Japanese Versus Non-Japanese Patients with Transient Ischemic Attack or Minor Stroke: Subanalysis of TIA registry.org

BackgroundTIAregistry.org is an international cohort of patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke within 7 days before enrollment in the registry. Main analyses of 1-year follow-up data have been reported.⁵ We conducted subanalysis on the baseline and 1-year follow-up data of Japanese patients.MethodsThe patients were classified into 2 groups based on Japanese ethnicity, Japanese (345) and non-Japanese (3238), and their baseline data and 1-year event rates were compared. We also determined risk factors and predictors of 1-year stroke.ResultsCurrent smoking, regular alcohol drinking, intracranial arterial stenosis, and small vessel occlusion; and hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, and extracranial arterial stenosis were more and less common among Japanese patients, respectively. Stroke risk was higher and TIA risk was lower at 1-year follow-up among Japanese patients. The baseline risk factors for recurrent stroke were diabetes, alcohol drinking, and large artery atherosclerosis. Independent predictors of 1-year stroke risk were prior congestive heart failure and alcohol consumption.ConclusionsThe two populations of patients featured differences in risk factors, stroke subtypes, and outcome events. Predictors of recurrent stroke among Japanese patients included congestive heart failure and regular alcohol drinking. Strategies to attenuate residual risk of stroke aside from adherence to current guidelines should take our Japanese-patient specific findings into account.     

Instrumented Measurement: Its joys and sorrows

Physiotherapists meet special problems with measurement because physiotherapy may cause changes which are difficult to quantify or even to attribute to the intervention. This paper answers some frequently asked questions.     

The impact of preinjury antithrombotic medication on hemostatic interventions in trauma patients

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine whether preinjury medication with antithrombotic agents was related to an increase in hemostatic interventions in patients with severe trauma without traumatic brain injury.

A sex-specific evaluation of predicted lean and fat mass composition and cardiovascular disease onset and progression: A combined analysis of the ATTICA and GREECS prospective epidemiological studies

ObjectivesTo evaluate the association of predicted lean and fat mass on 10-year first and recurrent CVD incidence separately for men and women.MethodsTwo prospective studies, ATTICA (2002-2012, n = 3042 subjects free-of-CVD, n = 1514 men (46 ± 13 years) and n = 1528 women (45 ± 14 years)) and GREECS (2004-2014, n = 2172 subjects with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), n = 1649 men (65 ± 13 years) and n = 523 women (62 ± 11 years)) were used. Lean mass index (LMI) and fat mass index (FMI) were created through total body lean and fat mass (indirectly calculated through population formulas based on body weight, height and waist circumference) divided by height squared. Follow-up was performed in n = 2020 of ATTICA (n = 317 first CVD events) and in n = 2172 patients of GREECS (n = 811 recurrent CVD events).ResultsIn ATTICA study, CVD rate from 1st to 3rd FMI tertile was 9.4%, 16.1% and 19.9% while in GREECS 36.2%, 37.0%, 38.3%. The LMI-related rates were 17.1%, 15.0% and 11.9% vs. 38.8%, 35.8% and 36.7%. Multiadjusted analysis revealed U-shape trend between LMI and CVD recurrence with 2nd LMI tertile having the best prognosis; this observation was more evident in women. In apparently healthy subjects, LMI-cardioprotective association was revealed only in 3rd tertile (HR = 0.91 95%CI (0.74, 0.95)); this was more evident in men. The FMI aggravating association (3rd tertile) was retained significant only in healthy women and ACS men.ConclusionThis work expands previous findings regarding body composition and cardiac health, implying that the association of lean and fat mass on long-term CVD incidence varies according to sex and prevention stage.     

Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Practices in California: A Study of a Regulatory Agency

A mail survey sent to all 25 State of California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) offices and distributed to all 167 investigators assessed investigators' decisions to recommend issuance or denial of alcoholic beverage license applications. Investigators responded to three hypothetical vignettes that involved applications for liquor licenses. Findings show that although ABC investigators are influenced by public protests, illegal applications, and an applicant's moral character, they consistently favor licensing the applicant. The two formal rules that were designed specifically to respond to the community's welfare do not present serious barriers to obtaining an alcohol license. As a state regulatory organization, ABC is influenced greatly by the industry that it is supposed to regulate.     

Accuracy of cardiokymography during exercise testing: results of a multicenter study

To determine the diagnostic accuracy of cardiokymography, recorded 2 to 3 minutes after exercise, 617 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization were evaluated from 12 participating centers using a standardized protocol. Adequate cardiokymographic tracings, which were obtained in 82% of patients, were dependent on the skill of the operator and on certain patient characteristics. Of the 327 patients without prior myocardial infarction who had technically adequate cardiokymographic and electrocardiographic tracings, 166 (51%) had coronary disease. Both the sensitivity and specificity of cardiokymography (71 and 88%, respectively) were significantly greater than the values for the exercise electrocardiogram (61 and 76%, respectively, both p less than 0.01). Coronary artery disease and multivessel disease were present in 98 and 68%, respectively, of the 70 patients with concordantly positive cardiokymographic and electrocardiographic results, and in 15 and 5%, respectively, of the 132 patients with concordantly negative test results (p less than 0.001). Cardiokymography was most helpful in those patients in whom the posttest probability of coronary disease was between 21 and 72% after exercise electrocardiography. In these patients a concordantly positive cardiokymographic result increased the probability of coronary disease to between 67 and 100%, whereas a negative response decreased it to between 12 and 15%. In the subgroup of 102 patients undergoing concomitant exercise thallium testing, the sensitivity and specificity for the thallium scintigraphy (81 and 80%, respectively) were similar to the values for cardiokymography (72 and 84%, respectively; differences not significant). Thus, cardiokymography performed during exercise testing improves the diagnostic accuracy of the electrocardiographic response and provides an additional and cost-effective indicator of myocardial ischemia.