Atrial Fibrillation Ablation in Heart Failure With Reduced vs Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Importance: Catheter ablation is associated with reduced heart failure (HF) hospitalization and death in select patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). However, the benefit in patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is uncertain.

Objective: To investigate whether catheter ablation for AF is associated with reduced HF-related outcomes according to HF phenotype.

Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists and atrial fibrillation: a meta-analysis of clinical trials.

Background And Aims: Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) improve cardiovascular outcomes in a variety of settings. This study aimed to assess whether cardioprotective effects of MRAs are modified by heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) status and to study their impact on AF events.

Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central databases were searched to 24 March 2023 for randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy of MRAs as compared with placebo or usual care in reducing cardiovascular outcomes and AF events in patients with or at risk for cardiovascular diseases.

Spermatic vein thrombosis as a rare cause of testicular pain - review of the literature.

Introduction: The authors in this paper discuss a rare disease entity that can cause testicular pain and mimic varicocele.

Material And Methods: Citing data from a review of the world literature, spermatic cord thrombosis is most often misdiagnosed as an incarcerated inguinal hernia. Patients usually complain of pain and swelling of the testicle, pain in the inguinal region, and sometimes a palpable mass in the inguinal region.

Non-metallic foreign bodies - diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties.

<b>Introduction:</b> The management of wounds with possible presence of a foreign body can pose major problems, especially for bodies that cannot be seen in X-ray scans. The most common materials of this type include wood and glass. The size of the foreign body is also important.

Surgical items retained in the abdominal cavity in diagnostic imaging tests: a series of 10 cases and literature review.

Despite improvements in the safety of surgical procedures, leaving a foreign object in a patient's body is still one of the complications of surgical procedures. The literature lacks an analysis of the effectiveness of specific diagnostic tests in detecting foreign objects. The authors present a discussion of the effectiveness of selected techniques and examples of the appearance of foreign bodies in radiological images based on the description of 10 cases.

Operative material left in the abdominal cavity during surgical procedures.

The authors present seven cases of surgical drape left in body cavities during surgical operations. The most common symptoms reported by these patients are analysed and the consequences of leaving a foreign body in the abdominal cavity are summarised. In the majority of cases, the time elapsed from the operation to the detection of the foreign body was an average of 17 months.

Lung clearance index predicts persistence of preschool wheeze.

Background: The lung clearance index (LCI) is a measure of pulmonary function. Variable feasibility (50->80%) in preschool children has been reported. There are limited studies exploring its relationship to respiratory symptoms and how it predicts persistent wheeze.

Newly developed multiple-breath washout reference equations from the CHILD Cohort Study: implications of poorly fitting equations.

https://bit.ly/3dcNZ5p.

Persistent ventilation inhomogeneity after an acute exacerbation in preschool children with recurrent wheezing.

Background: Preschool children with recurrent wheezing suffer high morbidity. It is unclear whether objective measures of asthma control, such as pulmonary function tests (PFTs), provide additional information to the clinical assessment.

Methods: We recruited children between 3 and 6 years old, with a history of recurrent wheezing in the preceding year and treated for acute wheezing exacerbation in the emergency department (ED) into an observational cohort study.

Assessing the feasibility of hyperpolarized Xe multiple-breath washout MRI in pediatric cystic fibrosis.

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of hyperpolarized Xe multiple-breath washout MRI in pediatric cystic fibrosis (CF) participants with preserved lung function. Fractional ventilation (r), defined as the fractional gas replacement per breath, was mapped using 2 signal models: (1) constant T and (2) variable T as a function of the hyperpolarized gas washout.

Methods: A total of 17 pediatric participants were recruited (mean age 11.

Pharmacoeconomic evaluation of costs of rheumatoid arthritis therapy with selected biological treatment.

Objectives: Among autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common chronic inflammatory disease of the joints. Its pathogenesis is still not fully understood, but the gained knowledge has contributed to the development of modern treatment. The introduction of biological therapy for RA has been a breakthrough in the standard approach to the treatment of this disease.

Lung clearance index is elevated in young children with symptom-controlled asthma.

Background: Pulmonary function testing has been recommended as an adjunct to symptom monitoring for assessment of asthma control. Lung clearance index (LCI) measures ventilation inhomogeneity and is thought to represent changes in the small airways. It has been proposed as a useful early marker of airway disease in asthmatic subjects, and determining it is feasible in preschool children.

Pharmacoeconomic evaluation of treatment effectiveness with selected biologic treatment in rheumatoid arthritis therapy.

Objectives: Modern treatment of autoimmune diseases is becoming increasingly widely used. We owe it to the continuous and rapid development of biotechnology, molecular biology, immunology, and biochemistry. The proven effectiveness of biological therapy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) should result in its widespread use.

Ventilation inhomogeneity in infants with recurrent wheezing.

Background: The care of infants with recurrent wheezing relies largely on clinical assessment. The lung clearance index (LCI), a measure of ventilation inhomogeneity, is a sensitive marker of early airway disease in children with cystic fibrosis, but its utility has not been explored in infants with recurrent wheezing.

Objective: To assess ventilation inhomogeneity using LCI among infants with a history of recurrent wheezing compared with healthy controls.

Reference equations for the interpretation of forced expiratory and plethysmographic measurements in infants.

Background: Pulmonary function testing is commonly performed for diagnosis and clinical management of respiratory diseases. It is important to use appropriate reference equations from healthy subjects for interpretation of data from infants with lung disease. This study aimed to determine if published reference equations were similar to forced flow measures and plethysmographic infant pulmonary function testing data collected in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study.

Changes in multiple breath washout measures after raised volume rapid thoracoabdominal compression maneuvers in infants.

Multiple breath inert gas washout (MBW) measurements in infants are performed supine and often obtained under sedation and thus are combined with other lung function tests such as raised volume rapid thoracoabdominal compression (RVRTC). In this study, we sought to determine the effects of RVRTC maneuvers on MBW measures. Compared with tests performed prior to RVRTC, MBW measured after RVRTC was associated with a small reduction in functional residual capacity and a more pronounced decrease in cumulative expired volume in both healthy children and children with obstructive lung disease (cystic fibrosis or recurrent wheeze) indicating a more efficient washout after the raised volume maneuvers.