Optimal Imaging Guidance During Transcatheter Mitral Valve-in-Valve Replacement in Bioprostheses With Radiolucent Sewing Rings.

Transcatheter mitral valve-in-valve replacement (TMVR) offers a less invasive strategy for managing bioprosthetic mitral valve dysfunction. TMVR positioning is challenging in the setting of a radiolucent bioprosthetic sewing ring. We present 2 cases demonstrating the roles of fluoroscopy and echocardiography in guiding TMVR placement within bioprostheses with radiolucent sewing rings.

Avian demographic responses to drought and fire: a community-level perspective.

Drought stress is an important consideration for wildlife in arid and semiarid regions under climate change. Drought can impact plant and animal populations directly, through effects on their physiology, as well as indirectly through effects on vegetation productivity and resource availability, and by creating conditions conducive to secondary disturbance, such as wildfire. We implemented a novel approach to understanding community-level demographic responses of birds and their habitats to these stressors in the context of climate change at 14 study sites in the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States.

Global versus local conservation focus of U.S. state agency endangered bird species lists.

The development of species priorities for conservation at local or regional scales (for example, within a state or province) poses an interesting paradox. One the one hand, locally or regionally-derived species priorities may lead to greater interest in and resources directed to biodiversity conservation by local or regional institutions. On the other hand, locally or regionally-derived species priorities could overlook national or global priorities.

Accelerating restrictive cardiomyopathy after liver transplantation in a patient with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy: a case report.

Introduction: Hereditary amyloidodis is a rare disease process with a propensity to cause polyneuropathies, autonomic dysfunction, and restrictive cardiomyopathy. It is transmitted in an autosomal dominant manner, with disease onset usually in the 20s-40s. The most common hereditary amyloidogenic protein, transthyretin, is synthesized in the liver and lies on Chromosome 18.