Aortic Root Geometric and Dynamic Changes After Device Closure of Interatrial Shunts.

Background: The spatial relationship between atrial septal occluders and the aorta and the subsequent impact on the geometry and mechanics of the aortic root have been underinvestigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate occluder-aorta interaction after device closure of an atrial septal defect (ASD) or a patent foramen ovale (PFO) using three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography and two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography.

Methods: In 65 adult patients (mean age, 47 ± 14 years; 71% women) who underwent ASD (n = 35) or PFO (n = 30) closure with the Amplatzer Septal Occluder or Amplatzer PFO Occluder, occluder-aorta contact was evaluated on three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography and defined as continuous, intermittent, or absent.

Comparison of fast acquisition strategies in whole-heart four-dimensional flow cardiac MR: Two-center, 1.5 Tesla, phantom and in vivo validation study.

Purpose: To validate three widely-used acceleration methods in four-dimensional (4D) flow cardiac MR; segmented 4D-spoiled-gradient-echo (4D-SPGR), 4D-echo-planar-imaging (4D-EPI), and 4D-k-t Broad-use Linear Acquisition Speed-up Technique (4D-k-t BLAST).

Materials And Methods: Acceleration methods were investigated in static/pulsatile phantoms and 25 volunteers on 1.5 Tesla MR systems.

Active shape model with inter-profile modeling paradigm for cardiac right ventricle segmentation.

In this work, a novel active shape model (ASM) paradigm is proposed to segment the right ventricle (RV) in cardiac magnetic resonance image sequences. The proposed paradigm includes modifications to two fundamental steps in the ASM algorithm. The first modification includes employing the 2D-principal component analysis (PCA) to capture the inter-profile relations among shape's neighboring landmarks and then model the inter-profile variations between the training set.

Complement components (C3, C4) as inflammatory markers in asthma.

Objective: To assess the serum levels of complement factors C3 and C4 in Egyptian asthmatic children.

Methods: This case-controlled study comprised of 60 Egyptian children with the diagnosis of bronchial asthma (not in acute attack) and 60 age-and sex-matched healthy controls. All candidates were subjected to a thorough clinical study, complete blood counts, absolute eosinophil count and serum complements (C3, C4).