Performance of Transcatheter Direct Annuloplasty in Patients With Atrial and Nonatrial Functional Tricuspid Regurgitation.

Background: A novel echocardiography-based definition of atrial functional tricuspid regurgitation (A-FTR) has shown superior outcomes in patients undergoing conservative treatment or tricuspid valve transcatheter edge-to-edge repair. Its prognostic significance for transcatheter tricuspid valve annuloplasty (TTVA) outcomes is unknown.

Objectives: This study sought to investigate prognostic, clinical, and technical implications of A-FTR phenotype in patients undergoing TTVA.

Remixing Preferences for Western Instrumental Classical Music of Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users.

For people with profound hearing loss, a cochlear implant (CI) is able to provide access to sounds that support speech perception. With current technology, most CI users obtain very good speech understanding in quiet listening environments. However, many CI users still struggle when listening to music.

Incidence and clinical impact of renal failure and bleeding following transcatheter tricuspid valve annuloplasty.

Background: Bleeding is the most common complication after percutaneous leaflet-based tricuspid valve repair and associated with acute kidney injury (AKI) and adverse outcome. TTVA with the Cardioband system is a technically more complex procedure; however, frequency and prognostic impact of postinterventional bleeding and renal complications have not been thoroughly examined.

Aims: This study was performed to determine the incidence and clinical impact of bleeding complications (MVARC criteria) and acute kidney injury (KDIGO criteria) following transcatheter tricuspid valve annuloplasty (TTVA).

What Do We Hear in the Voice? An Open-Ended Judgment Study of Emotional Speech Prosody.

The current study investigated what can be understood from another person's tone of voice. Participants from five English-speaking nations (Australia, India, Kenya, Singapore, and the United States) listened to vocal expressions of nine positive and nine negative affective states recorded by actors from their own nation. In response, they wrote open-ended judgments of what they believed the actor was trying to express.

Economic feasibility of the sugar beet-to-ethylene value chain.

As part of a long-term strategy toward renewable feedstock, a feasibility study into options for the production of bioethylene by integrating the sugar beet-to-ethanol-to-ethylene value chain. Seven business cases were studied and tested for actual economic feasibility of alternative sugar-to-ethanol-to-ethylene routes in comparison to fossil-fuel alternatives. An elaborate model was developed to assess the relevant operational and financial aspects of each business case.

Race does not influence do-not-resuscitate status or the number or timing of end-of-life care discussions at a pediatric oncology referral center.

Background: End-of-life care (EOLC) discussions and decisions are common in pediatric oncology. Interracial differences have been identified in adult EOLC preferences, but the relation of race to EOLC in pediatric oncology has not been reported. We assessed whether race (white, black) was associated with the frequency of do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders, the number and timing of EOLC discussions, or the timing of EOLC decisions among patients treated at our institution who died.

Acute gastrointestinal infection, respiratory illness, and noncombat injury among US military personnel during Operation Bright Star 2005, in Northern Egypt.

Background: In the fall 2005, approximately 7,500 US military personnel participated in an exercise in the Egyptian desert. The epidemiology of disease and noncombat injury among deployed troops is important in the context of assessing current mitigation strategies and the development of future ones.

Methods: To assess the prevalence and impact of diarrhea and enteropathogen distribution, we conducted a case series study.

Serological evidence of arboviral infection and self-reported febrile illness among U.S. troops deployed to Al Asad, Iraq.

Understanding the epidemiology of current health threats to deployed U.S. troops is important for medical assessment and planning.

Two immunotoxicity ring studies according to OECD TG 407-comparison of data on cyclosporin A and hexachlorobenzene.

Two international ring studies were performed to develop appropriate parameters within standard toxicology study for screening of immunotoxicological potential of unknown substances. These studies followed OECD TG 407 and included a number of additional examinations. CSA was selected as model for its immunosuppressive and HCB as model for its immunostimulating effects.

