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Background: Myocardial infarction and non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) affects 1 in 9 patients with acute coronary syndrome and has no evidence-based therapy. NT-proBNP is an established biomarker associated with prognosis in heart failure and ischemic heart disease, although there is a paucity of data in patients with MINOCA. Methods: Prospective study of the diagnostic and clinical utility of measuring NT-proBNP in patients with MINOCA without left ventricular dysfunction or heart failure. Data collection was undertaken for patients with an initial diagnosis of MINOCA following urgent coronary angiography in the Golden Jubilee National Hospital (Clydebank, UK), a tertiary center. Demographics were collected in addition to left ventricular function by transthoracic echocardiography. NT-proBNP was measured from a clinically indicated blood sample obtained during routine venepuncture or within the catheter laboratory. Patient outcomes were collected prospectively by the clinical care team using digital follow-up. Results: Fifty-five patients with an initial diagnosis of MINOCA and left ventricular ejection fraction >40 % were included. NT-proBNP was available in 87 % of patients with a median value of 312 pg/mL (interquartile range: 107, 725). Post-discharge, 40 % (n = 24) of patients were readmitted to the hospital, including 15 with chest pain. NT-proBNP ≥125 pg/mL was associated with rehospitalization (P = 0.02). Two patients died and bleeding complications with concomitant antiplatelet therapy occurred in eight patients. Conclusion: NT-proBNP ≥ 125 pg/mL occurred in 72 % of patients presenting with MINOCA and an ejection fraction > 40% and was associated with rehospitalization.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular disease share common risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia. Patients with CKD carry a high burden of cardiovascular disease and may be excluded from clinical trials on the basis of safety. There are an increasing number of clinical trials which predefine sub-group analysis for CKD. This systematic review with fixed-effect meta-analysis investigates glucose lowering therapy and cardiovascular outcomes in relation to CKD. We included randomized controlled trials (RCT) of glucose lowering treatments performed in adults (aged ≥18 years), humans, with no restriction on date, and English-language restriction in patients with pre-existing CKD regardless of diabetes status. Embase & Ovid Medline databases were searched up to April 2021. Risk of bias was assessed according to Revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. We included 7 trials involving a total of 48,801 participants. There were 4 sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), 2 glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists and 1 Dipeptidyl-peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitor identified. SGLT2i (relative risk (RR) = 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.79–1.02]) and GLP-1R agonists (RR = 0.83, 95% CI [0.72–0.96]) were associated with a reduction in cardiovascular death. SGLT2i (RR = 0.69, 95% CI [0.63–0.75]) are also associated with a reduction in hospitalization for heart failure. In summary, this meta-analysis of large, RCTs of glucose lowering therapies has demonstrated that treatment with SGLT2i or GLP-1R agonists may improve 3 point-MACE and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with chronic renal failure compared with placebo. This systematic review was registered with the PROSPERO network (registration number: CRD42021268563) and follows the PRISMA guidelines on systematic reviews and metanalysis.

Methods Prospective systematic review and meta-analysis including meta-regression using MEDLINE and EMBASE to November 2020. We included ‘all-comer’ PCI cohorts including large PCI registries and randomised controlled trials and excluding registries or trials limited to PCI in high-risk populations such as chronic total occlusion PCI or cohorts treated only with atheroablative devices. Regression analysis and corresponding correlation coefficients were performed comparing perforation incidence, mortality rate, tamponade rate and the rate of Ellis III perforations against the midpoint (year) of data collection to determine if a significant temporal relationship was present.Results 3997 studies were screened for inclusion. 67 studies met eligibility criteria with a total of 5 568 191 PCIs included over a 38-year period (1982–2020). The overall pooled incidence of perforation was 0.39% (95% CI 0.34% to 0.45%) and remained similar throughout the study period. Around 1 in 5 coronary perforations led to tamponade (21.1%). Ellis III perforations are increasing in frequency and account for 43% of all perforations. Perforation mortality has trended lower over the years (7.5%; 95% CI 6.7% to 8.4%). Perforation risk factors derived using meta-regression were female sex, hypertension, chronic kidney disease and previous coronary bypass grafting. Coronary perforation was most frequently caused by distal wire exit (37%) followed by balloon dilation catheters (28%). Covered stents were used to treat 25% of perforations, with emergency cardiac surgery needed in 17%.Conclusion Coronary perforation complicates approximately 1 in 250 PCIs. Ellis III perforations are increasing in incidence although it is unclear whether this is due to reporting bias. Despite this, the overall perforation mortality rate (7.5%) has trended lower in recent years. Limitations of our findings include bias that may be introduced through analysis of multidesign studies and registries without pre-specified standardised perforation reporting CMore research into coronary perforation management including the optimal use of covered stents seems warranted.PROSPERO registration number CRD42020207881.

