Case report: angiosarcoma of the pulmonary artery diagnosed as pulmonary artery emboli.

Background: Angiosarcomas are the most common malignant tumors of the heart and great vessels. Late onset and unspecific symptoms are reasons why a diagnosis is made rather late at a time when most tumors have already metastasized. We report a rare case of an angiosarcoma presenting as pulmonary artery emboli.

Preventive Impella Support in High-Risk Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery.

Background: Patients with severely reduced LV-EF ≤ 30% undergoing CABG have a high risk for postoperative cardiogenic shock. The optimal timing of an adequate hemodynamic support has an impact on short- and midterm mortality after CABG. This study aimed to assess the prophylactic use of the Impella pump in high-risk patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery.

Twelve-month efficacy of second-generation cryoballoon ablation for atrial fibrillation performed at community hospitals: results of the German register on cryoballoon ablation in local hospitals (regional).

Background: The 12-month follow-up (F/U) efficacy of CBA PVI performed at community hospitals for treatment of symptomatic paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) is unknown. This study determined the 12-month efficacy of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using cryoballoon ablation (CBA) performed at community hospitals with limited annual case numbers.

Methods: This registry study included 983 consecutive patients (pts) from 19 hospitals, each with an annual procedural volume of < 100 PVI procedures/year.

Safety and acute efficacy of cryoballoon ablation for atrial fibrillation at community hospitals.

Aims: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using cryoballoon ablation (CBA) is an established procedure for treating symptomatic paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). The safety and efficacy of PVI performed at community hospitals are unknown. We aimed to determine the safety and acute efficacy of PVI using CBA performed at community hospitals with limited annual case numbers.

High temperature impairs mitochondrial function in rainbow trout cardiac mitochondria.

Mitochondria provide cellular energy through oxidative phosphorylation, and thus temperature-induced constraints on mitochondrial function may be crucial to animal aerobic scope and thermal tolerance. Here, we report the effect of temperature in the range 5-30°C on respiration rates of isolated cardiac mitochondria from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) studied by high-resolution respirometry and spectrophotometric enzyme activity assays. Arrhenius breakpoint temperature analysis indicated that mitochondrial respiration rates under phosphorylating and fully uncoupled conditions increased exponentially up to 20°C, but stopped increasing at higher temperatures.

The 'difficult patient' phenomenon in home nursing and 'self-inflicted' illness.

Rationale And Aim: Home nurses work largely alone, and consequently, 'difficult patients' can be challenging for them. Understanding of this phenomenon can have a major impact on the quality of care. The aim is to explore how nurses characterise, relate to and interact with these patients.

Quantification of tricuspid regurgitation area by 3-dimensional color Doppler echocardiography considering different clinical settings.

Purpose: The precise assessment of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) using 2D imaging techniques may be associated with significant difficulties due to the nonround regurgitation area. Direct analysis of the regurgitation area by 3D color Doppler echocardiography at the vena contracta (3D VCA) has the potential to adequately quantify even complex TR. This study compared 3D VCA for quantification of the TR with the regurgitant area determined by proximal isovolumetric convergence method (PISA-EROA) considering different clinical settings.

Clinical safety of the ProMRI implantable cardioverter-defibrillator systems during head and lower lumbar magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T: results of the ProMRI 3T ENHANCED Master study.

Aims: There have been no published studies on the safety of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3 Tesla (3 T) in patients with MRI-conditional implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). The aim of this study was to assess clinical safety of the Biotronik ProMRI ICD system during non-diagnostic head and lower lumbar scans under 3 T MRI conditions.

Methods And Results: The study enrolled 129 patients at 12 sites in Australia, Singapore, and Europe.

Increased lipid accumulation but not reduced metabolism explains improved starvation tolerance in cold-acclimated arthropod predators.

Predatory arthropods are used for biological control in greenhouses, but there is increasing interest to extend their use to the outdoor environment where temperatures are typically lower. Acclimation at low temperature increases the ability of ectotherms to cope with subsequent more extreme cold, but may involve costs or benefits to other performance traits. A recent study in mesostigmatid mites (Gaeolaelaps aculeifer) showed that starvation tolerance was improved following a period of cold exposure.

Image noise reduction technology allows significant reduction of radiation dosage in cardiac device implantation procedures.

Background: Novel x-ray systems with real-time image noise reduction technology (INRT) to reduce radiation dose during fluoroscopy and cine acquisition have become available. This study evaluated the reduction of radiation dose in device implantation with INRT.

Methods: Radiation dose data from 132 consecutive new device implantation procedures (102 pacemaker [PM] or implantable cardioverter defibrillator [ICD] and 30 cardiac resynchronization therapy [CRT] devices) performed between January 2015 and December 2015 on an angiography system with INRT (Allura ClarityIQ) were collected.

Reducing Radiation Dose in Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Using Image Noise Reduction Technology.

This study sought to quantitatively evaluate the reduction of radiation dose in coronary angiography and angioplasty with the use of image noise reduction technology in a routine clinical setting. Radiation dose data from consecutive 605 coronary procedures (397 consecutive coronary angiograms and 208 consecutive coronary interventions) performed from October 2014 to April 2015 on a coronary angiography system with noise reduction technology (Allura Clarity IQ) were collected. For comparison, radiation dose data from consecutive 695 coronary procedures (435 coronary angiograms and 260 coronary interventions) performed on a conventional coronary angiography system from October 2013 to April 2014 were evaluated.

The climate hazards infrared precipitation with stations--a new environmental record for monitoring extremes.

The Climate Hazards group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) dataset builds on previous approaches to 'smart' interpolation techniques and high resolution, long period of record precipitation estimates based on infrared Cold Cloud Duration (CCD) observations. The algorithm i) is built around a 0.05° climatology that incorporates satellite information to represent sparsely gauged locations, ii) incorporates daily, pentadal, and monthly 1981-present 0.

