November, 2024

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ECG Blog #457 — Is Anything Conducting?

Ken Grauer, MD

I was sent the ECG shown in Figure-1 — told only that that it was from an acutely ill patient on a ventilator, who was being evaluated for bradycardia. His providers thought this rhythm was complete AV block. QUESTIONS: How would you interpret the ECG in Figure-1 ? Is the rhythm complete AV block? Figure-1: The initial ECG in today's case. ( To improve visualization — I've digitized the original ECG using PMcardio ).

Blog 163
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Weight-loss drug found to shrink heart muscle in mice and human cells

Medical Xpress - Cardiology

Trendy weight-loss drugs making headlines for shrinking waistlines may also be shrinking the human heart and other muscles, according to a new University of Alberta study in JACC: Basic to Translational Science. The authors say the research should serve as a "cautionary tale" about possible long-term health effects of these drugs.

Research 143
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Primary care professionals key to helping people achieve & maintain heart health

American Heart News - Heart News

Statement Highlights: A new scientific statement outlines the role of primary care professionals in helping their patients achieve Life's Essential 8, the key measures for improving and maintaining cardiovascular health defined by the American Heart.

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Midlife Choices May Offset Genetic Risk for Dementia, Stroke, Late-Life Depression

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- Healthier lifestyle behaviors in midlife were linked with better outcomes in people with genetic predisposition for age-related brain diseases, longitudinal data from the U.K. Biobank showed. Over about 12 years of follow-up.

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Sitting too long can harm heart health, even for active people

Science Daily - Heart Disease

More time spent sitting, reclining or lying down during the day may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death, according to a new study. More than roughly 10-and-a-half hours of sedentary behavior per day was significantly linked with future heart failure (HF) and cardiovascular (CV) death, even among people meeting recommended levels of exercise.

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Instructor Collection ECG: Anterior M.I. and Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

ECG Guru

The Patient: Sixty-year-old man with a complaint of severe substernal chest pain. Denies hx of M.I., but reports feeling short of breath on exertion for about a year. Hx of hypertension, but admits he is non-compliant with his medication. Appears pale and diaphoretic, BP 110/68. The ECG: The rhythm is sinus at 62 bpm. The QRS is slightly wide at 110 ms (.11 seconds), but still within normal limits.

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ECG Blog #456 — Acute MI or Something Else?

Ken Grauer, MD

Today's case was contributed by Dr. Magnus Nossen ( from Fredrikstad, Norway ). Dr. Nossen was at his computer — reviewing ECGs from patients recently admitted to his group's hospital service. He came across the ECG shown in Figure-1 — obtained from a woman in her 70s who was admitted to the hospital for new CP ( C hest P ain ). QUESTION: How would YOU interpret the ECG in Figure-1 ?

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More Trending

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AI-powered tool may offer quick, no-contact blood pressure and diabetes screening

American Heart News - Heart News

Research Highlights: A preliminary study combining a patent-applied, AI-powered algorithm with a high-speed, 5-to 30-second video of skin on the face and the palm of the hand detected if someone had high blood pressure as well as using a blood.

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Hyperacute T wave or not: do any of these 4 ‘STEMI’ ECGs have Occlusion MI?

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

Written by Jesse McLaren, with edits from Meyers Four patients presented with chest pain or shortness of breath, and ECGs labeled ‘inferior STEMI’. Using principles of hyperacute T waves, do any have inferior occlusion MI? Patient 1 : 60 year old with shortness of breath Patient 2 : 40 year old with chest pain Patient 3 : 65 year old with chest pain Patient 4 : 55 year old, prior inferior MI, with chest pain See this recent post on the new and evolving science of hyperacute T waves, including 1.

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FDA Adds New Warning to GLP-1 Drugs

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- Labels of all GLP-1 receptor agonists now carry a warning about pulmonary aspiration during general anesthesia or deep sedation. The warning affects all treatments containing GLP-1 receptor agonists, including semaglutide (Ozempic.

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Lactate reprograms glioblastoma immunity through CBX3-regulated histone lactylation

Journal of Clinical Investigation - Cardiology

Glioblastoma (GBM), an aggressive brain malignancy with a cellular hierarchy dominated by GBM stem cells (GSCs), evades antitumor immunity through mechanisms that remain incompletely understood. Like most cancers, GBMs undergo metabolic reprogramming toward glycolysis to generate lactate. Here, we show that lactate production by patient-derived GSCs and microglia/macrophages induces tumor cell epigenetic reprogramming through histone lactylation, an activating modification that leads to immunosu

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ECG Blog #455 — VT Until Proven Otherwise?