MI with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) is caused by a heterogeneous group of vascular or myocardial disorders. MINOCA occurs in 5–15% of patients presenting with acute ST-segment elevation MI or non-ST segment elevation MI and prognosis is impaired. The diagnosis of MINOCA is made during coronary angiography following acute MI, where there is no stenosis ≥50% present in an infarct-related epicardial artery and no overt systemic aetiology for the presentation. Accurate diagnosis and subsequent management require the appropriate utilisation of intravascular imaging, coronary function testing and subsequent imaging to assess for myocardial disorders without coronary involvement. Although plaque-related MINOCA is currently managed with empirical secondary prevention strategies, there remains an unmet therapeutic need for targeted and evidence-based therapy for MINOCA patients and increased awareness of the recommended diagnostic pathway.

In order to advance their argument that Imām ‘Alī was the divinely and prophetically designated spiritual and political successor of the Prophet Muḥammad, Shī‘ite Muslim scholars have primarily drawn evidence from the Qur’ān and Ḥadīth which was supplemented by reason and rational arguments. Oddly enough, in their quest to legitimize the Caliphate and Imāmate of Ahl al-Bayt, the People of the House of the Prophet, Shī‘ite scholars have generally ignored one of the most important bodies of literature, namely, the letters, treaties and covenants of the Prophet Muḥammad. The following study examines the Messenger of Allāh’s Covenants with Christians and Jews in search of previously overlooked material on the subject of succession, shedding light on the state of Islām prior to the definitive rupture of the early Muslim community into Sunnīs and Shī‘ites.

An analysis of cellulose crystallite width, microfibril angle and wood density after the time of thinning (at 8 years) in straight vertical trees was undertaken in a 13-year-old E. globulus trial designed to assess the effect of thinning on tension wood formation. The most important effect was on cellulose crystallite width, which increased with thinning intensity and this was mitigated where fertilizer was applied at the time of thinning. Given the relationship between high crystallite width and tension wood occurrence the results demonstrate that heavy thinning of E. globulus at this age can contribute to tension wood formation. However, tension wood production may be significantly reduced where fertilizer is applied. This is possibly because increased diameter growth as a response to fertilizer application stabilises the stems and this is the mechanism by which trees cope with internal stresses that are generated from wind in destabilsed stands following thinning. In contrast, trees that respond poorly to thinning produce tension wood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines a covenant of the Prophet, namely, a treaty, patent of protection or charter of privileges, that was copied by Fāris al-Shidyāq at some time before the middle of the nineteenth century. It provides a biographical sketch of the copyist. It reproduces the Arabic original as found in Majmū‘ fawā’id along with an English translation. This is followed by a commentary on the covenant and a series of conclusions, namely, that the “Shidyāq Covenant” from 1857 is a copy of the “Rylands Covenant,” which appears to be an Ottoman-issued document dating from the sixteenth or seventeenth century. This “Shidyāq/Rylands Covenant” could represent the missing link between the “Covenant of the Prophet Muḥammad with the Christians of Najrān,” found in the Chronicle of Seert, and the “Covenant of the Prophet Muḥammad with the Christians of the World,” namely, the Testamentum et Pactiones made famous by Gabriel Sionita in 1630. The significance of this study resides in the fact that it shares a previously unpublished and unstudied covenant of the Prophet Muḥammad, in both Arabic and English, with the scholarly community, while exploring the problems posed by transmission. The more covenants that are rediscovered, the better we will understand their origin, diffusion, and relationship, allowing us to better assess their authenticity. What is more, if these documents are accepted by Muslims as authentic, either in word or in spirit, they can help counter and prevent radicalization, promote moderation, and help protect minorities.

