Circulation. Heart failure
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Anxiety sensitivity moderates prognostic importance of rhythm-control versus rate-control strategies in patients with atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure: insights from the Atrial Fibrillation and Congestive Heart Failure Trial.
Patients with high anxiety sensitivity (AS) become extremely anxious with heart rate increases, palpitations, and symptoms of psychological arousal. AS predicts panic attacks. In atrial fibrillation (AF), AS correlates with symptom preoccupation and reduced quality of life. We assessed whether AS is associated with outcomes of rhythm-control versus rate-control in congestive heart failure (CHF) patients with AF. ⋯ URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT88597077.
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Experimental cell therapy attenuates maladaptive cardiac remodeling and improves heart function. Paracrine mechanisms have been proposed. The effect of cell therapy on post infarction cardiac fibroblast and extracellular matrix (ECM) regulation was examined. ⋯ Extracellular matrix dysregulation post myocardial infarction is improved by cell therapy. These data suggest that cell transplantation attenuates myofibroblast activation and subsequent maladaptive structural chamber remodeling through paracrine mechanisms involving bFGF and TIMP-2.