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A letter to the editor and a reply are presented in response to the article "New therapeutic products and difficult decisions: The case of recombinant factor VIII in the management of haemophilia A" in the 1998 issue.

A letter to the editor and a reply are presented in response to the article "Body mass index: a comparison between self-reported and measured height and weight" in the 1988 issue.

Aims: We sought to characterize sex-related differences in cardiovascular magnetic resonance-based cardiovascular phenotypes and prognosis in patients with idiopathic non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy (NICM)., Methods and Results: Patients with NICM enrolled in the Cardiovascular Imaging Registry of Calgary (CIROC) between 2015 and 2021 were identified. Z-score values for chamber volumes and function were calculated as standard deviation from mean values of 157 sex-matched healthy volunteers, ensuring reported differences were independent of known sex-dependencies. Patients were followed for the composite outcome of all-cause mortality, heart failure admission, or ventricular arrhythmia. A total of 747 patients were studied, 531 (71%) males. By Z-score values, females showed significantly higher left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF; median difference 1 SD) and right ventricular (RV) EF (difference 0.6 SD) with greater LV mass (difference 2.1 SD; P < 0.01 for all) vs. males despite similar chamber volumes. Females had a significantly lower prevalence of mid-wall striae (MWS) fibrosis (22% vs. 34%; P < 0.001). Over a median follow-up of 4.7 years, 173 patients (23%) developed the composite outcome, with equal distribution in males and females. LV EF and MWS were significant independent predictors of the outcome (respective HR [95% CI] 0.97 [0.95-0.99] and 1.6 [1.2-2.3]; P = 0.003 and 0.005). There was no association of sex with the outcome., Conclusion: In a large contemporary cohort, NICM was uniquely expressed in females vs. males. Despite similar chamber dilation, females demonstrated greater concentric remodelling, lower reductions in bi-ventricular function, and a lower burden of replacement fibrosis. Overall, their prognosis remained similar to male patients with NICM., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: J.A.W. receives funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), receives research support from Siemens Healthineers, and is a shareholder of Cohesic Inc. A.G.H. receives consulting fees from Amgen and is a shareholder of Cohesic Inc. J.F. is a shareholder of Cohesic Inc. R.J.H.M. has received research support and consulting fees from Pfizer., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

We demonstrate numerical refocusing in coherent confocal laser scanning microscopy based on synthetic optical holography. In this physics-based approach, computational propagation is implemented on the complex signal recovered in synthetic holography, consistent with wave physics and the parameters of the microscope. An experimental demonstration is shown to restore an in-focus image of a test object from data acquired at several focal plane off-sets. Numerical refocusing can provide focused views on samples with large height variation, with a potential application in confocal optical surface profiling.

Objective: To identify the most effective dosing regimen for indigent patients with low-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) at high risk of noncompliance., Study Design: All women primarily treated for GTN at our public hospital between November 1990 and November 2001 were prospectively entered into a database. Patients were treated with either (1) methotrexate, 100 mg/m2, intravenous bolus, followed by a 12-hour infusion, 200 mg/m2 (regimen 1); (2) methotrexate, 0.4 mg/kg/m2 intramuscularly for 5 consecutive days on alternating weeks (regimen 2); or (3) methotrexate, 30-50 mg/m2 intramuscularly weekly (regimen 3). Medical records were reviewed to obtain clinical data, and statistical analysis was performed., Results: Thirty-two women were treated for low-risk GTN. The median age at diagnosis was 22 years (range, 15-40). Patients receiving regimen 1 (5/5, 100%) and 2 (19/20, 95%) were more likely to achieve complete remission without switching to dactinomycin or combination chemotherapy than those receiving regimen 3 (3/7, 43%; P < .001). Regimen 1 required fewer median treatment cycles (1.0, P = .04) than regimens 2 (6.5 cycles) and 3 (8.0 cycles). Seventeen (52%) patients were noncompliant with the chemotherapy protocol and/or posttreatment surveillance., Conclusion: A 1-day methotrexate infusion is highly effective for treating indigent women with low-risk. GTN.