Use and effectiveness of PCSK-9 inhibitors in heart diseases: A review.

Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin type-9 (PCSK-9) inhibitors have recently used in the management of different cardiac complications. Several clinical trials demonstrated their effectiveness in patients with hypercholesterolemia. However, the effectiveness of these medications in patients with heart diseases is still controversial.

Anemia and Dietary Behaviors among Young Adults in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Objective: The study sought to assess the prevalence and the risk factors associated with anemia among male and female young adults in (Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at King Saud University and Alfaisal University in September 2016 among young adults aged 18 to 28 years old. Data were collected using an interview questionnaire.

Investigation of cardiac fibroblasts using myocardial slices.

Aims: Cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) are considered the principal regulators of cardiac fibrosis. Factors that influence CF activity are difficult to determine. When isolated and cultured in vitro, CFs undergo rapid phenotypic changes including increased expression of α-SMA.

Adult human heart slices are a multicellular system suitable for electrophysiological and pharmacological studies.

Electrophysiological and pharmacological data from the human heart are limited due to the absence of simple but representative experimental model systems of human myocardium. The aim of this study was to establish and characterise adult human myocardial slices from small patients' heart biopsies as a simple, reproducible and relevant preparation suitable for the study of human cardiac tissue at the multicellular level. Vibratome-cut myocardial slices were prepared from left ventricular biopsies obtained from end-stage heart failure patients undergoing heart transplant or ventricular assist device implantation, and from hearts of normal dogs.