Journal of the American Heart Association
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Comparative Study
Trends in early aspirin use among patients with acute myocardial infarction in China, 2001-2011: the China PEACE-Retrospective AMI study.
Aspirin is an effective, safe, and inexpensive early treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with few barriers to administration, even in countries with limited healthcare resources. However, the rates and recent trends of aspirin use for the early treatment of AMI in China are unknown. ⋯ ClinicalTrials.gov Unique identifier: NCT01624883.
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Comparative Study
Ischemic heart disease diagnosed before sudden cardiac arrest is independently associated with improved survival.
Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a significant public health problem, and rates of survival after resuscitation remain well below 10%. While several resuscitation-related factors are consistently associated with survival from SCA, the impact of specific comorbid conditions has not been assessed. ⋯ An established diagnosis of coronary artery disease was associated with 50% higher odds of survival from resuscitated SCA after adjustment for all arrest-related predictors. These findings raise novel potential mechanistic insights into survival after SCA, while highlighting the importance of early recognition and treatment of coronary artery disease.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Clinical preventability of 30-day readmission after percutaneous coronary intervention.
Early readmission after PCI is an important contributor to healthcare expenditures and a target for performance measurement. The extent to which 30-day readmissions after PCI are preventable is unknown yet essential to minimizing their occurrence. ⋯ Nearly half of 30-day readmissions after PCI may have been prevented by changes in clinical decision-making. Focusing on these readmissions may reduce readmission rates.
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Comparative Study Controlled Clinical Trial
Relative roles of CD90 and c-kit to the regenerative efficacy of cardiosphere-derived cells in humans and in a mouse model of myocardial infarction.
The regenerative potential of cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) for ischemic heart disease has been demonstrated in mice, rats, pigs, and a recently completed clinical trial (CADUCEUS). CDCs are CD105(+) stromal cells of intrinsic cardiac origin, but the antigenic characteristics of the active fraction remain to be defined. CDCs contain a small minority of c-kit(+) cells, which have been argued to be cardiac progenitors, and a variable fraction of CD90(+) cells whose bioactivity is unclear. ⋯ The majority population of CDCs (CD105(+)/CD90(-)/c-kit(-)) constitutes the active fraction, both in terms of therapeutic efficacy and in the ability to undergo cardiomyogenic differentiation. The c-kit(+) fraction is neither necessary for, nor contributory to, the regenerative efficacy of CDCs.
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In 2009, the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure program enhanced the standard recognition of hospitals by offering additional recognition if hospitals performed well on certain quality measures. We sought to determine whether initiation of this enhanced recognition opportunity led to acceleration in quality of care for all hospitals participating in the program. ⋯ A program providing expanded hospital recognition for heart failure had mixed results in accelerating the use of 9 quality measures.