Publications by authors named "Sergio A Gomez-Ochoa"

Purpose Of Review: Heart failure (HF) is often accompanied by a constellation of comorbidities, leading to diverse patient presentations and clinical trajectories. While traditional methods have provided valuable insights into our understanding of HF, network medicine approaches seek to leverage these complex relationships by analyzing disease at a systems level. This review introduces the concepts of network medicine and explores the use of comorbidity networks to study HF and heart disease.

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Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC) is associated with coagulation disorders that frequently culminate in thrombotic events, contributing to increased mortality rates in this clinical condition. Considering the demonstrated effect that extracellular vesicles (EVs) have on regulating inflammatory processes, coagulation, and angiogenesis, the present study aims to characterize plasma EVs and their relationship with coagulation disorders in patients with CCC. A total of 78 patients were assessed with 46.

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Objective: Describe the methodological aspects, sociodemographic, and clinical characteristics of patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) and their short-term outcomes.

Methods: Prospective cohort of patients with ADHF from the emergency service of the cardiovascular center. Descriptive statistics were used to synthesize sociodemographic characteristics, clinical characteristics during hospitalization, and outcomes.

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Chagas disease is a neglected tropical disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC), the most severe form of target organ involvement in Chagas disease, is characterized by a complex pathophysiology and a unique phenotype that differentiates it from other cardiomyopathies, highlighting its worse prognosis compared to other aetiologies of heart failure. The three pathophysiological mechanisms with the largest impact on this differential mortality include rapidly progressive heart failure, a high incidence of stroke, and a high burden of ventricular arrhythmias.

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Introduction And Objectives: Although multiple studies suggest that chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC) has higher mortality than other cardiomyopathies, the absence of meta-analyses supporting this perspective limits the possibility of generating robust conclusions. The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the current evidence on mortality risk in CCC compared with that of other cardiomyopathies.

Methods: PubMed/Medline and EMBASE were searched for studies comparing mortality risk between patients with CCC and those with other cardiomyopathies, including in the latter nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM), ischemic cardiomyopathy, and non-Chagas cardiomyopathy (nonCC).

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Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCM) represents a relevant origin of Heart Failure (HF) in countries where the disease is endemic. CCM exhibits distinct myocardial involvement and is associated with a poorer prognosis compared to different HF etiologies. The aim is to explain the features and prognosis of individuals with HF resultant to CCM registered in the Colombian Registry of Heart Failure (RECOLFACA).

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Neutralizing antibody (NAb) activity against the viral capsid of adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors decreases transduction efficiency, thus limiting transgene expression. Several reports have mentioned a variation in NAb prevalence according to age, AAV serotype, and, most importantly, geographic location. There are currently no reports specifically describing the anti-AAV NAb prevalence in Latin America.

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Aim: The present study aimed to characterize the histopathological findings and the phenotype of inflammatory cells in the myocardial tissue of patients with end-stage heart failure (ESHF) secondary to CCC in comparison with ESHF secondary to non-Chagas cardiomyopathies (NCC).

Methods: A total of 32 explanted hearts were collected from transplanted patients between 2014 and 2017. Of these, 21 were classified as CCC and 11 as other NCC.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 5084 references, ultimately including 124 studies, focusing on phage therapy's effectiveness in improving animal survival and reducing bacterial load.
  • * Results indicated that phage therapy significantly enhanced survival rates in various infection models, although a considerable number of the studies had a high risk of bias, leading to reliance on a smaller subset of higher-quality studies for final analysis.
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Article Synopsis
  • Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC) is a serious form of Chagas disease, significantly impacting health in Latin America and lacking approved treatments.
  • This study explored the metabolic changes in heart tissue from patients with end-stage heart failure due to CCC, using advanced metabolomic profiling techniques.
  • Findings revealed energy deficits and oxidative stress in CCC-affected heart tissue, suggesting a link to chronic inflammation and indicating a need for further research to develop new treatment options.
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Background: Chagas disease (CD) is a neglected tropical disease, endemic in Latin America, but due to migration and environmental changes it has become a global public health issue.

