Optimizing O red blood cell concentrate usage in the emergency department in the era of patient blood management.

Background: Emergency transfusion may require the availability of O-negative red blood cell concentrates without pre-transfusion testing. At the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, the emergency department was used to having access to two decentralized O-negative red blood cell concentrates. This study aims to analyze the consumption of O-negative red blood cell concentrates in emergency situations both before and after the implementation of a novel strategy aiming at optimizing stocks.

Prediction of diagnosis and diastolic filling pressure by AI-enhanced cardiac MRI: a modelling study of hospital data.

Background: With increasing numbers of patients and novel drugs for distinct causes of systolic and diastolic heart failure, automated assessment of cardiac function is important. We aimed to provide a non-invasive method to predict diagnosis of patients undergoing cardiac MRI (cMRI) and to obtain left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP).

Methods: For this modelling study, patients who had undergone cardiac catheterisation at University Hospital Heidelberg (Heidelberg, Germany) between July 15, 2004 and March 16, 2023, were identified, as were individual left ventricular pressure measurements.

Diastolic Filling in Patients After Heart Transplantation Is Impaired Due to an Altered Geometrical Relationship Between the Left Atrium and Ventricle.

Background: The geometrical relationship between atrial and ventricular short-axis cross-sectional area determines the hydraulic forces acting on intracardiac blood. This is important for diastolic filling. In patients undergoing heart transplantation (HTx), the left atrium is often enlarged as a result of the standard surgical technique.

Waiting list and post-transplant outcome in Sweden after national centralization of heart transplant surgery.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated an association between transplantation rate per center and postoperative mortality after heart transplantation. In 2011, Sweden centralized heart transplants and waiting lists, reducing the number of centers from 3 to 2. We aimed to assess the active waiting time and pre- and post-transplant mortality before and after centralization.

Safety of continuing mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist treatment in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and severe kidney disease: Data from Swedish Heart Failure Registry.

Aims: Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) improve outcomes in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) but remain underused and are often discontinued especially in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) due to concerns on renal safety. Therefore, in a real-world HFrEF population we investigated the safety of MRA use, in terms of risk of renal events, any mortality and any hospitalization, across the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) spectrum including severe CKD.

Methods And Results: We analysed patients with HFrEF (ejection fraction <40%), not on dialysis, from the Swedish Heart Failure Registry.

Edge Contacts to Atomically Precise Graphene Nanoribbons.

Bottom-up-synthesized graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are an emerging class of designer quantum materials that possess superior properties, including atomically controlled uniformity and chemically tunable electronic properties. GNR-based devices are promising candidates for next-generation electronic, spintronic, and thermoelectric applications. However, due to their extremely small size, making electrical contact with GNRs remains a major challenge.

Sex-related differences in left ventricular assist device utilization and outcomes: results from the PCHF-VAD registry.

Aims: Data on sex and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) utilization and outcomes have been conflicting and mostly confined to US studies incorporating older devices. This study aimed to investigate sex-related differences in LVAD utilization and outcomes in a contemporary European LVAD cohort.

Methods And Results: This analysis is part of the multicentre PCHF-VAD registry studying continuous-flow LVAD patients.

Closed-Loop Control of Arterial CO in Mechanical Ventilation of Neonates.

During mechanical ventilation of the neonate the main goal is to stabilize respiratory function of the often premature lungs. Ventilating the patient without inflicting harm is then the subordinated next goal. Ideally the arterial partial pressure of CO lays within a normocapnic range and fluctuations are kept minimal.

Impact of progressive aortic regurgitation on outcomes after left ventricular assist device implantation.

Aortic regurgitation (AR) following continuous flow left ventricular assist device implantation (cf-LVAD) may adversely impact outcomes. We aimed to assess the incidence and impact of progressive AR after cf-LVAD on prognosis, biomarkers, functional capacity and echocardiographic findings. In an analysis of the PCHF-VAD database encompassing 12 European heart failure centers, patients were dichotomized according to the progression of AR following LVAD implantation.

Validation of cause of death classification after heart transplantation and cause-specific life expectancy compared to the general population.

Background: Post heart-transplant survival has increased, but information is lacking on specific causes of death and life expectancy. We aimed to assess cause-specific loss of life-years compared to the general population, evaluate classification for cause of death after heart transplantation, and assess validity of cause of death data from the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplant (ISHLT) registry.

Methods: In this single center study, we included 239 heart recipients transplanted between 1988 and 2019 in Lund, Sweden (n = 239, 50% of the transplanted population where the cause of death was available).

Association between central haemodynamics and renal function in advanced heart failure: a nationwide study from Sweden.

Aims: Renal dysfunction in patients with heart failure (HF) has traditionally been attributed to declining cardiac output and renal hypoperfusion. However, other central haemodynamic aberrations may contribute to impaired kidney function. This study assessed the relationship between invasive central haemodynamic measurements from right-heart catheterizations and measured glomerular filtration rate (mGFR) in advanced HF.

Improved survival of left ventricular assist device carriers in Europe according to implantation eras: results from the PCHF-VAD registry.

Aims: Temporal changes in patient selection and major technological developments have occurred in the field of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), yet analyses depicting this trend are lacking for Europe. We describe the advances of European LVAD programmes from the PCHF-VAD registry across device implantation eras.

Methods And Results: Of 583 patients from 13 European centres in the registry, 556 patients (mean age 53 ± 12 years, 82% male) were eligible for this analysis.

Determination of ultrahigh molar mass of polyelectrolytes by Taylor dispersion analysis.

