Observed and expected reliability of echocardiographic volumetric methods and critical change values for quantification of mitral regurgitant fraction in dogs.

Background: Reliability of echocardiographic calculations for stroke volume and mitral regurgitant fraction (RF) are affected by observer variability and lack of a gold standard. Variability is used to calculate critical change values (CCVs) that are thresholds representing real change in a measure not associated with observer variability.

Hypothesis: Observed intra- and interobserver accuracy and variability in healthy dogs help model CCV for RF.

Utility of focused cardiac ultrasonography training in veterinary students to differentiate stages of subclinical myxomatous mitral valve disease in dogs.

Background: Differentiation of the subclinical phases of myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) in dogs relies heavily on echocardiography. Focused cardiac ultrasonography (FCU) is a point-of-care technique that can assess heart size.

Hypothesis/objectives: Veterinary students trained in FCU can differentiate dogs with subclinical MMVD based on left ventricular (LV) and left atrial (LA) dimensions.

Urine sodium concentration after intravenous furosemide in dogs with acute congestive heart failure and correlation with treatment efficacy.

Background: Poor natriuresis is a potential marker of diuretic resistance in dogs with acute congestive heart failure (CHF) but little is known about the relationship between urine sodium concentration (uNa) and frequency of successful decongestion. Supplemental O is a common treatment in dogs with severe CHF. The time from start to discontinuation of supplemental O therapy (DCSO ) typically reflects the time course and ease of decongestion.

Efficient reciprocating burrowing with anisotropic origami feet.

Origami folding is an ancient art which holds promise for creating compliant and adaptable mechanisms, but has yet to be extensively studied for granular environments. At the same time, biological systems exploit anisotropic body forces for locomotion, such as the frictional anisotropy of a snake's skin. In this work, we explore how foldable origami feet can be used to passively induce anisotropic force response in granular media, through varying their resistive plane.

Impaired BCAA catabolism in adipose tissues promotes age-associated metabolic derangement.

Adipose tissues are central in controlling metabolic homeostasis and failure in their preservation is associated with age-related metabolic disorders. The exact role of mature adipocytes in this phenomenon remains elusive. Here we describe the role of adipose branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolism in this process.