Suboccipital decompression enhances heart rate variability indices of cardiac control in healthy subjects.

Objectives: Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) focused on the upper cervical spine is theorized to affect the function of the vagus nerve and thereby influence the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. This study was designed to determine the acute effect of upper cervical spine manipulation on cardiac autonomic control as measured by heart rate variability.

Design: Nineteen healthy, young adult subjects underwent three different experimental interventions administered in random order: cervical OMT, sham manipulation, and time control.

Controlling lipids in a high-risk population with documented coronary artery disease for secondary prevention: are we doing enough?

Background: The prevalence of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in patients who have achieved low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) targets in the current era of universal statin therapy remains unknown. We conducted a study to determine the prevalence of low HDL-C in patients with documented coronary artery disease, and to determine the lipid-lowering treatment patterns in secondary prevention of coronary artery disease.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort analysis, data were obtained from the electronic database of a cardiology clinic.

Formula estimation of glomerular filtration rate: have we gone wrong?

and argue that the introduction of estimated glomerular filtration rate to screen for chronic kidney disease in primary care will lead to pressure on specialist services and create patient anxiety without clear proof of benefit