Taylor dispersion analysis (TDA) was successfully applied to obtain broadly distributed, ultrahigh molar masses of industrial anionic polyacrylamides (IPAMs) up to 25 × 10 g/mol, far beyond the limits of Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) (about 7.3 × 10 g/mol for anionic polyacrylamides standards (APAM)). Two protocols of TDA differing in capillary surface and rinsing procedure were employed: (i) bare fused silica capillaries under intensive between-run rinsing with 1 M NaOH, and (ii) fused silica capillaries coated with polyelectrolyte multilayers composed of polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride polycation and sodium polystyrenesulfonate polyanion under simple rinsing with background electrolyte.

Impact of bridging with left ventricular assist device on right ventricular function following heart transplantation.

Aims: Patients awaiting orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) can be bridged utilizing a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) that reduces left ventricular filling pressures, decreases pulmonary artery wedge pressure, and maintains adequate cardiac output. This study set out to examine the poorly investigated area of if and how pre-treatment with LVAD impacts right ventricular (RV) function following OHT.

Methods And Results: We prospectively evaluated 59 (LVAD n = 20) consecutive OHT patients.

Temporal trends in characteristics and outcome of heart failure patients with and without significant coronary artery disease.

Aims: Ischaemic coronary artery disease (CAD) remains the leading cause of mortality globally due to sudden death and heart failure (HF). Invasive coronary angiography (CAG) is the gold standard for evaluating the presence and severity of CAD. Our objective was to assess temporal trends in CAG utilization, patient characteristics, and prognosis in HF patients undergoing CAG at a national level.

Spotlight on the Life Cycle of Acrylamide-Based Polymers Supporting Reductions in Environmental Footprint: Review and Recent Advances.

Humankind is facing a climate and energy crisis which demands global and prompt actions to minimize the negative impacts on the environment and on the lives of millions of people. Among all the disciplines which have an important role to play, chemistry has a chance to rethink the way molecules are made and find innovations to decrease the overall anthropic footprint on the environment. In this paper, we will provide a review of the existing knowledge but also recent advances on the manufacturing and end uses of acrylamide-based polymers following the "green chemistry" concept and 100 years after the revolutionary publication of Staudinger on macromolecules.

2D Raman, ATR-FTIR, WAXD, SAXS and DSC data of PET mono- and PET/PA6 bicomponent filaments.

This data in brief article summarizes structural data obtained from monocomponent melt-spun and offline drawn poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) monofilaments, as well as from melt-spun bicomponent core-sheath PET-polyamide 6 (PA6) filaments. The diameters of the single filaments range from 27 µm to 79 µm. Presented analysis techniques and results thereof are (i) Raman mapping of filament cross-sections: 2D maps of peak positions, widths, peak area ratios; (ii) attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR): ATR-FTIR spectra and extraction of surface crystallinity; (iii) wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD): WAXD patterns and extraction of average crystallinity; (iv) small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS): SAXS patterns and determined crystallite sizes and long-spacings; (v) differential scanning calorimetry (DSC): thermograms and extracted average crystallinity as well as thermal properties; (vi) atomic force microscopy (AFM): AFM image of the surface of an embedded fiber cross-section.

Cardiovascular implantable electronic device therapy in patients with left ventricular assist devices: insights from TRAViATA.

Background: There is conflicting observational data on the survival benefit cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED) in patients with LVADs.

Methods: Patients in whom an LVAD was implanted between January 2008 and April 2017 in the multinational Trans-Atlantic Registry on VAD and Transplant (TRAViATA) registry were separated into four groups based on the presence of CIED prior to LVAD implantation: none (n = 146), implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) (n = 239), cardiac resynchronization without defibrillator (CRT-P) (n = 28), and CRT with defibrillator (CRT-D) (n = 111).

Results: A total of 524 patients (age 52 years ±12, 84.

Improved Time in Therapeutic Range with International Normalized Ratio Remote Monitoring for Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

Despite advances in therapy, bleeding and thromboembolic events are frequent complications in patients with left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support. Maintaining warfarin in therapeutic range has been shown to be more challenging in this patient population compared to other indications. Patients with LVADs on warfarin typically are within goal international normalized ratio (INR) range 36-57% of the time, compared to about 65% for other indications.

Echocardiographic assessment of chamber size and ventricular function during the first year after heart transplantation.

Aims: Detecting changes in ventricular function after orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) using transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is important but interpretation of findings is complicated by lack of data on early graft adaptation. We sought to evaluate echocardiographic measures of ventricular size and function the first year following OHT including speckle tracking derived strain. We also aimed to compare echocardiographic findings to haemodynamic parameters obtained by right heart catheterization (RHC).

Intraventricular Flow Patterns in Patients Treated with Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

The success of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy is hampered by complications such as thrombosis and bleeding. Understanding blood flow interactions between the heart and the LVAD might help optimize treatment and decrease complication rates. We hypothesized that LVADs modify shear stresses and blood transit in the left ventricle (LV) by changing flow patterns and that these changes can be characterized using 2D echo color Doppler velocimetry (echo-CDV).

Combining polarized Raman spectroscopy and micropillar compression to study microscale structure-property relationships in mineralized tissues.

Bone is a natural composite possessing outstanding mechanical properties combined with a lightweight design. The key feature contributing to this unusual combination of properties is the bone hierarchical organization ranging from the nano- to the macro-scale. Bone anisotropic mechanical properties from two orthogonal planes (along and perpendicular to the main bone axis) have already been widely studied.