Workshop report. Children as a special subpopulation: focus on immunotoxicity. Federal Institute for Health Protection of Consumers and Veterinary Medicine (BgVV), 15-16 November 2001, Berlin, Germany.

An international symposium on the impact of environmental hazards, chemicals and drugs on the developing immune system of children was held in Berlin (Germany) organized by the BgVV. Epidemiological evidence indicates that an immature immune system challenged early in life by bacterial antigens may prevent, to some extent, allergic reactions including asthma bronchiale triggered by environmental pollutants. However, the prevalence for infectious disease is increased in childhood, especially when exposure to contaminants takes place in the period of pregnancy and breast-feeding.

Capillary electrophoresis and off-line capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry of carbohydrates.

The use of off-line high-performance capillary electrophoresis in connection with nanospray electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry for identification of complex carbohydrates of biological origin is presented. The method was applied to the identification of O-glycosylated amino acids and -glycopeptides from the urine of patients suffering from a hereditary disease - N-acetylhexosaminidase deficiency. Structural elements typical for O-glycosylation of proteins, like expression of core 1 and 2 type O-glycans with different numbers of N-acetyllactosaminyl repeats and different degrees of sialylation, can be directly detected.

Dilated cardiomyopathy of Doberman pinschers: retrospective histomorphologic evaluation of heart from 32 cases.

Dilated cardiomyopathy of Doberman Pinschers (DCDP) is a progressive disease often presenting with a history of episodic weakness and syncope, or with clinical signs of predominantly left-sided congestive heart failure. A systematic dissection and histomorphologic evaluation of the heart from 32 Doberman Pinschers with a clinical diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy revealed a highly specific location for the characteristic myocardial lesions. The lesions of DCDP were found only in the left ventricular free wall, and in 30 cases, the lesions were characterized by myofiber degeneration and atrophy, and replacement of myocardium by dense bundles of collagen and clusters of adipocytes.

Animal model of experimentally induced ectopic enchondral ossification in nude mice with xenograft of porcine epiphyseal cartilage.

In a specific animal model the induction of heterologous enchondral ossification was examined in long term follow-up. Physiologically normal and devitalized frozen porcine epiphyseal cartilage as a control group were transplanted as s.c.

Difference between guinea pig and rat in the liver peroxisomal response to equivalent plasmatic level of ciprofibrate.

Guinea pig was previously classified as a species nonresponsive to peroxisome proliferators. However, none of the previous reports was based on pharmacokinetic data. Here, after a comparative pharmacokinetic study between the guinea pig and rat, we evaluate the guinea pig liver peroxisomal response to ciprofibrate, a hypolipemic agent and a potent peroxisome proliferator in rat.

Tissue differentiation and correlated changes in enzymatic activities during primary antler development in fallow deer (Dama dama).

Background: Deer antlers are useful models for studying bone growth and biomineralization in mammals. To achieve a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the formation of primary cranial appendages in deer, the present study relates the histogenesis of primary antlers to changes in enzymatic (phosphatase) activities in the different tissue zones of this organ.

Methods: The growing tips of the primary antlers (4.

Biochemical and histological study of the ossification in the early developing pedicle of the fallow deer (Dama dama).

To date, no histochemical data exist concerning the process of ossification of developing pedicles in deer. Four different zones of the growing pedicle (subcutaneous tissue; fibrous layer of the periosteum; cambial layer of the periosteum; woven bone of the primary spongiosa) were analysed in direct correlation to their histological appearance. The level of extractable specific alkaline phosphatase in the preosseous zones of the pedicle was 4-fold higher than levels in the epiphyseal growth plate previously reported.

An evaluation of the role of the ED in the management of migraine headaches.

The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics and clinical course of patients who receive emergency department (ED) migraine treatment and their association with frequent ED visits. All migraine patient records during a 42-month period were reviewed retrospectively at an urban teaching hospital ED. One hundred eighty-five migraine patients had 339 total visits; 133 had a single visit; 31 had two visits; and 21 patients had three or more ED visits (range, 3 to 26 visits).