Prevalence, Predictive Factor, and Clinical Significance of White-Coat Hypertension and Masked Hypertension in Korean Hypertensive patients

Smoking is associated with common sight-threatening eye conditions. We suspected that this link was little known and it might be a potent novel health promotional tool. We therefore developed a programme ultimately aiming to reduce the burden of eye disease attributable to smoking. The programme aims were to (1) raise awareness of the link between smoking and eye disease and advocate changes in relevant policies and (2) investigate and promote change in professional practice so that smokers are identified and routinely offered smoking cessation advice/support in eyecare settings. An inter-professional team developed a programme of research and education targeting policy-makers, healthcare professionals, the public and patients. We reviewed evidence about the causal link between smoking and eye disease, researched current awareness of the link, researched current practice of eyecare health professionals, produced health education materials and campaigned for policy changes. The series of projects was completed successfully, achieving media coverage, confirming the causal link between smoking and eye disease and demonstrating low awareness of this association. Healthcare leaders and policy-makers were engaged in our programme resulting in commitment, in principle, from the UK's Chief Medical Officer and the European Commission to consider including warning labels related to blindness on cigarette packets

Exercise, Heart and Health

Regular physical activity provides a variety of health benefits, including improvement in cardiopulmonary or metabolic status, reduction of the risk of coronary artery disease or stroke, prevention of cancer, and decrease in total mortality. Exercise-related cardiac events are occasionally reported during highly competitive sports activity or vigorous exercises. However, the risk of sudden death is extremely low during vigorous exercise, and habitual vigorous exercise actually decreases the risk of sudden death during exercise. The cause of sudden death is ischemic in older subjects (≥35 years old), while cardiomyopathies or genetic ion channel diseases are important underlying pathology in younger (<35 years old) victims. The subgroup of patients who are particularly at higher risk of exercise-related sudden death may be identified in different ways, such as pre-participation history taking, physical examination and/or supplementary cardiac evaluation. Limitations exist because current diagnostic tools are not sufficient to predict a coronary artery plaque with potential risk of disruption and/or an acute thrombotic occlusion. Proper and cost-effective methods for identification of younger subjects with cardiac structural problems or genetic ion channel diseases are still controversial

Brugada syndrome and early repolarization syndrome: Cellular basis and clinical features

Brugada syndrome (BS) and early repolarization syndrome (ERS) are newly introduced electrical disorders responsible for ventricular fibrillation (VF) and sudden cardiac death in patients with structurally normal hearts. The electrocardiographic J wave, a hallmark of these two syndromes, plays a critical role in the pathophysiology of malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias. BS and ERS share many clinical characteristics, including male preponderance, circadian distribution of VF episodes, prevalence of concomitant atrial tachyarrhythmias, dynamic behavior of J waves, and response to therapeutic managements. In this review, we compare the key clinical manifestations of BS and ERS with their underlying cellular electrophysiologic mechanisms