First Description of Novel End-Organ Effects by Speed Modulation Using the Aortix™ Device.

Aortix™ is a novel percutaneous mechanical circulatory support device designed to facilitate diuresis in patients with cardiorenal syndrome. We describe for the first time the development of end-organ hypoperfusion from excess blood acceleration at the nominal setting and demonstrate through temporal-perfusion marker curves, the potential for speed modulation to optimize results. This will inform future device development and investigation of patient-specific device titration.

Relationship between donor-derived cell-free DNA and tissue-based rejection-related transcripts in heart transplantation.

Background: Endomyocardial biopsy (EMB)-based traditional microscopy remains the gold standard for the detection of cardiac allograft rejection, despite its limitation of inherent subjectivity leading to inter-reader variability. Alternative techniques now exist to surveil for allograft injury and classify rejection. Donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) testing is now a validated blood-based assay used to surveil for allograft injury.

Safety and Performance of the Aortix Device in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure and Cardiorenal Syndrome.

Background: Cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) complicates 33% of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) admissions, and patients with persistent congestion at discharge have high 30-day event rates.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a novel catheter-deployed intra-aortic entrainment pump (IAEP) in patients with ADHF with CRS and persistent congestion.

Methods: A multicenter (n = 14), nonrandomized, single-arm, safety and feasibility study of IAEP therapy was conducted.

Relationship between blood and tissue-based rejection-related transcripts in heart transplantation.

Background: The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between blood and tissue-derived rejection-related transcripts from blood gene expression profiling (GEP) and molecular microscope in the setting of allograft rejection in heart transplant.

Methods: All heart transplant patients from August 2021 to May 2022 with both circulating blood GEP (AlloMap) and endomyocardial biopsy with molecular microscope diagnostic system (MMDx) within 4 weeks were included (N = 173 samples). We obtained individual blood GEP-based messenger RNA transcript expression levels of the 11 target genes from CareDx.

A Case of Esmolol-Induced False-Positive Amphetamine Urine Drug Test.

False-positive urine drug screens can occur and lead to implicit bias. Confirmatory testing with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry can be performed. A morbidly obese patient with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation spent multiple days in the cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) due to a false-positive test for methamphetamine.

Genotype-phenotype analysis of three Chinese families with Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome.

Background: Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is characterized by QT prolongation, syncope and sudden death. This study aims to explore the causes, clinical manifestations and therapeutic outcomes of Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome (JLNS), a rare form of LQTS with congenital sensorineural deafness, in Chinese individuals.

Materials And Methods: Three JLNS kindreds from the Chinese National LQTS Registry were investigated.

Transcranial imaging of functional cerebral hemodynamic changes in single blood vessels using in vivo photoacoustic microscopy.

Optical imaging of changes in total hemoglobin concentration (HbT), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SO(2)) provides a means to investigate brain hemodynamic regulation. However, high-resolution transcranial imaging remains challenging. In this study, we applied a novel functional photoacoustic microscopy technique to probe the responses of single cortical vessels to left forepaw electrical stimulation in mice with intact skulls.

Quantification and recognition of parkinsonian gait from monocular video imaging using kernel-based principal component analysis.

Background: The computer-aided identification of specific gait patterns is an important issue in the assessment of Parkinson's disease (PD). In this study, a computer vision-based gait analysis approach is developed to assist the clinical assessments of PD with kernel-based principal component analysis (KPCA).

Method: Twelve PD patients and twelve healthy adults with no neurological history or motor disorders within the past six months were recruited and separated according to their "Non-PD", "Drug-On", and "Drug-Off" states.

Automatic spike sorting for extracellular electrophysiological recording using unsupervised single linkage clustering based on grey relational analysis.

Automatic spike sorting is a prerequisite for neuroscience research on multichannel extracellular recordings of neuronal activity. A novel spike sorting framework, combining efficient feature extraction and an unsupervised clustering method, is described here. Wavelet transform (WT) is adopted to extract features from each detected spike, and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (KS test) is utilized to select discriminative wavelet coefficients from the extracted features.