Association of a Smartphone Application With Medication Adherence and Blood Pressure Control: The MedISAFE-BP Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Medication nonadherence accounts for up to half of uncontrolled hypertension. Smartphone applications (apps) that aim to improve adherence are widely available but have not been rigorously evaluated.

Objective: To determine if the Medisafe smartphone app improves self-reported medication adherence and blood pressure control.

Rationale and design of the Medication adherence Improvement Support App For Engagement-Blood Pressure (MedISAFE-BP) trial.

Background: Hypertension is a major contributor to the health and economic burden imposed by stroke, heart disease, and renal insufficiency. Antihypertensives can prevent many of the harmful effects of elevated blood pressure, but medication nonadherence is a known barrier to the effectiveness of these treatments. Smartphone-based applications that remind patients to take their medications, provide education, and allow for social interactions between individuals with similar health concerns have been widely advocated as a strategy to improve adherence but have not been subject to rigorous testing.

Use of a novel endoscopic catheter for direct visualization and ablation in an ovine model of chronic myocardial infarction.

Background: Defining the arrhythmogenic substrate is essential for successful ablation of scar-related ventricular tachycardia. The visual characteristics of endocardial ischemic scar have not been described in vivo. The goal of this study was (1) to quantify the visual characteristics of normal tissue, scar border zone, and dense scar in vivo with the use of a novel endoscopic catheter that allows direct endocardial visualization and (2) to correlate visual attributes of myocardial scar with bipolar voltage.

The 50cc Penn State left ventricular assist device: a parametric study of valve orientation flow dynamics.

We investigated the flow fields associated with the Bjork-Shiley Monostrut mechanical heart valve in the mitral position of the 50 cc Penn State left ventricular assist device. The valve orientation was adjusted whereby flow field data was collected using planar particle image velocimetry. The mitral valve was rotated from 0 to 45 degrees, in 15-degree increments.

Off-design considerations of the 50cc Penn State Ventricular Assist Device.

Particle image velocimetry is used to study the flow field associated with off-design conditions of the 50cc Penn State Ventricular Assist Device. Phase average data, for 300 consecutive beats, was acquired for 60, 75, and 90 beats per minute (bpm) at 35/65 systolic duration and at 75 bpm for 50/50 systolic duration. Diastolic flow is dominated by the inflow jet and shows more penetration and better wall washing at higher beat rates and shorter diastolic time.