Coronary arteries anomalies (CAA) as a cause of a sudden cardiac death (SCD) among young athletes - review

Introduction and objective Congenital coronary arteries anomalies (CAA) are one of the most common causes of a sudden cardiac death (SCD) among young athletes. CAA are serious diagnostic and clinical issue because in many patients there are no characteristic clinical symptoms and commonly used tests are not enough to reveal many types of anatomical abnormalities. Authors of this review would like to present current state of knowledge of CAA and their diagnostics, as well as recommendations for proceeding in patients with diagnosed CAA to prevent SCD. Abbreviated description of the state of knowledge According to statistics CAA are rare congenital heart defects however they are associated with a more frequent occurrence of SCD. The mechanism of this phenomenon has not been fully explained but there are several hypotheses. The most important of which concerns the dimension of the angle of branch of the coronary artery from the sinus of Valsalva. Numerous clinical studies on SCD pay attention to the occurrence of asymptomatic CAA as the main cause of SCD right after hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Among strategies of proceeding recommended after the diagnosis of CAA, there are pharmacological and surgical treatment, however it hasn't been established which of them is the best for young athletes. Summary One of the most important things to prevent SCD in the course of CAA seems to be creating universal guidelines for early diagnosis and treatment of this congenital defect. Widespread learning first aid and increasing availability of automatic external defibrillators (AED) are also important. SCD of a young athlete is a tragedy not only for the family but also for the whole sporting environment, that is why it is in the public interest to find an answer to the question how we can prevent that cases in the future

The Comet Interceptor Mission

Here we describe the novel, multi-point Comet Interceptor mission. It is dedicated to the exploration of a little-processed long-period comet, possibly entering the inner Solar System for the first time, or to encounter an interstellar object originating at another star. The objectives of the mission are to address the following questions: What are the surface composition, shape, morphology, and structure of the target object? What is the composition of the gas and dust in the coma, its connection to the nucleus, and the nature of its interaction with the solar wind? The mission was proposed to the European Space Agency in 2018, and formally adopted by the agency in June 2022, for launch in 2029 together with the Ariel mission. Comet Interceptor will take advantage of the opportunity presented by ESA’s F-Class call for fast, flexible, low-cost missions to which it was proposed. The call required a launch to a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 point. The mission can take advantage of this placement to wait for the discovery of a suitable comet reachable with its minimum ΔV capability of 600 ms−1. Comet Interceptor will be unique in encountering and studying, at a nominal closest approach distance of 1000 km, a comet that represents a near-pristine sample of material from the formation of the Solar System. It will also add a capability that no previous cometary mission has had, which is to deploy two sub-probes – B1, provided by the Japanese space agency, JAXA, and B2 – that will follow different trajectories through the coma. While the main probe passes at a nominal 1000 km distance, probes B1 and B2 will follow different chords through the coma at distances of 850 km and 400 km, respectively. The result will be unique, simultaneous, spatially resolved information of the 3-dimensional properties of the target comet and its interaction with the space environment. We present the mission’s science background leading to these objectives, as well as an overview of the scientific instruments, mission design, and schedule