At 84-pages, Reimagining Malcolm X: Street Thinker Versus Homo Academicus by Seyed Javad Miri is more of a booklet than a book. In fact, like most of the 40 books on sociology and religion published by this scholar, many of which are self-published or released by subsidy publishers, it falls into that awkward category between an essay that is too long and a book that is too short. Considering the fact that most university and independent academic presses place profit and marketability before contribution to scholarship in the field, the fact that ambitious and prolific academics seek to be proactive and find alternate modes of sharing their scholarship should be commended. Consequently, scholars working in the field of sociology and religion should be grateful to both Miri and the University Press of America for making this work on Malcolm X available to readers and researchers. Reimagining Malcolm X examines the significance of el-Hajj Malik el- Shabazz as a social theorist by analyzing his views on race, academia, philosophy, and politics. The work is divided into four chapters: “Novel Strategies of Interpretation,” “Undisciplinary Fields of Knowledge,” “Violence, Religion, and Extremism,” and “The Epic of America.” In chapter 1, Miri points out that “Malcolm X has not been appropriated within the body of academic social sciences as he should have been” (p. 9). This is both obvious and intentional. It is heartening, however, to see that interest in Malcolm’s thoughts has extended to certain segments of Iranian academia. As the author reveals, however, some Iranian scholars are reticent to see the value of Malcolmian theories and concepts (p. xi). Despite all of its revolutionary rhetoric, the Islamic Republic of Iran has shown little interest in el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz. On the contrary, it has preferred to invite his nemesis Louis Farrakhan, a man who admits that he created the conditions that lead to Malcolm’s assassination, to preach at the seminary in Qum. Considering that the Iranian regime considers itself the bastion of Shi‘ite orthodoxy and cracks down on both political critics and practitioners of taṣawwuf (‘irfān or Sufism), it is ironic that its leaders have promoted a man who believes that W. D. Fard was the incarnation of Allah and that Elijah Muhammad, as opposed to Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah, was Allah’s final ...

Herbal Medicine in Yemen contains eleven studies on a wide range of virtually unrelated subjects. In their introduction, the editors mention that “religious and magical rituals are employed side by side with material medica” (p. 1) in Yemen. This should serve as warning for what is to come and send practitioners of phytotherapy into flight. They assert that Yemenites employ an enormous variety of plant-based medicines and allege that “[t]this is different in other Islamic countries, e.g. Morocco, where animal drugs are widely used” (p. 1). As an herbalist who has lived for extended periods in Morocco, who has also travelled widely therein and met many of its herbalists and healers, their latter assertion is not accurate. In all of the stalls and stores I visited in markets in cities nationwide, the only animal drugs I ever saw were small quantities of dried lizards and other such creatures; I found more animal drugs in the shops of sorcerers and witches who dabbled in the dark arts ...

The Islamic Context of the Thousand and One Nights by Muhsin J. al-Musawi contains seven chapters, an introduction, and a conclusion. It addresses the Islamic factor in global times, the unifying Islamic factor, the age of the Muslim empire, and the burgeoning of a text. It also examines the role of the public, non-religious displacements in popular tradition, namely, the duality between Islam and culture—as well as the public role in narrative theorizations, that is, the impact of literary criticism. Finally, the author explores Scheherazade’s nonverbal narratives in religious contexts, demonstrating the underlying Islamic character of the work. Musawi’s recent work is a most welcome and long-needed addition to scholarship in the field of Arabic literature. Well-written and well-researched by one of the senior scholars on the subject, The Islamic Context demonstrates how the Thousand and One Nights operate within the parameters of the Islamic faith. A portrait of life in all its aspects, the work would never have reached us had it not been the product of a strong Islamic literary and cultural climate. Although rife with erotic escapades, sexual sins rarely go unpunished in the work. Despite all the morally deviant behavior displayed in the work, many of its tales are cautionary; they communicate ethical messages and promote the good and forbid the wrong through warnings grounded in Islamic law. While there is no shortage of sex in a multiracial, multilingual, and multicultural society, much of the merrymaking is motivated by love, instead of lust ...

