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Seafood is a crucial global food source, but its role as a reservoir for antibiotic-resistant pathogens is concerning. This study focuses on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in retail seafood, using Enterococcus spp. as an indicator. Seven categories of raw seafood were collected from retail markets in Central Italy. Out of 422 samples, 288 tested positive for Enterococcus spp., resulting in a prevalence rate of 68.25% (CI95%: 63.66%-72.51%). The most common species were E. faecalis (48%) and E. faecium (17.4%). Enterococcus spp. was most frequently found in cephalopods, salmon, bivalves, and crustaceans than in sea bass and bream. The odds of Enterococcus spp. recovery were higher in frozen than in fresh samples, while there was no difference between farm-raised and wild-caught seafood. A subset of 102 isolates was selected for antibiotic resistance testing, showing the highest resistance rates to quinupristin/dalfopristin (52.94%) and tetracycline (27.45%). Over 70% of isolates were multidrug-resistant. Additionally, strains resistant to vancomycin and oxazolidinones, two last-resort antimicrobials, were detected. Vancomycin resistance was observed in E. casseliflavus and E. gallinarum, which are naturally resistant due to the vanC chromosomal cluster. The optrA gene, responsible for resistance to oxazolidinones and phenicols, was found in E. thailandicus and E. faecium, where it was located on to a transferable plasmid. In conclusion, this study confirms the widespread presence of Enterococcus spp. in retail seafood. The detection of multi-resistant isolates and resistance to last-resort antimicrobials highlights significant human health risks, stressing the importance of including Enterococcus spp. in seafood antibiotic resistance surveillance.

Summary: Cognitive fatigue (CF) increases accident risk reducing performance, especially during complex tasks such as driving. We evaluated whether transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) could mitigate CF and improve driving performance. In a double-blind study, thirty participants performed a virtual reality truck driving task during real (n = 15) or sham (n = 15) tRNS applied bilaterally on the “anti-fatigue network”. They completed two 30-min driving sessions while their driving performances were constantly monitored; heart rate was also monitored to evaluate arousal (Root-Mean-Square of successive R-R difference). tRNS was applied only during the first driving session to evaluate both online and offline stimulation effects. The primary outcome was CF reduction and performance improvement in the second (non-stimulated) driving session. Real tRNS significantly improved driving performances in the second driving session and reduced perceived CF. These results might also lead to the use of tRNS in those neurological disorders characterized by fatigue.

Background: Recently, non-hyperemic pressure ratios (NHPRs) have been validated as a reliable alternative to fractional flow reserve (FFR). However, a discordance between FFR and NHPRs is observed in 20–25% of cases. The aim of this study is to evaluate predictors of discordance between FFR and diastolic Pressure ratio (dPR). Methods: PREDICT is a retrospective, single center, investigator-initiated study including 813 patients (1092vessels) who underwent FFR assessment of intermediate coronary lesions (angiographic 30%-80% stenosis). dPR was calculated using individual pressure waveforms and dedicated software. Clinical, angiographic and hemodynamic variables were compared between patients with concordant and discordant FFR and dPR values. Results: Median age was 65 (IQR:59–73) years and 70% were male. Hemodynamically significant lesions, as defined by FFR ≤ 0.80, and dPR ≤ 0.89, were identified in 29.6% and 30.3% of cases, respectively. Overall, FFR and dPR values were discordant in 22.1% patients (17.4% of the vessels). Discordance was related to FFR+/dPR- and FFR-/dPR + in 11.8% and 10.3% of patients, respectively.In case of FFR-dPR discordance, a higher prevalence of left anterior descending arteries lesions was observed (70.5% vs. 53.1%, p

District heating networks have present and future great potential in decarbonization and in general for improving the environmental profile of the European building sector. It is due to the integration of solar-thermal energy and other renewable sources, flexibility by thermal storage, and mainly the ability to recover industrial and municipal waste heat: providing benefits at the element (energy system) and city level. However, individual appliances, such as electric-driven heat pumps, are and will be an attractive option; the decarbonization process of the European electricity grid makes them very appealing from an environmental perspective (from an energy system viewpoint). In this paper, the authors investigate the environmental competitiveness of a district heating network to provide space heating and domestic hot water using the Life Cycle Assessment method. The evaluation was carried out for a new building area (approx. 26 500 m2 of net surface) located in Milan. The present and future (2030) environmental profiles of North Milan’s district heating network were assessed and compared with three individual electric-driven heat pumps (groundwater-source and 450 kW capacity each), as an alternative energy system. 16 potential impact categories were evaluated using, 1 kWh of thermal energy as a functional unit, ecoinvent as background database, and the Environmental Footprint 3.0 as impact assessment method. The results indicated that despite the higher CO2eq emissions compared to the heat pumps (208 vs 118 gCO2eq/kWhth), district heating could potentially have an almost equivalent climate change impact in the future, due to the integration of renewables sources, feasible with the 4th generation. The value of district heating and electric-driven heat pumps were 89 and 81 gCO2eq/kWhth, respectively for 2030. In contrast, the weighting results showed a better environmental profile for the district heating in both scenarios, allowing a reduction of 67% (in the present) and 19% (in the future).