Ken Grauer, MD

I was asked to interpret the ECG in Figure-1 — told only that this 30-ish year old man had a history of having undergone a number of operations for CHD ( C ongenital H eart D isease ) as a child. QUESTIONS: In Figure-1 — Is the rhythm VT — or — SVT with aberrant conduction — or — potentially neither of these possibilities? IF told that this patient was hypotensive in association with the rhythm in Figure-1 — Does It Matter what the specific etiology of this rhythm is?

Blog 164
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Men at high risk of cardiovascular disease face brain health decline 10 years earlier than women, study finds

Medical Xpress - Cardiology

Men with cardiovascular disease risk factors, including obesity, face brain health decline a decade earlier—from their mid 50s to mid 70s—than similarly affected women who are most susceptible from their mid 60s to mid 70s, suggest the findings of a long term study, published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

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Unexplained changes in cholesterol may help identify older adults at risk for dementia

American Heart News - Heart News

Research Highlights: A study of older adults in Australia and the U.S. indicates that cholesterol levels that fluctuate significantly from year to year without a change in medication may someday help to identify those with a higher risk of developing.

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Should You Take A Statin To Lower Your Cholesterol?

Dr. Paddy Barrett

Let’s start with the fact that this is not a yes or no answer. To answer this question, you need to understand three key factors: What is your baseline risk? Over what time horizon are you looking to reduce risk? What is your attitude toward reducing that risk? Only when you have a clear idea of those three factors can you decide whether or not to take a medication to lower your LDL cholesterol.

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Fitness Level May Offset Genetic Dementia Risk

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- Genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease and dementia appeared to be partly offset by high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, U.K. Biobank data suggested. Overall, high cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with better global.

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World's most common heart valve disease linked to insulin resistance in large national study

Science Daily - Heart Disease

A large new population study of men over 45 indicates insulin resistance may be an important risk factor for the development of the world's most common heart valve disease -- aortic stenosis (AS).

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ECG Blog #458 — Complete Heart Block?

Ken Grauer, MD

I was sent this tracing — and told that providers thought that the rhythm was 3rd-degree ( ie, complete ) AV block. Do YOU agree? Figure-1: The initial ECG in today’s case. NOTE: The tracing in Figure-1 is an 8-lead rhythm strip ( and not a complete 12-lead ECG ). This offers the advantage of providing 8 leads with simultaneously-recorded viewpoints of the same 7 beats that we see in this tracing.

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Gene-screening method identifies cause of heart cell damage from chemotherapy

Medical Xpress - Cardiology

Using a gene-screening method they created, Stanford Medicine researchers may have discovered why an effective chemotherapy damages heart cells—and they have identified a drug that could keep the heart cells beating.

Research 113
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What makes a T-wave Hyperacute? And: 30 Examples of Hyperacute T-waves, 10 in each of 3 myocardial territories.

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

Pendell and I and the geniuses at Powerful Medical (Producers of the PMCardio Queen of Hearts OMI AI app ) are working on an objective, mathematical definition of hyperacute T-waves , based on real OMI outcomes and hyperacute T-wave annotation that has excellent interrater agreement (between me and Pendell), and it will end up being a logistic regression using these 3 variables: 1) area under the curve (AUC) relative to the QRS size 2) increased symmetry , as defined by time from T-wave onset to

Blog 111
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Finding a Role for GLP-1 RAs, Incretin Therapies in Heart Failure, with Muthiah Vaduganathan, MD, MPH

HCPLive

Muthiah Vaduganathan, MD, MPH, discusses the need for cardiology to embrace a role for GLP-1 receptor agonists and incretin therapies, with a focus on obesity-related HFpEF.

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GLP-1 Use Prior to Surgery: Analyzing the Updated Guidance

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- Since the modern practice of anesthesia has evolved, providers have been concerned about pulmonary aspiration -- when gastric contents enter the lung, resulting in severe complications including pneumonitis, and aspiration.

Pulmonary 121
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Popular diabetes and obesity drugs also protect kidneys, study shows

Science Daily - Heart Disease

The biggest and most comprehensive analysis of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists on kidney and cardiovascular outcomes shows they have significant benefits in people with and without diabetes.

