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

Colorectal cancer screening: A global overview of existing programmes

Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks third among the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide, with wide geographical variation in incidence and mortality across the world. Despite proof that screening can decrease CRC incidence and mortality, CRC screening is only offered to a small proportion of the target population worldwide. Throughout the world there are widespread differences in CRC screening implementation status and strategy. Differences can be attributed to geographical variation in CRC incidence, economic resources, healthcare structure and infrastructure to support screening such as the ability to identify the target population at risk and cancer registry availability. This review highlights issues to consider when implementing a CRC screening programme and gives a worldwide overview of CRC burden and the current status of screening programmes, with focus on international differences

Towards a multiplex cereal traceability tool using padlock probe ligation on genomic DNA

Current EU regulations on the protection of products with certain characteristics (geographical indications and designations of origin) aim to ensure fair competition for producers and increased consumers¿ trust. Within the European integrated research project TRACE analytical methods are being developed to allow the maintenance of specific regulations for PGIs (products of protected geographical indication) and PDOs (products of designated origin). An example within the project is the PGI wheat variety Farro della Garfagnana. The aim of the research was to develop a method to establish the purity of Farro della Garfagnana DNA in complex cereal mixtures. The combined approach of padlock probe ligation and multiplex microarray detection can identify possible admixtures. One undesired `contaminant¿ for Farro della Garfagnana is common bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), containing the BBAuAuDD genome. Since Farro harbours the BBAuAu genome, absence of the D-genome rules out the presence of bread wheat. The current detection limit of this multimethod is at least 2.5% bread wheat in Farr

Towards a multiplex cereal traceability tool using padlock probe ligation on genomic DNA

Current EU regulations on the protection of products with certain characteristics (geographical indications and designations of origin) aim to ensure fair competition for producers and increased consumers¿ trust. Within the European integrated research project TRACE analytical methods are being developed to allow the maintenance of specific regulations for PGIs (products of protected geographical indication) and PDOs (products of designated origin). An example within the project is the PGI wheat variety Farro della Garfagnana. The aim of the research was to develop a method to establish the purity of Farro della Garfagnana DNA in complex cereal mixtures. The combined approach of padlock probe ligation and multiplex microarray detection can identify possible admixtures. One undesired `contaminant¿ for Farro della Garfagnana is common bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), containing the BBAuAuDD genome. Since Farro harbours the BBAuAu genome, absence of the D-genome rules out the presence of bread wheat. The current detection limit of this multimethod is at least 2.5% bread wheat in Farr