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, concerns have been arisen on the use of renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RASI) due to the potentially increased expression of Angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE)2 and patient's susceptibility to SARS-CoV2 infection. Diabetes mellitus have been recognized favoring the coronavirus infection with consequent increase mortality in COVID-19. No data have been so far reported in diabetic patients suffering from ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a very high-risk population deserving of RASI treatment. Methods: The ISACS-STEMI COVID-19 registry retrospectively assessed STEMI patients treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) in March/June 2019 and 2020 in 109 European high-volume primary PCI centers. This subanalysis assessed the prognostic impact of chronic RASI therapy at admission on mortality and SARS-CoV2 infection among diabetic patients. Results: Our population is represented by 3812 diabetic STEMI patients undergoing mechanical reperfusion, 2038 in 2019 and 1774 in 2020. Among 3761 patients with available data on chronic RASI therapy, between those ones with and without treatment there were several differences in baseline characteristics, (similar in both periods) but no difference in the prevalence of SARS-CoV2 infection (1.6% vs 1.3%, respectively, p = 0.786). Considering in-hospital medication, RASI therapy was overall associated with a significantly lower in-hospital mortality (3.3% vs 15.8%, p

Background and Aim: Diabetes has been shown in last decades to be associated with a significantly higher mortality among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with primary PCI (PPCI). Therefore, the aim of current study was to evaluate the impact of diabetes on times delays, reperfusion and mortality in a contemporary STEMI population undergoing PPCI, including treatment during the COVID pandemic., Methods and Results: The ISACS-STEMI COVID-19 is a large-scale retrospective multicenter registry involving PPCI centers from Europe, Latin America, South-East Asia and North-Africa, including patients treated from 1st of March until June 30, 2019 and 2020. Primary study endpoint of this analysis was in-hospital mortality. Secondary endpoints were postprocedural TIMI 0-2 flow and 30-day mortality. Our population is represented by 16083 STEMI patients. A total of 3812 (23,7 %) patients suffered from diabetes. They were older, more often males as compared to non-diabetes. Diabetic patients were less often active smokers and had less often a positive family history of CAD, but they were more often affected by hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, with higher prevalence of previous STEMI and previous CABG. Diabetic patients had longer ischemia time, had more often anterior MI, cardiogenic shock, rescue PCI and multivessel disease. They had less often out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and in-stent thrombosis, received more often a mechanical support, received less often a coronary stent and DES. Diabetes was associated with a significantly impaired postprocedural TIMI flow (TIMI 0-2: 9.8 % vs 7.2 %, adjusted OR [95 % CI] = 1.17 [1.02-1.38], p = 0.024) and higher mortality (in-hospital: 9.1 % vs 4.8 %, Adjusted OR [95 % CI] = 1.70 [1.43-2.02], p < 0.001; 30-day mortality: 10.8 % vs 6 %, Adjusted HR [95 % CI] = 1.46 [1.26-1.68], p < 0.001) as compared to non-diabetes, particularly during the pandemic., Conclusions: Our study showed that in a contemporary STEMI population undergoing PPCI, diabetes is significantly associated with impaired epicardial reperfusion that translates into higher in-hospital and 30-day mortality, particularly during the pandemic., (Copyright © 2024 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Intravascular imaging-derived physiology is emerging as a promising tool allowing simultaneous anatomic and functional lesion assessment. Recently, several optical coherence tomography-based and intravascular ultrasound-based fractional flow reserve (FFR) indices have been developed that compute FFR through computational fluid dynamics, fluid dynamics equations, or machine-learning methods. This review aims to provide an overview of the currently available intravascular imaging-based physiologic indices, their diagnostic performance, and clinical application., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Segmental postpercutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) pressure gradients may detect residual disease and potential targets for optimization. However, universal definitions of relevant segmental gradients are lacking., Objectives: This study sought to evaluate the diagnostic performance of post-PCI fractional flow reserve (FFR), distal coronary pressure-to-aortic pressure ratio (Pd/Pa), and