Diabetes 113
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Updated guidance reaffirms CPR with breaths essential for cardiac arrest following drowning

American Heart News - Heart News

Updated Guideline Highlights: The American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics update recommendations for untrained lay rescuers and trained rescuers resuscitating adults and children who have drowned. One important update is the.

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Cholesterol may not be the only lipid involved in trans fat-driven cardiovascular disease

Medical Xpress - Cardiology

Excess cholesterol is known to form artery-clogging plaques that can lead to stroke, arterial disease, heart attack, and more, making it the focus of many heart health campaigns. Fortunately, this attention to cholesterol has prompted the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and lifestyle interventions like dietary and exercise regimens.

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Prehospital Cath Lab Activation. What happened when the medics and patient arrived at this Academic ED?

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

This was texted to me by a paramedic while I was out running one day: "54 yo male chest pain started at 1pm. History of diabetes type II and stent placement in 2018. I’m seeing hyperacute T waves III, aVF, down sloping depression I and aVL. Thoughts?" What do you think? I responded: "Definite inferior OMI. And Right Ventricular. Activated the Cath Lab.

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Role of Testing in CSU Diagnosis

HCPLive

Panelists discuss the recommended diagnostic testing for chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), noting that extensive testing is not necessary and that routine blood counts, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), IgG anti-thyroid peroxidase (TPO), and total IgE are adequate, while also addressing the limited role of biopsy; they further explore how disease severity is assessed using tools like Urticaria Activity Score (UAS7) and Urticaria Control Test (UCT).

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Stroke Risk Is Changing With the Climate

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- The world endured its hottest summer on record in 2024, and the transition to fall brought devastation from multiple hurricanes in the U.S. The growing effects of climate change are widespread and becoming more severe. Now, new.

Stroke 124
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The human heart may have a hidden ability to repair itself

Science Daily - Heart Disease

After severe heart failure, the ability of the heart to heal by forming new cells is very low. However, after receiving treatment with a supportive heart pump, the capacity of a damaged heart to repair itself with new muscle cells becomes significantly higher, even higher than in a healthy heart.

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In a small international trial, novel oral medication muvalaplin lowered Lp(a)

American Heart News - Heart News

Research Highlights: The oral medication muvalaplin may safely lower high levels of lipoprotein(a), also known as Lp(a), an independent, inherited risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Muvalaplin is a small molecule inhibitor that prevents the.

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Review highlights racial disparities in sudden cardiac arrest and death among athletes

Medical Xpress - Cardiology

A recent major review of data published by The Lancet and led by Emory sports cardiologist Jonathan Kim, MD, shows that Black athletes are approximately five times more likely to experience sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) compared to white athletes, despite some evidence of a decline in rates of SCD overall. SCA and SCD have historically been a leading cause of mortality among athletes, particularly those involved in high-intensity sports.

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One Of The Biggest Impact Things You Can Do To Live Longer.

Dr. Paddy Barrett

“But what can I do to make a difference?” This is one of the most common questions I get as a cardiologist when talking about preventing heart disease and living longer. As a doctor, there are many things I can do, and only a doctor can do: Prescribe medications Order certain diagnostic tests. Perform or arrange medical procedures. And so on.

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Schizophrenia with Violence Linked to Reduced Left Frontal Gray Matter, Higher TSH

HCPLive

A study found patients with schizophrenia exhibiting violence, vs. those who don’t, have less gray matter volume in the frontal lobe and greater thyroid-stimulating hormone levels.

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Over 50% of U.S. Adults Qualify for Ozempic, Wegovy

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- More than half of all adults in the U.S. are eligible for semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus), researchers estimated. Among 25,531 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2015 to.

Research 122
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Discovery explains kidney damage caused by blood pressure drugs

Science Daily - Heart Disease

Scientists have discovered how long-term treatment of high blood pressure with commonly prescribed drugs can destroy the kidney's ability to filter and purify blood. The finding could open the door to better ways to manage high blood pressure and other vascular diseases.

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Bystander CPR up to 10 minutes after cardiac arrest may protect brain function

American Heart News - Heart News

This news release contains updated information and data not included in the abstract. Research Highlights: The sooner a lay rescuer (bystander) starts cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a person having a cardiac arrest at home or in public, up to.

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Epigenomic biomarkers of cardiometabolic disease: How far are we from daily practice?

Cardiovascular Diabetology

Determining whether someone has cardiometabolic disease (CMD), especially in the early stages, can be complicated. Risk stratification ordinarily depends on an extended process relying on medical history that.