Background Non-vitamin K antagonist (VKA) oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have substantially improved anticoagulation therapy for prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with atrial ...fibrillation (AF). The available routine care data have demonstrated the safety of different NOACs; however, such data for edoxaban are scarce. Here, we report baseline characteristics of 13,638 edoxaban-treated patients with AF enrolled between November 2016 and February 2018. Methods ETNA-AF-Europe is a multinational, multi-centre, post-authorisation, observational study conducted in 825 sites in 10 European countries. Patients will be followed up for four years. Results Overall, 13,980 patients were enrolled of which 342 patients were excluded from the analysis. Mean patient age was 73.6 years with an average creatinine clearance of 69.4 mL/min. 56.6% were male. The calculated CHA.sub.2DS.sub.2-VASc and HAS-BLED mean scores were 3.1 and 2.6, respectively. Overall, 3.3, 14.6 and 82.0% of patients had low (CHA.sub.2DS.sub.2-VASc = 0), intermediate (CHA.sub.2DS.sub.2-VASc = 1) and high (CHA.sub.2DS.sub.2-VAScgreater than or equai to2) risks of stroke, respectively. High-risk patients (those with prior stroke, prior major bleeding, prior intracranial bleed or CHA.sub.2DS.sub.2-VASc greater than or equai to4) comprised 38.4% of the overall population. For 75.1% of patients edoxaban was their first anticoagulant prescription, whilst 16.9% switched from a VKA and 8.0% from another NOAC. A total of 23.4% of patients in ETNA-AF-Europe received the reduced dose of edoxaban 30 mg. Overall, 83.8% of patients received an edoxaban dose in line with the criteria outlined in the label. Conclusion Edoxaban was predominantly initiated in older, often anticoagulation-naïve, unselected European patients with AF, with a good overall adherence to the approved label. Trial registration NCT02944019; Date of registration: October 24, 2016. Keywords: Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants, Real-world, Registry, Stroke prevention, Major bleeding, Safety outcomes
The tube of Ficopomatus enigmaticus (Fauvel) has two different layers: an outer, 90 μm-thick calcareous one and an inner, very thin organic membrane. Prismatic crystals, about 5 μm in length, are ...evident at the inner surface of the calcareous layer. In the reef-like aggregates, tubes grow perpendicular to the substratum and are closely packed: their density ranges from 70 000 to 180 000 worms-m
-2
, and distance between tube mouths averages 1.2 mm. Adherence between tubes appears to be due to wedge-shaped junctions, consisting of 10-12 μm-long clusters of crystals. Small tubes of newly settled individuals encrust interweaving adult tubes and help to consolidate the reef framework.
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