1,720,963 research outputs found
Infective endocarditis complicating COVID-19 pneumonia: a case report
No full textDuring the COVID-19 outbreak, cardiovascular imaging, especially transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE), may expose healthcare personnel to virus contamination and should be performed only if strictly necessary. On the other hand, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and TOE represent the first-line imaging exams for the diagnosis of infective endocarditis (IE). To date, this is the first case of COVID-19 complicated by IE
Safety and efficacy of very low LDL-cholesterol intensive lowering: a meta-analysis and meta-regression of randomized trials
No full textWe performed a study-level meta-analysis to provide more robust evidence on safety of very low LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels
Usefulness of a multiparametric evaluation including global longitudinal strain for an early diagnosis of acute myocarditis
Full text linkCardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) represents the main imaging modality for diagnosing acute myocarditis. However, its limited availability could entail missing or delayed diagnosis. A reduction of left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV GLS) by speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) correlates with amount of oedema in acute myocarditis and here may be early detected. Aim was to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic role of 3-layers LV GLS in patients with acute myocarditis. Out of 122 patients with suspected acute myocarditis, a total of 86 consecutive patients with CMRI-confirmed acute myocarditis admitted in two Italian institutions were retrospectively screened. Exclusion criteria were met in 29 patients because of poor acoustic window or missing data. A total of 57 patients were then included. Clinical characteristics, laboratory examinations, transthoracic echocardiography data and STE parameters were collected early after hospitalization. In the study population, mean age was 38.8 +/- 15.6 years, the prevalence of male gender was 90%. On admission, 22 patients (39%) had fever (body temperature > 37.5 degrees), mean white blood cell (WBC) count was 10.9 +/- 1.7/103 and overall LV ejection fraction was 50.1% +/- 11.2. An epicardial LV GLS 10.0/103 was able to identify all patients with CMRI-diagnosed acute myocarditis. An epicardial LV GLS < 15.3% (absolute value) at baseline significantly predicted the lack of myocarditis resolution during follow-up (AUC 0.76, 95% CI 0.58-0.93, p = 0.02). A multiparametric model including epicardial LV GLS, fever and elevated WBC count on admission could be useful for early diagnosing an acute myocarditis, especially when CMRI is not promptly available. Baseline epicardial LV GLS may also identify patients with less-likely myocarditis resolution
Wearable defibrillator to improve accuracy in selecting candidates to implantable defibrillator: A real‐world experience
No full textAims: The indication for implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for sudden cardiac death (SCD) prevention relies mostly on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 35%. The use of a wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) in the case of dynamic alterations of LVEF may help avoid an improper early ICD implant when a favourable evolution in the post-acute phase is observed and may help reduce costs. Methods: This parallel cohort retrospective study included patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) at high risk of arrhythmias recruited in the acute phase and divided into an early ICD cohort and a WCD cohort for primary prevention during the waiting period established by European Society of Cardiology guidelines. Results: A total of 41 consecutive patients were enrolled: 26 in the WCD group and 15 in the early ICD group. Age, LVEF at baseline, causes of HFrEF and drug therapy in the two cohorts were similar. During the waiting period after the inclusion, three patients (11.5%) in the WCD cohort and four (26.7%) in the early ICD cohort developed relevant ventricular arrhythmias (P = 0.22); none of them had subsequent LVEF recovery. At the end of the waiting period, 13 patients (50%) in the WCD group and 7 (46.7%) in the early ICD group experienced LVEF recovery (P = 0.84). The average cost per patient at the end of the waiting period was €23 934 in the early ICD cohort versus €19 167 in the WCD cohort (−19.9%). This cost savings from WCD use appears even higher when projected over a 10 year period (−41.2%). Conclusions: WCD may represent a cost-effective strategy to more accurately select candidates for the primary prevention ICD implant among high-risk patients with HFrEF. ICD use provides effective protection from SCD and reduces costs compared with an extensive early ICD implant
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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe 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
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Early effects of left bundle branch area pacing on ventricular activation by speckle tracking echocardiography
No full textBackground Left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) is an emerging cardiac pacing modality that preserves fast electrical activation of the ventricles and provides very good electrical measures. Little is known on mechanical ventricular activation during this pacing modality.Methods We prospectively enrolled patients receiving LBBAP. Electrocardiographic and electrical parameters were evaluated at implantation, < 24 h and 3 months. Transthoracic echocardiography with strain analysis was performed at baseline and after 3 months, when ventricular mechanical activation and synchrony were analyzed by time-to-peak standard deviation (TPSD) of strain curves for both ventricles. Intraventricular left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony was investigated by LV TPSD and interventricular dyssynchrony by left ventricle-right ventricle TPSD (LV-RV TPSD).Results We screened 58 patients with permanent pacing indication who attempted LBBAP. Procedural success was obtained in 56 patients (97%). Strain data were available in 50 patients. QRS duration was 124.1 +/- 30.7 ms at baseline, while paced QRS duration was 107.7 +/- 13.6 ms (p < 0.001). At 3 months after LBBAP, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) increased from 52.9 +/- 10.6% at baseline to 56.9 +/- 8.4% (p = 0.004) and both intraventricular LV dyssynchrony and interventricular dyssynchrony significantly improved (LV TPSD reduction from 38.2 (13.6-53.9) to 15.1 (8.3-31.5), p < 0.001; LV-RV TPSD from 27.9 (10.2-41.5) to 13.9 (4.3-28.7), p = 0.001). Ameliorations with LBBAP were consistent in all subgroups, irrespective of baseline QRS duration, types of intraventricular conduction abnormalities, and LVEF.Conclusions Echocardiographic strain analysis shows that LBBAP determines a fast and synchronous biventricular contraction with a stereotype mechanical activation, regardless of baseline QRS duration, pattern, and LV function
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