Deep convolution neural network for screening carotid calcification in dental panoramic radiographs.

Ischemic stroke, a leading global cause of death and disability, is commonly caused by carotid arteries atherosclerosis. Carotid artery calcification (CAC) is a well-known marker of atherosclerosis. Such calcifications are classically detected by ultrasound screening.

Behavior and knowledge trajectories among adult offspring of patients with an acute cardiac event: A call for a turning point in cardiac prevention.

Introduction: Early detection is critical in the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). An at-risk population for cardiac disease-and conveniently approachable in terms of timing-is cardiac patients' offspring, at the moment when the parent is hospitalized for his or her own cardiac event. Based on the theoretical underpinning of life turning points, defined as perceived life course-changing events, we suggest that adult children would view the parent's cardiac event as a significant life turning point and that this understanding would motivate them to learn about CVD and to change their lifestyles accordingly.

Existentially Oriented Group Intervention for Patients With Heart Failure: Intervention Development and Preliminary Assessment.

Background: Patients with heart failure (HF) cope with a chronic, life-threatening, particularly disabling medical condition. Their well-being is considered to be at a greater risk than that of patients with any other cardiovascular disease, and their psychological distress is associated with a worse prognosis. These patients are often preoccupied with existential concerns such as fear of death, loneliness, and a loss of sense of meaning.

Statin Therapy: Diabetes Mellitus Risk and Cardiovascular Benefit in Primary Prevention.

Background: The salutary effects of statin therapy in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) are well established. Although generally considered safe, statin therapy has been reported to contribute to induction of diabetes mellitus (DM).

Objectives: To assess the risk-benefit of statin therapy, prescribed for the prevention of CVD, in the development of DM.

Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety as Barriers to Participation in Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs Among Arab and Jewish Patients in Israel.

Purpose: Despite its proven efficacy, low participation rates in cardiac prevention and rehabilitation programs (CPRPs) prevail worldwide, especially among ethnic minorities. This is strongly evident in Israel's Arab minority. Since psychological distress has been found to be associated with CPRP participation and minorities are subjected to higher levels of distress, it is plausible that distress may be an important barrier for CPRP participation among minority patients.

Ultra-Low Contrast Volume for Patients with Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease Undergoing Coronary Procedures.

Background/aims: Contrast induced nephropathy (CIN) is associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients undergoing coronary interventions, particularly in patients with advanced chronic kidney. The study was aimed to assess the real-life feasibility and safety of ultra-low volume coronary procedures in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease.

Methods: A prospective study that included patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <45 mL/min/1.

The Effect of Admission Renal Function on the Treatment and Outcome of Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Background: Chronic kidney disease is a frequent comorbidity among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We aimed to evaluate treatment characteristics in ACS patients according to their renal function and to assess the effect of differences in therapy on clinical outcomes.

Methods: Included were patients with ACS enrolled in the biennial Acute Coronary Syndrome Israeli Surveys (ACSIS) during 2000-2013.

BIOFLOW-III satellite-One-year clinical outcomes of diabetic patients treated with a biodegradable polymer sirolimus-eluting stent and comprehensive medical surveillance.

Background: Drug-eluting stents with biodegradable polymer might be particularly useful in diabetic patients who are at increased risk for target lesion/target vessel revascularization. We therefore aimed at assessing the safety and performance of a biodegradable polymer sirolimus-eluting stent (BP-SES) in combination with comprehensive optimal medical therapy following coronary interventions.

Methods: This prospective, multicenter registry was conducted at six centers in Israel.

Personality Makes a Difference: Attachment Orientation Moderates Theory of Planned Behavior Prediction of Cardiac Medication Adherence.

Objective: To achieve a comprehensive understanding of patients' adherence to medication following acute coronary syndrome (ACS), we assessed the possible moderating role played by attachment orientation on the effects of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (PBC), as derived from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991), on intention and reported adherence.

Method: A prospective longitudinal design was employed. During hospitalization, ACS male patients (N = 106) completed a set of self-report questionnaires including sociodemographic variables, attachment orientation, and measures of TPB constructs.

"It takes two to take": Caregiving style, relational entitlement, and medication adherence.

Partners' support has been associated with both patients' increased and decreased inclination toward health-promoting behaviors. Our hypothesis for understanding this enigma is that it is the interplay between partners' manner of care provision and patients' ability to accept these care efforts that may best predict patients' adherence. Thus, the current study's main goal was to examine the contribution of the interaction between caregivers' support style (sensitive and compulsive) and cardiac patients' sense of relational entitlement (restricted, excessive, assertive, entitlement expectations) to patients' medication adherence.

Caregiving styles and anxiety among couples: coping versus not coping with cardiac illness.

Background And Objectives: partners' caregiving efforts are not always beneficial to both recipient and provider. Bowlby's conceptualization of caregiving style as a stable predisposition may clarify such caregiving effects. The relationship between caregiving style (compulsive and sensitive) and anxiety among couples coping with cardiac illness and a matching control group not coping with cardiac illness were assessed.

Prevalence and Significance of Unrecognized Renal Dysfunction in Patients with Stroke.

