News & Comment

Cardiometabolic endoreplication (duplication of the nuclear genome without cell division), resulting in polyploidy and multinucleation, precedes cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in heart disease.

The risk of acute myocarditis associated with COVID-19 mRNA vaccination has garnered intense (social) media attention. However, myocarditis after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination is rare and usually resolves within days or weeks. Moreover, the risks of hospitalization and death associated with COVID-19 are greater than the risk associated with COVID-19 vaccination. Therefore, COVID-19 vaccination should be recommended in adolescents and adults.

Tricuspid repair during mitral valve surgery slowed the progression of tricuspid regurgitation, but did not reduce mortality in patients with mild-to-moderate tricuspid regurgitation.

In the phase II AXIOMATIC-TKR trial, the oral, selective factor XIa inhibitor milvexian provided dose-dependent protection against venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing knee arthroplasty.

According to data from the GOAL trial, when latent rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is detected by echocardiographic screening, secondary prophylaxis with antibiotics is effective in preventing progression of the disease.

Posterior left pericardiotomy at the time of surgery reduces the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing surgery on the coronary arteries, aortic valve or ascending aorta, or a combination of these operations, with no additional risk of postoperative complications, according to results from the PALACS trial.

Early surgical aortic valve replacement in asymptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis reduces the risk of all-cause death, acute myocardial infarction, stroke or unplanned hospitalization for heart failure compared with conservative care and surgical aortic valve replacement only after symptom onset, according to findings from the AVATAR trial.

Large differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality exist between migrant populations and host populations. Understanding the drivers behind these disparities may help to mitigate the unequal burden of CVD and identify new causal pathways that contribute to CVD risk in the population at large.

Two new studies show that titin haploinsufficiency and the toxicity of aggregated truncated titin protein together contribute to the pathogenesis of dilated cardiomyopathy caused by truncating variants in the gene encoding titin.

A new study shows that anti-IL-1β treatment and NLRP3 inflammasome inhibition ameliorate vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis progression by two mechanisms: a reduction in blood inflammatory leukocyte supply and a decrease in inflammatory leukocyte uptake into atherosclerotic lesions.

Clinical practice guidelines provide evidence-informed recommendations to improve the delivery of high-quality health care. Despite their ubiquity, the translation of clinical guidelines into routine clinical practice remains suboptimal. We propose the use of implementation science methods in the development of clinical practice guidelines to improve uptake.

Cardiac sex-specific differences are controlled not only by sex hormones but also through a sex-chromosome-dependent mechanism. A new study in mice shows that cardiac sex-specific disparities appear at early stages of heart development, before gonad formation, and that X-linked genes act outside of the gonads in a dosage-dependent mechanism to regulate male–female cardiac differences.

Researchers have developed a cardiac patch that is injectable, maintains its shape and electrically integrates with the myocardium, thereby improving functional recovery after myocardial infarction.

A new study shows that adult mouse cardiomyocytes can be reversibly dedifferentiated into fetal-like cardiomyocytes by forcing the transient expression of four pluripotency factors, which enables cardiomyocytes to re-enter the cell cycle and divide, thereby conferring regenerative capacity to the adult heart.