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Background: Patients with heart failure are living longer with the inevitable morbidity of rising medication counts. It remains uncertain what fraction of this ensuing polypharmacy exactly predicts adverse clinical outcomes., Methods: This prospective study examined records of patients admitted to a Weill Cornell-affiliated tertiary medical institution with a confirmed diagnosis of heart failure between January 2018 to January 2022. Each patient's medications for the past four months were tallied, and a definitional threshold of ≤4, ≥5, ≥10 medications was established. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality within the study period., Results: Out of a total of 7354 patients included in the study, 70 % were males with a median age of 59 years IQR (48-71). The median (IQR) age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) was 2 1-5 . A total of 1475 (20 %) participants died within the study period. Patient cohorts with excessive polypharmacy (≥9 medications) had the highest probability of survival up to 1.6 years compared to those with lower medication thresholds (≤4); the mortality rate decreased by 18 % for patients with excessive polypharmacy [HR = 0.82, 95 % CI: 0.71-0.94]). Conversely, patients with non-heart failure-related polypharmacy had increased risks of ICU admissions (aOR = 1.78, 95 % CI: 1.13-2.70)., Conclusion: In an examination of a database of patients with chronic heart failure, major non-heart failure-related polypharmacy was associated with increased risks in intensive care admissions. Excessive polypharmacy was associated with increased rates of survival., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The reconstruction of adult stature from length of limb bones is not a new concept. Population specific regression equations for stature estimation have been derived from these bones in most part of the world. Due to increased violence in major cities of the world resulting in dismemberment of the human body and skeleton, there was a need for derivation of regression equations from fragments of long bones of limbs and segments of the vertebral column. This was achieved with lower accuracies compared to intact limb bones. The calcaneus, the largest of the foot bones, has been used for sex determination in Americans, Europeans and South Africans. Its usefulness in the estimation of stature is not well documented. In this study, Fully's anatomical method was utilized in the estimation of stature of 85 complete skeletons of South Africans of European descent of known sex and age, obtained from the Raymond A Dart Collection of Human skeletons. Univariate and multivariate regression equations were derived from nine measurements of the calcaneus. Most measurements presented with significantly positive correlation with stature. The resulting standard error of estimate, which is a measure of the accuracy of the equations, compared well with the values that have been recorded for fragments of long bones; thereby making the calcaneus a reliable skeletal element in the estimation of adult stature of South Africans of European descent.