Explore the vast range of titles available.

Background Empagliflozin (empa), a selective sodium–glucose cotransporter (SGLT)2 inhibitor, reduced cardiovascular mortality and hospitalization for heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes at high cardiovascular risk independent of glycemic control. The cardiovascular protective effect of empa was evaluated in an experimental model of metabolic syndrome, the obese ZSF1 rat, and its’ lean control. Methods Lean and obese ZSF1 rats were either non-treated or treated with empa (30 mg/kg/day) for 6 weeks. Vascular reactivity was assessed using mesenteric artery rings, systolic blood pressure by tail-cuff sphygmomanometry, heart function and structural changes by echocardiography, and protein expression levels by Western blot analysis. Results Empa treatment reduced blood glucose levels from 275 to 196 mg/dl in obese ZSF1 rats whereas normoglycemia (134 mg/dl) was present in control lean ZSF1 rats and was unaffected by empa. Obese ZSF1 rats showed increased systolic blood pressure, and blunted endothelium-dependent relaxations associated with the appearance of endothelium-dependent contractile responses (EDCFs) compared to control lean rats. These effects were prevented by the empa treatment. Obese ZSF1 rats showed increased weight of the heart and of the left ventricle volume without the presence of diastolic or systolic dysfunction, which were improved by the empa treatment. An increased expression level of senescence markers (p53, p21, p16), tissue factor, VCAM-1, SGLT1 and SGLT2 and a down-regulation of eNOS were observed in the aortic inner curvature compared to the outer one in the control lean rats, which were prevented by the empa treatment. In the obese ZSF1 rats, no such effects were observed. The empa treatment reduced the increased body weight and weight of lungs, spleen, liver and perirenal fat, hyperglycemia and the increased levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides in obese ZSF1 rats, and increased blood ketone levels and urinary glucose excretion in control lean and obese ZSF1 rats. Conclusion Empa reduced glucose levels by 28% and improved both endothelial function and cardiac remodeling in the obese ZSF1 rat. Empa also reduced the increased expression level of senescence, and atherothrombotic markers at arterial sites at risk in the control lean, but not obese, ZSF1 rat.

The$[X,Y]$ -edge colouring game is played with a set of$k$colours on a graph$G$with initially uncoloured edges by two players, Alice (A) and Bob (B). The players move alternately. Player$X\\in\\{A,B\\}$has the first move.$Y\\in\\{A,B,-\\}$ . If$Y\\in\\{A,B\\}$ , then only player$Y$may skip any move, otherwise skipping is not allowed for any player. A move consists of colouring an uncoloured edge with one of the$k$colours such that adjacent edges have distinct colours. When no more moves are possible, the game ends. If every edge is coloured in the end, Alice wins; otherwise, Bob wins. The$[X,Y]$ -game chromatic index$\\chi_{[X,Y]}'(G)$is the smallest nonnegative integer$k$such that Alice has a winning strategy for the$[X,Y]$ -edge colouring game played on$G$with$k$colours. The graph$G$is called line$[X,Y]$ -perfect if, for any edge-induced subgraph$H$of$G$ , \\[_[X,Y]'(H)=(L(H)),\\] where$\\omega(L(H))$denotes the clique number of the line graph of$H$ . For each of the six possibilities$(X,Y)\\in\\{A,B\\}\\times\\{A,B,-\\}$ , we characterise line$[X,Y]$ -perfect graphs by forbidden (edge-induced) subgraphs and by explicit structural descriptions, respectively.

