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After 40 years of spectacular technological innovation, catheter ablation has become central to the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, revolutionizing patient care but with no consideration for environmental sustainability. With climate change being the biggest threat to humanity, all stakeholders urgently need to promote more virtuous and circular practices in the catheterization laboratory.
While there is understandable excitement about the development of new cardiovascular drugs, an unmet and equally important need is to perform new clinical trials of old drugs, including to determine their longer-term effects and if and when they should be discontinued after years of use. New trials of old drugs can inform clinical practice and are much needed.
Globally, Black people have some of the highest rates of cardiovascular disease. Racial inequities in cardiovascular health must be tackled. Black In Cardio is a trainee-led initiative aimed at promoting Black people in the cardiovascular field and raising awareness about issues related to the cardiovascular health of Black communities.
Bullying is common in cardiology and can have substantial adverse effects. However, bullying can be addressed by substantive leadership, organizational and individual efforts to build an inclusive and respectful culture.
Childbearing cardiologists face a number of challenges before, during and after pregnancy, including radiation concerns, infertility, pregnancy-related complications, and inadequate parental leave and return-to-work structures. Institutions can promote an equitable work environment by creating policies to mitigate these challenges.
The AIM2 inflammasome is activated by host and pathogen DNA. Work from the past 5 years indicates that the AIM2 inflammasome has an important role in advanced atherosclerosis driven by clonal haematopoiesis and possibly in atherosclerosis accelerated by acute infection. Therefore, the AIM2 inflammasome might be an important target for precision medicine.
The lowering of dietary recommendations for the consumption of free or added sugar from 25% to 10% of daily calories has been criticized as being based on low-quality scientific evidence, ill-informed opinions and over-extrapolation of results from studies on sugar-sweetened beverages. This Comment rebuts these criticisms.
Important lessons about human susceptibility to coronary atherosclerosis can be learned from the relative resilience of chimpanzees to coronary artery disease (CAD), despite their higher baseline plasma levels of LDL cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) than in humans. Evolutionary pressure and hyper-reactive T cells might have a role in the unique susceptibility of humans to CAD.
Mentorship is a crucial element to success and satisfaction among medical professionals. For a successful relationship, both mentors and mentees must examine their roles and goals. In this Comment article, a mentor–mentee pair discuss the necessary attributes for a productive partnership.
Moderate coffee consumption (2–5 cups per day) has been consistently associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease in epidemiological studies. For most individuals, a caffeine intake of up to 400 mg per day is safe and moderate coffee consumption can be included as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Heart failure is a systemic disease in which neuroendocrine activation, inflammation and metabolic changes can impair cardiac function. In addition, variants in genes encoding sarcomeric proteins can predispose individuals to develop heart failure. The 2022 Gordon Research Conference on Cardiac Regulatory Mechanisms aims to identify novel treatment targets by applying high-resolution approaches to complex cardiac disorders.
