Heart : official journal of the British Cardiac Society
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To assess the clinical utility of the Gold Standards Framework Prognostic Indicator Guide (GSF) and the Seattle Heart Failure Model (SHF) to identify patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) in the last year of life. ⋯ Neither the GSF nor the SHF accurately predicted which patients were in the last year of life. The poor prognostic ability of these models highlights one of the barriers to providing timely palliative care in CHF.
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Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest (COI) is used by biomedical journals to guarantee credibility and transparency of the scientific process. COI disclosure, however, is not systematically nor consistently dealt with by journals. ⋯ This paper provides a comprehensive editorial perspective on classical COI-related issues. New insights into current COI policies and practices among European Society of Cardiology national cardiovascular journals, as derived from a cross-sectional survey using a standardised questionnaire, are discussed.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Remote ischaemic preconditioning reduces myocardial injury in patients undergoing heart valve surgery: randomised controlled trial.
To determine whether remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) is cardioprotective in patients undergoing heart valve replacement. ⋯ These data indicate that RIPC reduces myocardial injury and improves cardiac function in patients undergoing heart valve surgery.
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Comparative Study
Serial measurements of midregion proANP and copeptin in ambulatory patients with heart failure: incremental prognostic value of novel biomarkers in heart failure.
Disease progression in heart failure (HF) reflects derangements in neurohormonal systems, and biomarkers of these systems can help to establish the diagnosis and assess the prognosis. Serial measurements of the precursor peptides of the natriuretic and vasopressin systems (midregional proatrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) and C-terminal provasopressin (copeptin), respectively) should add incremental value to risk stratification in ambulatory patients with HF. ⋯ A strategy of serial monitoring of MR-proANP and, of lesser impact, copeptin, combined with cTnT, may be advantageous in detecting and managing the highest-risk outpatients with HF.
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Comparative Study
Right ventriculo-arterial coupling in pulmonary hypertension: a magnetic resonance study.
To quantify right ventriculo-arterial coupling in pulmonary hypertension by combining standard right heart catheterisation (RHC) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and to estimate it non-invasively with CMR alone. ⋯ Right ventriculo-arterial coupling in pulmonary hypertension can be studied with standard RHC and CMR. Arterial load increases with disease severity whereas contractility cannot progress in parallel, leading to severe uncoupling.