diastolic pressure ratio (dPR) gradients to detect residual focal lesions and stent underexpansion as observed by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)., Methods: Patients from the IVUS-guided optimization arm of the FFR REACT (FFR-guided PCI Optimization Directed by High-Definition IVUS Versus Standard of Care) trial with complete IVUS and FFR pullback data were included. Patients with angiographically successful PCI and post-PCI FFR <0.90 underwent FFR, Pd/Pa, and IVUS pullbacks. dPR was calculated offline using dedicated software. Segmental pressure gradients (distal, in stent, and proximal) in segments ≥5 mm were evaluated against IVUS-detected residual disease (distal or proximal focal lesions and stent underexpansion)., Results: A total of 139 vessels were included (mean post-PCI FFR: 0.83 ± 0.05, range 0.56-0.89). Focal distal and proximal lesions were detected by IVUS in 23 (17.4%) of 132 and 14 (12.6%) of 111 vessels, respectively, whereas stent underexpansion was present in 86 (61.9%) vessels. Diagnostic ability of segmental FFR gradients to predict IVUS-detected distal and proximal lesions was moderate-to-good (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.69 and 0.84, respectively) and poor to moderate for segmental Pd/Pa and dPR gradients (AUC ranging from 0.58 to 0.69). In-stent gradients had no discriminative ability to detect stent underexpansion (FFR AUC: 0.52; Pd/Pa AUC: 0.54; dPR AUC: 0.55)., Conclusions: In patients with post-PCI FFR <0.90, segmental post-PCI pressure gradients have moderate discriminative ability to identify IVUS-detected focal lesions but no discriminative ability to identify IVUS-detected stent underexpansion., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures The Erasmus Medical Center received institutional research support from ACIST Medical Systems, Inc. Ms Neleman and Dr Diletti have received institutional grant support from ACIST Medical Systems. Dr Van Mieghem has received institutional research grant support from Abbott Vascular, Boston Scientific, Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic, Daiichi Sankyo, PulseCath BV, and Abiomed. Dr Daemen has received institutional grant/research support from Abbott Vascular, Boston Scientific, ACIST Medical Systems, Medtronic, Pie Medical, and ReCor medical; and received consulting and lecture fees from Abbott Vascular, Abiomed, ACIST Medical Systems, Boston Scientific, Cardialysis BV, CardiacBooster, Kaminari Medical, ReCor Medical, PulseCath, Pie Medical, Sanofi, Siemens Health Care and Medtronic. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Complete revascularization in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial (STEMI) improves clinical outcome. Vessel fractional flow reserve (vFFR) has been validated as a non-invasive physiological technology to evaluate hemodynamic lesion significance without need for a dedicated pressure wire or hyperemic agent. This study aimed to assess discordance between vFFR reclassification and treatment strategy in intermediate non-culprit lesions of STEMI patients and to assess the clinical impact of this discordance., Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study. From January 2018 to December 2019, consecutive eligible STEMI patients were screened based on the presence of a non-culprit vessel with an intermediate lesion (30-80% angiographic stenosis) feasible for offline vFFR analysis. The primary outcome was the percentage of non-culprit vessels with discordance between vFFR and actual treatment strategy. The secondary outcome was two-year vessel-oriented composite endpoint (VOCE), a composite of vessel-related cardiovascular death, vessel-related myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization., Results: A total of 441 patients (598 non-culprit vessels) met the inclusion criteria. Median vFFR was 0.85 (0.73-0.91). Revascularization was performed in 34.4% of vessels. Discordance between vFFR and actual treatment strategy occurred in 126 (21.1%) vessels. Freedom from VOCE was higher for concordant vessels (97.5%) as compared to discordant vessels (90.6%)(p = 0.003), particularly due to higher adverse event rates in discordant vessels with a vFFR ≤0.80 but deferred revascularization., Conclusions: In STEMI patients with multivessel disease, discordance between vFFR reclassification and treatment strategy was observed in 21.1% of non-culprit vessels with an intermediate lesion and was associated with increased vessel-related adverse events., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Nicolas Van Mieghem received institutional research grant support from Abbott Vascular, Abiomed, Boston Scientific, Daiichi-Sankyo, Edward Lifesciences, Medtronic, and PulseCath. Joost Daemen received institutional grant/research support from Abbott Vascular, ACIST Medical, Astra Zeneca, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Pie