Cardiology Journal 2010, tom 17, nr 5

Al-Mallah et al. [1] present in the current issue of Cardiology Journal a new meta-analysis studying the impact of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) on the incidence of new onset diabetes mellitus (DM). In 18 carefully selected randomized controlled trials, they report this endpoint with ACEI or ARB therapy vs comparators in more than 100,000 patients...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) may result in endocardial endothelium dysfunction. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the plasma concentration of endothelin-1 (ET-1) during persistent AF and after sinus rhythm recovery following direct-current cardioversion and to assess the predictive value of ET-1 in AF patients...

The ‘pill in the pocket’ concept is an established therapy for atrial fibrillation. The current guidelines for the management of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction endorse the concept that faster time to reperfusion is associated with important reductions in morbidity and mortality. The mechanical reperfusion and outcome of these patients is significantly supported by dual antiplatelet therapy...

Autonomic dysregulation (also called diencephalic epilepsy) has been reported following traumatic brain injuries (TBI). However, until now, postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) has not been reported as a long-term complication in patients who have suffered a TBI. We report on a series of patients who developed POTS after suffering TBI...

The identification of a good prognostic factor of neurological outcome after cardiac arrest is needed. S-100B protein seems to be a promising early predictor of brain damage...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of pacemaker diagnostic function in diagnosing ventricular arrhythmias. Methods: We compared the occurrence of ventricular ectopic beats in 51 simultaneous 24-hour electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings and pacemaker event counters printouts...

Alexander Samoylov (Fig. 1) was born on 27 March, 1867, in Odessa. After completing gymnasium school, he began at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics in Novorossiisk University, but before graduating changed his mind in favor of medicine. He enrolled in the medical faculty at the University of Derpt (now Tartu) and graduated in 1892 as a Doctor of Medicine...

In familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (FHC), asymmetric left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy has been considered to be the predominant phenotypic expression, whereas right ventricular (RV) involvement is still ambiguous. In most cases, the right ventricle remains unaffected until secondary pulmonary hypertension develops...

The histamine I receptor antagonist diphenhydramine is a freely available, over the counter medication for sleep and the most frequently used antihistamine drug. It inhibits the fast sodium channels and, at higher concentrations, the repolarising potassium channels, particularly Ikr which leads to prolongation of the action potential and the QT interval...

Cocaine has become the most frequently used illicit drug among patients presenting to emergency departments worldwide. Although acute myocardial infarction is the most common reported cardiovascular manifestation in this setting, there are many other potential cardiotoxic effects of cocaine use including coronary artery spasm, arrhythmia, and sudden death....