Granger causality connectivity analysis of persistent atrial fibrillation dynamics reveals posterior wall mechanistic insights.

Background: Adjunctive posterior wall isolation (PWI) to pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) has not demonstrated convincing benefit during atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. To provide mechanistic insight for null PWI trials, we undertook Granger causality (GC) analysis of noncontact left atrial (LA) electroanatomic maps.

Objective: This study aimed to apply GC to intracardiac electrograms to uncover patient-specific AF dynamics and describe a proof-of-concept approach to targeted PWI after PVI.

Characteristics of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency related lung disease exacerbations using a daily symptom diary and urinary biomarkers.

Background: Pulmonary exacerbations in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) related lung disease are a significant contributor to disease burden, as with usual COPD. Separating the early stages of an exacerbation from the day-to-day variation in stable COPD is central to the concerns of both clinicians and patients and has been identified as a research priority by NIHR. Clinical tools that distinguish baseline symptoms from those of an exacerbation could allow early and appropriate treatment of AECOPD to reduce the impact and potentially may slow disease progression thereby improving survival and quality of life.

Effect of temporal frequency on habituation in migraine.

Individuals with migraine tend to experience discomfort when viewing flickering stimuli. It has been suggested that one of the characteristics of migraine is a lack of habituation to repetitive visual stimuli, although findings can be mixed. Previous work has typically used similar visual stimuli (chequerboard) and only one temporal frequency.

Improvement in visual perception after high-frequency transcranial random noise stimulation (hf-tRNS) in those with migraine: An equivalent noise approach.

Migraine is a common neurological disorder with strong links to vision. Interictal migraine is thought to be characterised by internal noise in the brain, possibly due to increased variability in neural firing, which can be estimated using equivalent noise tasks. High-frequency transcranial random noise stimulation (hf-tRNS) can be used to modulate levels of internal noise in the brain, and so presents a possible therapy to redress noise levels in the migraine brain.

Improving the Quality of Dentistry (IQuaD): a cluster factorial randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness and cost-benefit of oral hygiene advice and/or periodontal instrumentation with routine care for the prevention and management of periodontal disease in dentate adults attending dental primary care.

Background: Periodontal disease is preventable but remains the most common oral disease worldwide, with major health and economic implications. Stakeholders lack reliable evidence of the relative clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different types of oral hygiene advice (OHA) and the optimal frequency of periodontal instrumentation (PI).

Objectives: To test clinical effectiveness and assess the economic value of the following strategies: personalised OHA versus routine OHA, 12-monthly PI (scale and polish) compared with 6-monthly PI, and no PI compared with 6-monthly PI.

Investigating Head Movements Induced by 'Riloid' Patterns in Migraine and Control Groups Using a Virtual Reality Display.

Certain striped patterns can induce illusory motion, such as those used in op-art. The visual system and the vestibular system work together closely, and so it is possible that illusory motion from a visual stimulus can result in uncertainty in the vestibular system. This increased uncertainty may be measureable in terms of the magnitude of head movements.