Prevention of heart disease and healthcare delivery in South Africa: Challenges and opportunities

Africa is a vast and diverse continent, and this is reflected in multiple facets of healthcare prevention and delivery. Africa also shares with many other lower- and middle-income countries (LMIC) the spectre of a global epidemic of cardiovascular disease in juxtaposition with a considerable burden of communicable diseases.(1) This supplement of the South African Heart Association Journal is centred around the Southern African region, but it addresses a wide range of timely issues of relevance not only to other regions of the continent but in the context of LMIC and newly industrialised nations around the world. The concept of the “epidemiologic transition” provides a very useful framework for understanding epidemiological trends in cardiovascular disease against a backdrop of profound changes in many societies evolving from a rural to an urban environment and in the face of challenges posed by the newly industrialised societies

Fuzzy Control/Space Station automation

Viewgraphs on fuzzy control/space station automation are presented. Topics covered include: Space Station Freedom (SSF); SSF evolution; factors pointing to automation & robotics (A&R); astronaut office inputs concerning A&R; flight system automation and ground operations applications; transition definition program; and advanced automation software tools

Artificial intelligence within AFSC

Information on artificial intelligence research in the Air Force Systems Command is given in viewgraph form. Specific research that is being conducted at the Rome Air Development Center, the Space Technology Center, the Human Resources Laboratory, the Armstrong Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, the Armamant Laboratory, and the Wright Research and Development Center is noted

Approach to device-detected subclinical atrial fibrillation

Subclinical atrial fibrillation, a commonly encountered entity in patients with implantable devices, has been associated with a number of adverse outcomes – the most important of which is thromboembolism. Through the detection of atrial high rate episodes, implanted devices offer a method to monitor for atrial fibrillation over extended periods of time. Several studies have demonstrated that patients with device-detected atrial tachyarrhythmias have an increased incidence of stroke, especially in the presence of additional risk factors. Yet, there are many uncertainties with limited evidence from randomised clinical studies and no formal guidelines to inform management in this population. This contributes to marked practice heterogeneity, underrecognition and missed opportunities for stroke prevention. We propose a logical approach to management of patients with device-detected atrial high rate episodes pending additional data from ongoing trials