Screening of cardiac allograft vasculopathy in heart transplant patients with coronary computed tomography angiography.

Although coronary angiography (CA) is the gold standard for coronary allograft vasculopathy (CAV) screening, non-invasive modalities have arisen as potential alternatives, such as coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). CCTA also quantifies plaque burden, which may influence medical treatment. From January 2021 to April 2022, we prospectively included heart transplant recipients who performed CCTA as a first-line method for CAV detection in a single center.

Ventricular Pseudoaneurysm After Myocardial Infarction: A Case Report.

A 66-year-old female patient was admitted to hospital care in March 2021 due to aggravating fatigue and dyspnoea. Her past medical history was relevant for chronic anaemia, smoking, dyslipidaemia, antiphospholipid syndrome and lupus-like mixed connective tissue disease, for which she was taking corticosteroids. She had suffered an acute coronary syndrome in August 2020, complicated with postinfarction pericarditis; at the time, coronariography diagnosed moderate disease of the anterior descending artery and occlusion of the circumflex artery.

Response surface approach to optimize the removal of the critical raw material dysprosium from water through living seaweeds.

Dysprosium (Dy) is a rare earth element with a high economic and strategic value, and simultaneously an emerging contaminant, whose removal from wastewaters is gaining increasing attention. In this work, the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) combined with a Box-Behnken Design (3 factors-3 levels) was used to optimize the key operational conditions that influence the uptake of Dy by two living seaweed, Ulva sp. and Gracilaria sp.

Can the recycling of europium from contaminated waters be achieved through living macroalgae? Study on accumulation and toxicological impacts under realistic concentrations.

Europium (Eu) strategic importance for the manufacturing industry, high economic value and high supply risk, categorizes it as critical raw material. Due to anthropogenic contamination, Eu levels in ecosystems have been growing, which opens opportunities for innovation: its recovery and recycling from contaminated water as element source - circular economy. In this pioneering study, six widely available living marine macroalgae (Ulva intestinalis, Ulva lactuca, Gracilaria sp.

Sustainable recovery of neodymium and dysprosium from waters through seaweeds: Influence of operational parameters.

The high demand for greener energy and technological innovation require some crucial elements, such as the rare earths Nd and Dy. Being considered two of the most critical elements (high supply risk), it is vital to recover them from wastes/wastewaters, for later reuse. Here, the influence of operational parameters, such as biosorbent stock density (0.

Bioaccumulation processes for mercury removal from saline waters by green, brown and red living marine macroalgae.

Mercury is a very toxic metal that persists and accumulates in the living organisms present in the aquatic systems and its elimination is an urgent need. Two green (Ulva intestinalis and Ulva lactuca), brown (Fucus spiralis and Fucus vesiculosus), and red (Gracilaria sp. and Osmundea pinnatifida) marine macroalgae were tested for mercury removal from saline waters.

Influence of salinity and rare earth elements on simultaneous removal of Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni and Pb from contaminated waters by living macroalgae.

Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are of major concern due to their high persistence and toxicity. Recently, rare earth elements (REEs) concentration in aquatic ecosystems has been increasing due to their application in modern technologies. Thus, this work aimed to study, for the first time, the influence of REEs (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium and yttrium) and of salinity (10 and 30) on the removal of PTEs (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni and Pb) from contaminated waters by living macroalgae (Fucus spiralis, Fucus vesiculosus, Gracilaria sp.

Assessment of marine macroalgae potential for gadolinium removal from contaminated aquatic systems.

Gadolinium (Gd) is a rare earth associated with hospital and urban wastewaters due to its application as a contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging. In this work, the uptake of Gd from contaminated seawater by three living marine macroalgae, Ulva lactuca (Chlorophyta), Fucus spiralis (Phaeophyta) and Gracilaria sp. (Rhodophyta) was studied along 72 h.

Negligible effect of potentially toxic elements and rare earth elements on mercury removal from contaminated waters by green, brown and red living marine macroalgae.

Mercury (Hg) removal by six different living marine macroalgae, namely, Ulva intestinalis, Ulva lactuca, Fucus spiralis, Fucus vesiculosus, Gracilaria sp., and Osmundea pinnatifida was investigated in mono and multi-contamination scenarios. All macroalgae were tested under the same experimental conditions, evaluating the competition effects with all elements at the same initial molar concentration of 1 μmol dm.

Influence of toxic elements on the simultaneous uptake of rare earth elements from contaminated waters by estuarine macroalgae.

The present study tested whether the presence of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Hg and Ni), commonly found in wastewaters, interferes with the ability of macroalgae (Ulva intestinalis, Ulva lactuca, Fucus spiralis, Fucus vesiculosus, Gracilaria sp. and Osmundea pinnatifida) to remove rare earth elements (REEs) (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy and Y), which are key elements for most high technologies (e.g.

A green method based on living macroalgae for the removal of rare-earth elements from contaminated waters.

Low recycling rates of rare earth elements (REEs) are a consequence of inefficient, expensive and/or contaminating methods currently available for their extraction from solid wastes or from liquid wastes such as acid mine drainage or industrial wastewaters. The search for sustainable recovery alternatives was the motivation for this study. For the first time, the capabilities of 6 living macroalgae (Ulva lactuca, Ulva intestinalis, Fucus spiralis, Fucus vesiculosus, Osmundea pinnatifida and Gracilaria sp.

Chronic Q fever: A missed prosthetic valve endocarditis possibly for years.

Chronic endocarditis usually develops in people with underlying heart disease and accounts for 60-70% of chronic Q fever. Onset is generally insidious and manifestations are atypical. The authors report a case of prosthetic valve endocarditis in a 53 years- old patient with recurrent mechanical valve dehiscence on mitral position.

Left ventricular noncompaction: A rare indication for pediatric heart transplantation.

Isolated left ventricular noncompaction is a rare congenital cardiomyopathy, characterized morphologically by a dilated left ventricle, prominent trabeculations and deep intertrabecular recesses in the ventricular myocardium, with no other structural heart disease. It is thought to be secondary to an arrest of normal myocardial compaction during fetal life. Clinically, the disease presents with heart failure, embolic events, arrhythmias or sudden death.

A Travelling Projectile from the Head to the Right Ventricle. Surgical Management.

The migration of a bullet fired from a weapon from the jugular vein to the heart is a very rare condition in clinical practice and the management of such condition is not always straightforward. The authors report the case of a 49-year old female patient shot in the right temporal region with subsequent migration of the pellet through the venous system to the right ventricle. Surgical removal of the pellet was successfully accomplished using extracorporeal circulation and cardiac arrest.

[Fungal endocarditis with central and peripheral embolization: case report].

A 50-year-old man with a history of drug addiction was admitted to the cardiology department for aortic valve fungal endocarditis complicated by severe aortic regurgitation, cerebral infarcts and right common iliac artery pseudoaneurysm. While awaiting transfer to the cardiothoracic surgery department, the patient presented acute arterial ischemia of the left leg, and distal left patellofemoral embolectomy was successfully performed. The patient was then transferred to the cardiothoracic center and the aortic valve was replaced by a bioprosthetic valve.

Heart transplantation. A Portuguese hospital center's experience.

Cardiac transplantation is the gold standard therapy for patients below 60 years presenting with severe heart failure (HF) despite maximal medical therapy, who have no other surgical option and no contraindications to this procedure. We evaluated our experience with this important form of heart failure therapy. Between February 1987 and December 2002, 32 patients, aged 37 +/- 16 years, 19 males, with ejection fraction of 18 +/- 7%, underwent heart transplantation in our center.