Western society is at the brink of an atrial fibrillation (AF) explosion. Already AF is the most common sustained arrhythmia worldwide; in the US alone the estimated prevalence in 2010 was between 2.7 to 6.1 million, and this is expected to rise to between 5.6 and 12 million by 2050 [1]. The source of this increase is multifactorial and our current ability to manage the condition is often subop...

PURPOSE To investigate the findings of infrared fundus autofluorescence in eyes with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). METHODS This study was an observational follow-up of 83 eyes of 80 consecutive patients with CSC recruited from a hospital referral practice. Infrared autofluorescence (IR-AF) findings and those of other clinical studies, including short-wave autofluorescence (SW-AF), f...

In this paper, we present a new technique for determining all perfect powers in so-called Pell sequences. To be precise, given a positive nonsquare integer D, we show how to (practically) solve Diophantine equations of the form x −Dy = 1 in integers x, y and n ≥ 2. Our method relies upon Frey curves and corresponding Galois representations and eschews lower bounds for linear forms in logarithms...

BACKGROUND Prolonged atrial fibrillation (AF) results in electrical, structural, and gap-junctional remodeling. We examined the reversibility of the changes in (ultra)structure and gap junctions. METHODS AND RESULTS Four groups of goats were used: (1) sinus rhythm (SR), (2) 4 months' AF (4 mo AF), (3) 2 months' SR after 4 mo AF (2 mo post-AF), and (4) 4 months' SR after 4 mo AF (4 mo post-AF)...

BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a leading cause of total and fatal ischemic stroke. Stroke risk after AF ablation appears to be favorably affected; however, it is largely unknown whether the benefit extends to all stroke CHADS2 risk profiles of AF patients. OBJECTIVE To determine if ablation of atrial fibrillation reduces stroke rates in all risk groups. METHODS A total of 4212 conse...

BACKGROUND Previous studies suggest that the antifibrillatory action of class I and III drugs is due to prolongation of the atrial wavelength. The aim of the present study was to directly evaluate the electrophysiological action of antifibrillatory drugs in a goat model of chronic atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS AND RESULTS Six goats were instrumented with multiple atrial electrodes, and su...

AIMS Implantable loop recorders (ILRs) with specific atrial fibrillation (AF) detection algorithms (ILR-AF) have been developed for continuous AF monitoring. We sought to analyse the clinical value of a new AF monitoring device and to compare it to serial 7-day Holter. METHODS AND RESULTS Sixty-four consecutive patients suffering from paroxysmal AF were included in this prospective analysis a...