The role of fibrosis, inflammation, and congestion biomarkers for outcome prediction in candidates to cardiac resynchronization therapy: is "response" the right answer?

Background: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an established treatment in selected patients suffering from heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). It has been proposed that myocardial fibrosis and inflammation could influence CRT "response" and outcome. Our study investigated the long-term prognostic significance of cardiac biomarkers in HFrEF patients with an indication for CRT.

Evolution from a first clinical demyelinating event to multiple sclerosis in the REFLEX trial: Regional susceptibility in the conversion to multiple sclerosis at disease onset and its amenability to subcutaneous interferon beta-1a.

Background And Purpose: In the REFLEX trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00404352), patients with a first clinical demyelinating event (FCDE) displayed significantly delayed onset of multiple sclerosis (MS; McDonald criteria) when treated with subcutaneous interferon beta-1a (sc IFN β-1a) versus placebo. This post hoc analysis evaluated the effect of sc IFN β-1a on spatio-temporal evolution of disease activity, assessed by changes in T2 lesion distribution, in specific brain regions of such patients and its relationship with conversion to MS.

Gray matter atrophy cannot be fully explained by white matter damage in patients with MS.

Background: Source-based morphometry (SBM) was recently used for non-random "patterns" of gray matter (GM) atrophy or white matter (WM) microstructural damage.

Objective: To assess whether and to what extent such patterns may be inter-related in MS.

Methods: SBM was applied to images of GM concentration and fractional anisotropy (FA) in MS patients ( = 41, median EDSS = 1) and normal controls (NC,  = 28).