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Objectives: The presentation and outcomes of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) during COVID times (June 2020 to Dec 2020) were compared with the historical control during the same period in 2019. Methods: Data of 4806 consecutive patients of acute HF admitted in 22 centres in the country were collected during this period. The admission patterns, aetiology, outcomes, prescription of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) and interventions were analysed in this retrospective study. Results: Admissions for acute heart failure during the pandemic period in 2020 decreased by 20% compared to the corresponding six-month period in 2019, with numbers dropping from 2675 to 2131. However, no difference in the epidemiology was seen. The mean age of presentation in 2019 was 61.75 (±13.7) years, and 59.97 (±14.6) years in 2020. There was a significant decrease in the mean age of presentation (p = 0.001). Also. the proportion of male patients decreased significantly from 68.67% to 65.84% (p = 0.037). The in-hospital mortality for acute heart failure did not differ significantly between 2019 and 2020 (4.19% and 4.,97%) respectively (p = 0.19). The proportion of patients with HFrEF did not change in 2020 compared to 2019 (76.82% vs 75.74%, respectively). The average duration of hospital stay was 6.5 days. Conclusion: The outcomes of ADHF patients admitted during the Covid pandemic did not differ significantly. The length of hospital stay remained the same. The study highlighted the sub-optimal use of GDMT, though slightly improving over the last few years.

Objective: To find out differences in the presentation, management and outcomes of COVID-19 infected STEMI patients compared to age and sex-matched non-infected STEMI patients treated during the same period. Methods: This was a retrospective multicentre observational registry in which we collected data of COVID-19 positive STEMI patients from selected tertiary care hospitals across India. For every COVID-19 positive STEMI patient, two age and sex-matched COVID-19 negative STEMI patients were enrolled as control. The primary endpoint was a composite of in-hospital mortality, re-infarction, heart failure, and stroke. Results: 410 COVID-19 positive STEMI cases were compared with 799 COVID-19 negative STEMI cases. The composite of death/reinfarction/stroke/heart failure was significantly higher among the COVID-19 positive STEMI patients compared with COVID-19 negative STEMI cases (27.1% vs 20.7% p value = 0.01); though mortality rate did not differ significantly (8.0% vs 5.8% p value = 0.13). Significantly lower proportion of COVID-19 positive STEMI patients received reperfusion treatment and primary PCI (60.7% vs 71.1% p value=< 0.001 and 15.4% vs 23.4% p value = 0.001 respectively). Rate of systematic early PCI (pharmaco-invasive treatment) was significantly lower in the COVID-19 positive group compared with COVID-19 negative group. There was no difference in the prevalence of high thrombus burden (14.5% and 12.0% p value = 0.55 among COVID-19 positive and negative patients respectively) Conclusions: In this large registry of STEMI patients, we did not find significant excess in in-hospital mortality among COVID-19 co-infected patients compared with non-infected patients despite lower rate of primary PCI and reperfusion treatment, though composite of in-hospital mortality, re-infarction, stroke and heart failure was higher.

Right ventricular (RV) pacing is associated with a reduction in left ventricular (LV) systolic function, thought to be mediated by pacing-induced ventricular dyssynchrony. The prevalence of heart failure after RV pacing is reported to range from 31±3%. We studied 60 subjects with high-grade atrioventricular block and Complete Heart Block (CHB) scheduled to undergo right ventricular apical pacing. 2D echocardiography was done at baseline, 1 month and 12 months. Pacing-induced cardiomyopathy was defined as a reduction in LVEF to

In this paper, we consider a mathematical model to explain, understanding, and to forecast the outbreaks of COVID-19 in India. The model has four components leading to a system of fractional order differential equations incorporating the refuge concept to study the lockdown effect in controlling COVID-19 spread in India. We investigate the model using the concept of Caputo fractional-order derivative. The goal of this model is to estimate the number of total infected, active cases, deaths, as well as recoveries from COVID-19 to control or minimize the above issues in India. The existence, uniqueness, non-negativity, and boundedness of the solutions are established. In addition, the local and global asymptotic stability of the equilibrium points of the fractional-order system and the basic reproduction number are studied for understanding and prediction of the transmission of COVID-19 in India. The next step is to carry out sensitivity analysis to find out which parameter is the most dominant to affect the disease’s endemicity. The results reveal that the parameters η,μ and ρ are the most dominant sensitivity indices towards the basic reproductive number. A numerical illustration is presented via computer simulations using MATLAB to show a realistic point of view.

The present study demonstrates a synergistic effect with the addition of low loading levels of boron nitride filler in silicone rubber that resulted in significant improvement in both ac breakdown strength and thermal conductivity of silicone rubber composites. Our results show that addition of 2.5 vol% and 7 vol% of h-BN platelets improved thermal conductivity of silicone rubber composites by 25% and 65% respectively. The ac breakdown strength of silicone rubber composites was investigated by varying surface area and particle size of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) platelets. The breakdown strength of composites with only 2.5 vol% of low surface area boron nitride (0075) was enhanced by 20% and with high surface area boron nitride (7HS) was improved by 30%. The improvement in ac breakdown strength was primarily attributed to effective heat dissipation in the composite as well as low dielectric loss performance of the composite and was dependent upon the textural properties of boron nitride fillers.

