Tag Archives: alirocumab

What’s new in transplantation Are kidney donors worse off? The meeting was opened by Dr Anna Price (Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Birmingham) who addressed the long-term cardiovascular effects of unilateral nephrectomy in living kidney donors.1 Previous studies have shown a significant prevalence of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD),2,3 but the effects of reduced renal function in living kidney donors has been unexplored until now. A recent study by Price et al. demonstrated that living kidney donors had a reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from 95 to 67 ml/min

A high-sensitivity blood test could be used to predict which patients are at risk of myocardial infarction according to new research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and carried out by the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. The study, published recently in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2016.10.020), shows the troponin test could also be a more effective way of assessing future heart disease risk than blood pressure or cholesterol. In the study of over 3,000 men with high cholesterol but no history of heart disease, the team found that changes in blood levels of a high-sensitivity tropon

BHF to spend half a billion pounds on research A new research strategy has been launched by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), aiming to fund over half a billion pounds of new cardiovascular research over the next five years. The BHF’s new strategy includes a commitment to continue funding the best researchers working across all areas of cardiovascular disease research.  This includes a pledge by the BHF to help women stay in research after a review highlighted the underrepresentation of women in senior cardiovascular research roles. Also, for the first time, the BHF will fund healthcare professionals, such as nurses, by establishing a de

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FH initiative Headlining the Congress was the launch of the EAS Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Studies Collaboration (FHSC), a consortium of major FH registries across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America, led by Professor Kausik Ray (Imperial College, London). As shown by the previous EAS Consensus Panel statement, FH is one of the most common inherited conditions, yet it is underdiagnosed and undertreated in almost all countries.1 The FHSC will provide information on key aspects relating to FH care which will be critical in leveraging public policy to improve detection and management. Linking patient and clinician empowerment unde