Implementation of a virtual international cardiology curriculum to address the deficit of cardiovascular education in Haiti: a pilot study.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, conferring a disparate burden on low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Haiti represents a resource-constrained setting, limited by a paucity of resources and trained cardiovascular professionals equipped to address the increasing burden of CVD.

Objective: Here, we describe the creation of a comprehensive cardiology curriculum delivered through a virtual classroom.

CT perfusion: ready for prime time.

Advancements in computed tomography (CT) technology have revolutionized clinical practice, particularly regarding the noninvasive assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD). The versatility of cardiac CT has rendered multiple applications including assessment of cardiac structure and function, myocardial viability, and coronary anatomy. The merits of cardiac computed tomography angiography (CTA) have been proven for the detection, and particularly the exclusion, of CAD.

Selective use of coronary calcification measurements in an expanded intermediate risk group.

Risk assessment is an imperative initial step in the clinical management of cardiovascular risk factors. On the basis of the estimation of the 10-year absolute risk of manifesting coronary heart disease (myocardial infarction or coronary heart disease death), risk categories are conventionally divided into low, intermediate, and high. The most widely used quantitative risk assessment algorithm, the Framingham risk score for hard events, is based on traditional risk factors, but it does not fully account for all available cardiovascular risk factors.

Association of lactate with blood pressure before and after rapid weight loss.

Background: The mechanism linking obesity with its downstream complications is poorly understood. Accumulating evidence suggests that insufficient oxidative capacity plays a central role in the development of insulin resistance and, perhaps, hypertension.

Methods: To investigate this hypothesis, we measured lactate, a marker of the gap between energy expenditure and oxidative capacity, in 40 obese subjects with the metabolic syndrome (Ob-MS), 40 obese subjects without the metabolic syndrome (Ob), and 20 lean controls (LCs).

Treatment of hypercholesterolemia with ezetimibe in cardiac transplant recipients.

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy and tolerability of ezetimibe in cardiac transplant recipients who were intolerant of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) or unable to reach target lipid levels with statin therapy. After treatment with ezetimibe (n = 16), mean total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels decreased significantly (228 +/- 40 mg/dl to 197 +/- 48 mg/dl, p = 0.003; and 149 +/- 34 mg/dl to 117 +/- 39 mg/dl, p < 0.

The safety of rosuvastatin as used in common clinical practice: a postmarketing analysis.

Background: Statins are currently the mainstay of dyslipidemia management for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Controversial concerns about the safety of the newly marketed statin rosuvastatin have been raised on the basis of premarketing studies and a few postmarketing reports.

Methods And Results: We reviewed rosuvastatin-associated adverse events reported to the US Food and Drug Administration over its first year of marketing.