A case report of transthyretin amyloidosis following cardiac transplantation: thick ventricles that look alike.

Background: Transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis is more prevalent than initially thought. As much as 13% of patients hospitalized with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction may have ATTR-cardiomyopathy (CM). Conversely, heart transplant patients may manifest left ventricular hypertrophy or diastolic dysfunction, especially late after transplantation.

Use of Real-Time Cine MRI to Assess the Respirophasic Variation of the Inferior Vena Cava-Proof-of-Concept and Validation Against Transthoracic Echocardiography.

Background: In clinical practice, the right heart filling status is assessed using the respirophasic variation of the inferior vena cava (IVC) assessed by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) showing moderate correlations with the catheter-based reference standard.

Purpose: To develop and validate a similar approach using MRI.

Study Type: Prospective.

Ventricular assist device implantation in adults with a systemic right ventricle - A single center experience and review of the literature.

Patients with a systemic right ventricle (sRV) have a high risk of developing heart failure (HF), with heart transplantation as the only long-term treatment option. Unfortunately, more than half of sRV patients have pulmonary hypertension (PH) which may impact the decision to opt for heart-only transplantation. Moreover, an increased scarcity of donor hearts prolongs time to transplantation, increasing the probability of dying on the waiting list.

Radiation-Induced Changes in Quartz, A Mineral Analog of Nuclear Power Plant Concrete Aggregates.

Quartz single-crystal samples consisting of α-quartz crystal structure were neutron irradiated to fluences of 5 × 10, 4 × 10, and 2 × 10 n/cm (E > 0.1 MeV) at two temperatures (52 and 95 °C). The changes in the α-quartz phase as a function of these two conditions (temperature and fluence) were studied using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the results acquired using these complementary techniques are presented in a single place for the first time.