Lancet
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Multicenter Study
Deceleration capacity of heart rate as a predictor of mortality after myocardial infarction: cohort study.
Decreased vagal activity after myocardial infarction results in reduced heart-rate variability and increased risk of death. To distinguish between vagal and sympathetic factors that affect heart-rate variability, we used a signal-processing algorithm to separately characterise deceleration and acceleration of heart rate. We postulated that diminished deceleration-related modulation of heart rate is an important prognostic marker. Our prospective hypotheses were that deceleration capacity is a better predictor of risk than left-ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN). ⋯ Impaired heart rate deceleration capacity is a powerful predictor of mortality after myocardial infarction and is more accurate than LVEF and the conventional measures of heart-rate variability.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Aminophylline in bradyasystolic cardiac arrest: a randomised placebo-controlled trial.
Endogenous adenosine might cause or perpetuate bradyasystole. Our aim was to determine whether aminophylline, an adenosine antagonist, increases the rate of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. ⋯ Although aminophylline increases non-sinus tachyarrhythmias, we noted no evidence that it significantly increases the proportion of patients who achieve ROSC after bradyasystolic cardiac arrest.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Effect of albendazole treatments on the prevalence of atopy in children living in communities endemic for geohelminth parasites: a cluster-randomised trial.
Epidemiological studies have shown inverse associations between geohelminth (intestinal helminth) infection and atopy, leading to the suggestion that geohelminths might protect against allergy. Periodic deworming of school children with anthelmintics is a widely implemented intervention and has raised concerns that such programmes could increase allergy. We investigated the effect of repeated anthelmintic treatments with albendazole over 12 months on the prevalence of atopy and clinical indices of allergy. ⋯ We saw no increase in the prevalence of atopy or clinical allergy associated with albendazole treatment. Deworming programmes for schoolchildren are unlikely to be accompanied by an increase in allergy.