Medical, and ReCor Medical. The remaining authors report no relationships that could be construed as a conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Intravascular imaging-derived physiology is emerging as a promising tool allowing simultaneous anatomic and functional lesion assessment. Recently, several optical coherence tomography-based and intravascular ultrasound-based fractional flow reserve (FFR) indices have been developed that compute FFR through computational fluid dynamics, fluid dynamics equations, or machine-learning methods. This review aims to provide an overview of the currently available intravascular imaging-based physiologic indices, their diagnostic performance, and clinical application., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Vessel Fractional Flow Reserve (vFFR) as assessed by three-dimensional quantitative coronary angiography has high correlation with pressure wire-based fractional flow reserve in both a pre- and post-PCI setting. The present study aims to assess the prognostic value of post-PCI vFFR on the incidence of target vessel failure (TVF), a composite endpoint of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction and target vessel revascularization (TVR) at 5-year follow up., Methods: Post-PCI vFFR was calculated after routine PCI in a total of 748 patients (832 vessels) with available orthogonal angiographic projections of the stented segment., Results: Median age was 65 (IQR 55-74) years, 18.2% were diabetic, and 29.1% presented with stable angina. Median post-PCI vFFR was 0.91 (IQR 0.86-0.95). Vessels were categorized into tertiles based on post-PCI vFFR: low (vFFR <0.88), middle (vFFR 0.88-0.93), and upper (vFFR ≥0.94). Vessels in the lower and middle tertile were more often LADs and had smaller stent diameters (p<0.001). Vessels in the lower and middle tertile had a higher risk of TVF as compared to vessels in the upper tertile (24.6% and 21.5% vs. 17.1%; adjusted HR 1.84 (95%CI 1.15-2.95), p = 0.011, and 1.58 (95%CI 1.02-2.45), p = 0.040) at 5-years follow-up. Additionally, vessels in the lower tertile had higher rates of TVR as compared to vessels in the higher tertile (12.6% vs. 6.5%, adjusted HR 1.93 (95%CI 1.06-3.53), p = 0.033)., Conclusion: Lower post-PCI vFFR values are associated with a significantly increased risk of TVF and TVR at 5-years follow-up., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) can overcome the intrinsic limitations of coronary angiography for lesion assessment and stenting. IVUS improves outcomes of patients presenting with stable or complex coronary artery disease, but dedicated data on the impact of IVUS-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains scarce., Methods: We systematically searched Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Google Scholar for studies that compared clinical outcomes for IVUS- versus angio-guided PCI in patients with AMI. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality and the secondary endpoint major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Mantel-Haenszel random-effects model was used to calculate pooled risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI)., Results: Nine studies (8 observational, 1 RCT) with a total of 838.902 patients (796.953 angio-guided PCI, 41.949 IVUS-guided PCI) were included. In patients with AMI, IVUS-guided PCI was associated with a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality (pooled RR: 0.70; 95% CI, 0.59-0.82; p < 0.01), MACE (pooled RR: 0.86; 95% CI, 0.74-0.99; p = 0.04) and target vessel revascularization (TVR) (pooled RR: 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73-0.95; p < 0.01). In the subset of patients presenting with ST-segment elevation, IVUS-guided PCI remained associated with a reduced risk for both all-cause mortality (pooled RR: 0.79; 95% CI, 0.66-0.95, p = 0.01) and MACE (pooled RR: 0.86; 95% CI, 0.74-0.99, p = 0.04)., Conclusions: This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis comparing IVUS- versus angio-guided PCI in patients with AMI, showing a beneficial effect of IVUS-guided PCI on all-cause mortality, MACE and TVR. Results of ongoing dedicated prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide determining dramatic impacts on healthcare systems. Early identification of high-risk parameters is required in order to provide the best therapeutic approach. Coronary, thoracic aorta and aortic valve calcium can be measured from a non-gated chest computer tomography (CT) and are validated predictors of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. However, their prognostic role in acute systemic inflammatory diseases, such as COVID-19, has not been investigated., Objectives: The aim was to evaluate the association of coronary artery calcium and total thoracic calcium on in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients., Methods: 