Objectives: To assess the global prevalence and disability-adjusted life years due to CD using findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

Methods: The Global Burden of Disease data was obtained from the Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network; results were provided by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

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Background: Chronic Chagas Cardiomyopathy (CCM) is characterized by a unique pathophysiology in which inflammatory, microvascular and neuroendocrine processes coalesce in the development of one of the most severe cardiomyopathies affecting humans. Despite significant advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in this disease, scarce information is available regarding microRNAs and clinical parameters of disease severity. We aimed to evaluate the association between circulating levels of six microRNAs with markers of myocardial injury and prognosis in this population.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study reviews how gene-diet interactions impact cardiovascular diseases (CVD) by analyzing research conducted up until June 2022, focusing on various types of studies, including randomized controlled trials and cohorts.
  • - A total of 59 articles were included where 35.6% were deemed high quality; the studies examined 50 dietary factors and 52 genetic variants, highlighting alcohol intake and ADH1C variants as key focuses.
  • - Out of 266 tested interactions between diet and genetics, only 18.8% were statistically significant, with some inconsistencies in findings, indicating that while certain gene-diet effects exist, they may vary across studies.
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Background: Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCM) is ranked among heart failure etiologies with the highest mortality rates. CCM is characterized by alterations in left ventricular function with a typical and unique pattern of myocardial involvement. Left ventricle longitudinal speckle tracking strain is emerging as an important additive method for evaluating left ventricular function and risk of future cardiovascular events.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess the predictive power of left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS) and other echocardiographic measures for adverse outcomes in chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCM).
  • A cohort of 177 patients was followed for about 42 months, with 22.6% experiencing combined adverse outcomes like all-cause mortality or heart transplantation; LV-GLS, LVEF, and E/e' ratio were identified as key predictors.
  • The findings suggest that combining LV-GLS with LVEF and E/e’ ratio enhances prognostic accuracy, indicating that abnormal scores in these measures significantly increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular events in CCM patients.
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Background: Surgical Mesh Infection (SMI) after Abdominal Wall Hernia Repair (AWHR) represents a catastrophic complication. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to analyze the risk factors for SMI in the context of AWHR.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, Scielo, and LILACS were searched without language or time restrictions from inception until June 2021.

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Chronic Chagas Cardiomyopathy is a unique form of cardiomyopathy, with a significantly higher mortality risk than other heart failure etiologies. Diastolic dysfunction (DD) plays an important role in the prognosis of CCM; however, the value of serum biomarkers in identifying and stratifying DD has been poorly studied in this context. We aimed to analyze the correlation of six biochemical markers with diastolic function echocardiographic markers and DD diagnosis in patients with CCM.

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Objective: To analyze the association of circulating dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) levels with cardiovascular outcomes in patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCM) diagnosis.

Background: DHEA-S is among the main endogenous steroid hormones. Some studies have suggested a relevant role of this hormone in infections and the setting of CCM.

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Background: Chronic Chagas Cardiomyopathy (CCM) is a unique form of cardiomyopathy compared to other etiologies of heart failure. In CCM, risk prediction based on biomarkers has not been well-studied. We assessed the prognostic value of a biomarker panel to predict a composite outcome (CO), including the need for heart transplantation, use of left ventricular assist devices, and mortality.

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Background: Currently, Chagas disease (CD) constitutes one of the main public health problems in Latin America. However, little is known about potential mechanisms of disease different from cardiac or digestive involvement, such as the coagulation disorders elicited by the parasite persistence in the tissues. The aim of this systematic review was to describe and characterize all the published literature that evaluated the pathophysiological aspects of coagulation disorders in CD.

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Background: Heart transplant (HT) remains the most frequently indicated therapy for patients with end-stage heart failure that improves prognosis in Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCM). However, the lack of benznidazole therapy and availability of RT-PCR follow-up in many centers is a major limitation to perform this life-saving intervention, as there are concerns related with the risk of reactivation. We aimed to describe the outcomes of a cohort of patients with CCM who underwent HT using a conventional protocol with mycophenolate mofetil, without benznidazole prophylaxis or RT-PCR follow-up.

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