Left atrial volume and adverse cardiovascular outcomes in unselected patients with and without CKD.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Patients with CKD have increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This study investigated the prognostic value of common clinical echocardiographic parameters. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: There were 289 unselected consecutive patients who had a transthoracic echocardiogram between January and June 2003. Patients with stage 3 or 4 CKD (n=49) were compared with those with eGFR≥60 ml/min per 1.73 m(2), n=240). Left ventricular volume, ejection fraction and mass, left atrial volume, and function parameters were measured. The primary endpoint, determined a priori, was a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and congestive cardiac failure. RESULTS: Patients were followed for a median 5.6 years. The incidence of the primary endpoint was higher in patients with CKD (29% versus 12%, P=0.001), who were older and had a higher prevalence of hypertension and ischemic heart disease. Indexed left ventricular mass (LVMI) and left atrial volume (LAVI) were higher in patients with CKD. Furthermore, patients with LAVI>32 ml/m(2) had significantly lower event-free survival than patients with normal (<28 ml/m(2)) or mildly dilated LAVI (28-32 ml/m(2)) (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that age (odds ratio [OR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.08 to 1.31; P=0.001) and LVMI (OR, 3.66; 95% CI, 2.47 to 5.41; P<0.001) were independently associated with LAVI>32 ml/m(2). Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that CKD (hazard ratio [HR], 1.13; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.26; P=0.04), hypertension (HR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.05 to 4.54; P=0.04), and a larger LAVI (HR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.77; P=0.04) were independent predictors of the primary endpoint. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with CKD were at higher risk for cardiovascular events. LAVI was significantly larger in the CKD group and was a predictor of adverse cardiac events.

Management and outcomes of patients with acute coronary syndromes in Australia and New Zealand, 2000-2007.

OBJECTIVES: To describe temporal trends in the use of evidence-based medical therapies and management of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in Australia and New Zealand. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Our analysis of the Australian and New Zealand cohort of the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) included patients with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST-segment-elevation ACS (NSTEACS) enrolled continuously between January 2000 and December 2007 from 11 metropolitan and rural centres in Australia and New Zealand. RESULTS: 5615 patients were included in this analysis (1723 with STEMI; 3892 with NSTEACS). During 2000-2007 there was an increase in the use of statin therapy, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers, and thienopyridines (P < 0.0001 for each). Among patients with STEMI, there was an increase in emergency revascularisation with PCI (from 11% to 27% [P < 0.0001]), and inhospital coronary angiography (from 61% to 76% [P < 0.0001]). Among patients with NSTEACS, there was an increase in revascularisation with PCI (from 20% to 25% [P = 0.004]). Heart failure rates declined substantially among STEMI and NSTEACS patients (from 21% to 12% [P = 0.0002], and from 13% to 4% [P < 0.0001], respectively) as did rates of hospital readmission for ischaemic heart disease at 6 months (from 23% to 9% [P = 0.0001], and from 24% to 15% [P = 0.0001], respectively). CONCLUSIONS: From 2000 to 2007 in Australia and New Zealand, there was a fall in inhospital events and 6-month readmissions among patients admitted with ACS. This showed an association with improved uptake of guideline-recommended medical and interventional therapies. These data suggest an overall improvement in the quality of care offered to contemporary ACS patients in Australia and New Zealand.

The enchantment of science in India.

In critiquing methodologies of the "global" as a spatial unit of analysis or a receptacle for influence across the planet, this essay positions India so as to assess the role and forms of science in the modern world. By taking the mid-nineteenth century as a moment of departure, it asks why, under what conditions, and to what effects Indians accepted science, but not biomedicine, in the high noon of colonialism. Existing imperial histories of science that are primarily fixated on the eighteenth century cast science as a site of exchange and dialogue, thus replicating the narrative of European expansion overseas. Instead, the power of science is here understood in the context of the politics of religion and rationality. In a synoptic overview, the essay assesses the archaeology of science and the blurred practices between religion and science, described here as "insurgent." It argues that science in India was a form of enchantment, while religion had become a form of disenchanted but rational knowledge. Unlike in Europe, and contrary to orientalist positions, science in India neither declared the death of God nor became "spiritualized" via religion. Instead, science inflected religion; and religion, in turn, facilitated a rational mediation between science and man. This specific relationship accounts for the "soft landing" of science in India and its usurpation in the service of an unapologetic national modernity.