Assessment of elastin deficit in a Marfan mouse aneurysm model using an elastin-specific magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent.

Background: Ascending aortic dissection and rupture remain a life-threatening complication in patients with Marfan syndrome. The extracellular matrix provides strength and elastic recoil to the aortic wall, thereby preventing radial expansion. We have previously shown that ascending aortic aneurysm formation in Marfan mice (Fbn1(C1039G/+)) is associated with decreased aortic wall elastogenesis and increased elastin breakdown.

T1 mapping in the rat myocardium at 7 tesla using a modified CINE inversion recovery sequence.

Purpose: To evaluate the reproducibility and sensitivity of the modified CINE inversion recovery (mCINE-IR) acquisition on rats for measuring the myocardial T1 at 7 Tesla.

Materials And Methods: The recently published mCINE-IR acquisition on humans was applied on rats for the first time, enabling the possibility of translational studies with an identical sequence. Simulations were used to study signal evolution and heart rate dependency.

Image registration improves human knee cartilage T1 mapping with delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC).

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of automated registration in delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC) of the knee on the occurrence of movement artefacts on the T1 map and the reproducibility of region-of-interest (ROI)-based measurements.

Methods: Eleven patients with early-stage knee osteoarthritis and ten healthy controls underwent dGEMRIC twice at 3 T. Controls underwent unenhanced imaging.

Prolonged sampling of spontaneous sputum improves sensitivity of hypermethylation analysis for lung cancer.

Aims: The adequacy of lung cancer diagnosis with sputum cytology depends on duration of sputum sampling. The aim of this methodological study was to determine whether the hypermethylation detection rate of RASSF1A, adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) and cytoglobin (CYGB) is influenced by the duration of sputum collection.

Methods: Prospective sputum samples were collected from 53 lung cancer patients and 47 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients as controls.

Effect of medication reconciliation with and without patient counseling on the number of pharmaceutical interventions among patients discharged from the hospital.

Background: Hospital admissions are a risk factor for the occurrence of unintended medication discrepancies between drugs used before admission and after discharge. To diminish such discrepancies and improve quality of care, medication reconciliation has been developed. The exact contribution of patient counseling to the medication reconciliation process is unknown, especially not when compared with community pharmacy medication records, which are considered reliable in the Netherlands.

Chocolate, lifestyle, and health.

Interest in the biological activities of cocoa polyphenols is increasing steadily. In fact, the high polyphenol content of cocoa, coupled with its widespread presence in many food items, render this food of particular interest from the nutritional and "pharmacological" viewpoints. This paper summarizes the new findings and developments regarding the effects of cocoa and chocolate consumption on human health as presented at the International Conference "Chocolate, Lifestyle, and Health" (Milan, Italy, March 2, 2007) regarding the effects of cocoa and chocolate consumption on human health.

Assessment of the pulmonary volume pulse in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension by means of electrical impedance tomography.

Background: Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive imaging technique which can be used to measure the blood volume changes in the pulmonary vascular bed during the cardiac cycle.

Study Objectives: This study was performed to evaluate the differences in the EIT signal of the pulmonary vascular bed between healthy subjects and patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH), who are known to have a remodelled pulmonary vascular bed.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-one patients (17 females, 4 males) with IPAH and 30 healthy controls (5 females, 25 males) were measured.

Determinants of pulmonary perfusion measured by electrical impedance tomography.

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive imaging technique for detecting blood volume changes that can visualize pulmonary perfusion. The two studies reported here tested the hypothesis that the size of the pulmonary microvascular bed, rather than stroke volume (SV), determines the EIT signal. In the first study, the impedance changes relating to the maximal pulmonary pulsatile blood volume during systole (Delta Z(sys)) were measured in ten healthy subjects, ten patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, who were considered to have a reduced pulmonary vascular bed, and ten heart failure patients with an assumed low cardiac output but with a normal lung parenchyma.

Pulmonary vascular responses to hypoxia and hyperoxia in healthy volunteers and COPD patients measured by electrical impedance tomography.

Background: Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a noninvasive imaging technique using impedance to visualize and measure blood volume changes.

Study Objective: To examine the validity of EIT in the measurement of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) and hyperoxic pulmonary vasodilation in healthy volunteers and COPD patients.

Participants: Group 1 consisted of seven healthy volunteers (mean age, 46 years; age range, 36 to 53 years).