Background and objectives: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) represents a health and economic burden with consequent healthcare resource utilization. Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have emerged as the mainstay option for VTE treatment but few data exist on their cost-effectiveness as compared to the standard therapy (vitamin K antagonists (VKAs)). This study aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of rivaroxaban compared to VKAs in VTE treatment by calculating the incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER). Materials and methods: We conducted a prospective observational study based on the REMOTEV registry, including patients hospitalized for VTE from 23 October 2013 to 31 July 2015, to evaluate the impact of the anticoagulant treatment (DOACs versus VKAs) on 6-month complications: major or clinically relevant non-major bleeding, VTE recurrence and all-cause death. Rivaroxaban was the only DOAC prescribed in this study. The ICER was calculated as the difference in costs divided by the difference in effectiveness. Results: Among the 373 patients included, 279 were treated with rivaroxaban (63.1 ± 17.9 years old; 49% men) and 94 with VKAs (71.3 ± 16.6 years old; 46% men). The mean cost was EUR 5662 [95% CI 6606; 9060] for rivaroxaban and EUR 7721 [95% CI 5130; 6304] for VKAs, while effectiveness was 0.0586 95% CI [0.0114; 0.126] for DOACs and 0.0638 [95% CI 0.0208; 0.109] for VKAs. The rivaroxaban treatment strategy was dominant with costs per patient EUR 2059 lower [95% CI −3582; −817] and a higher effectiveness of 0.00527 [95% CI −0.0606; 0.0761] compared to VKAs. Conclusions: This study provides real-world evidence that rivaroxaban is not only an efficient and safe alternative to VKAs for eligible VTE patients, but also cost-saving.

(1) Background and Objectives: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is strongly associated with cancer, and may be the first event revealing occult neoplasia. Nonetheless, the reasonable extent of the etiological assessment after an unprovoked VTE event remains debated. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence of occult neoplasia one year after an episode of VTE, in consecutively hospitalized patients for VTE from the REMOTEV registry. The secondary objectives were to assess the performance of the various tests used for occult cancer screening in a real-life setting and analyze the risk factors associated with the discovery of cancer and the 1-year prognosis. (2) Methods: REMOTEV is a prospective, non-interventional cohort study of patients with acute VTE. Patients included in the registry from 23 October 2013 to 28 July 2018 were analyzed after a follow-up of 12 months. Cancer detection was performed according to local practices and consisted of a limited strategy to which an abdominal ultrasound was added. In the presence of suggestive clinical manifestations, further examinations were performed on an individual basis. (3) Results: A total of 993 patients were included in the study. At 1 year, the incidence of newly diagnosed cancer was low (5.3%). Half of the detected cancers were metastatic at discovery (51%) and had a poor global prognosis (32% of mortality at 1 year). Admission pulmonary CT scans as well as (thoracic)-abdomino-pelvic CT scans (when performed) were responsible for the majority of detected cancers. Age over 65 years and the concomitant presence of an unusual site and lower-limb deep vein thrombosis were the only factors associated with occult neoplasia in this cohort. After 1-year FU, mortality was higher in cancer patients (HR 6.0 (CI 95% 3.5–10.3, p < 0.0001)), and cancer evolution was the leading cause of death in the cancer group. (4) Conclusions: In REMOTEV, VTE-revealed occult cancer prevalence was low, but similar to recent reports and associated with higher age, multiple thrombotic sites and worse prognosis.

Whether arterial stiffness is a surrogate end-point for cardiovascular and renal disease has never been directly demonstrated by a controlled clinical trial. Our main hypothesis is a better prevention of outcomes in high risk hypertensives with PWV normalization driven strategy than with usual blood pressure driven therapeutic strategy based on European Society of Hypertension—European Society of Cardiology (ESH—ESC) guidelines. The strategy for preventing cardiovascular and renal events based on arterial stiffness study is a multicenter open-label randomized controlled trial with blinded endpoint evaluation comparing a therapeutic strategy targeting the normalisation of Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV group) versus a classical therapeutic strategy only implementing the ESH—ESC Guidelines (conventional group), for reducing cardiovascular and renal events. Patients with primary hypertension, aged 55–75 years, and at medium-to-very high cardiovascular risk will be included and followed-up for 4 years. In the PWV group, treatment will be adjusted to carotid-femoral PWV measured every 6 months. In the conventional group, PWV will be measured at baseline and every 2 years, but its value will be blinded to the investigator in charge of the patient. In the PWV group, the therapeutic strategy will preferably use a combination of Angiotensin-converting Enzyme Inhibitor (ACEI) [or Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARB)] and calcium channel blockers, as well as maximal recommended doses of ACEIs and ARBs. The primary combined endpoint includes stroke and coronary events (myocardial infarction, angioplasty, bypass), fatal or not, peripheral artery disease (angioplasty, bypass, amputation), hospitalization for heart failure, aortic dissection, chronic kidney disease (doubling of creatinine, dialysis), and sudden death. Twenty-five research centers will include a total of 1500 patients, in order to show a 20% reduction in the primary combined endpoint - the incidence of which is estimated at 10% per year - in the PWV group compared to the conventional group.

