1,721,010 research outputs found
Current and Future Insights for Optimizing Antithrombotic Therapy to Reduce the Burden of Cardiovascular Ischemic Events in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome
The pharmacological treatment strategies for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in recent years are constantly evolving to develop more potent antithrombotic agents, as reflected by the introduction of more novel P2Y12 receptor inhibitors and anticoagulants to reduce the ischemic risk among ACS patients. Despite the substantial improvements in the current antithrombotic regimen, a noticeable number of ACS patients continue to experience ischemic events. Providing effective ischemic risk reduction while balancing bleeding risk remains a clinical challenge. This updated review discusses the currently approved and widely used antithrombotic agents and explores newer antithrombotic treatment strategies under development for the initial phase of ACS
Vulnerable plaque features and adverse events in patients with diabetes mellitus: a post hoc analysis of the COMBINE OCT-FFR trial
Background: Thin-cap fibroatheroma (TCFA) lesions are associated with a high risk of future major adverse cardiovascular events. However, the impact of other optical coherence tomography-detected vulnerability features (OCT-VFs) and their interplay with TCFA in predicting adverse events remains unknown. Aims: We aimed to evaluate the individual as well as the combined prognostic impact of OCT-VFs in predicting the incidence of the lesion-oriented composite endpoint (LOCE) in non-ischaemic lesions in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods: COMBINE OCT-FFR (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02989740) was a prospective, double-blind, international, natural history study that included DM patients with ≥1 non-culprit lesions with a fractional flow reserve>0.80 undergoing systematic OCT assessment. OCT-VFs included the following: TCFA, reduced minimal lumen area (r-MLA), healed plaque (HP), and complicated plaque (CP). The primary endpoint, LOCE - a composite of cardiac mortality, target vessel myocardial infarction, or clinically driven target lesion revascularisation up to 5 years - was analysed according to the presence of these OCT-VFs, both individually and in combination. Results: TCFA, r-MLA, HP and CP were identified in 98 (25.3%), 190 (49.0%), 87 (22.4%), and 116 (29.9%) patients, respectively. The primary endpoint rate increased progressively from 6.3% to 55.6% (hazard ratio 15.2, 95% confidence interval: 4.53-51.0; p<0.001) in patients without OCT-VFs as compared to patients with concomitant HP, r-MLA, CP, and TCFA. The coexistence of TCFA with other OCT-VFs resulted in an increased risk of the LOCE at 5 years. Conclusions: In DM patients with non-ischaemic lesions, TCFA was the strongest predictor of future LOCE events. However, lesions that present additional OCT-VFs are associated with a higher risk of adverse events than OCT-detected TCFA alone. Further randomised studies are warranted to confirm these findings and their potential clinical implications
Increased incidence of adverse events in diabetes mellitus patients with combined multiple vulnerable plaque features : new insights from the COMBINE OCT-FFR trial
Aims: To evaluate the individual as well as combined impact of OCT-detected vulnerability features (OCT-VFs) in the prediction of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in non-ischemic lesions in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods and results: The COMBINE OCT-FFR (NCT02989740) was a prospective, double-blind, international, natural history study that included patients with DM having ≥1 lesions with a fractional flow reserve >0.80, undergoing systematic OCT assessment. Pre-specified OCT-VFs included TCFA, r-MLA, h-PB, and CP. The primary endpoint (MACE) was a composite of cardiac mortality, target vessel myocardial infarction, clinically driven target lesion revascularization or hospitalization for unstable angina up to 5 years, analyzed according to the presence of these OCT-VFs, both individually and in combination. TCFA, r-MLA, h-PB and CP were identified in 98 (25.1%), 159 (40.8%), 56 (14.4%), and 116 (29.8%) patients, respectively. The primary endpoint rate increased progressively from 6.9% to 50.0% (HR=10.10; 95%CI, 3.37 to 30.25, p<0.001) in patients without OCT-VFs compared to those with concomitant h-PB, r-MLA, CP, and TCFA. Importantly, while TCFA, h-PB, r-MLA and CP were individually associated with the primary endpoint, the presence of two or more OCT-VFs significantly increased the likelihood of adverse events at 5 years. Conclusions: In patients with DM and non-ischemic lesions, TCFA, h-PB, r-MLA and CP were predictors of adverse events. However, the presence of two or more OCT-VFs significantly increased the likelihood of MACE at 5 years. Further studies are warranted to confirm these findings and their potential clinical implications in a randomized fashion
