eart failure is the common feature of the endstage for any type of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and is one of the most important causes of high morbidity and mortality in developed countries. This is also the situation in Japan, mainly because of rapid aging of the population, and increased survivors of serious CVD because of the recent advances in therapeutic strategies. Although it has been t...

Objective(s): Heart failure (HF) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Due to beneficial effects of stem cells, paracrine secretion of them has recently been used by researchers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of intravenous injection (IV) of conditioned medium (CM) of human amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC-CM) o...

Hyponatremia is a common clinical condition among hospitalized heart failure patients, associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The pathophysiological mechanisms that relate heart failure with hyponatremia are complex, involving beyond renal dysfunction, neurohormonal activation and diuretic treatment. The pituitary hormone vasopressin seems to play a central role leading to renal wat...

South Asia (SA) is both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world. The countries in this region are undergoing epidemiological transition and are facing the double burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases. Heart failure (HF) is a major and increasing burden all over the world. In this review, we discuss the epidemiology of HF in SA today and its...

BACKGROUND Heart failure (HF) imposes both direct costs to healthcare systems and indirect costs to society through morbidity, unpaid care costs, premature mortality and lost productivity. The global economic burden of HF is not known. METHODS We estimated the overall cost of heart failure in 2012, in both direct and indirect terms, across the globe. Existing country-specific heart failure co...

OBJECTIVES We sought to determine the predictors of heart failure (HF) development in long-term survivors of myocardial infarction (MI). BACKGROUND Modern strategies of acute MI care have resulted in an increasing proportion of survivors at heightened risk of future non-fatal events, including HF. METHODS We assessed the risk of developing HF in 3860 stable MI patients without a previous hi...

Lipid accumulation in nonadipose tissue due to enhanced circulating fatty acids may play a role in the pathophysiology of heart failure, obesity, and diabetes. Accumulation of myocardial lipids and related intermediates, e.g., ceramide, is associated with decreased contractile function, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, and electron transport chain (ETC) complex activities. We tested the...

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF), a clinical syndrome where heart failure (HF) exists in the presence of normal or near-normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), accounts for up to half of all HF patients. However, in contrast to heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFREF), where therapeutic advances have significantly improved outcomes over the last two d...

John J V McMurray, MD, FRCP, FESC (Work Group CoChair), is Professor of Medical Cardiology at BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre and Head of Section of Academic Cardiology at University of Glasgow. Dr McMurray received his medical degree from University of Manchester and completed additional clinical training in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow. He conducts clinical research in a wide span...