Association of sex and cardiovascular risk factors with atherosclerosis distribution pattern in lower extremity peripheral artery disease.

Objective: Atherosclerosis expression varies across not only coronary, cerebrovascular, and peripheral arteries but also within the peripheral vascular tree. The underlying pathomechanisms of distinct atherosclerosis phenotypes in lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) is poorly understood. We investigated the association of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) and atherosclerosis distribution in a targeted approach analyzing symptomatic patients with isolated anatomic phenotypes of PAD.

Chronic in situ tissue cooling does not reduce lignification at the Swiss treeline but enhances the risk of 'blue' frost rings.

In their 2013 paper, Lenz et al. illustrated how trees growing at the low-temperature limit respond to a chronic in situ warming or cooling by 3 K, by employing Peltier-thermostated branch collars that tracked ambient temperatures. The micro-coring-based analysis of seasonal tree ring formation included double-staining microtome cross sections for lignification, but these data had not been included in the publication.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of alternative anticoagulation in suspected heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a life-threatening complication associated with high medical costs. Factor Xa inhibitors gradually replace approved treatment with intravenous direct thrombin inhibitors despite their off-label indication, because of easier management and favorable economic profile. Whether they are cost-effective remains unclear.

VOR gain calculation methods in video head impulse recordings.

Background: International consensus on best practices for calculating and reporting vestibular function is lacking. Quantitative vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain using a video head impulse test (HIT) device can be calculated by various methods.

Objective: To compare different gain calculation methods and to analyze interactions between artifacts and calculation methods.

Effect of Biomechanical Footwear on Knee Pain in People With Knee Osteoarthritis: The BIOTOK Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Individually calibrated biomechanical footwear therapy may improve pain and physical function in people with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, but the benefits of this therapy are unclear.

Objective: To assess the effect of a biomechanical footwear therapy vs control footwear over 24 weeks of follow-up.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Randomized clinical trial conducted at a Swiss university hospital.

Levosimendan and systemic vascular resistance in cardiac surgery patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Levosimendan is a potent non-adrenergic inodilator agent. The net effect of hemodynamic changes may result in a hyperdynamic state with low systemic vascular resistance. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis assessing hemodynamics in cardiac surgery patients treated with levosimendan.

Comparison Between Interwoven Nitinol and Drug Eluting Stents for Endovascular Treatment of Femoropopliteal Artery Disease.

Objectives: Information on performance of different stent platforms in endovascular revascularisation of femoropopliteal lesions is controversial and scarce.

Methods: Interwoven nitinol (INS, Supera) were compared with drug eluting (DES, Zilver PTx) stents with primary intervention for femoropopliteal lesions. The primary endpoint was time to clinically driven target lesion revascularisation (CD-TLR) within 12 months.

Impact of Simulator-Based Training in Focused Transesophageal Echocardiography: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The aim of the study was to determine if training in transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) using a TEE simulator improves the ability of novice operators to perform and interpret a focused critical care TEE.

Methods: In this prospective, randomized, controlled study with blinded outcome assessment, 44 intensive care unit trainees were randomly assigned to a control group receiving 4 hours of lecture-based training only, or an intervention group which was additionally trained for 4 hours using a TEE simulator. After the training intervention, each participant performed 2 TEEs in intensive care unit patients which were evaluated by blinded assessors.

Frost hardening and dehardening potential in temperate trees from winter to budburst.

We investigated how deciduous trees can adjust their freezing resistance in response to temperature during the progress of the ecodormancy phase, from midwinter to budburst. We regularly sampled twigs of four different temperate deciduous tree species from January to the leaf-out date. Using computer-controlled freezers and climate chambers, the freezing resistance of buds was measured directly after sampling and also after the application of artificial hardening and dehardening treatments, simulating cold and warm spells.

Fast acclimation of freezing resistance suggests no influence of winter minimum temperature on the range limit of European beech.

Low temperature extremes drive species distribution at a global scale. Here, we assessed the acclimation potential of freezing resistance in European beech (Fagus sylvaticaL.) during winter.

The interaction between freezing tolerance and phenology in temperate deciduous trees.

Temperate climates are defined by distinct temperature seasonality with large and often unpredictable weather during any of the four seasons. To thrive in such climates, trees have to withstand a cold winter and the stochastic occurrence of freeze events during any time of the year. The physiological mechanisms trees adopt to escape, avoid, and tolerate freezing temperatures include a cold acclimation in autumn, a dormancy period during winter (leafless in deciduous trees), and the maintenance of a certain freezing tolerance during dehardening in early spring.

Physiological minimum temperatures for root growth in seven common European broad-leaved tree species.

Temperature is the most important factor driving the cold edge distribution limit of temperate trees. Here, we identified the minimum temperatures for root growth in seven broad-leaved tree species, compared them with the species' natural elevational limits and identified morphological changes in roots produced near their physiological cold limit. Seedlings were exposed to a vertical soil-temperature gradient from 20 to 2 °C along the rooting zone for 18 weeks.

European deciduous trees exhibit similar safety margins against damage by spring freeze events along elevational gradients.

Minimum temperature is assumed to be an important driver of tree species range limits. We investigated during which period of the year trees are most vulnerable to freezing damage and whether the pressure of freezing events increases with increasing elevation. We assessed the course of freezing resistance of buds and leaves from winter to summer at the upper elevational limits of eight deciduous tree species in the Swiss Alps.

Elevational adaptation and plasticity in seedling phenology of temperate deciduous tree species.

Phenological events, such as the initiation and the end of seasonal growth, are thought to be under strong evolutionary control because of their influence on tree fitness. Although numerous studies highlighted genetic differentiation in phenology among populations from contrasting climates, it remains unclear whether local adaptation could restrict phenological plasticity in response to current warming. Seedling populations of seven deciduous tree species from high and low elevations in the Swiss Alps were investigated in eight common gardens located along two elevational gradients from 400 to 1,700 m.