1093 consecutive patients from 16 Italian hospitals with a positive swab for COVID-19 and an admission chest CT for pneumonia severity assessment were included. At CT, coronary, aortic valve and thoracic aorta calcium were qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated separately and combined together (total thoracic calcium) by a central Core-lab blinded to patients' outcomes., Results: Non-survivors compared to survivors had higher coronary artery [Agatston (467.76 ​± ​570.92 vs 206.80 ​± ​424.13 ​mm 2 , p ​< ​0.001); Volume (487.79 ​± ​565.34 vs 207.77 ​± ​406.81, p ​< ​0.001)], aortic valve [Volume (322.45 ​± ​390.90 vs 98.27 ​± ​250.74 mm 2 , p ​< ​0.001; Agatston 337.38 ​± ​414.97 vs 111.70 ​± ​282.15, p ​< ​0.001)] and thoracic aorta [Volume (3786.71 ​± ​4225.57 vs 1487.63 ​± ​2973.19 mm 2 , p ​< ​0.001); Agatston (4688.82 ​± ​5363.72 vs 1834.90 ​± ​3761.25, p ​< ​0.001)] calcium values. Coronary artery calcium (HR 1.308; 95% CI, 1.046-1.637, p ​= ​0.019) and total thoracic calcium (HR 1.975; 95% CI, 1.200-3.251, p ​= ​0.007) resulted to be independent predictors of in-hospital mortality., Conclusion: Coronary, aortic valve and thoracic aortic calcium assessment on admission non-gated CT permits to stratify the COVID-19 patients in-hospital mortality risk., (Copyright © 2021 Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background and Aims: SARS-Cov-2 predisposes patients to thrombotic complications, due to excessive inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, platelet activation, and coagulation/fibrinolysis disturbances. The aim of the present study was to evaluate clinical characteristics and prognostic impact of SARS-CoV-2 positivity among STEMI patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI)., Methods: We selected SARS-CoV-2 positive patients included in the ISACS-STEMI COVID-19, a retrospective multicenter European registry including 6609 STEMI patients treated with PPCI from March 1st until April 30th, in 2019 and 2020. As a reference group, we randomly sampled 5 SARS-Cov-2 negative patients per each SARS-CoV-2 positive patient, individually matched for age, sex, and hospital/geographic area. Study endpoints were in-hospital mortality, definite stent thrombosis, heart failure., Results: Our population is represented by 62 positive SARS-CoV-2 positive patients who were compared with a matched population of 310 STEMI patients. No significant difference was observed in baseline characteristics or the modality of access to the PCI center. In the SARS-CoV-2 positive patients, the culprit lesion was more often located in the RCA (p < 0.001). Despite similar pre and postprocedural TIMI flow, we observed a trend in higher use of GP IIb-IIIa inhibitors and a significantly higher use of thrombectomy in the SARS-CoV-2 positive patients. SARS-CoV-2 positivity was associated with a remarkably higher in hospital mortality (29% vs 5.5%, p < 0.001), definite in-stent thrombosis (8.1% vs 1.6%, p = 0.004) and heart failure (22.6% vs 10.6%, p = 0.001) that was confirmed after adjustment for confounding factors., Conclusions: Our study showed that among STEMI patients, SARS-CoV-2 positivity is associated with larger thrombus burden, a remarkably higher mortality but also higher rates of in-stent thrombosis and heart failure., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Aims: The potential impact of coronary atherosclerosis, as detected by coronary artery calcium, on clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients remains unsettled. We aimed to evaluate the prognostic impact of clinical and subclinical coronary artery disease (CAD), as assessed by coronary artery calcium score (CAC), in a large, unselected population of hospitalized COVID-19 patients undergoing non-gated chest computed tomography (CT) for clinical practice., Methods: SARS-CoV 2 positive patients from the multicenter (16 Italian hospitals), retrospective observational SCORE COVID-19 (calcium score for COVID-19 Risk Evaluation) registry were stratified in three groups: (a) "clinical CAD" (prior revascularization history), (b) "subclinical CAD" (CAC >0), (c) "No CAD" (CAC = 0). Primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality and the secondary endpoint was a composite of myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accident (MI/CVA)., Results: Amongst 1625 patients (male 67.2%, median age 69 [interquartile range 58-77] years), 31%, 57.8% and 11.1% had no, subclinical and clinical CAD, respectively. Increasing rates of in-hospital mortality (11.3% vs. 27.3% vs. 39.8%, p < 0.001) and MI/CVA events (2.3% vs. 3.8% vs. 11.9%, p < 0.001) were observed for patients with no CAD vs. subclinical CAD vs clinical CAD, respectively. The association with in-hospital mortality was independent of in-study outcome predictors (age, peripheral artery