Accuracy of heart failure ascertainment using routinely collected healthcare data: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Ascertainment of heart failure (HF) hospitalizations in cardiovascular trials is costly and complex, involving processes that could be streamlined by using routinely collected healthcare data (RCD). The utility of coded RCD for HF outcome ascertainment in randomized trials requires assessment. We systematically reviewed studies assessing RCD-based HF outcome ascertainment against "gold standard" (GS) methods to study the feasibility of using such methods in clinical trials.

Reliability and reproducibility of cardiac MRI quantification of peak exercise function with long-axis views.

The conventional approach to cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) involving breath holds, electrocardiography-gating, and acquisition of a short-axis (SAX) image stack, introduces technical and logistical challenges for assessing exercise left ventricular (LV) function. Real-time, free-breathing CMR acquisition of long-axis (LAX) images overcomes these issues and also enables assessment of global longitudinal strain (GLS). We evaluated the reliability of a free-breathing LAX approach compared to the standard SAX approach and the reproducibility of free-breathing LAX.

LDL-cholesterol reduction in chronic kidney disease: options beyond statins.

Purpose Of Review: Individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) events. LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) is a key modifiable cause of ASCVD and lowering LDL-C with statins reduces the risk of ASCVD events in a wide range of populations, including those with CKD. This review considers the utility of recently developed nonstatin LDL-C-lowering therapies in CKD.

The importance of positive need fulfillment: Evidence from a sample of war-affected Sri Lankans.

There has been growing interest in understanding the psychological and social-environmental factors that facilitate adaptive functioning in populations affected by ethnopolitical warfare. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that a brief measure incorporating local idioms of positive need fulfilment would predict functioning in a war-affected Sri Lankan population above and beyond psychopathology when controlling for demographic variables and current life stressors. A brief measure of positive need fulfillment was derived from qualitative data and administered to a sample of 163 Sri Lankans affected by the civil war.

Are culturally specific measures of trauma-related anxiety and depression needed? The case of Sri Lanka.

The hypothesis that psychometric instruments incorporating local idioms of distress predict functional impairment in a non-Western, war-affected population above and beyond translations of already established instruments was tested. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the War-Related Psychological and Behavioral Problems section of the Penn/RESIST/Peradeniya War Problems Questionnaire (PRPWPQ; N. Jayawickreme, Jayawickreme, Goonasekera, & Foa, 2009), a measure that incorporates local idioms of distress, using data from 197 individuals living in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka.