1063/1.3456996]”
“Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether baseline and exercise-induced NP plasma levels can be useful in predicting successful cardioversion of persistent AF and maintenance of sinus rhythm during 6-month follow-up.
Methods: A prospective study enrolled 77 consecutive subjects with persistent AF with normal left ventricular function, referred for elective cardioversion. Patients underwent a modified Bruce protocol treadmill exercise test 24 hours before cardioversion. Blood samples for ANP and BNP analyses were obtained
at rest and 5 minutes after exercise peak.
Results: The group of successful selleck screening library cardioversion and stable sinus rhythm presented higher exercise ANP (110.6 +/- 41.2 pg/mL vs 43.8 +/- 36.1; pg/mL, P < 0.0001) and lower BNP increase (5.2 +/- 5.2 pg/mL vs 40.5 +/- BIIB057 price 34.2 pg/mL, P < 0.0001) than the group of unsuccessful cardioversion or AF recurrence. Using an optimized cutoff level of < 12% of relative exercise-induced increase in BNP concentration, and of > 50 pg/mL of ANP increase, successful cardioversion can be predicted with high accuracy.
Conclusions: An increase in ANP and stability of BNP plasma concentration during exercise testing are independently associated with successful cardioversion and maintenance of sinus rhythm during 6-month follow-up. (PACE 2010; 33:1203-1209).”
“Streptococcus
mutans, generally known as a major pathogen of dental caries, is also a possible causative agent of bacteremia and infective endocarditis. S. mutans is classified into serotypes c, e, f and k based on the chemical composition of serotype-specific polysaccharides, with approximately 70-80% of strains found in
the oral cavity classified as serotype c, followed by e (similar to 20%), and f and k (less than 5% each). Serotype k was recently designated as a novel serotype and shown to possess unique features, the most prominent being a defect of the glucose side chain in serotype-specific rhamnose-glucose polymers, which is related to a higher incidence of detection in cardiovascular specimens, owing to phagocytosis resistance, Molecular analyses of cardiovascular specimens showed a high detection frequency for S. mutans DNA, among which the detection rate for serotype k was quite high. These findings suggest Selleck SBI-0206965 that serotype k S. mutans possibly has a high level of virulence for systemic diseases.”
“A phase field method is proposed to determine the equilibrium fields of a magnetoelectroelastic multiferroic with arbitrarily distributed constitutive constants under applied loadings. This method is based on a developed generalized Eshelby’s equivalency principle, in which the elastic strain, electrostatic, and magnetostatic fields at the equilibrium in the original heterogeneous system are exactly the same as those in an equivalent homogeneous magnetoelectroelastic coupled or uncoupled system with properly chosen distributed effective eigenstrain, polarization, and magnetization fields.