NT-proBNP level before primary PCI and risk of poor myocardial reperfusion: Insight from the On-TIME II trial
Background: N-terminal fragment of the brain natriuretic peptide prohormone (NT-proBNP), a marker for neurohumoral activation, has been associated with adverse outcome in patients with myocardial infarction. NT-proBNP levels may reflect extensive ischemia and microvascular damage, therefore we investigated the potential association between baseline NT-proBNP level and ST-resolution (STR), a marker of myocardial reperfusion, after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). Methods: we performed a post-hoc analysis of the On-TIME II trial (which randomized ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients to pre-hospital tirofiban administration vs placebo). Patients with measured NT-proBNP before angiography were included. Multivariate logistic-regression analyses was performed to investigate the association between baseline NTproBNP level and STR one hour after pPCI. Results: Out of 984 STEMI patients, 918 (93.3%) had NT-proBNP values at baseline. Patients with STR 70%) [Mean ±SD 375.2 ±1021.7 vs 1007.4 ±2842.3, Median (IQR) 111.7 (58.4-280.0) vs 168.0 (62.3-601.3), P <.001]. At multivariate logistic regression analysis, independent predictors associated with higher risk of poor myocardial reperfusion (STR <70%) were: NT-proBNP (OR 1.17, 95%CI 1.04-1.31, P = .009), diabetes mellitus (OR 1.87, 95%CI 1.14-3.07, P = .013), anterior infarct location (OR 2.74, 95% CI 2.00-3.77, P <.001), time to intervention (OR 1.06, 95%CI 1.01-1.11, P = .021), randomisation to placebo (OR 1.45, 95%CI 1.05-1.99, P = .022). Conclusions: In STEMI patients, higher baseline NT-proBNP level was independently associate with higher risk of poor myocardial reperfusion, supporting the potential use of NT-proBNP as an early marker for risk stratification of myocardial reperfusion after pPCI in STEMI patients
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The 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
ULTrasound-guided TRAnsfemoral puncture in COmplex Large bORe PCI: study protocol of the UltraCOLOR trial
INTRODUCTION: Although recently published evidence favours transradial access (TRA) when using large-bore guiding catheters for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of complex coronary lesions, the femoral artery will still be used in a considerate proportion of patients undergoing complex PCI, especially in PCI of chronic total occlusions (CTO). Ultrasound-guided puncture of the femoral artery may reduce clinically relevant access site complications, but robust evidence is lacking up to date. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A total of 542 patients undergoing complex PCI, defined as PCI of CTO, complex bifurcation, heavy calcified lesion or left main, in which the 7-F or 8-F transfemoral access is required, will be randomised to ultrasound-guided puncture or fluoroscopy-guided puncture. The primary outcome is the incidence of the composite end-point of clinically relevant access site related bleeding and/or vascular complications requiring intervention. Access site complications and major adverse cardiovascular events up to 1 month will also be compared between both groups. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval for the study was granted by the local Ethics Committee (‘Medisch Ethische Toetsing Commissie Isala Zwolle’) for all Dutch sites, ‘Comité Medische Ethiek Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg’ for Hospital Oost-Limburg, ‘Comité d’éthique CHU-Charleroi—ISPPC’ for Centre Hospilatier Universitaire de Charleroi and ‘Ethik Kommission de Ärztekammer Nordrhein’ for Elisabeth-Krankenhaus). The trial outcomes will be published in peer-reviewed journals of the concerned literature. The ultrasound guided transfemoral access in complex large bore PCI trial has been administered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database, reference number: NCT03846752. REGISTRATION DETAILS: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03846752
Variations on the Author
“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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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