John R. Bowen’s Can Islam Be French? is divided into three parts. The first part, which includes chapters 1 and 2, provides a brief overview of Islam in France and addresses issues of migration, the rise of religion, the response of the state, and the distinctive features of the French Islamic landscape. The second part consists of four chapters. Chapter 3 explores Islam in the suburbs, Islamic networks, and the work of an everyday imam, as well as mosques and social divisions. Chapter 4 examines the forces that shape Islamic knowledge in the countries; the various rules, schools, and principles used to interpret Islam; Hichem El Arafa’s Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Sur l’Islam, the science of prophetic traditions, and the objectives of Scripture. Chapter 5 differentiates among the various schools of jurisprudence in Islam, the differing pedagogical approaches employed in teaching the Muslim faith, the major influence of the Maliki madhhab in France, and the practical training of preachers and scholars. Chapter 6, which wonders whether Islamic schools can really be republican, examines the case of Dhaou Meskine’s Success School, how Muslim schools manage to teach a secular curriculum, Muslim family camp, and closes with coverage of Meskine’s arrest. Part 3 includes three chapters. Chapter 7 asks whether there should be an Islam for Europe and whether there should be different rules for different lands, ideological confrontations in mosques, and the transnational Islamic sphere. Chapter 8 deals with issues such as secular and religious marriages, halal and haram food rules, as well as the attitude of French civil law toward Islamic practices. Finally, chapter 9 tackles Islamic spheres in republican space, whether religion-based associations impede integration, priorities and values, as well as pragmatics of convergence ...

Tariq Ramadan’s latest book, Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation, consists of sixteen chapters divided into four major sections: “On Reform,” “ClassicalApproaches of the Fundamentals of Law and Jurisprudence,” “For a New Geography of the Sources of Law and Jurisprudence,” and “Case Studies.” The author commences by criticizing the process of ijtihad as it currently exists. Although it made things progress for centuries, he finds that ijtihad is highly inadequate, has not resolved the crises faced by Muslims, and has not produced the expected renewal. As far as taqlid is concerned, Ramadan argues that imitating past scholars makes Muslims believe that they can avoid today’s challenges by taking refuge in the past. Ijtihad, he believes, has always been behind the times, simply seeking to interpret Islamic law in light of new changes and developments in society. He is critical of literalist, traditionalist, conservative, and culturally based interpretations of Islam. Arab culture, he points out, is not Islam’s sole culture. Thus if Islam is truly a universal religion, it must provide its followers with the means to approach cultural diversity. The author provides an intelligent criticism of Salafism, which confuses eternal principals with historical models and thereby reduces Islam’s universality to the dream of an impossible return to the past and an irresponsible “nostalgia of origins.”As he points out, many Salafi reductionists cannot distinguish between religion and culture and therefore view diversity and sociocultural evolution as religious innovations. Not only is he critical of most traditional approaches to ijtihad, he is critical of virtually every Islamic movement when it comes to their methods of implementing Islamic law ...

Iran’s Intellectual Revolution, by Mehran Kamrava, offers an overview of the three major political orientations that have evolved in Iran since the Islamic revolution of 1979, especially since the death of Khomeini in 1989. The first chapter examines the silent, and often not-so-silent, revolution that has taken place in Iran over the past few decades; the second and third chapters contextualize these emerging Iranian discourses; and the fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters focus on the religious conservative, religious reformist, and secular-modernist discourses. Chapter three surveys the religious conservative discourse of Khomeini, Khamenei, Montazeri, Mesbah Yazdi, Rafsanjani, and Amoli. The author focuses on issues of interpretation, emulation, and the rule of the jurist (both conditional and absolute), all of which are essential if one wishes to understand the country’s current internal conflict and the varying conceptions of Islamic government that exist ...