“
“Objectives: N-terminal brain natriuretic GDC 941 peptide (NT-proBNP) is an established biomarker of heart failure and has been found to predict mortality and morbidity after cardiac surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate whether preoperative NT-proBNP can predict postoperative New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class and hospital readmission in addition to morbidity and mortality. Design: Retrospective. Setting: University hospital. Participants: All patients undergoing

aortic valve replacement for aortic stenosis and coronary artery bypass grafting from January to December 2008 (n = 390). Measurements and Main Results: Preoperative NT-proBNP was recorded prospectively. Five-year mortality was obtained through national registries. Postoperative functional class, morbidity, and hospital readmission were obtained through telephone interviews. Patients were divided into quartiles based on preoperative NT-proBNP; the medians of each quartile were 103 ng/L, 291 ng/L, 825 ng/L and 2,375 ng/L. Increased preoperative NT-proBNP was associated with reduced postoperative functional class. In the first quartile, 7% (7/97) were in NYHA functional class III-IV compared to 26% (25/97) in the fourth quartile (p smaller than 0.01). Increased preoperative NT-proBNP was also associated with reduced long-term survival (p smaller than 0.01). The covariate adjusted selleck chemicals llc hazard ratio for mortality

in the fourth quartile was 2.9 (1.61-5.08; p smaller than 0.01) compared to the other quartiles. No association was found between preoperative NT-proBNP and postoperative hospital readmission. Conclusions: Increased preoperative NT-proBNP is associated with reduced long-term survival and functional class but not hospital readmission post-cardiac surgery. Thus, NT-proBNP

might have additive value to established risk factors in the preoperative assessment of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.”
“Clathrodin, alkaloid isolated from Agelas sponges, was reported in 1995 as a voltage-gated sodium channel modulator. Here we describe the design and synthesis of conformationally restricted clathrodin analogues incorporating VX-680 ic50 the 4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[d]thiazol-2-amine moiety and evaluation of their modulatory activities on human voltage-gated sodium channel isoforms Na(V)1.3, Na(V)1.4 and Na(V)1.7, as well as their selectivity against cardiac isoform Nav1.5. Compounds were shown to act as statedependent modulators of Na(V)1.3, Na-V1.4 and Na(V)1.7 with IC50 values in the lower micromolar range for the open-inactivated state of the channels. Preliminary structure activity relationship studies have revealed the importance of hydrophobic interactions for binding to all three tested isoforms. Compound 4e with IC50 value of 8 mu M against Na(V)1.4 represents a novel selective state-dependent Na(V)1.4 channel modulator.