European journal of clinical investigation
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Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Dec 2020
Adiposity and physical activity are related to heart rate variability: The African-PREDICT study.
Physical inactivity contributes significantly to the development of obesity-related cardiovascular disease. Adiposity may lead to reduced heart rate variability (HRV), whereas increased physical activity (PA) has the potential to improve autonomic activity. These associations remain largely unexplored in healthy individuals. We therefore investigated whether adiposity and physical activity (PA) are associated with reduced heart rate variability (HRV) in young adults. ⋯ Adiposity and low PA associated independently with depressed autonomic activity in young healthy adults. Sympathovagal imbalance seems to already contribute to elevated diastolic BP at young ages. Our study supports population-based prevention programmes in young adults, improving PA and healthy diet, to curb the development of cardiovascular disease.
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Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Dec 2020
Multicenter Study Observational StudyClinical characteristics and prognosis of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with incident sustained tachyarrhythmias: a multicenter observational study.
Little is still known about the prognostic impact of incident arrhythmias in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence and predictors of sustained tachyarrhythmias in hospitalized patients with COVID-19, and their potential association with disease severity and in-hospital mortality. ⋯ AF is the more frequent incident tachyarrhythmia; however, it not seems associated to ARDS development and death. On the other hand, incident VT is a not frequent but independent predictor of in-hospital mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
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Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Dec 2020
ReviewRheumatic Heart Disease anno 2020: Impacts of gender and migration on epidemiology and management.
The epidemiology and management of diseases can be influenced by social demographic factors. Gender and migration are among these factors. ⋯ There are contradicting results for outcomes after PBMV between males and females. It is not clear whether sex difference plays a role in pathophysiology, diagnosis, management and prognosis of MS. Migration has impacts on epidemiology and management of RHD. Further studies are required in these two fields to explore their relationship to RHD.
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Epigenetic events involving the methylation of CpG cites in DNA, histone modifications and noncoding RNAs correlated with many essential processes in human cells and diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins)-the LDL cholesterol-lowering drugs-are broadly used in cardio- and cerebro-vascular diseases. It is well established that statins exert pleiotropic functions, but how they exert effects on epigenetic modifications independently of HMG-CoA reductase inhibition is not yet clear. Thereby, understanding these mechanisms may pave the way for further clinical application of statin therapy. ⋯ This review suggests that the epigenetic effects of statins mediate, at least in part, the pleiotropic actions of these drugs but further validation of such effects in clinical studies is yet to be provided.