1,721,215 research outputs found
Moving away from symptoms-based heart failure treatment: misperceptions and real risks for patients with heart failure
No full textAmino acids and derivatives, a new treatment of chronic heart failure?
No full textAmino acids play a key role in multiple cellular processes. Amino acids availability is reduced in patients with heart failure (HF) with deleterious consequences on cardiac and whole-body metabolism. Several metabolic abnormalities have been identified in the failing heart, and many of them lead to an increased need of amino acids. Recently, several clinical trials have been conducted to demonstrate the benefits of amino acids supplementation in patients with HF. Although they have shown an improvement of exercise tolerance and, in some cases, of left ventricular function, they have many limitations, namely small sample size, differences in patients' characteristics and nutritional supplementations, and lack of data regarding outcomes. Moreover recent data suggest that a multi-nutritional approach, including also antioxidants, vitamins, and metals, may be more effective. Larger trials are needed to ascertain safety, efficacy, and impact on prognosis of such an approach in HF
A Critical Appraisal of Short-Term End Points in Acute Heart Failure Clinical Trials
No full textThe prevalence of heart failure continues to grow, and this is accompanied by an increase in hospitalization for acute heart failure. Hospitalization for heart failure results in a trajectory shift of the syndrome and is associated with worsening outcomes, increased mortality risk, and high costs. Numerous clinical trials over the past 2 decades have had limited success, with no single agent shown to improve mortality risk. The lack of success is multifactorial and in part related to inadequate targets and end points selected for intervention, underscoring the need to better understand and define the pathophysiology of acute heart failure. To better inform future drug development, this review critically explores the short-term end points and outcomes that previous phase III acute heart failure trials have examined
Hyperkalemia in Heart Failure
No full textDisorders of potassium homeostasis can potentiate the already elevated risk of arrhythmia in heart failure. Heart failure patients have a high prevalence of chronic kidney disease, which further heightens the risk of hyperkalemia, especially when renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors are used. Acute treatment for hyperkalemia may not be tolerated in the long term. Recent data for patiromer and sodium zirconium cyclosilicate, used to treat and prevent high serum potassium levels on a more chronic basis, have sparked interest in the treatment of hyperkalemia, as well as the potential use of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors in patients who were previously unable to take these drugs or tolerated only low doses. This review discusses the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and outcomes of hyperkalemia in heart failure; provides an overview of traditional and novel ways to approach management of hyperkalemia; and discusses the need for further research to optimally treat heart failure. (C) 2016 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation
Combination decongestion therapy in hospitalized heart failure: loop diuretics, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists and vasopressin antagonists
No full textCongestion is the most common reason for admissions and readmissions for heart failure (HF). The vast majority of hospitalized HF patients appear to respond readily to loop diuretics, but available data suggest that a significant proportion are being discharged with persistent evidence of congestion. Although novel therapies targeting congestion should continue to be developed, currently available agents may be utilized more optimally to facilitate complete decongestion. The combination of loop diuretics, natriuretic doses of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists and vasopressin antagonists represents a regimen of currently available therapies that affects early and persistent decongestion, while limiting the associated risks of electrolyte disturbances, hemodynamic fluctuations, renal dysfunction and mortality
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
