Physical and mechanical properties of hard seed coat on the example of Gleditsia triacanthos L.

The microhardness of individual morphological structures of the hard coat of the seed of Gleditsia triacanthos L. was measured. Measurements were made on the transverse and frontal planes.

[Structural features of the brain in individuals with youth depression at a clinical risk for psychosis].

Objective: To establish the structural features of the brain (cortical and subcortical) in depressive patients at clinical risk for psychosis.

Material And Methods: Nineteen right-handed male patients with youth depression, who were assessed for high risk of psychotic manifestation, and 20 healthy controls underwent MRI and clinical examination. T1-weighted images were processed in FreeSurfer 7.

Critical analysis of the utility of initial pleural aspiration in the diagnosis and management of suspected malignant pleural effusion.

Introduction: Current guidelines recommend an initial pleural aspiration in the investigation and management of suspected malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) with the aim of establishing a diagnosis, identifying non-expansile lung (NEL) and, at times, providing a therapeutic procedure. A wealth of research has been published since the guidelines suggesting that results and outcomes from an aspiration may not always provide sufficient information to guide management. It is important to establish the validity of these findings in a 'real world' population.

Carbon-Nanotube-Based Monolithic CMOS Platform for Electrochemical Detection of Neurotransmitter Glutamate.

We present a monolithic biosensor platform, based on carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs), for the detection of the neurotransmitter glutamate. We used an array of 9'216 CNTFET devices with 96 integrated readout and amplification channels that was realized in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology (CMOS). The detection principle is based on amperometry, where electrochemically active hydrogen peroxide, a product of the enzymatic reaction of the target analyte and an enzyme that was covalently bonded to the CNTFET, modulated the conductance of the CNTFET-based sensors.

Monolithic CMOS sensor platform featuring an array of 9'216 carbon-nanotube-sensor elements and low-noise, wide-bandwidth and wide-dynamic-range readout circuitry.

We present the design and characterization of a monolithic complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) biosensor platform comprising of a switch-matrix-based array of 9'216 carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs) and associated readout circuitry. The switch-matrix allows for flexible selection and simultaneous routing of 96 sensor elements to the corresponding readout channels. A low-noise, wide-bandwidth, wide-dynamic-range transimpedance continuous-time amplifier architecture has been implemented to facilitate resistance measurements in the range between 50 kΩ and 1 GΩ at a bandwidth of up to 1 MHz.

SURF-COPD: the recording of cardiovascular risk in patients with chronic lung disease.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and such patients tend to carry a heavy burden of risk factors for CVD. There is little information on the documentation and management of CVD risk factors in COPD patients.

Aim: To audit the recording and management of CVD risk factors in 200 COPD patients attending the respiratory out-patient clinics at two University teaching hospitals.

Dielectrophoresis-Assisted Integration of 1024 Carbon Nanotube Sensors into a CMOS Microsystem.

Carbon-nanotube (CNT)-based sensors offer the potential to detect single-molecule events and picomolar analyte concentrations. An important step toward applications of such nanosensors is their integration in large arrays. The availability of large arrays would enable multiplexed and parallel sensing, and the simultaneously obtained sensor signals would facilitate statistical analysis.

SURF - SUrvey of Risk Factor management: first report of an international audit.

Background: Despite the fact that subjects with established coronary heart disease (CHD) are at high risk of further events and deserve meticulous secondary prevention, current audits such as EUROASPIRE show poor control of major risk factors. Ongoing monitoring is required. We present a new risk factor audit system, SURF (Survey of Risk Factor management), that can be conducted much more quickly and easily than existing audit systems and has the potential to allow hospitals of all sizes to participate in a unified international audit system that will complement EUROASPIRE.

Dyslipidemias in the prevention of cardiovascular disease: risks and causality.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is now the major global cause of death, despite reductions in CVD deaths in developed societies. Dyslipidemias are a major contributor, but the mass occurrence of CVD relates to the combined effects of hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and smoking. Total blood cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol relate to CVD risk in an independent and graded manner and fulfill the criteria for causality.

Cardiovascular risk age: concepts and practicalities.

Objectives: A young person with many risk factors may have the same level of risk as an older person with no risk factors. Thus a high-risk 40-year-old may have a risk age of 60 years or more. The aim of the study was to derive a generic equation for risk age, construct risk age charts, and explore the hypothesis that risk age is similar regardless of the cardiovascular disease (CVD) end point used.

Determinants of risk factor control in subjects with coronary heart disease: a report from the EUROASPIRE III investigators.

The EUROASPIRE audits of risk factor control have indicated that, even in those with established coronary heart disease, risk factor control remains poor. We therefore analysed the EUROASPRE III data set to establish the factors associated with success or failure in risk factor control in order to inform future risk factor management strategies. University education, attendance at a specialist cardiology clinic, and participation in a cardiac rehabilitation programme were associated with improved risk factor control.

Total cardiovascular disease risk assessment: a review.

Purpose Of Review: The high risk strategy for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) requires an assessment of an individual's total CVD risk so that the most intensive risk factor management can be directed towards those at highest risk. Here we review developments in the assessment and estimation of total CVD risk.

Recent Findings: Recent advances have focused on newer approaches to expressing risk, including lifetime risk and risk age; these are particularly useful in communicating risk to younger individuals.

Relationships between body mass index, cardiovascular mortality, and risk factors: a report from the SCORE investigators.

Background: Although cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the biggest global cause of death, CVD mortality is falling in developed countries. There is concern that this trend may be offset by increasing levels of obesity.

Design: We used the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) data set to examine relationships between body mass index (BMI), conventional risk factors and CVD mortality.

Assessment of cardiovascular risk.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common cause of death worldwide. Usually atherosclerosis is caused by the combined effects of multiple risk factors. For this reason, most guidelines on the prevention of CVD stress the assessment of total CVD risk.

Simplifying cardiovascular risk estimation using resting heart rate.

Aims: Elevated resting heart rate (RHR) is a known, independent cardiovascular (CV) risk factor, but is not included in risk estimation systems, including Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE). We aimed to derive risk estimation systems including RHR as an extra variable and assess the value of this addition.

Methods And Results: The National FINRISK study (including 14,997 men and 15,861 women) was used to derive two formulas for estimation of 10 year risk of CV disease (CVD) mortality.

Elevated resting heart rate is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease in healthy men and women.

Background: Elevated resting heart rate (RHR) is known to be associated with reduced survival but inconsistencies remain, including lack of significance in most studies of healthy women, lack of independence from systolic blood pressure (SBP) in some, and the suggestion that RHR is merely functioning as a marker of physical inactivity or other comorbidities. We aimed to clarify these inconsistencies.

Methods: We analyzed the effect of RHR on end points in the National FINRISK Study; a representative, prospective study using Cox proportional hazards model.

Value and limitations of existing scores for the assessment of cardiovascular risk: a review for clinicians.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the biggest causes of death worldwide. In most people, CVD is the product of a number of causal risk factors. Several seemingly modest risk factors may, in combination, result in a much higher risk than an impressively raised single factor.

Re-evaluating the Rose approach: comparative benefits of the population and high-risk preventive strategies.

Background: Options for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, the greatest global cause of death, include population preventive measures (the Rose approach), or specifically seeking out and managing high-risk cases. However, the likely benefit of a population approach has been recently questioned.

Objective: To compare the estimated effects of population strategies at varying levels of population-wide risk factor reduction and high-risk strategies at varying rates of screening uptake on cardiovascular disease mortality.