Enzymatically Modified Low-Density Lipoprotein Is Present in All Stages of Aortic Valve Sclerosis: Implications for Pathogenesis of the Disease.

Background: We have demonstrated previously that enzymatically degraded low-density lipoprotein (eLDL) is an essential causative component for the initiation of atherosclerosis. Here, we investigated the different stages of human aortic valve sclerosis for the presence of eLDL and effectors of the innate immune system, as well as the interaction of eLDL with isolated valvular interstitial cells/myofibroblasts to discover possible pathways leading to aortic valve sclerosis.

Methods And Results: Human aortic valvular tissue was obtained from 68 patients undergoing valve replacement surgery.

Lateralized task shift effects in Broca's and Wernicke's regions and in visual word form area are selective for conceptual content and reflect trial history.

We investigated whether lateralized BOLD-fMRI activations in Broca's region, Wernicke's region and visual word form area (VWFA) reflect task shift costs and to which extent these effects are specific to language related task shifts. We employed a linguistic one-back memory paradigm where participants (n=58) on each trial responded to whether a given word was the same as the previous word. In concordance with previous findings we found that conceptual shifts (CS), i.

Minimally invasive versus conventional extracorporeal circulation in minimally invasive cardiac valve surgery.

Background: Minimally invasive extracorporeal circulation (MECC) technology was applied predominantly in coronary surgery. Data regarding the application of MECC in minimally invasive valve surgery are missing largely.

Patients And Methods: Patients undergoing isolated minimally invasive mitral or aortic valve procedures were allocated either to conventional extracorporeal circulation (CECC) group (n = 63) or MECC group (n = 105), and their prospectively generated data were analyzed.

Renal carbonic anhydrases are involved in the reabsorption of endogenous nitrite.

Nitrite (ONO(-)) exerts nitric oxide (NO)-related biological actions and its concentration in the circulation may be of particular importance. Nitrite is excreted in the urine. Hence, the kidney may play an important role in nitrite/NO homeostasis in the vasculature.

Emotional distance to so-called difficult patients.

Purpose: To explore nurses' relationships with patients they regard as being difficult. How do nurses feel about such patients and relate to them, and what are the consequences for nurse and patient?

Design And Methods: A qualitative study inspired by hermeneutic phenomenology was conducted. The data were obtained through participant observation and interviewing in a home nursing unit in a Danish municipality.

Forest responses to increasing aridity and warmth in the southwestern United States.

In recent decades, intense droughts, insect outbreaks, and wildfires have led to decreasing tree growth and increasing mortality in many temperate forests. We compared annual tree-ring width data from 1,097 populations in the coterminous United States to climate data and evaluated site-specific tree responses to climate variations throughout the 20th century. For each population, we developed a climate-driven growth equation by using climate records to predict annual ring widths.

HPLC analysis of human erythrocytic glutathione forms using OPA and N-acetyl-cysteine ethyl ester: evidence for nitrite-induced GSH oxidation to GSSG.

Glutathione exists in biological samples in the reduced form (GSH), as its disulfide (GSSG) and as a mixed disulfide (GSSR) with thiols (RSH). GSH is the most abundant low-molecular-mass thiol and plays important roles as a cofactor and as a main constituent of the intracellular redox status. Due to its own sulfhydryl (SH) group, GSH reacts readily with o-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) to form a highly stable and fluorescent isoindole derivative (GSH-OPA), which allows for sensitive and specific quantitative determination of GSH in biological systems by HPLC with fluorescence (FL) detection.

Warming of the Indian Ocean threatens eastern and southern African food security but could be mitigated by agricultural development.

Since 1980, the number of undernourished people in eastern and southern Africa has more than doubled. Rural development stalled and rural poverty expanded during the 1990s. Population growth remains very high, and declining per-capita agricultural capacity retards progress toward Millennium Development goals.

[Hospital staff's different attitudes and experiences with regard to immigrant patients].

Introduction: The study investigates hospital staff's different attitudes and experiences with regard to immigrant patients as a basis for educational initiatives.

Materials And Methods: The study is based on a questionnaire to nurses, doctors and assistant nurses at Bispebjerg Hospital, a major general hospital in Copenhagen in spring 2001. Among the 1,012 persons included, the total response rate was 58%.

Long-term deep brain stimulation in elderly patients with cardiac pacemakers.

Object: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become an accepted therapy for movement disorders such as Parkinson disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET), when these conditions are refractory to medical treatment. The presence of a cardiac pacemaker is still considered a contraindication for DBS in functional neurosurgery. The goal of this study was to evaluate the technical and clinical management of DBS for the treatment of movement disorders in elderly patients with cardiac pacemakers.

Health professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and experiences in relation to immigrant patients: a questionnaire study at a Danish hospital.

Aims: A study was undertaken to identify variations in knowledge, attitudes, experiences, and communication among different categories of hospital staff with regard to immigrant patients in order to identify potential barriers for effective diagnosis, treatment, and care of immigrant patients.

Methods: The study is based on a questionnaire mailed to doctors, nurses, and assistant nurses at Bispebjerg Hospital, a major general hospital in Copenhagen. Among the 1,012 persons included the total response rate was 58%.

[Treatment of recurrent neurocardiogenic syncope with cardiac inhibitors with ipratropium bromide].

Pharmacological approaches for the treatment of cardioinhibitory vasovagal syncope are controversially discussed in the literature. In acute treatment of neurocardiogenic syncope, anticholinergics (atropine) are used effectively. Randomised and placebo-controlled clinical trials evaluating the preventive significance of anticholinergic agents in the therapy of cardioinhibitory vasovagal syncope are still missing.