Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

Magnetoexcitons in nanostructures exhibiting cylindrical symmetry

The problem of an exciton in the cylindrical nanostructure exposed to an external static magnetic field is investigated. The theoretical model assumes anisotropic masses which are different inside and outside the nanostructure. The confinement potential has finite value at the boundaries and magnetic field is parallel to the axis of the cylinder. The screened Coulomb interaction between an electron and a hole is assumed. The consistent mathematical procedure is developed to calculate the magnetoexciton eigenfunctions and eigenenergies. Our method applies to the systems exhibiting cylindrical symmetry where, due to confinement effects accompanied by the e-h Coulomb interaction, the separation of relative- and center-of-mass motion is not possible. Numerical calculations have been performed for the quantum disk, the cylinder and the quantum rod. The magnetic field dependent energy spectrum and corresponding wave functions, expressed in terms of known one-particle electron and hole eigenfunctions, are calculated. Additionally, we point out the different role of Coulomb interaction in every case

Hydrogenic impurity states in CdSe/ZnS and ZnS/CdSe core-shell nanodots with dielectric mismatch

Within the effective mass approximation we theoretically studied the electronic properties of CdSe/ZnS and ZnS/CdSe core-shell quantum dots surrounded by wide-gap dielectric materials. The finite element method is used to obtain the lowest impurity levels and the carrier spatial distribution within the dot. We found that in these zero-dimensional semiconductor structures the electron energy is sensitively dependent on the dielectric constants of the embedding and on the heterostructure geometry. The influence of polarization charges on the binding energy of hydrogenic impurities off-center located is also investigated. The results suggest that in dielectrically modulated nanodots the donor energy can be tuned to a large extent by the structure design, the impurity position and a proper choice of the dielectric media