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Shot Through the Heart—Can RSV Vaccination Reduce Risk of Cardiovascular Outcomes?

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes severe disease in older adults at rates similar to seasonal influenza, particularly among those with chronic heart and lung disease, including congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and bronchiolitis. Patients may present with signs and symptoms of viral pneumonia but commonly present with decompensated heart failure or COPD exacerbations, with RSV as the inciting event leading to worsening of their underlying disease. Recently, adults hospitalized with RSV have been shown to have a higher risk of invasive mechanical ventilation and death compared with those with influenza or COVID-19 who had received vaccination.

Digitoxin — A Reminder for Digoxin

Cardiac glycosides are among the oldest medications in cardiovascular care, prized for their actions as positive inotropic agents and modulators of atrioventricular conduction. In heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, their mechanistic rationale was so convincing that digitalis became a mainstay of treatment long before the initiation of large-scale trials...

Progress through Persistence — Turning the Page in Pulmonary Fibrosis Clinical Trials

The field of pulmonary fibrosis has come a long way in the past 25 years, with the approach to patient care evolving from a predominantly experience-based decision-making model to a more data-driven model. Along that journey, we have learned that certain practices that were considered to be standards of care…

A Rare-in-Common Paradigm for Precision Genomic Medicine

Precision medicine tailors clinical management strategies for treatment and prevention in light of each person’s genetic makeup, history of environmental exposures, and lifestyle. More specifically, precision medicine is about making correct, actionable diagnoses and offering appropriate, patient-specific treatment. Genomics has contributed to precision medicine, especially in the areas of rare…