Summit-to-sea mapping and change detection using satellite imagery: tools for conservation and management of coral reefs.

Continuous summit-to-sea maps showing both land features and shallow-water coral reefs have been completed in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, using circa 2000 Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) Imagery.

Test to determine sterile integrity of wrapped medical products at a probability of recontamination of 1 : 1,000,000.

Objective: We developed a microbiological test to detect the penetration of airborne microorganisms through the packaging of medical products after sterilization, to meet the requirements of European standard EN 556. We applied this test method to transparent pouches.

Design: The microbial-barrier properties of the transparent pouches were determined using the microbial challenge test, in which the package was placed inside an exposure chamber and exposed to a defined aerosol of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Effect of antibiotic treatment on vegetation size and complication rate in infective endocarditis.

Background: Infective endocarditis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, with valvular destruction, and with congestive heart failure. Embolic events are more common in patients with echocardiographically discernible vegetations, especially when vegetations are > 10 mm in diameter.

Hypothesis: The objective of the study was to follow vegetation morphology during native valve endocarditis, to compare it with the clinical course and antibiotic treatment chosen, and to evaluate whether the impact on vegetation size and complication rate of antibiotic regimens differed in patients with positive and negative blood cultures.

In swine myocardium, the infarct size reduction induced by U-89232 is glibenclamide sensitive: evidence that U-89232 is a cardioselective opener of ATP-sensitive potassium channels.

We determined whether U-89232, a derivative of the ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel opener cromakalim, is cardioselective and whether its action on the myocardium is still sensitive to glibenclamide. Experiments were performed in open-chest pigs subjected to a 60-min occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LADCA) and to 2 h of reperfusion. Four groups of animals were studied (n = 6 each).

Preischaemic as well as postischaemic application of a Na+/H+ exchange inhibitor reduces infarct size in pigs.

Background: During reperfusion of ischaemic myocardium, Na+/H+ exchange promotes recovery from acidosis resulting in an accumulation of intracellular Na+. This leads to calcium overload via Na+/Ca2+ exchange and might result in cell necrosis contributing to reperfusion injury.

Methods And Results: We assessed whether HOE 694, a specific inhibitor of Na+/H+ exchange, is able to reduce infarct size in swine myocardium.

Has transesophageal echocardiography changed the approach to patients with suspected or known infective endocarditis?

Infective endocarditis is still a great clinical challenge. Its diagnosis is difficult to establish, and mortality has remained around 30%. Early diagnosis and optimal treatment are crucial fo prognosis improvement.

Identification of high-risk subgroups in infective endocarditis and the role of echocardiography.

The outcome of infective endocarditis remains poor. It has an overall mortality of around 30%, rising in high-risk subgroups to 50% and 100%. The prognosis can be improved by identification of high-risk patients and special management.

Use of transoesophageal echocardiography in the diagnosis of abscess in infective endocarditis.

Transoesophageal echocardiography is invaluable clinically since it accurately images abscess cavities or aneurysms. It provides the information about the site and extension of abscesses which is needed by surgeons to time and define surgical intervention. Early diagnosis is advantageous, and abscesses should be expected in 5%-30% of patients with echocardiographically discernible vegetations.

Effect of bimakalim (EMD 52692), an opener of ATP sensitive potassium channels, on infarct size, coronary blood flow, regional wall function, and oxygen consumption in swine.

Objective: The aim was to assess whether bimakalim, an opener of ATP sensitive potassium channels, can reduce infarct size in swine myocardium.

Methods: Experiments were performed in open chest pigs subjected to a 60 min occlusion of a branch of the left anterior descending coronary artery and to 2 h reperfusion. Five groups of animals were studied.

Clinical relevance of vegetation localization by transoesophageal echocardiography in infective endocarditis.

Infective endocarditis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, with valvular destruction and congestive heart failure being more common in patients with echocardiographically discernible vegetations. The transoesophageal approach affords consistently high quality images with excellent structural resolution. Two-hundred and eighty-one patients with clinically suspected infective endocarditis were studied, to evaluate the prognostic value of ascertaining the site of vegetations.

Spontaneous echo contrast imaging in infective endocarditis: a predictor of complications?

Infective endocarditis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Valvular destruction and congestive heart failure are more common in patients with echocardiographically detectable vegetations. In addition, spontaneous platelet aggregation is increased when vegetations are present on cardiac valves.

Identification of abscess formation in native-valve infective endocarditis using transesophageal echocardiography: implications for surgical treatment.

The object of the study was to follow patients with endocarditis-associated abscesses in order to evaluate the clinical outcome with and without surgical intervention. Transesophageal echocardiography successfully displayed the location and extent of abscess cavities in 14 patients (group A) with aortic valve endocarditis. The infective process was limited to the perivalvular tissue in two, extended into the ascending aorta in six, and included the interventricular septum, the right ventricular outflow tract, interatrial septum, and/or mitral valve annulus in six patients.

Prediction of rapid versus prolonged healing of infective endocarditis by monitoring vegetation size.

The diagnostic value of transesophageal echocardiography in monitoring the clinical course has been evaluated in 83 patients with echocardiographic evidence of infective endocarditis. A total of 103 vegetations attached to the aortic or mitral valves were detected by use of the transesophageal approach. The patients were monitored for a mean of 74 weeks and underwent a minimum of two consecutive transesophageal echocardiographic examinations.

Ischemic preconditioning reduces infarct size in swine myocardium.

We evaluated the hypothesis that stunning swine myocardium with brief ischemia reduces oxygen demand in the stunned region and increases tolerance of myocardium to longer periods of ischemia. Wall function was quantified with ultrasonic crystals aligned to measure wall thickening, and stunning was achieved with two cycles of left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) occlusion (10 minutes) and reperfusion (30 minutes), after which the LAD was occluded for 60 minutes and reperfused for 90 minutes. Infarct size (as a percent of risk region) was then determined by incubating myocardium with para-nitro blue tetrazolium.

Improved diagnostic value of echocardiography in patients with infective endocarditis by transoesophageal approach. A prospective study.

In a prospective study, the clinical value of transoesophageal two-dimensional echocardiography (TOE) as compared with transthoracic two-dimensional echocardiography (TTE) was determined in patients with suspected infective endocarditis. Ninety-six patients were studied consecutively with an electronic sector scanner using 2.25 and 3.

[Diagnostic value of the transesophageal Doppler echocardiography].

Transesophageal echocardiography has been proven to be of particular value in all patients with transthoracic echocardiograms of low quality related to pulmonary emphysema, obesity and chest deformation as well as in intensive care unit patients. Similarly, transesophageal Doppler echocardiography is of particular value in all cases in which the transthoracic Doppler, due to methodological problems, is of limited value. Mitral regurgitation can be detected and quantified and flow direction described.