Relation of electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy with and without T-wave changes to systemic blood pressure, body mass, and serum lipids and blood glucose levels in Japanese men

Left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, especially combined with an abnormal ST-T, is considered 1 of many coronary risk factors. Seven hundred forty-nine Japanese men were selected according to their electrocardiographic findings, i.e., normal electrocardiogram, LV hypertrophy without an abnormal ST-T segment, LV hypertrophy with a flat T wave, and LV hypertrophy with a negative T wave. Coronary risk factors were compared among these 4 age-matched groups. Groups with LV hypertrophy with negative or flat T waves had larger body mass index (24.9 vs 22.9 kg/m2), higher mean systemic blood pressure (111 vs 95 mm Hg), larger LV mass (265 vs 157 g), higher blood glucose (110 vs 100 mg/dl), higher serum triglyceride (148 vs 122 mg/dl), higher total cholesterol (206 vs 198 mg/dl), and lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (47 vs 54 mg/dl) than the normal group or the group with LV hypertrophy without T-wave change. Among these risk factors, blood pressure and glucose remained higher even after the adjustment by body mass index or by body mass index and blood pressure. Electrocardiographic LV hypertrophy with a changed T wave signified higher risk of coronary artery disease in Japanese men.     

Compositional Dependability Evaluation for STATEMATE

Software and system dependability is getting ever more important in embedded system design. Current industrial practice of model-based analysis is supported by state-transition diagrammatic notations such as Statecharts. State-of-the-art modelling tools like STATEMATE support safety and failure-effect analysis at design time, but restricted to qualitative properties. This paper reports on a (plug-in) extension of STATEMATE enabling the evaluation of quantitative dependability properties at design time. The extension is compositional in the way the model is augmented with probabilistic timing information. This fact is exploited in the construction of the underlying mathematical model, a uniform continuous-time Markov decision process, on which we are able to check requirements of the form: "The probability to hit a safety-critical system configuration within a mission time of 3 hours is at most 0.01." We give a detailed explanation of the construction and evaluation steps making this possible, and report on a nontrivial case study of a high-speed train signalling system where the tool has been applied successfully.     

Value of spiro-ergometry and stress echocardiography on optimized programming of the upper frequency limit of dual chamber cardiac pacemakers]

OBJECTIVES: To assess the performance of selective opportunistic screening in a primary care group practice. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey of coronary heart disease risk factors and retrospective chart audit of cholesterol testing. SETTING: Capitation-funded primary care group practice in Ontario, Canada. SUBJECTS: 7785 enrolled patients between the ages of 20 and 69 years. INTERVENTION: Protocol-based selective opportunistic screening program for hypercholesterolemia of 45 months duration. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Targeting (proportion of screening tests that were appropriate), coverage (proportion of those meeting screening criteria who had a screening test performed), over-screening (proportion of those not meeting screening criteria who had a screening test performed), and screening ratio (likelihood that a screening test was performed on an individual who met screening criteria rather than one who failed to meet screening criteria). RESULTS: 64.7% of patients tested met the practice criteria for screening. 37.7% of patients who met the practice screening criteria were tested and 24.9% of those not meeting practice screening criteria had a cholesterol test performed. The screening ratio was 1.52. CONCLUSION: Our findings bring into question the effectiveness of opportunistic approaches to preventive care.     

Multishot echoplanar MR imaging of the female pelvis: comparison with fast spin-echo MR imaging in an initial clinical trial

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to apply multishot echoplanar MR imaging (EPI) to the female pelvis and compare image quality with that of fast spin-echo MR imaging. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty-one patients with suspected pelvic disease and five healthy female volunteers were prospectively examined. MR imaging was obtained using an EPI-capable 1.0-T imager and a pelvic phased-array coil. Axial EPI and fast Spin-echo sequences were obtained at identical image locations in each patient and volunteer. Spin-echo EPI images were obtained using a multishot number of 16. Acquisition time for each EPI sequence was 2 min 10 sec. Fat-suppressed T2-weighted fast spin-echo images were obtained in 2 min 12 sec. Paired EPI and fast spin-echo MR images were independently evaluated by three reviewers. RESULTS: Delineation of the perivaginal and parametrial venous plexus on EPI was rated superior to the fast spin-echo images in 62 (77%) of 81 cases. On EPI, uterine zone anatomy and ovary visualization were judged to be inferior in 44 (56%) of 78 cases and in 18 (33%) of 54 cases, respectively. For delineation of uterine abnormalities, including leiomyoma and adenomyosis, both sequences performed almost equally well. However, ovarian cystic lesions were revealed more precisely by the fast spin-echo sequence. An overall fat-suppression effect was seen on EPI images in 62 (77%) of 81 cases. CONCLUSION: Multishot EPI cannot replace fast spin-echo sequences for imaging the female pelvis; however, because EPI has a potent fat-suppression effect and heavily T2-weighted contrast, EPI sequences can be a valuable adjunct to routine examination.     

