Comparison between left atrial features in well-controlled hypertensive patients and normal subjects assessed by three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.

Background: Three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (3D-STE) has a major advantage in the improvement of accuracy in the evaluation of cardiac chamber volume without any geometrical assumption. Thus, the aim of this study was to use 3D-STE to elucidate the features of left atrial (LA) volume and function that are altered by hypertension (HTN) by comparing well-controlled HTN patients with normal subjects.

Methods: Conventional echocardiographic parameters and LA phasic volume and function were measured from apical view by 3D-STE in 40 patients with well-controlled HTN [systolic blood pressure (BP) <140 and diastolic BP <90mmHg for more than one year] and 40 normotensive subjects.

RNA interference of the Arabidopsis putative transcription factor TCP16 gene results in abortion of early pollen development.

Pollen development is a fundamental and essential biological process in seed plants. Pollen mother cells generated in anthers undergo meiosis, which gives rise to haploid microspores. The haploid cells then develop into mature pollen grains through two mitotic cell divisions.

Prospective study on early virologic response to treatment with interferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin in patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1b.

To evaluate the predictive value of early virologic response (EVR) of achieving a sustained virologic response (SVR), an open, prospective trial including 42 patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1b was performed with directly observed 24-week treatment with interferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin. We assessed the predictive values of EVR at days 3, 7, 14, and weeks 4, 8, and 12 of the SVR. The SVR in an intention-to-treat analysis was 19.