disease, active cancer, hemoglobin, C-reactive protein, LDH, aerated lung volume): subclinical CAD vs. No CAD: adjusted hazard ratio (adj-HR) 2.86 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14-7.17, p=0.025); clinical CAD vs. No CAD: adj-HR 3.74 (95% CI 1.21-11.60, p=0.022). Among patients with subclinical CAD, increasing CAC burden was associated with higher rates of in-hospital mortality (20.5% vs. 27.9% vs. 38.7% for patients with CAC score thresholds≤100, 101-400 and > 400, respectively, p < 0.001). The adj-HR per 50 points increase in CAC score 1.007 (95%CI 1.001-1.013, p=0.016). Cardiovascular risk factors were not independent predictors of in-hospital mortality when CAD presence and extent were taken into account., Conclusions: The presence and extent of CAD are associated with in-hospital mortality and MI/CVA among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 disease and they appear to be a better prognostic gauge as compared to a clinical cardiovascular risk assessment., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The prognostic role of diabetes mellitus (DM) in heart failure (HF) patients is undefined, since DM is outweighed by several DM-related variables when confounders are considered. We determined the prognostic role of DM, treatment, and glycemic control in a real-life HF population., Methods: 3927 HF patients included in the Metabolic Exercise Cardiac Kidney Index (MECKI) score database were evaluated with a median follow-up of 3.66 years (IQR 1.70-6.67). Data analysis considered survival between DM (n = 897) vs. non-DM (n = 3030) patients, and, in diabetics, between insulin (n = 304), oral antidiabetics (n = 479), and dietary only (n = 88) treatments. The role of glycemic control was evaluated grouping DM patients according to glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c): <7% (n = 266), 7.1-8% (n = 133), >8% (n = 149). All analyses were performed also adjusting for ejection fraction, renal function, hemoglobin, sodium, exercise peak oxygen uptake, and ventilation/carbon dioxide relationship slope. Study primary endpoint was the composite of cardiovascular death, urgent heart transplantation, or left ventricular assist device implantation. Secondary endpoints were cardiovascular and all causes death., Results: For all endpoints, upon adjustment for confounders, DM status and insulin treatment or dietary regimen were not significantly associated with adverse long-term prognosis compared to non-DM and oral antidiabetic treated patients, respectively. A worse prognosis was observed in HbA1c >8% patients (Log-Rank p < 0.001), even after correction for confounding factors. All results were replicated by hazard ratio analysis., Conclusion: In HF patients, DM, insulin treatment and dietary regimen are not adverse outcome predictors. The only condition related to long-term prognosis, considering potential confounders, is poor glycemic control., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no relationships that could be construed as a conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Recent advances in wearable technology make continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring possible, with potential applications in assessment of cardiopulmonary patients, healthy subjects and athletes. The aim of the present study was to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate a new wearable device (Learn Inspire Free Entertain = L.I.F.E.) by embedding in a compression shirt a 12‑lead ECG system and 5 respiratory sensors., Methods: Thirty cardiorespiratory patients and ten healthy subjects were studied for 24 h during their usual life activities. In 8 healthy subjects, simultaneous measurements of the device and of an ergo-spirometer were performed during different levels of ventilation in five different body positions. The quality of ECG signals in terms of measurability of heart rate, P wave, QRS complex and ST segment, was analyzed by four expert cardiologists/respiratory physiologists using an arbitrary 1-5 scale. The sum of the respiratory signals was used to calculate the respiratory rate, inspiratory time and relative changes of tidal volume. These parameters were compared to ergo-spirometer measurements., Results: Median quality value was >3 for heart rate, QRS complex, ST segment and P wave (except in L3, aVL, aVF, V1 and V2 leads). Median quality of respiratory traces was >4 in patients and between 3 and 4 in healthy subjects. The respiratory monitoring of respiratory rate and inspiratory time was accurate in all body positions. Tidal volumes were underestimated due to a high level of ventilation., Conclusions: The L.I.F.E. device provides an accurate continuous monitoring of cardiorespiratory signals during the 24 h both in normal subjects and cardiorespiratory patients., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)