LDL-cholesterol targets and lipid-lowering therapies - a plea to medical schemes and the Council for Medical Schemes.

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Convergent Hybrid Ablation Versus Catheter Ablation in Patients With Persistent Atrial Fibrillation and Heart Failure: HALT AF Study Protocol and Rationale for a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: The coexistence of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction is associated with greater morbidity and death than either conditio...

Agreement between various non-invasive blood pressure measurement sites in the obese population using the VitalStream system as control.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of obesity and hypertension, with all their associated complications, is on the rise globally. Non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) is often difficult to measure in obese indiv...

Can obstructive peripheral arterial disease be a marker for coronary artery disease in patients with diabetic foot ulcers?

OBJECTIVE: Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are a serious complication of diabetes that is often associated with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Although PAD is associated with poor wound healing and a ...

Mai Guan Fu Kang capsule attenuates coronary heart disease via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and gut microbiota.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the therapeutic mechanism of Mai Guan Fu Kang Capsule (MGFKC) against coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: MGFKC constituents were identified by liquid chromatography-mass ...

Atrial resynchronization: an overlooked concept in heart failure and conduction system pacing: review of selected literature with emphasis on atrial anatomy.

AIMS: Unlike ventricular electrical disease, the impact of similar atrial disease on cardiac function has received insufficient importance. We aimed to examine data on atrial anatomy, electrical disea...

Adipose Tissue Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, and Altered Adipogenesis Are Associated With Dyslipidemia in Obesity: A Multiomics Profiling Study.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is an important risk factor for cardiometabolic disease, including dyslipidemia and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Although the role of the liver in dyslipidemia is establ...

Smartphone Ownership Among Cardiology Inpatients Pre-COVID-19 and Post-COVID-19 Pandemic: Secondary Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) interventions are increasing in popularity for the management of heart failure and coronary artery disease. The use of these interventions is dependent on rates of ...

Exosome mimetic nanoparticles for siRNA based targeting of α-synuclein and neuroinflammation in Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and accumulation of α-synuclein protein, leading to sustained neuroinflammation. OBJ...

Metformin as a multi-target modulator of atherosclerosis: integrated regulation of Nrf2/KLF2, mitochondrial homeostasis, inflammation, ferroptosis, and innate immunity.

OBJECTIVES: Atherosclerosis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory vascular disorder driven by endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, lipid dysregulation, mitochondrial injury, and maladaptive immune acti...

Barriers for Secondary Hypertension Screening in the United States: A National Physician Survey.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension affects almost half of US adults and is a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although expert guidelines recommend screening for secondary hypertension in p...

Association Between Predicting Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Events (PREVENT) Risk Scores and Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease: Insights From the Project Baseline Health Study.

BACKGROUND: The American Heart Association Predicting Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Events risk scores estimate cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, including heart failure (HF) and atherosclerotic CVD...

Aprocitentan: A New Option for Resistant Hypertension and Its Place in Patient Care.

Hypertension affects approximately 47.7% of US adults, with higher rates observed in men (50.8%) compared with women (44.6%). Risk factors and characteristics such as age, family history, race, and et...

Cardiac Biomarkers to Refine Pretest Probability for Coronary Obstruction and Predict Survival After Revascularization in Chronic Coronary Syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The diagnostic and prognostic roles of cardiovascular biomarkers in chronic coronary syndrome remain unclear. METHODS: Patients undergoing coronary angiography for suspected chronic corona...

Real-World Usage of a Paclitaxel-Coated Balloon With Urea Compared With Other Contemporary Drug-Coated Balloons: A 2-Year Analysis From SCAAR in Over 6000 Patients.

BACKGROUND: Drug-coated balloons (DCB) are frequently used during percutaneous coronary intervention. Despite this there are limited data from studies comparing different types of DCB, particularly fo...

Positive Psychological Well-Being and Determinants of Social Robot Acceptability Among Patients With Heart Failure: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.

BACKGROUND: Social robots (SRs) are innovative tools in health care, offering both medical and psychological support for patients with heart failure (HF). For successful implementation, patient accept...

Computational imaging of cardio-magnetic sources: reconstruction of time-varying dipoles and epicardial potentials from magnetocardiography.

The electrical activities in living tissues are caused by ionic movements along cell membranes, particularly in excitable tissues like neurons, cardiac cells, and skeletal muscles. The heart muscles p...

MOTS-c preserves mitochondrial subpopulation bioenergetics and genome integrity to attenuate cardiac ischemia reperfusion injury.

BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes substantially to myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury through impaired bioenergetics, oxidative stress, and disruption of mitochondrial homeost...

Lysophosphatidic Acid Reduces Ischemic Brain Injury by Attenuating Vascular Permeability Through LPA4 Receptor Signaling.

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption significantly exacerbates secondary injury following ischemic stroke. Although lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is known to regulate vascular stability, its specific ro...

Percutaneous left atrial appendage closure following catheter ablation therapy of atrial fibrillation: outcomes stratified by bleeding risk - a sub-analysis of the OPTION study.

AIMS: Concerns have been raised over the safety and necessity of continuing oral anticoagulation (OAC) in patients following catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF). OPTION demonstrated the saf...