Myocardial T1 mapping and extracellular volume quantification in patients with left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy

Aims: From pathophysiological mechanisms to risk stratification and management, much debate and discussion persist regarding left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC). This study aimed to characterize myocardial T1 mapping and extracellular volume (ECV) fraction by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), and investigate how these biomarkers relate to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and ventricular arrhythmias (VA) in LVNC. Methods and results: Patients with LVNC (n = 36) and healthy controls (n = 18) were enrolled to perform a CMR with T1 mapping. ECV was quantified in LV segments without late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) areas to investigate diffuse myocardial fibrosis. Patients with LVNC had slightly higher native T1 (1024 ± 43 ms vs. 995 ± 22 ms, P = 0.01) and substantially expanded ECV (28.0 ± 4.5% vs. 23.5 ± 2.2%, P < 0.001) compared to controls. The ECV was independently associated with LVEF (β = -1.3, P = 0.001). Among patients without LGE, VAs were associated with higher ECV (27.7% with VA vs. 25.8% without VA, P = 0.002). Conclusion: In LVNC, tissue characterization by T1 mapping suggests an extracellular expansion by diffuse fibrosis in myocardium without LGE, which was associated with myocardial dysfunction and VA, but not with the amount of non-compacted myocardium

Specific heat and magnetic measurements in Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3, Nd0.5Ca0.5MnO3 and Ho0.5Ca0.5MnO3 samples

We studied the magnetization as a function of temperature and magnetic field in the compounds Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3, Nd0.5Ca0.5MnO3 and Ho0.5Ca0.5MnO3. It allowed us to identify the ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic and charge ordering phases in each case. The intrinsic magnetic moments of Nd3+ and Ho3+ ions experienced a short range order at low temperatures. We also did specific heat measurements with applied magnetic fields between 0 and 9 T and temperatures between 2 and 300 K in all three samples. Close to the charge ordering and ferromagnetic transition temperatures the specific heat curves showed peaks superposed to the characteristic response of the lattice oscillations. Below 10 K the specific heat measurements evidenced a Schottky-like anomaly for all samples. However, we could not successfully fit the curves to either a two level nor a distribution of two-level Schottky anomaly. Our results indicated that the peak temperature of the Schottky anomaly was higher in the compounds with narrower conduction band.Comment: submitted to PR

On limit theorems for continued fractions

It is shown that for sums of functionals of digits in continued fraction expansion the Kolmogorov-Feller weak laws of large numbers and the Khinchine-L\'evy-Feller-Raikov characterization of the domain of attraction of the normal law hold.Comment: 16 page

Nutritional and mineral composition of Opuntia stricta Haw: Balance of macrominerals, renal function and blood metabolites in sheep

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of spineless cactus (Opuntia stricta Haw) in the diet of sheep on the balance of macrominerals, renal function, and blood metabolites. Five sheep cannulated in the rumen (61.5±9.5kg body weight) were used in a 5 × 5 Latin square composed of five diets and five experimental periods. The experimental period lasted 105 days, with five periods of 21 days each. Four diets containing levels of spineless cactus (121, 245, 371, and 500g/kg of dry matter (DM)), and a control diet were evaluated. Samples of the ingredients, orts, feces, urine, and blood were collected. Spineless cactus inclusion in sheep diets increased the DM intake, ash, oxalate, and all macrominerals intake (P 0.05). It is possible to verify that the inclusion of spineless cactus, up to the level of 500g/kg of DM in the sheep diets, does not appear to cause damage to the animal’s health. Its inclusion does not compromise kidney function or blood metabolites evaluated herein

Search for direct stau production in events with two hadronic tau-leptons in root s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of the supersymmetric partners ofτ-leptons (staus) in final stateswith two hadronically decayingτ-leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of139fb−1, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LargeHadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant deviation from the expected StandardModel background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of direct production of stau pairs with eachstau decaying into the stable lightest neutralino and oneτ-lepton in simplified models where the two staumass eigenstates are degenerate. Stau masses from 120 GeV to 390 GeV are excluded at 95% confidencelevel for a massless lightest neutralino

Growth and longevity of Exosphaeroma hylocoetes (Isopoda) under varying conditions of salinity and temperature

Numerous studies have documented the importance of both temperature and salinity in influencing aquatic crustacean metabolic processes such as respiration and growth. For example, increased water temperatures have been shown to increase respiration rates in various species of shrimp (Chen & Nan 1993; Spanonopoulos-Hernándeza et al. 2005; Allan et al. 2006), and copepods (Isla & Perissinotto 2004). The response of invertebrates to changes in salinity is more complex, largely reflecting their evolutionary origins (Kinne 1966). For example, juvenile blue swimming crabs, Portunus pelagicus, displayed significantly faster growth and higher survival in response to increasingsalinity (Romano & Zeng 2006). Additional factors that may influence the growth rates of crustaceans include photoperiod (Gambardella et al. 1997), food availability (Shuster & Guthrie 1999) and sex (Newman et al. 2007)