We prove that the game colouring number of the$m$ -th power of a forest of maximum degree$\\Delta\\ge3$is bounded from above by \\[(-1)^m-1-2+2^m+1,\\] which improves the best known bound by an asymptotic factor of 2.

We consider algebras with a single n-ary operation and a certain type of associativity. We prove that (up to isomorphism) there are exactly 5 of these associative mono-n-ary algebras with 2 elements for even n≥2 and 6 for odd n≥3. These algebras are described explicitly. It is shown that a similar result is impossible for algebras with at least 4 elements. An application concerning the assignment of a control bit to a string is given.

Background To analyze the in-hospital complication rate in women suffering from non-ST elevation myocardial infarction treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared to men. Methods The files of 479 consecutive patients (133 women and 346 men) suffering from a Non STEMI (Non ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction) between the January 1 st 2006 and March 21 st 2009 were retrospectively analyzed with special attention to every single complication occurring during hospital stay. Data were analyzed using nonparametric tests and are reported as median unless otherwise specified. A p value < .05 was considered significant. Results As compared to men, women were significantly older (75.8 vs . 65.2 years; p < .005). All cardiovascular risk factors but tobacco and hypertension were similar between the groups: men were noticeably more often smoker (p < .0001) and women more hypertensive (p < .005). No difference was noticed for pre-hospital cardiovascular drug treatment. However women were slightly more severe at entry (more Killip class IV; p = .0023; higher GRACE score for in-hospital death - p = .008 and CRUSADE score for bleeding - p < .0001). All the patients underwent PCI of the infarct-related artery after 24 or 48 hrs post admission without sex-related difference either for timing of PCI or primary success rate. During hospitalization, 130 complications were recorded. Though the event rate was slightly higher in women (30% vs . 26% - p = NS), no single event was significantly gender related. The logistic regression identified age and CRP concentration as the only predictive variables in the whole group. After splitting for genders, these parameters were still predictive of events in men. In women however, CRP was the only one with a borderline p value. Conclusions Our study does not support any gender difference for in-hospital adverse events in patients treated invasively for an acute coronary syndrome without ST-segment elevation and elevated troponin.

The \\([X,Y]\\)-edge colouring game is played with a set of \\(k\\) colours on a graph \\(G\\) with initially uncoloured edges by two players, Alice (A) and Bob (B). The players move alternately. Player \\(Xın\\A,B\\\) has the first move. \\(Yın\\A,B,-\\\). If \\(Yın\\A,B\\\), then only player \\(Y\\) may skip any move, otherwise skipping is not allowed for any player. A move consists of colouring an uncoloured edge with one of the \\(k\\) colours such that adjacent edges have distinct colours. When no more moves are possible, the game ends. If every edge is coloured in the end, Alice wins; otherwise, Bob wins. The \\([X,Y]\\)-game chromatic index \\(_[X,Y]'(G)\\) is the smallest nonnegative integer \\(k\\) such that Alice has a winning strategy for the \\([X,Y]\\)-edge colouring game played on \\(G\\) with \\(k\\) colours. The graph \\(G\\) is called line \\([X,Y]\\)-perfect if, for any edge-induced subgraph \\(H\\) of \\(G\\), \\[_[X,Y]'(H)=(L(H)),\\] where \\((L(H))\\) denotes the clique number of the line graph of \\(H\\). For each of the six possibilities \\((X,Y)ın\\A,B\\\A,B,-\\\), we characterise line \\([X,Y]\\)-perfect graphs by forbidden (edge-induced) subgraphs and by explicit structural descriptions, respectively.