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The WEAICOR (Wearables to Investigate the Long Term Cardiovascular and Behavioral Impacts of COVID-19) study was a prospective observational study that used continuous monitoring to detect and analyze biometrics. Compliance to wearables was a major challenge when conducting the study and was crucial for the results. The aim of this study was to evaluate patients' compliance to wearable wristbands and determinants of compliance in a prospective COVID-19 cohort. The Biostrap (Biostrap USA LLC) wearable device was used to monitor participants' biometric data. Compliance was calculated by dividing the total number of days in which transmissions were sent by the total number of days spent in the WEAICOR study. Univariate correlation analyses were performed, with compliance and days spent in the study as dependent variables and age, BMI, sex, symptom severity, and the number of complications or comorbidities as independent variables. Multivariate linear regression was then performed, with days spent in the study as a dependent variable, to assess the power of different parameters in determining the number of days patients spent in the study. A total of 122 patients were included in this study. Patients were on average aged 41.32 years, and 46 (38%) were female. Age was found to correlate with compliance (r=0.23; P=.01). In addition, age (r=0.30; P=.001), BMI (r=0.19; P=.03), and the severity of symptoms (r=0.19; P=.03) were found to correlate with days spent in the WEAICOR study. Per our multivariate analysis, in which days spent in the study was a dependent variable, only increased age was a significant determinant of compliance with wearables (adjusted R =0.1; β=1.6; P=.01). Compliance is a major obstacle in remote monitoring studies, and the reasons for a lack of compliance are multifactorial. Patient factors such as age, in addition to environmental factors, can affect compliance to wearables.

Purpose of review To summarize the expanding role of artificial intelligence (AI) in cardiac electrophysiology. Recent findings AI is uniquely powered to integrate variable data-streams and consider complex non-linear relationships. Deep learning algorithms can consider aspects in data with unappreciated relevance in order to produce results that are impossible with other methods. The wide adoption of wearable technologies necessitated the development of accurate algorithms to identify cardiac rhythms. Similarly, algorithms use electrocardiograms to make arrhythmic diagnosis, localize arrhythmias, and uncover pathologies such as contractile dysfunction or valvular disease. AI use in imaging and intracardiac electrogram interpretation may enhance efficiency and reproducibility. AI dramatically improves prognostication including for sudden cardiac death, response to catheter ablations, and cardiac resynchronization therapy. AI also holds promise to potentially guide catheter ablation of the future. Summary AI may improve availability, accuracy, and efficiency of electrophysiologic treatments as well as aid in translational research. Ethical and legal challenges will need to be addressed.

BackgroundCatheter ablation is recognized as an effective treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF). Despite its effectiveness, significant sex-specific differences have been observed, which influence the outcomes of the procedure. This study explores these differences in a cohort of patients with persistent AF. We aim to assess sex differences in baseline characteristics, symptoms, quality of life, imaging findings, and response to catheter ablation in patients with persistent AF.MethodsThis post hoc analysis of the DECAAF II trial evaluated 815 patients (161 females, 646 males). Between July 2016 and January 2020, participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either personalized ablation targeting left atrial (LA) fibrosis using DE-MRI in conjunction with pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) or PVI alone. In this analysis, we aimed to compare female and male patients in the full cohort in terms of demographics, risk factors, medications, and outcomes such as AF recurrence, AF burden, LA volume reduction assessed by LGE-MRI before and 3 months after ablation, quality of life assessed by the SF-36 score, and safety outcomes. Statistical methods included t-tests, chi-square, and multivariable Cox regression.ResultsFemales were generally older with more comorbidities and experienced higher rates of arrhythmia recurrence post-ablation (53.3% vs. 40.2%, p < 0.01). Females also showed a higher AF burden (21% vs. 16%, p < 0.01) and a smaller reduction in left atrial volume indexed to body surface area post-ablation compared to male patients (8.36 (9.94) vs 11.35 (13.12), p-value 0.019). Quality of life scores were significantly worse in females both pre- and post-ablation (54 vs. 66 pre-ablation; 69 vs. 81 post-ablation, both p < 0.01), despite similar improvements across sexes. Safety outcomes and procedural parameters were similar between male and female patients.ConclusionThe study highlights significant differences in the outcomes of catheter ablation of persistent AF between sexes, with female patients showing worse quality of life, higher recurrence of AF and AF burden after ablation, and worse LA remodeling.

The search for novel xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitors with a higher therapeutic activity and fewer side effects are desired not only to treat gout but also to combat various other diseases associated with the XO activity. At present, the potential of developing successful natural products for the management of XO-related diseases is still largely unexplored. In the present study, we have screened the methanolic extracts of various Jordanian medicinal plants for their XO inhibitory activities using an optimized protocol. The methanolic extracts of 23 medicinal plants, belonging to 12 families, were tested in vitro, at 200 μg/ml concentrations, for their XO inhibitory potential. The dose-dependent inhibition profiles of the most active plants were further evaluated by estimating the IC(50) values of their corresponding extracts. Six plants were found most active (% inhibition more than 39%). These plants are Salvia spinosa L. (IC(50) = 53.7 μg/ml), Anthemis palestina Boiss. (168.0 μg/ml), Chrysanthemum coronarium L. (199.5 μg/ml), Achillea biebersteinii Afansiev (360.0 μg/ml), Rosmarinus officinalis L. (650.0 μg/ml), and Ginkgo biloba L. (595.8 μg/ml). Moreover, four more plants, namely Lavandula angustifolia Mill. (28.7% inhibition), Helianthemum ledifolium (L.) Mill. (28.4%), Majorana syriaca (L.) Kostel. (25.1%), and Mentha spicata L. (22.5%) showed a XO inhibitory activity in the range of 22-30%. The study showed that many of the tested plant species are potential sources of natural XO inhibitors that can be developed, upon further investigation, into successful herbal drugs for treatment of gout and other XO-related disorders.

Editor: The full-page article in last week's Faith & Values section will probably mislead many unsuspecting or uncritical readers into thinking that the existence of God can be proven scientifically, or that religion and science belong in the same domain. In fact, all the books you mention are a testimony to the opposite. Instead of flat-out denying evolution, their authors resort to a misapplication of the theory of probabilities (the old hackneyed argument of the tornado through the junkyard with a Boeing 747 as a result), and mix apples and oranges to attempt to demonstrate that which any legitimate scientist will readily admit to being simply undemonstrable. Editor: Bill Hendrick's \"Making the case for a helping hand\" in Faith & Values (Dec. 13) was severely unbalanced. As Paul Kurtz, the only reputable scholar named in the article, could have told Hendrick, the pseudoscientific publishing trend discussed is seen as absurd by \"most\" scientists, not just by Kurtz. The conclusions Michael Behe, Dean Overman and others draw are not merely \"displeasing, \" they are fundamentally unscientific. Neither the ability to generate lots of equations nor his membership in MENSA makes Overman a genius; neither fact makes him correct, either.