Meningitis and encephalitis are serious diseases associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Despite advances in vaccines and other preventative measures, meningitis remains a global public health challenge. Prompt and accurate diagnosis of meningitis and encephalitis are essential to allow early implementation of targeted therapy to minimise the risks of long-term disability and death. Conventional methods for the diagnosis of meningitis and encephalitis include brain imaging combined with evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by microscopy (using different staining procedures), cytochemical analysis, culture, and antigen detection; however, these diagnostic approaches have limitations.

Contemporary data suggest endurance athletes are at an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF) when compared with the general population. Cardioembolic events such as stroke are a well-established complication of untreated AF.

In a session presented at this year’s European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress, which was held in-person in Barcelona, Spain, and virtually, experts discussed their future predictions for cardiovascular health and innovations that will enter this field.

Nico Bruining | European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Digital Health Committee Chair; Associate Professor, Thoraxcenter, Department of Cardiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Allan Böhm | Chair of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Committee for Young Cardiovascular Professionals; Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Premedix Clinic and Academy, Bratislava, Slovakia

Staging cardiac damage in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has been proposed as a prognostic tool. Other authors have shown that these staging systems are related with mortality. The aim of this study was to perform an external validation of the predictive capacity of the staging system proposed by Généreux et al.

The aneurysm refers to the increase in arterial diameter in a localised position and this is characterised by the non-parallelism of the arterial wall. Despite prediction models trying to anticipate the onset of an aneurysm, the limits of their accuracy are often reached.

Globally, cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. It is projected that the global burden of cardiovascular diseases will continue to rise.