Objectives: The presentation and outcomes of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) during COVID times (June 2020 to Dec 2020) were compared with the historical control during the same period in 2019., Methods: Data of 4806 consecutive patients of acute HF admitted in 22 centres in the country were collected during this period. The admission patterns, aetiology, outcomes, prescription of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) and interventions were analysed in this retrospective study., Results: Admissions for acute heart failure during the pandemic period in 2020 decreased by 20% compared to the corresponding six-month period in 2019, with numbers dropping from 2675 to 2131. However, no difference in the epidemiology was seen. The mean age of presentation in 2019 was 61.75 (±13.7) years, and 59.97 (±14.6) years in 2020. There was a significant decrease in the mean age of presentation (p = 0.001). Also. the proportion of male patients decreased significantly from 68.67% to 65.84% (p = 0.037). The in-hospital mortality for acute heart failure did not differ significantly between 2019 and 2020 (4.19% and 4.,97%) respectively (p = 0.19). The proportion of patients with HFrEF did not change in 2020 compared to 2019 (76.82% vs 75.74%, respectively). The average duration of hospital stay was 6.5 days., Conclusion: The outcomes of ADHF patients admitted during the Covid pandemic did not differ significantly. The length of hospital stay remained the same. The study highlighted the sub-optimal use of GDMT, though slightly improving over the last few years., 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. The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: ALL PARTICIPATING CENTRE CO INVESTIGATORS reports financial support was provided by Cardiological Society of India., (Copyright © 2023 Cardiological Society of India. Published by Elsevier, a division of RELX India, Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To find out differences in the presentation, management and outcomes of COVID-19 infected STEMI patients compared to age and sex-matched non-infected STEMI patients treated during the same period., Methods: This was a retrospective multicentre observational registry in which we collected data of COVID-19 positive STEMI patients from selected tertiary care hospitals across India. For every COVID-19 positive STEMI patient, two age and sex-matched COVID-19 negative STEMI patients were enrolled as control. The primary endpoint was a composite of in-hospital mortality, re-infarction, heart failure, and stroke., Results: 410 COVID-19 positive STEMI cases were compared with 799 COVID-19 negative STEMI cases. The composite of death/reinfarction/stroke/heart failure was significantly higher among the COVID-19 positive STEMI patients compared with COVID-19 negative STEMI cases (27.1% vs 20.7% p value = 0.01); though mortality rate did not differ significantly (8.0% vs 5.8% p value = 0.13). Significantly lower proportion of COVID-19 positive STEMI patients received reperfusion treatment and primary PCI (60.7% vs 71.1% p value=< 0.001 and 15.4% vs 23.4% p value = 0.001 respectively). Rate of systematic early PCI (pharmaco-invasive treatment) was significantly lower in the COVID-19 positive group compared with COVID-19 negative group. There was no difference in the prevalence of high thrombus burden (14.5% and 12.0% p value = 0.55 among COVID-19 positive and negative patients respectively) CONCLUSIONS: In this large registry of STEMI patients, we did not find significant excess in in-hospital mortality among COVID-19 co-infected patients compared with non-infected patients despite lower rate of primary PCI and reperfusion treatment, though composite of in-hospital mortality, re-infarction, stroke and heart failure was higher., (Copyright © 2023 Cardiological Society of India. Published by Elsevier, a division of RELX India, Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Right ventricular (RV) pacing is associated with a reduction in left ventricular (LV) systolic function, thought to be mediated by pacing-induced ventricular dyssynchrony. The prevalence of heart failure after RV pacing is reported to range from 31±3%. We studied 60 subjects with high-grade atrioventricular block and Complete Heart Block (CHB) scheduled to undergo right ventricular apical pacing. 2D echocardiography was done at baseline, 1 month and 12 months. Pacing-induced cardiomyopathy was defined as a reduction in LVEF to <45%. Strain was evaluated off-line from digitally stored images using all advanced software package (cardiac wall motion quantification (CMQ); Toshiba Medical Systems). Longitudinal strain for individual myocardial segments was measured from the apical four-chamber, two-chamber and long axis views (16 segment AHA/ASE model). None had LV dysfunction at baseline based on 2D and strain echo imaging. Subsequently 18 patients were detected to develop low GLS score (less than -14.5) at 1 month. On subsequent follow up at 1 year, all 18 patients developed LV dysfunction on 2D Echocardiography. Thus Strain imaging with GLS score helped in early detection of LV dysfunction in RV apical pacing subjects. Pacing-induced cardiomyopathy had significant association with high grade AV block with pacemaker dependency. It had no significant associations with other comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart disease or with the type of medication intake. However there was a statistically significant association with heart failure., 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 Cardiological Society of India. Published by Elsevier, a division of RELX India, Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.)