The Prognostic Role of Pulmonary Arterial Elastance in Patients Undergoing Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation: A Pilot Study.

: Pulmonary arterial elastance (Ea) is a helpful parameter to predict the risk of acute postoperative right ventricular failure (RVF) after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. A new method for calculating Ea, obtained by the ratio between transpulmonary gradient and stroke volume (Ea), has been proposed as a more accurate measure than the Ea obtained as the ratio between pulmonary artery systolic pressure and stroke volume (Ea). However, the role of Ea in predicting acute RVF post-LVAD implantation remains unclear.

Nucleation-Limited Kinetics of GaAs Nanostructures Grown by Selective Area Epitaxy: Implications for Shape Engineering in Optoelectronics Devices.

The growth kinetics of vertical III-V nanowires (NWs) were clarified long ago. The increasing aspect ratio of NWs results in an increase in the surface area, which, in turn, enhances the material collection. The group III adatom diffusion from the NW sidewalls to the top sustains a superlinear growth regime.

New insights into the impact of leachates from in-field collected plastics on aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates.

The impact of leachates from micronized beached plastics of the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean on coastal marine ecosystems was investigated by using a multidisciplinary approach. Chemical analysis and ecotoxicological tests on phylogenetically distant species were performed on leachates from the following plastic categories: bottles, pellets, hard plastic (HP) containers, fishing nets (FN) and rapido trawling rubber (RTR). The bacteria Alivibrio fischeri, the nauplii of the crustaceans Amphibalanus amphitrite and Acartia tonsa, the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis, the embryos of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, the ephyrae of the jellyfish Aurelia sp.

High concentrations of phthalates affect the early development of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus.

The toxicity of three phthalates (PAEs) - butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) - was tested on the Mediterranean sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. Fertilized eggs were exposed to environmental and high PAE concentrations for 72 h. The potential toxic effects on larval development and any morphological anomalies were then assessed to estimate PAEs impact.

4-aminopyridine improves evoked potentials and ambulation in the taiep rat: A model of hypomyelination with atrophy of basal ganglia and cerebellum.

The taiep rat is a tubulin mutant with an early hypomyelination followed by progressive demyelination of the central nervous system due to a point mutation in the Tubb4a gene. It shows clinical, radiological, and pathological signs like those of the human leukodystrophy hypomyelination with atrophy of the basal ganglia and cerebellum (H-ABC). Taiep rats had tremor, ataxia, immobility episodes, epilepsy, and paralysis; the acronym of these signs given the name to this autosomal recessive trait.