Potential of Monoraphidium sp. GK12 for energy‐saving astaxanthin production

BACKGROUND: Astaxanthin is a chemical used in aquaculture, pharmaceuticals, foods, and cosmetics. Although Haematococcus pluvialis has been studied intensively as an astaxanthin producer, its cultivation requires stringent contamination control and nutrition levels, thus rendering astaxanthin production energy‐consuming. In the present study, the medium composition for cultivation of Monoraphidium sp. GK12, a newly isolated astaxanthin‐producing microalga, was improved and photoautotrophic cultivation was attempted to examine its potential for application to energy‐saving astaxanthin production. RESULTS: A cost‐saving medium composed only of mineral salts was found to be suitable for photoautotrophic GK12 cultivation. A specific growth rate of 0.57 day^?1 was obtained, which is higher than that of H. pluvialis. A high cell density of around 2.0 × 10⁷ cells mL^?1 was accomplished in outdoor batch cultivation, while outgrowth of contaminants was not observed. GK12 was also cultivated in a continuous photobioreactor, and the introduction of 1% CO₂ stimulated GK12 growth and astaxanthin productivity. CONCLUSION: Control of temperature, illumination, and culture pH is unnecessary for GK12 outdoor cultivation and no outgrowth of contaminants was observed, suggesting an advantage over H. pluvialis outdoor cultivation. Besides improving Haematococcus cultivation methods, research on GK12 as an alternative astaxanthin‐producer may contribute to the establishment of energy‐saving astaxanthin production. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Compositional performance modelling with the TIPPtool

Stochastic process algebras have been proposed as compositional specification formalisms for performance models. In this paper, we describe a tool which aims at realising all beneficial aspects of compositional performance modelling, the TIPPtool. It incorporates methods for compositional specification as well as solution, based on state-of-the-art techniques, and wrapped in a user-friendly graphical front end. Apart from highlighting the general benefits of the tool, we also discuss some lessons learned during development and application of the TIPPtool. A non-trivial model of a real life communication system serves as a case study to illustrate benefits and limitations.     

Effects of temperature and composition on the laminar burning velocity of CH4 + H2 + O2 + N2 flames

This work summarises available measurements of laminar burning velocities in CH₄ + H₂ + O₂ + N₂ flames at atmospheric pressure performed using a heat flux method. Hydrogen content in the fuel was varied from 0% to 40%, amount of oxygen in the oxidiser was varied from 20.9% down to 16%, and initial temperature of the mixtures was varied from 298 to 418 K. These mixtures could be formed when enrichment by hydrogen is combined with flue gas recirculation. An empirical correlation for the laminar burning velocity covering a complete range of these measurements is derived and compared with experiments and other correlations from the literature.     

Modelling the effects of a snowdrift-preventing forest and a snow fence by means of activated clay particles

This paper presents experimental results obtained in a wind tunnel concerning the drift geometry of snow formed around models of a snowdrift-preventing forest and a snow fence, using activated clay particles as a substitute for natural snow. They gave a well defined simulation of the drift geometry of snow, whereas other materials such as MgO₂, Al₂O₃, sawdust and mica flakes were unsuccessful in providing good results.Moiré photography was used for measuring the two dimensional distribution of depth of clayparticle deposits formed around structures without causing any disturbances to the topography of the snow surface.     

Inflammatory and cytotoxic responses of an alveolar-capillary coculture model to silica nanoparticles: comparison with conventional monocultures

Background  

To date silica nanoparticles (SNPs) play an important role in modern technology and nanomedicine. SNPs are present in various materials (tyres, electrical and thermal insulation material, photovoltaic facilities). They are also used in products that are directly exposed to humans such as cosmetics or toothpaste. For that reason it is of great concern to evaluate the possible hazards of these engineered particles for human health. Attention should primarily be focussed on SNP effects on biological barriers. Accidentally released SNP could, for example, encounter the alveolar-capillary barrier by inhalation. In this study we examined the inflammatory and cytotoxic responses of monodisperse amorphous silica nanoparticles (aSNPs) of 30 nm in size on an in vitro coculture model mimicking the alveolar-capillary barrier and compared these to conventional monocultures.