Perivascular fat attenuation index (FAI) on computed tomography coronary angiography reclassifies individual cardiovascular risk estimation.

Background: The perivascular fat attenuation index (FAI) detects and quantifies coronary inflammation by measuring phenotypic changes in perivascular adipose tissue by using computed tomography coronary angiography images.

Aim: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the reclassification of cardiovascular (CV) risk after incorporating perivascular FAI assessment in currently used risk score algorithms.

Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective study of 200 patients with suspected coronary artery disease who underwent computed tomography coronary angiography in clinical practice between January 2022 and May 2022.

Thigh muscles are more susceptible to age-related muscle loss when compared to lower leg and pelvic muscles.

Background: A key hallmark of aging is the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass. Due to limitations of the various methods typically applied to assess muscle mass, only limited information is available on age-related differences between various muscle groups. This study assessed differences in individual lower body muscle group volumes between healthy young and older males.

Omega-3 fatty acids in heart disease-why accurately measured levels matter.

Current guidelines barely support marine omega‑3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in cardiology, mainly because results of large trials were equivocal. Most large trials have tested EPA alone or EPA + DHA combined as a drug, thereby disregarding the relevance of their blood levels. These levels are frequently assessed with the Omega‑3 Index (percentage of EPA + DHA in erythrocytes), which is determined using a specific standardised analytical procedure.

Nitrous oxide abuse leading to extreme homocysteine levels and thrombosis in young adults: a case series.

Background: Neurologic complications from recreational use of nitrous oxide (NO), which are attributed to vitamin B12 deficiency, have been well documented. With increasing dosages and frequency of NO use, an additional association with thromboembolisms is becoming apparent.

Objectives: To assess thrombotic complications of recreational NO use.

Essential Thrombocytosis in Patients <40 Years Old With Acute Coronary Syndromes: A Not So Uncommon Underlying Diagnosis Often Overlooked.

Background: In patients under <40 years, traditional cardiovascular (CV)-risk factors are a less likely cause of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) compared to older counterparts.

Aims: To estimate the prevalence of essential thrombocytosis (ET), a hematological disorder and less-prevalent risk factor, in young patients presenting with ACS.

Methods: We constructed a retrospective database of all patients <40 years (n=271) that had consecutively undergone coronary angiography (CAG) after their  ACS within our hospital within the last ten years (2010-2020) and had known thrombocyte counts (n=241).

Thrombosis within the left anterior descending coronary artery and left ventricle after high-dose nitrous oxide use.

We present a man in his 30s with acute anterior myocardial infarction due to thrombotic occlusion of the left anterior descending artery and subsequent left ventricular thrombus formation after high-dose recreational use of nitrous oxide (NO). Initial questioning for use of illicit substances was negative, but low vitamin B levels and severely elevated homocysteine levels prompted us to interrogate for the use of laughing gas. On questioning, the patient admitted to have used this substance, which he presumed to be innocent.

Cardiac arrest resulting from an unidentified foreign object, later identified as a balloon cover, within the left anterior descending coronary artery.

A 31-year-old man with a history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and alcohol septal ablation one week before was presented after an out of hospital cardiac arrest in the setting of an anterior wall ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Immediate coronary angiography showed an unidentified foreign object within the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), later identified as the cover of a balloon that had been unintentionally inserted and abandoned within the LAD during the alcohol septum ablation one week earlier. Intracoronary imaging confirmed the presence of endothelial damage and thrombus formation within the LAD explaining acute myocardial infarction.

Non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis manifested by ventricular fibrillation in a patient with low grade ovarian carcinoma: case report and literature review.

Background: Non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis (NBTE) is a rare form of endocarditis notably described in patients with advanced malignancy and auto-immune diseases. It is characterized by the formation of sterile, fibrin-containing vegetations on cardiac endothelium, in the absence of positive blood cultures. It is predominantly located on the mitral- and aortic valve (AV).

[Thromboembolisms due to recreational use of nitrous oxide].

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is increasingly used as a recreational drug, and is presumed relatively safe and innocent. The risks for neurological complications are often known, however the risks of serious thromboembolic events are not. We describe three cases of acute thromboembolic events resulting in serious cardiovascular complications after N2O abuse: one case of myocardial infarction that resulted in a reduced ejection fraction, one case of peripheral arterial occlusion that led to limb amputation and one case of pulmonary embolism that resulted in hemodynamic instability requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and surgical removal.

Cardiovascular complications of bacteraemia.

The incidence of bacteraemia has risen due to a worldwide increase in immunocompromised patients and antibiotic resistance. We describe three patients who experienced severe, including cardiovascular, complications of pneumococcal bacteraemia. Cardiovascular complications related to pneumococci may run a fulminant course.

Case report of a 'snake thrombus' in the right heart: a rare finding on echocardiography.

Background: A right heart thrombus originating from an inferior vena cava thrombosis (IVCT) is a rare entity. In accordance with venous thromboembolism (VTE), IVCT can be categorized as primary or secondary. Secondary ICVT can be the result of a predisposing hypercoagulable state and/or from external compression on the inferior vena cava (IVC) such as in case of malignancies.

Case report of an acute myocardial infarction after high-dose recreational nitrous oxide use: a consequence of hyperhomocysteinaemia?

Background: Nitrous oxide (NO, laughing gas) is increasingly used as a recreational drug and is presumed relatively safe and innocent. It is often being used in combination with other substances, such as cannabis.

Case Summary: A young adult attended the emergency room because of chest pain after recreational use of very high-dose nitrous oxide in combination with cannabis.

Transulnar coronary intervention complicated by compartment syndrome.

We describe a case of a compartment syndrome after transulnar coronary intervention. As far as we are aware of, this is the first report of such a complication after a transulnar approach described in the literature. Compartment syndrome is a very rare but possibly devastating complication of coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary interventions.

A Perforated Mitral Valve Aneurysm: A Rare but Serious Complication of Aortic Valve Endocarditis Resulting From a Regurgitant Jet Lesion.

Infective endocarditis has high morbidity and mortality rates. The aortic valve is most often affected in native valve endocarditis. Complications of aortic valve endocarditis range from local abscess and fistula formation, systemic complications secondary to thromboembolism and septic embolization, to congestive heart failure resulting from conduction system involvement and valve damage.

The effect of a multifaceted evidence-based practice programme for nurses on knowledge, skills, attitudes, and perceived barriers: A cohort study.

Background: The Dutch professional nursing standard of 2012 stipulates that Dutch nursing practices are to be evidence-based. Not all practicing nurses can satisfy these requirements, therefore, an educational programme about Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) was developed for a Dutch teaching hospital.

Objective: The aim of this study was to measure the effects of a six month in-house EBP programme on knowledge, skills, attitudes, and perceived barriers of nurses (four European Credits equals two US Credit Hours).

CorNet: Assigning function to networks of co-evolving residues by automated literature mining.

CorNet is a web-based tool for the analysis of co-evolving residue positions in protein super-family sequence alignments. CorNet projects external information such as mutation data extracted from literature on interactively displayed groups of co-evolving residue positions to shed light on the functions associated with these groups and the residues in them. We used CorNet to analyse six enzyme super-families and found that groups of strongly co-evolving residues tend to consist of residues involved in a same function such as activity, specificity, co-factor binding, or enantioselectivity.

NewProt - a protein engineering portal.

The NewProt protein engineering portal is a one-stop-shop for in silico protein engineering. It gives access to a large number of servers that compute a wide variety of protein structure characteristics supporting work on the modification of proteins through the introduction of (multiple) point mutations. The results can be inspected through multiple visualizers.