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Background: This study evaluated the prognostic impact of age on patients presenting with ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTA) and aborted cardiac arrest., Material and Methods: The present registry-based, monocentric cohort study included all consecutive patients presenting at the University Medical Center Mannheim (UMM) between 2002 and 2016 with ventricular tachycardia (VT), ventricular fibrillation (VF) and aborted cardiac arrest. Middle-aged (40-60 years old) were compared to older patients (> 60 years old). Furthermore, age was analyzed as a continuous variable. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality at 2.5 years. The secondary endpoints were cardiac death at 24 h, all-cause mortality at index hospitalization, all-cause mortality after index hospitalization and the composite endpoint at 2.5 years of cardiac death at 24 h, recurrent VTA, and appropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) treatment., Results: A total of 2259 consecutive patients were included (28% middle-aged, 72% older). Older patients were more often associated with all-cause mortality at 2.5 years (27% vs. 50%; hazard ratio, HR = 2.137; 95% confidence interval, CI 1.809-2.523, p = 0.001) and the secondary endpoints. Even patient age as a continuous variable was independently associated with mortality at 2.5 years in all types of VTA. Adverse prognosis in older patients was demonstrated by multivariate Cox regression analyses and propensity score matching. Chronic kidney disease (CKD), systolic left ventricular dysfunction (LVEF) < 35%, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and cardiogenic shock worsened the prognosis for both age groups, whereas acute myocardial infarction (STEMI/NSTEMI) and the presence of an ICD improved prognosis., Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that increasing age is associated with increased mortality in VTA patients. Compared to the middle-aged, older patients were associated with higher all-cause mortality at 2.5 years and the secondary endpoints., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: The study sought to assess the prognostic impact of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with electrical storm (ES). ES represents a life-threatening heart rhythm disorder. In particular, CKD patients are at risk of suffering from ES. However, data regarding the prognostic impact of CKD on long-term mortality in ES patients is limited., Methods: All consecutive ES patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) were included retrospectively from 2002 to 2016. Patients with CKD (MDRD-GFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m 2 ) were compared to patients without CKD. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality at 3 years. Secondary endpoints were in-hospital mortality, cardiac rehospitalization, recurrences of electrical storm (ES-R), and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 3 years., Results: A total of 70 consecutive ES patients were included. CKD was present in 43% of ES patients with a median glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 43.3 ml/min/1.73 m 2 . CKD was associated with increased all-cause mortality at 3 years (63% vs. 20%; p = 0.001; HR = 4.293; 95% CI 1.874-9.836; p = 0.001) and MACE (57% vs. 30%; p = 0.025; HR = 3.597; 95% CI 1.679-7.708; p = 0.001). In contrast, first cardiac rehospitalization (43% vs. 45%; log-rank p = 0.889) and ES-R (30% vs. 20%; log-rank p = 0.334) were not affected by CKD. Even after multivariable adjustment, CKD was still associated with increased long-term mortality (HR = 2.397; 95% CI 1.012-5.697; p = 0.047), as well as with the secondary endpoint MACE (HR = 2.520; 95% CI 1.109-5.727; p = 0.027)., Conclusions: In patients with ES, the presence of CKD was associated with increased long-term mortality and MACE., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Objectives: The study sought to assess retrospectively the prognostic impact of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in patients with electrical storm (ES)., Background: Data regarding the prognostic impact of impaired LVEF in ES patients is rare., Methods: Consecutive patients presenting with ES from 2002 to 2016 were included retrospectively. Patients with LVEF ≤ 35% were compared to patients with LVEF > 35%. The primary prognostic endpoint was long-term all-cause mortality, and secondary endpoints were rates of in-hospital mortality, rehospitalization, major adverse cardiac events (MACE), and ES recurrences (ES-R) at long-term follow-up., Results: A total of 80 patients with ES were included at 2.5 years of follow-up. 69% of patients suffered from LVEF ≤ 35%. ES patients with LVEF ≤ 35% were associated with higher rates of the primary endpoint of all-cause mortality (53% versus 8%, log-rank p = 0.0001; HR 8.524; 95% CI 2.030-35.793, p = 0.003), as well as the secondary endpoints of MACE (53% versus 20%; log rank p = 0.011; HR 3.213, 95% CI 1.241-8.316, p = 0.016) and ES-R (35% versus 8%; log rank p = 0.019; HR 4.821, 95% CI 1.122-20.706, p = 0.034). Furthermore, ES patients with LVEF ≤ 35% showed higher rates of rehospitalization due to acute heart failure (24% versus 8%, statistical trend p = 0.096). Notably, ES patients with LVEF > 35% were associated with increased rates of rehospitalization due to ventricular tachycardia (36% versus 18%, statistical trend p = 0.083)., Conclusions: ES patients with LVEF ≤ 35% were associated with increased rates of all-cause mortality, MACE, ES-R and heart failure-related rehospitalization at long-term follow-up. This study evaluated retrospectively the prognostic impact of LVEF in patients with ES. LVEF ≤ 35% was associated with increased long-term all-cause mortality (53% versus 8%; HR 8.524; 95% CI 2.030-35.793, p = 0.003), MACE (53% versus 20%; HR 3.213, 95% CI 1.241-8.316, p = 0.016), and ES recurrences (35% versus 8%; HR 4.821, 95% CI 1.122-20.706, p = 0.034), while trends were observed for higher rates of heart-failure related rehospitalization (24% versus 8%, p = 0.096) and MACE (49% versus 28%; p = 0.081).

The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR; http://arabidopsis.org) provides an integrated view of genomic data for Arabidopsis thaliana. The information is obtained from a battery of sources, including the Arabidopsis user community, the literature, and the major genome centers. Currently TAIR provides information about genes, markers, polymorphisms, maps, sequences, clones, DNA and seed stocks, gene families and proteins. In addition, users can find Arabidopsis publications and information about Arabidopsis researchers. Our emphasis is now on incorporating functional annotations of genes and gene products, genome-wide expression, and biochemical pathway data. Among the tools developed at TAIR, the most notable is the Sequence Viewer, which displays gene annotation, clones, transcripts, markers and polymorphisms on the Arabidopsis genome, and allows zooming in to the nucleotide level. A tool recently released is AraCyc, which is designed for visualization of biochemical pathways. We are also developing tools to extract information from the literature in a systematic way, and building controlled vocabularies to describe biological concepts in collaboration with other database groups. A significant new feature is the integration of the ABRC database functions and stock ordering system, which allows users to place orders for seed and DNA stocks directly from the TAIR site.