Reply to the letter of Soliman et al. regarding ‘Randomised comparison of a balloon-expandable and self-expandable valve with quantitative assessment of aortic regurgitation using magnetic resonance imaging’

Netherlands Heart Journal -     

Reply to the letter of Braber et al.: ‘Coronary stenting versus bypass surgery in elderly with multivessel disease: long-term mortality rate is still up for debate’

Netherlands Heart Journal -     

How to define nativeness in organisms with high dispersal capacities? A comment on Essl et al.

Essl and colleagues documented worldwide invasion patterns in bryophytes, which so far have been neglected in invasion biology. In the absence of historical evidence, Essl and colleagues used criteria such as anomalous geographical distribution, preference for disturbed habitats, and indirect associations with some means of human transport as criteria to identify aliens. Because bryophytes exhibit high long‐distance dispersal capabilities, disjunct distribution patterns are, however, the rule rather than the exception in the group. In our opinion, none of the previously proposed criteria to characterize aliens can be satisfactorily applied to groups like bryophytes, for which historical and fossil records are extremely scarce. We suggest that, in order to validate the conclusions of Essl and colleagues, further taxonomic and phylogeographical studies are needed. This is especially true for island floras, for which recent critical taxonomic work and updated checklists, which compose the primary source of information for biodiversity, are largely missing.     

Successful ablation of biatrial tachycardia with preserved electrical activation of left atrial appendage by unidirectional connection via Bachmann’s bundle: A case report

A 57-year-old man underwent his seventh ablation session for atrial tachycardia (AT). His previous ablations involved several regions of the right atrium (RA) and left atrium (LA). The AT was characterized as biatrial tachycardia with a circuit involving the mitral annulus and septal RA. The AT was terminated by ablation through the insertion site of Bachmann’s bundle (BB) in both atria. After 3 months, the patient underwent his eighth ablation session because of AT recurrence. Activation maps showed that the connection from the RA to LA and vice versa was maintained via BB and the coronary sinus, respectively. The ablation target to interrupt the AT circuit was the mitral isthmus (MI), not BB, because BB supplied the electrical activation of the left atrial appendage (LAA) via a unidirectional electrical connection from the RA to LA. Ablation attempts from within the coronary sinus were performed to target the epicardial connection in the MI and led to complete blockage of the connection from the LA to RA. Otherwise, the connection from the RA to LA was preserved via BB. The patient was free of symptoms and anti-arrhythmic drugs at the 4-month follow-up. However, he had a high risk of electrical isolation of the LAA because extensive ablations had been performed; the strategy of targeting the MI contributed to the balance between preserving the electrical activation of the LAA and treating the biatrial tachycardia. Verification of the connective pathway between the two atria might be helpful to determine the optimal target.     

A critique on the “Eight_Class System” of the classification of Angiosperms proposed by Wu et al.

Some critical comments are made on the “Eight-Classs System” of the classification of angiosperms recently proposed by Wu et al., which the aut hors claimed to be a “polyphyletic-polytopic” system. This system is established based on the hypothesis that there have existed eight principal lineages of angiosperms by the end of the Early Cretaceous. However, this hypothesis has not been supported by any neobotanical and paleobotanical evidence. There lationship among the eight lineages and their relationship with the common ances tor of angiosperms are not clearly clarified in the system. Having failed to follow the principle of common ancestry in the reconstruction of angiosperm phylogeny and having misinterpreted the concepts of monophyly and polyphyly, the “Eight-Class System” of the classification of angiosperms is considered to be an artificial one.     

Optimizing outcomes in HCC: Comment on “optimal timing of combining sorafenib with trans-arterial chemoembolization in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: A meta-analysis” by Jiang et al.

Recent years have witnessed notable advances in the management of intermediate and advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, several questions remain unanswered, including the timely transition from locoregional to systemic therapies and the lack of data on sequencing. In this Commentary, we critically discuss the results of the interesting meta-analysis conducted by Jiang and colleagues on the role of the combination therapy of trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and sorafenib in this setting.