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.