The Burundi Heart Centre: From concept to design.

Burundi is one of the worlds poorest nations, which is also reflected in its relative lack of cardiac facilities, particularly those catering to young children and adults. The authors discuss current efforts to build The Burundi Heart Centre to help address this challenge. In particular, they highlight how the project can act as a case study for a sustainable architecture that involves local people and uses locally available materials in a contemporary and innovative way

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) has recently emerged as a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Contrary to initial beliefs, HFpEF is now known to be as common as heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and carries an unacceptably high mortality rate. With a prevalence that has been steadily rising over the past two decades, it is very likely that HFpEF will represent the dominant heart failure phenotype over the coming few years. The scarcity of trials in this semi-discrete form of heart failure and lack of unified enrolment criteria in the studies conducted to date might have contributed to the current absence of specific therapies. Understanding the epidemiological, pathophysiological and molecular differences (and similarities) between these two forms of heart failure is cornerstone to the development of targeted therapies. Carefully designed studies that adhere to unified diagnostic criteria with the recruitment of appropriate controls and adoption of practical end-points are urgently needed to help identify effective treatment strategies

A global perspective of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a progressive inherited heart disease characterized by ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death especially in the young. ARVC has been traditionally associated with the Mediterranean basin, as many seminal studies on the disease have originated from research groups of this region. Today, however, numerous ARVC registries from all over the world emphasize that the disease does not have a specific racial or geographical predilection. This work provides a review on the global perspective of ARVC

Radiation in medicine: Origins, risks and aspirations.

The use of radiation in medicine is now pervasive and routine. From their crude beginnings 100 years ago, diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine and radiation therapy have all evolved into advanced techniques, and are regarded as essential tools across all branches and specialties of medicine. The inherent properties of ionizing radiation provide many benefits, but can also cause potential harm. Its use within medical practice thus involves an informed judgment regarding the risk/benefit ratio. This judgment requires not only medical knowledge, but also an understanding of radiation itself. This work provides a global perspective on radiation risks, exposure and mitigation strategies

Degree of Harmony of Preparation of Human Resources In Private Universities With Requirements of Labour Market

This study aimed at estimating the degree of harmony of preparation of human resources in the private universities with  the requirements of the labour market from the point of view of the academic leaders, students, and leaders of labour market. And to achieve these objectives the researcher developed a questionnaire consisted of two parts, the first part concerns about the academic leaders and students, and consists of (71) paragraphs, distributed into eight fields, and the second part concerns about leaders of the labour market, and consists of (40) paragraphs. After making sure of their validity and reliability they were applied on the academic leaders and students of the year of graduation and leaders of labour market. And the results of study deduced that the estimation of the degree of harmony of preparation of human resources in the private universities with the requirements of labour market, from the point of view of the academic leaders came at a great degree. But for the students and leaders of labour market had come at a medium estimation. Key words: harmony, preparation of human resources, higher education institutions labour market, academicians, and students

RF communication with implantable wireless device: effects of beating heart on performance of miniature antenna

The frequency response of an implantable antenna is key to the performance of a wireless implantable sensor. If the antenna detunes significantly, there are substantial power losses resulting in loss of accuracy. One reason for detuning is because of a change in the surrounding environment of an antenna. The pulsating anatomy of the human heart constitutes such a changing environment, so detuning is expected but this has not been quantified dynamically before. Four miniature implantable antennas are presented (two different geometries) along with which are placed within the heart of living swine the dynamic reflection coefficients. These antennas are designed to operate in the short range devices frequency band (863-870 MHz) and are compatible with a deeply implanted cardiovascular pressure sensor. The measurements recorded over 27 seconds capture the effects of the beating heart on the frequency tuning of the implantable antennas. When looked at in the time domain, these effects are clearly physiological and a combination of numerical study and posthumous autopsy proves this to be the case, while retrospective simulation confirms this hypothesis. The impact of pulsating anatomy on antenna design and the need for wideband implantable antennas is highlighted

Changes in left atrial deformation in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: Evaluation by vector velocity imaging.

OBJECTIVES: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) represents a generalized myopathic process affecting both ventricular and atrial myocardium. We assessed the global and regional left atrial (LA) function and its relation to left ventricular (LV) mechanics and clinical status in patients with HCM using Vector Velocity Imaging (VVI). METHODS: VVI of the LA and LV was acquired from apical four- and two-chamber views of 108 HCM patients (age 40 ± 19years, 56.5% men) and 33 healthy subjects, all had normal LV systolic function. The LA subendocardium was traced to obtain atrial volumes, ejection fraction, velocities, and strain (ϵ)/strain rate (SR) measurements. RESULTS: Left atrial reservoir (ϵsys,SRsys) and conduit (early diastolic SRe) function were significantly reduced in HCM compared to controls (P  - 1.8s(- 1) was 81% sensitive and 30% specific, SRa> - 1.5s(- 1) was 73% sensitive and 40% specific. By multivariate analysis global LVϵsys and LV septal thickness are independent predictors for LAϵsys, while end systolic diameter is the only independent predictor for SRsys, P < .001. CONCLUSION: Left atrial reservoir and conduit function as measured by VVI were significantly impaired while contractile function was preserved among HCM patients. Left atrial deformation was greatly influenced by LV mechanics and correlated to severity of phenotype

Robust Detection of Ocular Dominance Columns in Humans using High Field HSE BOLD fMRI

The ability to reliably and reproducibility map high resolution functional architecture using fMRI techniques has been a point of debate in animal as well as human studies. Several animal and human studies have successfully mapped high resolution functional organizations, however, the robustness of the phenomenon (i.e. reproducibility and demonstration in multiple subjects), which would certainly improve the credibility of the data, has been a subject of debate. Here we demonstrate the spatial specificity of Hahn spin echo BOLD by robust mapping of ocular dominance columns in humans at the high magnetic field of 7 T