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Heart failure (HF) is a syndrome characterized by the heart failing to pump blood to the body at a rate proportional to its needs. HF is a public health burden globally and one of the leading causes of hospitalizations in adults. While many classes of drugs have been introduced for the treatment of HF, not every drug may be well-tolerated by patients. In this narrative review, we describe a few of the newer classes of medications proposed to be efficacious in treating acute and chronic HF. We focus on vericiguat, omecamtiv mecarbil, ularitide, and serelaxin, and thoroughly examine their efficacy and safety profiles while summarizing the clinical trials of the drugs. There is a need for more long-term studies comparing the efficacy of these medications to the conventional ones., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Haryani et al.)

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is the therapy of choice for patients with symptomatic systolic heart failure (HF) and left bundle branch block (LBBB), despite optimal medical therapy (OMT). The recently published 2021 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines on cardiac pacing and cardiac resynchronization therapy highlight the importance of CRT on top of OMT in HF patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 35%, sinus rhythm and typical LBBB with QRS duration ≥ 150 ms. In the presence of medically intractable or recurrent after catheter ablation atrial fibrillation (AF), AV nodal ablation as an adjuvant therapy becomes more relevant in patients qualifying for the implantation of a biventricular system. Furthermore, CRT may be considered in cases when increased pacing of the right ventricle is not desirable. However, alternative pacing sites and strategies are currently available, if the CRT is not feasible and effective in patients. However, strategies targeting "multi-sides" or using "multi-leads" have shown superiority over classic CRT. On the other hand, conduction system pacing seems to be a promising technique. Although early results are positive, consistency during the long term is pending. The indication for additional defibrillation therapy (ICD) may occasionally be unnecessary and has to be considered individually. Due to the great development and success of heart failure drug therapy, its positive effect on LV function can lead to enormous improvement. Physicians must await these effects and findings, which hopefully could lead to a relevant LV improvement resulting in a definitive decision against an ICD., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

X-ray is an ionizing-radiation and it has been used in many processes due to the developing technology. For security purposes, X-ray instruments are been using at the entrance of the airports, shopping centers, etc. In this study, potential effects of X-ray were investigated on five different types of drugs: analgesics (acetaminophen, acetylsalicylic acid, naproxen, flurbiprofen), proton pump inhibitors (lansoprazole, pantoprazole sodium sesquihydrate), anti-diabetics (metformin HCl, pioglitazone), heart failure drugs (verapamil HCl, spironolactone) and anti-hypertensives (losartan, clopidogrel hydrogen sulphate) by several different methods. In our previous study these drugs were analyzed by ESR before and after X-ray irradiation (0,24; 1,2; 58 mGy). According to the ESR results, acetylsalicylic acid tablets were affected after 58 mGy irradiation due to coated polymer (HPMC). In conclusion, these drugs were investigated before and after 0,24; 1,2 and 58 mGy X-ray irradiation by UV-spectrophotometry, dissolution test, SEM, FT-IR, DSC/TGA in this article. As a result of this study, X-ray did not cause a significant effect on drugs generally. Only a few significant differences were detected by different studies (for metformin HCl by DSC/TGA, for acetylsalicylic acid by dissolution test, and for acetaminophen and acetylsalicylic acid by UV spectrophotometry were detected significantly difference before and after irradiation)., (Copyright © 2020 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)