2016 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure: The Task Force for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Developed with the special contribution of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC.

ACC/AHA
: American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association
ACCF/AHA
: American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association
ACE
: angiotensin-converting enzyme
ACEI
: angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor
ACS
: acute coronary syndrome
AF
: atrial fibrillation

/pdf/2016-esc-guidelines-for-the-diagnosis-and-treatment-of-acute-z18hg30pp1.pdf

2016 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure

/pdf/2016-esc-guidelines-for-the-diagnosis-and-treatment-of-acute-53v7yllhiz.pdf

The Society for Vascular Surgery practice guidelines on the care of patients with an abdominal aortic aneurysm

Depression, the most prevalent mental illness, is underdiagnosed and undertreated, highlighting the need to extend the scope of current screening methods. Here, we use language from Facebook posts of consenting individuals to predict depression recorded in electronic medical records. We accessed the history of Facebook statuses posted by 683 patients visiting a large urban academic emergency department, 114 of whom had a diagnosis of depression in their medical records. Using only the language preceding their first documentation of a diagnosis of depression, we could identify depressed patients with fair accuracy [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.69], approximately matching the accuracy of screening surveys benchmarked against medical records. Restricting Facebook data to only the 6 months immediately preceding the first documented diagnosis of depression yielded a higher prediction accuracy (AUC = 0.72) for those users who had sufficient Facebook data. Significant prediction of future depression status was possible as far as 3 months before its first documentation. We found that language predictors of depression include emotional (sadness), interpersonal (loneliness, hostility), and cognitive (preoccupation with the self, rumination) processes. Unobtrusive depression assessment through social media of consenting individuals may become feasible as a scalable complement to existing screening and monitoring procedures.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/115/44/11203.full.pdf

Facebook language predicts depression in medical records.

Depression after heart failure and risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis.

Objectives 
Previous studies have reported inconsistent findings regarding the association between elevated plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). We investigated this association between Hcy levels in patients with AAA and unaffected controls by conducting a meta-analysis and systematic review.


Methods 
We conducted a systematic literature search (up to August 2013) of the PubMed database and Embase. We selected observational studies that evaluated Hcy levels in subjects with AAA compared to unaffected controls. Criteria for inclusion were the assessment of baseline Hcy and risk of AAA as an outcome. The results were presented as odd ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) comparing AAA patients to the control subjects.


Results 
7 studies with 6,445 participants were identified and analyzed. Overall, elevated plasma Hcy was associated with an increased risk of AAA (3.29; 95% CI 1.66–6.51). The pooled adjusted OR from a random effect model of only men participants in the AAA compared with the control group was 2.36 (95% CI 0.63–8.82).


Conclusion 
This meta-analysis and systematic review suggested that Hcy significantly increased the risk of AAA.

/pdf/homocysteine-level-and-risk-of-abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-a-36pbneeob9.pdf

Homocysteine level and risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm: a meta-analysis.

Upregulation of let-7a inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation in vitro and in vein graft intimal hyperplasia in rats

Meta-analysis of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in elderly population.

Summary
What is known and objective

Gabapentin has been used for the management of post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). However, inconsistent results have been reported. This meta-analysis was performed to assess the efficacy and safety of gabapentin 1800 mg/day in PHN patients by conducting a meta-analysis.



Methods

Electronic databases were searched for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared gabapentin 1800 mg/day to placebo for PHN. The primary outcomes were reduction in 24-h average pain intensity scores, 50% and 30% pain intensity reduction and gabapentin-related side effects. The secondary outcomes were reduction in sleep rating scores and improvement in Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC) or Clinician Global Impression of Change (CGIC).



Results and discussion

Six RCTs were included. Gabapentin 1800 mg/day reduced the 24-h average pain intensity scores [standard mean differences (SMD) −0·50; 95% confidence interval (CI) −0·88, −0·13; I2 = 86·3%] and average daily sleep rating scores [weighted mean differences (WMD) −0·71; 95% CI −1·11, −0·32; I2 = 0%]. Gabapentin treatment yielded an improvement in pain intensity (risk ratio (RR) 1·88; 95% CI 1·35, 2·29; I2 = 64·8%; for 50% reduction and RR 1·43; 95% CI 1·12, 1·83; I2 = 0% for 30% reduction, respectively), PGIC (RR 1·49; 95% CI 1·28, 1·74; I2 = 0%), and CGIC (RR 1·58; 95% CI 1·29, 1·92; I2 = 30·9%). However, gabapentin increased the somnolence (RR 2·03; 95% CI 1·39, 2·98; I2 = 2%), dizziness (RR 2·68; 95% CI 1·95, 3·69; I2 = 15%), peripheral oedema (RR 9·10; 95% CI 3·23, 25·60; I2 = 2%), total adverse effects (RR 1·28; 95% CI 1·16, 1·42; I2 = 0%) and withdrawal due to adverse events (RR 1·51; 95% CI 1·06, 2·16; I2 = 6%), but these adverse effects were often mild to moderate.



What is new and conclusion

Treatment with gabapentin 1800 mg/day yielded a significant reduction in PHN up to 14 weeks. Gabapentin 1800 mg appeared safe in treating PHN for up to 24 weeks.

Yang Shao

Papers

Depression after heart failure and risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis.

Homocysteine level and risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm: a meta-analysis.

Upregulation of let-7a inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation in vitro and in vein graft intimal hyperplasia in rats

Meta-analysis of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in elderly population.

Efficacy and safety of gabapentin 1800 mg treatment for post-herpetic neuralgia: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials