Prolongation of the QT Interval and Post-Extrasystolic Augmentation of the TU-Wave During Emotional Stress

We present a case of a 25-year-old woman with multiple blackouts and no structural heart disease, with abnormal T-U waves and borderline QT interval on her resting electrocardiogram. During emotional stress she developed frequent monomorphic ventricular premature beats, with characteristic changes of the sinus complexes immediately following the premature beats, namely augmentation and greater degree of merging of the T and U waves and QTc interval prolongation. The changes alert about the possibility of congenital long QT syndrome, specifically genotype 2 or 1

An Application of ISO 5725 in Brewing Industry

2002 Mathematics Subject Classification: 62P30, 62P10.The colloidal stability is very important part of the total beer quality. The stabilized beers have to have a long shelf-life. Determination of some haze forming complexes could be very useful for prediction of beer colloidal stability. We study the repeatability and reproducibility of a method for determination of some haze forming complexes in beer. The method was tested in 10 laboratories. All of theme analyzed the same beer samples and carried out two measurements for each. Statistical evaluation of results was according ISO 5725 and previous experience. The applied ISO 5725 statistical analyzes ensured high quality and possibility of international recognition of the measurement method.Partially supported by Mathind IST-2000-26015 and by Pro-enbis GTC1-2001-43031

La Bulgarie aujourd'hui : un cas dans les Balkans ?

Dans un espace balkanique à nouveau confronté à des conflits d'une grande violence, la Bulgarie opère de manière pacifique sa transition d'un modèle administratif et centralisé à une société ouverte et libérale, tout en préservant avec ses voisins des relations de bon voisinage. Cette mutation s'opère toutefois dans les conditions d'une crise profonde : déformations héritées de l'ancien mode de développement, problème démographique, situation écologique préoccupante. Depuis 1991, la Bulgarie s'est attachée à suivre les prescriptions des institutions financières internationales, et son association à la CEE, ardemment souhaitée par la plupart des formations politiques, est désormais acquise. Mais la chute de la production – aggravée par la rupture des débouchés traditionnels – et la politique de privatisation ont entraîné une forte poussée du chômage et creusé les inégalités sociales : la question centrale est donc de savoir par qui et au profit de quelles couches le changement social s'opère. Après deux années de « thérapie de choc », la géographie électorale bulgare reste caractérisée par la polarisation autour de deux grandes forces politiques (Union des Forces Démocratiques et Parti Socialiste Bulgare). Bulgaria today : A Balkan state unlike the others ? Since 1989, the Balkan states have once again been dominated by violence, riots and wars. Among them, Bulgaria seems to be the exception. The transition to capitalism is proceeding in a conflictual but peaceful way. Beyond its frontiers, normal relations are being developed with neighbouring countries. The great hope of becoming a member of the European Economic Community has been partly fulfilled by the association agreement of december 22th (1992). But the crisis is profound, the main issues being the socialist inheritance, the demographic problems, the ecological situation. The new leaders have paid great attention to following the IMF and World Bank prescriptions. But commercial links with former CMEA nations have been disrupted, production has fallen and privatization has increased social inequalities. The question is by whom and for whom will social change be conducted. After two years of « shock therapy », the electoral landscape remains dominated by two main political forces, the Union of Democratic Forces and the Bulgarian Socialist Party

Novel electrocardiographic criteria for the diagnosis of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

Aims: In order to improve the electrocardiographic (ECG) diagnosis of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), we evaluated novel quantitative parameters of the QRS complex and the value of bipolar chest leads (CF leads) computed from the standard 12 leads. Methods and results: We analysed digital 12-lead ECGs in 44 patients with ARVC, 276 healthy subjects including 44 age and sex-matched with the patients and 36 genotyped members of ARVC families. The length and area of the terminal S wave in V1 to V3 were measured automatically using a common for all 12 leads QRS end. T wave negativity was assessed in V1 to V6 and in the bipolar CF leads computed from the standard 12 leads. The length and area of the terminal S wave were significantly shorter, whereas the S wave duration was significantly longer in ARVC patients compared with matched controls. Among members of ARVC families, those with mutations (n = 15) had shorter QRS length in V2 and V3 and smaller QRS area in lead V2 compared with those without mutations (n = 20). In ARVC patients, the CF leads were diagnostically superior to the standard unipolar precordial leads. Terminal S wave duration in V1 >48 ms or major T wave negativity in CF leads separated ARVC patients from matched controls with 90% sensitivity and 86% specificity. Conclusion: The terminal S wave length and area in the right precordial leads are diagnostically useful and suitable for automatic analysis in ARVC. The CF leads are diagnostically superior to the unipolar precordial leads

Utility of Different Electrocardiographical Leads during Diagnostic Ajmaline Test for Suspected Brugada Syndrome

In order to compare the value of different leads and lead combinations to detect the signature Brugada type ECG pattern, we analysed digital 10-second, 15-lead ECGs (12 standard leads + leads V1 to V3 from 3rd intercostal (i.c.) space, V1h to V3h) acquired during diagnostic Ajmaline testing in 128 patients (80 men, age 37±15 years) with suspected Brugada syndrome (BS) (patient group), 15-lead resting ECGs of 108 healthy subjects (53 men, age 31.9±10.5 years) (control group A) and standard 12-lead resting ECGs of 229 healthy subjects (111 men, age 33±4 years) (control group B). Bipolar leads between V2 (positive pole) and V4 or V5 (leads V2-4V2-5) were derived by subtracting leads V4 and V5 from V2 (custom-made program). The 6 peripheral, 6 right precordial leads (V1 to V3, V1h to V3h) and leads V2-4 and V2-5 of the patients group, leads V1h to V3h of control group A, and leads V2-4 and V2-5 of control group B were analysed for the presence of type 1 Brugada pattern. There were 21 (16.4%) positive and 107 (83.6%) negative Ajmaline tests. In 7 positive tests (33%), type 1 pattern appeared only in leads V1h to V3h, whereas in 14 tests 67%) it appeared in both V1 to V3 and V1h to V3h. Lead V2 displayed type 1 pattern during 10 positive tests; in all of them, plus 10 other positive tests type 1 was also noted in lead V2h (n=20, 95.2%). In all 10 cases, in which lead V2 exhibited type 1 pattern (n=10), lead V2-4 and/or V2-5 also exhibited type 1-like pattern. During 7 positive tests, in which lead V2h but not V2 exhibited type 1 pattern, lead V2-4 and/or V2-5 also demonstrated type 1 pattern. Type 1 pattern was observed in leads V3 and V3h during 1 (5%) and 5 (24%) positive tests, in 0 ECGs (0%) in control group A and in 1 ECG (0.4%) in control group B. In conclusion, the "high" V1 and V2 leads (3rd i.c. space) detect more sensitively Brugada type 1 pattern than the standard V1 and V2 leads (4th i.c. space); leads V3 and V3h are not essential for the diagnosis of BS; bipolar leads V2-4 and V2-5 are superior to lead V2 for the ECG diagnosis of BS

The Kitten Shipwreck: Archaeology and Reconstruction of a Black Sea Merchantman

In the early 1980s Bulgarian archaeologists of the newly established Centre for Underwater Archaeology at Sozopol discovered the remains of a post-medieval ship in the southern Bay of Kitten, in the lee of Cape Urdoviza. Between 2000 and 2003, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University and a team from the Bulgarian Centre for Underwater Archaeology returned to the site to complete the first excavation of a post-medieval shipwreck in the Black Sea. The well-preserved vessel, lost in the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Selim III (1789-1807), featured constructional characteristics seen in Iberian shipbuilding tradition, such as scarfed floors and futtocks and filling pieces between the frames. Analysis of the Kitten ship permitted the author to reconstruct the whole-molding process used by the shipwright to build the vessel. The futtock-floor hook-scarphs appear to be the identifying part of the molding process. Morphologically identical scarfs have also been observed on Mediterranean wrecks such as Culip VI (14th century), Yassiada (16th century) and Sardineax (17th century), which suggests that the Kitten ship is a very late example of a Mediterranean-wide shipbuilding tradition that developed in the Middle Ages and from which the Atlantic vessel descended. It also points that the Black Sea maritime culture was an integral part of Mediterranean seafaring tradition. The dissertation offers an overview of the artifact assemblage raised from the Kitten shipwreck. Fragments of an iconostas prove that at the time of sinking the vessel was operated by Christians. The smoking paraphernalia found on the wreck provides opportunity to correct the dating of some pipe bowl types proposed by previous scholars. Personal belongings open a window into the life of the crew of a Black Sea merchantman. Although the ethnicity of the crew cannot be determined at this time, a group of copper galley ware suggests that they may have been Bulgarian. An unsolved mystery is presented by the presence of a navigational instrument, probably an octant, on board

The transition to aeration in two-phase mixing in stirred vessels

We consider the mixing of a viscous fluid by the rotation of a pitched blade turbine inside an open, cylindrical tank, with air as the lighter fluid above. To examine the flow and interfacial dynamics, we utilise a highly-parallelised implementation of a hybrid front-tracking/level-set method that employs a domain-decomposition parallelisation strategy. Our numerical technique is designed to capture faithfully complex interfacial deformation, and changes of topology, including interface rupture and dispersed phase coalescence. As shown via transient, three-dimensional direct numerical simulations, the impeller induces the formation of primary vortices that arise in many idealised rotating flows as well as several secondary vortical structures resembling Kelvin-Helmholtz, vortex breakdown, blade tip vortices, and end-wall corner vortices. As the rotation rate increases, a transition to `aeration' is observed when the interface reaches the rotating blades leading to the entrainment of air bubbles into the viscous fluid and the creation of a bubbly, rotating, free surface flow. The mechanisms underlying the aeration transition are probed as are the routes leading to it, which are shown to exhibit a strong dependence on flow history.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Data-driven surrogate modeling and benchmarking for process equipment

In chemical process engineering, surrogate models of complex systems are often necessary for tasks of domain exploration, sensitivity analysis of the design parameters, and optimization. A suite of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations geared toward chemical process equipment modeling has been developed and validated with experimental results from the literature. Various regression-based active learning strategies are explored with these CFD simulators in-the-loop under the constraints of a limited function evaluation budget. Specifically, five different sampling strategies and five regression techniques are compared, considering a set of four test cases of industrial significance and varying complexity. Gaussian process regression was observed to have a consistently good performance for these applications. The present quantitative study outlines the pros and cons of the different available techniques and highlights the best practices for their adoption. The test cases and tools are available with an open-source license to ensure reproducibility and engage the wider research community in contributing to both the CFD models and developing and benchmarking new improved algorithms tailored to this field