Tag Archives: European Heart Journal

Too Much, Too Fast? Cross-Country Skiing And Heart Arrhythmias Reply

by • Heart Rhythms, Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes • Tags: , , , , ,

When it comes to exercise it may be true that you can do too much or go too fast. It may seem counterintuitive but a new study finds that among cross-country skiers the risk of having a cardiac arrhythmia was highest in those who raced the fastest or most often.

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In a paper published in the European Heart Journal, Swedish researchers report on more than 50,000 participants in the Vasaloppet, an enormously popular 90 kilometer cross-country skiing event that takes place each year in Sweden. Previous research has shown that Vasaloppet participants are, not surprisingly, healthier than other Swedes across a broad range of measures. The new research, however, shows that those participants who finished with the fastest times or who completed more races were more likely to develop an arrhythmia.

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Click here to read the full post on Forbes.

 

 

 

 

 

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Japanese Research Scandal Expands To A Second Trial And A Novartis Employee Reply

by • People, Places & Events, Policy & Ethics • Tags: , , , , ,

A Japanese research scandal, which has so far centered on actions taken by the once-prominent cardiologist Hiroaki Matsubara, has now expanded. As has been previously reported, several papers authored by Matsubara have been retracted, including, most notably, the main publication of the Kyoto Heart Study in the European Heart Journal.

Now, however, questions have been raised about  another clinical trial, the Jikei Heart Trial, which was published in the Lancet in 2007.  (Matsubara was not involved in this trial.) Novartis, which manufactures valsartan (Diovan), the drug studied in both trials, has announced that it is investigating both trials in response to new allegations that a Novartis employee worked on the trials without any disclosure of his company affiliation.

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Click here to read the full story on Forbes.

Scientific Misconduct: From Darwin And Mendel To Poldermans And Matsubara Reply

by • People, Places & Events, Policy & Ethics • Tags: , , , , ,

Responding to recent episodes of scientific misconduct in cardiovascular research involving once prominent cardiovascular researchers, the editor of the European Heart Journal, Thomas Lüscher, has written an editorial discussing the significance of the new cases and placing them in a historical context that includes allegations of scientific misconduct by Mendel and Darwin, among many others.

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Poldermans was the first or the senior author in 7 papers published in EHJ. Lüscher writes that the chairman of the Poldermans investigative committee “made it clear that the vast amount of publications led by Poldermans over the last decades made it impossible to assess their scientific validity in all cases.” As a result, Poldermans announces that “the editors of the European Heart Journal therefore would like to make an expression of concern related to the papers where Poldermans was the responsible author.”

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Comment: Without more information there will continue to be a large cloud of uncertainty hanging over the cardiovascular literature. The statement of the chairman of the Poldermans committee bears repeating: “the vast amount of publications led by Poldermans over the last decades made it impossible to assess their scientific validity in all cases.”

 Click here to read the full story on Forbes.

 

Gregor Mendel
Gregor Mendel

 

Don Poldermans

 

 

 

 

HPS2-THRIVE Coming Attraction: First Look At What Went Wrong With Niacin Reply

by • People, Places & Events, Policy & Ethics, Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes • Tags: , , , , , ,

In a few weeks, on March 9, the main results of the HPS2-THRIVE (Heart Protection Study 2-Treatment of HDL to Reduce the Incidence of Vascular Events) study will be presented in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology. These results have been eagerly awaited since Merck’s brief announcement in December that the trial had not met its primary endpoint and that it would no longer pursue approval of Tredaptive, the combination of extended-release niacin and laropiprant, in the US. The trial was designed to assess whether adding the niacin/laropiprant combination to standard statin therapy in high risk individuals would further reduce vascular events.

Now, serving almost as a coming attraction for the main event at the ACC, an important substudy from HPS2-THRIVE has been published in the European Heart Journal. The paper discusses the trial design, the pre-specified muscle and liver outcomes, and the reasons for stopping treatment during the trial.

Click here to read the full story in Forbes.

European Heart Journal

European Heart Journal Retracts Main Paper Of The Kyoto Heart Study 1

by • People, Places & Events, Policy & Ethics • Tags: , , ,

The editors of the European Heart Journal have retracted the 2009 paper reporting the main results of the Kyoto Heart Study, a randomized, open-labeled study testing the add-on effect of valsartan to conventional therapy in high-risk hypertension. The retraction notice gave no details about the problems that led to the retraction. Here is the full text of the retraction notice:

“This article has been retracted by the journal. Critical problems existed with some of the data reported in the above paper. The editors of the European Heart Journal hereby retract this paper and discourage citations of it.”

Click here to read the full story on Forbes.

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