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Outcome in Stable Patients-Results From the INTERCATH Cohort.

Background The association between high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT) and high-sensitivity troponin I (hsTnI) and outcome when adjusted for confounders including the angiographical severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) remains largely unknown. We therefore aimed to explore whether hsTnT and hsTnI blood levels increase with CAD severity and add independent predictive information for future major adverse cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality in stable patients. Methods and Results Patients from the INTERCATH cohort with available coronary angiography and hsTnT and hsTnI concentrations were included.

Establishing a robotic-assisted PCI program: experiences at a large tertiary referral center.

Robotic-assisted percutaneous coronary interventions (rPCI) have proven feasible and safe while reducing radiation exposure for the operator. Recently, rPCI systems have been refined to facilitate the treatment of complex lesions. The aim of the current study was to evaluate challenges and opportunities of establishing an rPCI program at a tertiary referral center.

Cascaded learning in intravascular ultrasound: coronary stent delineation in manual pullbacks.

Implanting stents to re-open stenotic lesions during percutaneous coronary interventions is considered a standard treatment for acute or chronic coronary syndrome. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) can be used to guide and assess the technical success of these interventions. Automatically segmenting stent struts in IVUS sequences improves workflow efficiency but is non-trivial due to a challenging image appearance entailing manifold ambiguities with other structures.

Ultrafast and Low-Threshold THz Mode Switching of Two-Dimensional Nonlinear Metamaterials.

Judiciously designed two-dimensional THz metamaterials consisting of resonant metallic structures embedded in a dielectric environment locally enhance the electromagnetic field of an incident THz pulse to values sufficiently high to cause nonlinear responses of the environment. In semiconductors, the response is attributed to nonlinear transport phenomena via intervalley scattering, impact ionization, or interband tunneling and can affect the resonant behavior of the metallic structure, which results, for instance, in mode switching. However, details of mode switching, especially time scales, are still debated.

Target Populations and Treatment Cost for Bempedoic Acid and PCSK9 Inhibitors: A Simulation Study in a Contemporary CAD Cohort.

Purpose: The lowered LDL-C treatment goal of the 2019 European Society of Cardiology dyslipidemia guidelines results in a significant increase in the projected need for cost-intensive proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors. Addition of bempedoic acid (BA) to established oral lipid-lowering medication (LLM) has the potential to enable affordable LDL-C goal attainment, particularly in patients with statin intolerance (SI). The goal of this study was to quantify the target populations for BA and PCSK9 inhibitors as well as the related treatment costs to achieve the LDL-C goal of <55 mg/dL and a ≥50% reduction assuming the addition of BA to LLM.

Modifiable lifestyle risk factors and C-reactive protein in patients with coronary artery disease: Implications for an anti-inflammatory treatment target population.

Background: Modifiable lifestyle risk factors (modRF) of coronary artery disease (CAD) are associated with increased inflammation represented by elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Lifestyle changes may influence the inflammatory burden in patients with CAD, relevantly modifying the target population for emerging anti-inflammatory compounds.

Aims: The aims of this study were to analyse the association of modRF and CRP levels in CAD patients, and to define a potential target population for anti-inflammatory treatment with and without the optimisation of modRF.

The need for PCSK9 inhibitors and associated treatment costs according to the 2019 ESC dyslipidaemia guidelines vs. the risk-based allocation algorithm of the 2017 ESC consensus statement: a simulation study in a contemporary CAD cohort.

Background: The recently updated European Society of Cardiology (ESC) dyslipidaemia guidelines recommend a lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goal of <55 mg/dL for patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), with a concomitant Class IA upgrade for proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors (PCSK9i) for patients not reaching their LDL-C goal under conventional lipid-lowering therapy.

Aims: We aim to quantify the need for PCSK9i and the related costs to achieve the revised LDL-C goal in ASCVD patients compared to former ESC recommendations, in particular the risk-based 2017 ESC consensus update.

Methods And Results: We included patients with ASCVD from an observational cohort study ongoing since 2015.

Non-immune risk predictors of cardiac allograft vasculopathy: Results from the U.S. organ procurement and transplantation network.

Background: Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) remains a major long-term complication in heart transplant (HT) recipients related to increased mortality. We aimed to identify non-immune recipient- and donor-related risk factors for the development of CAV in HT patients.

Methods: 40,647 recipients, prospectively enrolled from April 1995 to January 2019 in the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), were analyzed after exclusion of pediatric patients, those with missing information on CAV, and re-transplantation.

Intravascular Lithotripsy for the Treatment of Calcium-Mediated Coronary In-Stent Restenoses.

Background: Coronary intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) has recently been evaluated for the treatment of severely calcified native coronary lesions. Evidence for its use in in-stent restenosis is sparse and is still an off-label indication. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and acute and mid-term angiographic outcomes after IVL for the treatment of calcium-mediated coronary in-stent restenosis.

Desymmetrizing Heteroleptic [Cu(P^P)(N^N)][PF] Compounds: Effects on Structural and Photophysical Properties, and Solution Dynamic Behavior.

The preparation, characterization and electrochemical and photophysical properties of a series of desymmetrized heteroleptic [Cu(P^P)(N^N)][PF] compounds are reported. The complexes incorporate the chelating P^P ligands bis(2-(diphenylphosphanyl)phenyl)ether (POP) and (9,9-dimethyl-9-xanthene-4,5-diyl)bis(diphenylphosphane) (xantphos), and 6-substituted 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) derivatives with functional groups attached by -(CH)- spacers: 6-(2,2'-bipyridin-6-yl)hexanoic acid (), 6-(5-phenylpentyl)-2,2'-bipyridine () and 6-[2-(4-phenyl-1-1,2,3,triazol-1-yl)ethyl]-2,2'-bipyridine (). [Cu(POP)()][PF], [Cu(xantphos)()][PF], [Cu(POP)()][PF], [Cu(xantphos)()][PF], and [Cu(xantphos)()][PF] have been characterized in solution using multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, and the single crystal structure of [Cu(xantphos)()][PF]0.