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

A monograph of the shallow-water Chalinidae (Porifera, Haplosclerida) of the Caribbean.

All known species of the sponge family Chalinidae (Demospongiae, Haplosclerida) occurring in the shallower part of the Caribbean are described and taxonomically revised. The study is the result of collecting activities of the author and others throughout the Caribbean, and examination of type and other material in musea and institutes. In a previous revision of north-eastern Atlantic Chalinidae (De Weerdt, 1986, 1989), the family was subdivided into eight monophyletic species groups, with various states of the skeletal architecture as main synapomorphous (shared derived) characters. After examination of all available type species of the nominal genera of the family, the species groups are now given proper names, replacing the tentative names in the earlier publications. These are the genus Haliclona Grant, 1835, with the nominotypical subgenus Haliclona for the ‘oculata’ group, subgenus Reniera Schmidt, 1862 for the ‘aquaeductus’ group, subgenus Soestella n. subg. for the ‘arenata’ group, subgenus Halichoclona De Laubenfels, 1932 for the ‘fistulosa’ group, subgenus Rhizoniera Griessinger, 1971 for the ‘rosea’ group, subgenus Gellius Gray, 1867 for the ‘angulata’ group, the genus Chalinula Schmidt, 1868 for the ‘Acervochalina’ group, and genus Dendroxea Griessinger, 1971 for the ‘Dendroxea’ group. Twenty-three valid shallow-water species are recognized, seven of which are here described as new: Haliclona (Reniera) ruetzleri n.sp., Haliclona (Soestella) lehnerti n.sp., Haliclona (Soestella) luciensis n.sp., Haliclona (Soestella) smithae n.sp., Haliclona (Soestella) vermeuleni n.sp., Haliclona (Halichoclona) stoneae n.sp., and Chalinula zeae n.sp

Phylogeny and vicariance biogeography of North Atlantic Chalinidae (Haplosclerida, Demospongiae)

The present paper consists of a phylogenetic and historical biogeographic analysis of the North Atlantic shallow-water Haplosclerida (Porifera, Demospongiae), and of the Chalinidae in particular. The monophyly of the Haplosclerida is founded on five assumed apomorphous (derived) characters. Six related outgroups, viz. the Esperiopsidae, Desmacellidae, Mycalidae, Myxillidae, Microcionidae, and Axinellida s.l. have been used for establishing the character polarity within the Haplosclerida. A key to the haplosclerid families, the Chalinidae, Niphatidae, Callyspongiidae, Petrosiidae and Oceanapiidae, and a hypothesis on the phylogenetic relationships of the families is presented. Within the Chalinidae, eight monophyletic species groups are distinguished on the basis of assumed apomorphous characters. Two of these groups belong to the nominal genera Acervochalina and Dendroxea, the other six to the genus Haliclona. A key to the species groups and a hypothesis on the phylogenetic relationships of the groups is presented. Subsequently, each individual species group is analyzed phylogenetically. The obtained species cladograms and the distributional types of the species within the North Atlantic Ocean are used for the construction of a general area cladogram, representing a hypothesis on the historical relationships of areas of endemism in the North Atlantic Ocean. The analysis is based on the component-compatibility and parsimony methods as developed by Zandee & Roos (1987). For generation of the general area cladogram the computer program CAFCA (Zandee, 1987) has been used. Three main vicariance events can be recognized from the general area cladogram, viz. the Cretaceous separation of South America and Africa, a subsequent separation of the Boreal area from the south-eastern part of the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and the Miocene (Messinian) salinity crisis in the Mediterranean basin. The individual species area cladograms are evaluated in order to establish which show “vicariance fit” with the general area cladogram, and which species have deviating distribution patterns needing the most parsimonious “ad hoc” explanations, like dispersal or extinction

Haliclona (Halichoclona) vanderlandi spec. nov. (Porifera: Demospongiae: Haplosclerida) from Indonesia

A new sponge species, Haliclona (Halichoclona) vanderlandi is described from three Indonesian localities: Take Bone Rata, Kapoposang (SW Sulawesi) and Manadotua Island (NE Sulawesi). The species belongs to the family Chalinidae and is assigned to the subgenus Halichoclona of the genus Haliclona, hitherto known as the “fistulosa” group as distinguished by de Weerdt (1989)

New records of Xestospongia species (Haplosclerida: Petrosiidae) from the Curacao reefs, with a description of a new species

Three species of the sponge genus Xestospongia (Haplosclerida) are newly recorded for the south Caribbean island of Curaçao, Xestospongia arenosa n. sp., X. caminata Pulitzer-Finali (1986) and X. deweerdtae Lehnert & Van Soest (1999). The species are described and compared with Xestospongia species already known from Curaçao and other Caribbean localities. A key to the Curaçao species of Xestospongia is provided

Marine shallow-water Haplosclerida (Porifera) from the south-eastern part of the North Atlantic Ocean

Sixteen species of marine Haplosclerida were collected by the CANCAP-expeditions, among which two are new to science, viz. Petrosia canariensis and Oceanapia cancap. The Haplosclerida fauna of the south-eastern part of the North Atlantic, comprising 46 species, is reviewed, discussed and compared with those of neighbouring areas of the North Atlantic (NE Atlantic, W Atlantic, West Indies, Mediterranean). Three distribution patterns are recognized: Mediterranean-Atlantic, endemic and amphi-Atlantic