Articles Related to Heart Failure

Investigate the use of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in cancer patients with heart failure (HF); assess factors associated with ischemic and non-ischemic HF. Many newer cancer therapies are cardiotoxic; thus, the incidence of HF has been increasing in this high-risk patient population. CRT has beneficial effects on morbidity, mortality, and left ventricular function in patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, yet cancer patients and survivors who develop severe HF and are eligible for CRT often does not receive it.

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In developed countries, around 3-5% of the people could be identified as chronic complex patients, and they are increasingly at risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) and cognitive impairment. The main objective of this study was to present the current findings on the association between AF and cognitive impairment and mortality risk among chronic complex outpatients (CCP). A multicenter and prospective cohort study of mortality incidence was carried out from 1 January 2013 to 30 September 2016 in a sample of 932 adult patients registered as CCP. To predict hazard ratios, mean survival time, and survival probabilities, a multivariate Cox regression was used.

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Methamphetamine is one of the most commonly abused illegal stimulants and causes the release of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. These neurotransmitters trigger vasospasm, causing persistent tachycardia, hypertension, and direct myocardial toxicity. Moderate usage of methamphetamine can increase cardiac output and myocardial contractility. However, larger doses can cause depression of the myocardium.

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Heart failure (HF) is a complex clinical syndrome, of a progressive character, that has a limited prognostic factor and manifested by various extracardiac aspects. It represents a serious and growing public health problem worldwide, both for its high prevalence and the severity of its clinical manifestations, being the final common pathway of most diseases. Undernutrition is often associated with HF, especially in the later stages of the disease, and may chronically reach cardiac cachexia, a severe manifestation related to poor clinical prognosis.

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Opinion is divided as to the changes in ventricular function brought about by exercise, with few studies on water-based exercise programmes for heart-failure patients. This study investigates whether following a partial water-based exercise programme could lead to an earlier improvement in ventricular function in heart-failure patients compared with a land-based exercise programme.

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New analytic methods based on nonlinear system theory have been developed to characterize the nonlinear features in HR dynamics. It is known from long time series (24h ECG recordings) that patients with chronic heart failure or stable coronary heart disease have altered fractal organization in heartbeat dynamics. During such long-time series, many confounding could limit the assessment of autonomic functions.

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