Background: Unrecognized renal dysfunction, defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) in the presence of normal serum creatinine levels, is a common comorbidity among patients with various cardiovascular conditions. The current study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence and clinical significance of unrecognized renal dysfunction in patients with acute stroke.

Admission plasma glucose levels within the normal to mildly impaired range and the outcome of patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Background: Elevated admission plasma glucose levels >140 mg/dl are associated with adverse clinical outcomes in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients admitted with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We aimed to evaluate the association between admission plasma glucose levels <140 mg/dl and the outcome of non-diabetic patients admitted with acute coronary syndrome.

Methods: The study population consisted of patients with acute coronary syndrome included in the Acute Coronary Syndrome Israeli Survey during 2000-2013.

Effect of Modifying Antiplatelet Treatment to Ticagrelor in High-Risk Coronary Patients With Low Response to Clopidogrel (MATTIS).

Background: Treatment with clopidogrel is subject to wide variability in response, and high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HTPR) is associated with increased risk of ischemic events. Ticagrelor has been shown to have antiplatelet effects superior to those of clopidogrel, with subsequent reduced clinical ischemic events. However, the efficacy of ticagrelor in high-risk patients with coronary disease who have high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HTPR) with clopidogrel has not been examined.

Effective dose reduction in spine radiographic imaging by choosing the less radiation-sensitive side of the body.

Background Context: X-ray absorption is highest in the organs and tissues located closest to the radiation source. The photon flux that crosses the body decreases from the entry surface toward the image receptor. The internal organs absorb x-rays and shield each other during irradiation.

Prevalence and Significance of Unrecognized Renal Dysfunction in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Background: Unrecognized renal insufficiency, defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) in the presence of normal serum creatinine, is common among patients with acute coronary syndrome. We aimed to determine the prevalence and clinical significance of unrecognized renal insufficiency in a large unselected population of patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Incidence and Expression of Circulating Cell Free p53-Related Genes in Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients.

Aim: The circulating RNA levels are predictive markers in several diseases. We determined the levels of circulating p53-related genes in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), indicating major heart muscle damage.

Methods: Plasma RNA was extracted from the patients (n=45) upon their arrival to the hospital (STEMI 0h) and at four hours post-catheterization (STEMI 4h) as well as from controls (n=34).

Multidisciplinary rehabilitation program in recently hospitalized patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction: rationale and design of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) comprises a large portion of heart failure patients and portends poor prognosis with similar outcome to heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Thus far, no medical therapy has been shown to improve clinical outcome in this common condition.

Trial Design: The study is a randomized-controlled, multicenter clinical trial aimed to determine whether early posthospitalization comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation (CR) including exercise training (ET) in recently hospitalized HFpEF patients reduces the composite end point of all-cause mortality and hospitalizations in comparison with usual care (UC).

Identifying barriers to participation in cardiac prevention and rehabilitation programmes via decision tree analysis: establishing targets for remedial interventions.

Background: Participation rates of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in efficacious cardiac prevention and rehabilitation programmes (CPRPs) are low, particularly in ethnic minorities. Few studies have evaluated the full array of potential barriers to participation in a multiethnic cohort with identical insurance coverage.

Objective: To assess the hierarchy of multiple barriers (ie, sociodemographic, systemic, illness related, psychological and cultural) to participation in CPRP of Jewish and Arab patients served by a regional hospital in Israel.

Caregivers' burden and depressive symptoms: the moderational role of attachment orientations.

Objective: The current study explored whether attachment orientations moderate the associations between caregiver burden and depressive symptoms among women coping with their partners' first time acute coronary syndrome. The association between burden and depression was hypothesized to be stronger among caregivers high on anxious attachment than among caregivers low on this dimension. In addition, the association between burden and depressive symptoms was hypothesized to be weaker among caregivers higher on avoidant attachment than among those lower on this dimension.

Change in health behaviours following acute coronary syndrome: Arab-Jewish differences.

Background: Health-promoting behaviours after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are effective in preventing recurrence. Ethnicity impacts on such behaviours. We assessed the independent association of Arab vs.

Lipid control in patients with coronary heart disease treated in primary care or cardiology clinics.

Background: Guidelines recommend low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) target of <70 mg/dL in patients with coronary disease. However, this goal is not achieved in many patients.

Objectives: We compared LDL-C control in patients with coronary disease treated by a primary care physician or with the addition of a cardiologist.

Comparison of mortality in patients with coronary or peripheral artery disease following the first vascular intervention.

Objectives: Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) less frequently achieve secondary prevention goals compared with patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). We aimed to compare mortality rates in patients with PAD and CAD following first vascular intervention.

Patients And Methods: Patients 18 years of age or older without a history of cardiovascular disease, who underwent first coronary or lower limb vascular intervention between 2002 and 2010, were included in this study.

Illness cognition as a predictor of exercise habits and participation in cardiac prevention and rehabilitation programs after acute coronary syndrome.

Background: Despite well-established medical recommendations, many cardiac patients do not exercise regularly either independently or through formal cardiac prevention and rehabilitation programs (CPRP). This non-adherence is even more pronounced among minority ethnic groups. Illness cognition (IC), i.