Long-term follow-up of percutaneous secundum-type atrial septal defect closure using Amplatzer Septal Occluder since 1995: a single-centre study.

Introduction: The goal of this single-centre study was to evaluate long-term results of percutaneous closure of secundum-type atrial septal defect using Amplatzer Septal Occluder with the follow-up to 25 years.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients who underwent percutaneous closure of secundum-type atrial septal defect between September 1995 and October 2012 in our institution was performed. All procedures were performed after fulfilling strict indication criteria.

Supraventricular tachyarrhythmias during the intrauterine, neonatal, and infant period: A 10-year population-based study.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the incidence, type, and management of supraventricular tachyarrhythmias (SVT) during the first year of life in a retrospective, population-based, single-center study during a 10-year period.

Methods: The analyzed patient cohort is based on data from the only specialized center managing all cases of neonatal and infant SVTs between 2009 and 2018 in the Slovak Republic (5.5 million population).

Tolerance of the lichen Xanthoria parietina (L.) Th. Fr. to metal stress.

Comparisons were made between the content of Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Sb and Zn in thalli of the lichen Xanthoria parietina and selected physiological processes. Assimilation pigments, activity of photosystem II, parietin, reactive substances produced using thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and CO(2) gas exchange were measured in order to assess tolerance to atmospheric sources of pollution. As expected, lichen thalli accumulated high amounts of the measured elements in relation to distance from pollution sources in Kosice, Slovak Republic (US Steel factory and vehicular traffic in the city center).

Response to copper stress in aposymbiotically grown lichen mycobiont Cladonia cristatella: uptake, viability, ergosterol and production of non-protein thiols.

The mycobiont of lichens usually determines the morphology of the symbiotic organism and is also dominates in terms of biomass. However, its role for sensitivity or tolerance of lichens to heavy metals is almost unknown. In the present study, the influence of copper (Cu) on the aposymbiotically-grown mycobiont of Cladonia cristatella was assessed.