M004 In aortic stenosis, 2D speckle tracking differentiates left ventricular dysfunction load- to remodelling-dependant

BackgroundIn aortic stenosis, it is not known which between longitudinal, radial and circumferential contraction is influenced by loading conditions or remodelling. To test our hypothesis and to understand left ventricular function recovery, we investigated patients at early, i.e. 7 days (contractility enhancement load-dependant) and at late follow-up, i.e. 3 months (contractility enhancement remodelling-dependant) after transcutaneous aortic valve implantation (TAVI).Methods and ResultsTwenty-three subjects (AS: valve orifice < or =0.7cm2; 14 female; mean age, 84+/-6 years) were studied. All subjects of the study had conventional 2D-Doppler echocardiography and speckle tracking analysis (GE HealthCare). Speckle tracking was sampled in short-axis view for radial and circumferential strain and in apical 4, 3 and 2-chamber view for averaged longitudinal strain. Measurements were performed before, 7 days and 3 months after TAVI. Mean pressure gradient decreased from 41±20mmHg to 10±3mmHg (p<0.001) while aortic valve area increased from 0.6±0.1 to 1.7±0.2cm2 (p<0.001) after implantation. Biplane Simpson EF was 50±10 %, 51±13 and 58±11 % at baseline, 7-day and 3-month follow-up (p=0.01), respectively. Improvement of circumferential strain found 7 days after TAVI is sustained at 3 months. Radial strain increased shortly after TAVI, then decreased at 3 months and was compensated by improvement of longitudinal strain (see figure).ConclusionIn patients with aortic stenosis, radial contraction is load dependant, circumferential contraction is both load- and remodelling-dependant, whereas longitudinal contraction is remodeling-dependant

Zn treatment effects on biological potential of fennel bulbs as affected by in vitro digestion process

Zn treatment effects on the stability of polyphenols, MDA (malondialdehyde) content, antioxidant and lipoxygenase inhibition activities of two varieties of fennel bulbs were studied by using an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion model. Likewise, the effect of Zn on viability cells of E. coli was also performed. The results revealed that high amounts of total phenolic and flavonoid compounds were released during the digestion process, especially after the intestinal phase. Additionally, the antioxidant and lipoxygenase inhibitory activity were affected by the gastrointestinal digestion process and seems to be correlated with total phenol contents. On the other hand, the viability of E. coli was not affected by the activity of our tested bulbs during passage through the artificial digestion model, but the treated bulbs activity contribute relatively to the inhibition growth of bacteria. The survival of E. coli in fennel bulbs was challenged with simulated gastrointestinal fluids and the results showed that the E. coli strains, despite having experienced a viability reduction at the intestinal phase, were able to overcome the exposure to the gastrointestinal synthetic fluids. This E. coli ability reinforces the need for good hygienic measures to assure safe fresh produce, even for those that are rich in antibacterial compounds.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Treatment of synthetic textile wastewater containing dye mixtures with microcosms

The aim was to assess the ability of microcosms (laboratory-scale shallow ponds) as a post polishing stage for the remediation of artificial textile wastewater comprising two commercial dyes (basic red 46 (BR46) and reactive blue 198 (RB198)) as a mixture. The objectives were to evaluate the impact of Lemna minor L. (common duckweed) on the water quality outflows; the elimination of dye mixtures, organic matter, and nutrients; and the impact of synthetic textile wastewater comprising dye mixtures on the L. minor plant growth. Three mixtures were prepared providing a total dye concentration of 10 mg/l. Findings showed that the planted simulated ponds possess a significant (p &lt; 0.05) potential for improving the outflow characteristics and eliminate dyes, ammonium-nitrogen (NH4-N), and nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) in all mixtures compared with the corresponding unplanted ponds. The removal of mixed dyes in planted ponds was mainly due to phyto-transformation and adsorption of BR46 with complete aromatic amine mineralisation. For ponds containing 2 mg/l of RB198 and 8 mg/l of BR46, removals were around 53%, which was significantly higher than those for other mixtures: 5 mg/l of RB198 and 5 mg/l of BR46 and 8 mg/l of RB198 and 2 mg/l of BR46 achieved only 41 and 26% removals, respectively. Dye mixtures stopped the growth of L. minor, and the presence of artificial wastewater reduced their development

Error propagation and accurate calibration for camera model

Error propagation for camera model and the impact of the number of image points on the errors of image coordinates are investigated. The camera calibration process is performed using Mathlab toolbox. The error propagation equations are derived by taldng the appropriate partial derivatives with respect to various measurement errors for image coordinates. Our experiment results show that the error propagation method proposed for image coordinates is accurate enough for most vision systems application and address the problem of engineering intelligent systems

Numerical study of an air plane solar collector with the baffle in zigzag form

The production of thermal energy from solar energy by flat collectors finds nowadays many applications due to their innumerable economic and environmental interests. Currently, conservation of energy resources has become a global priority. On the other hand, given the dizzying demand for energy, has led specialists to find new techniques, such as renewable energies (solar, wind and geothermal). The present work is a contribution, by numerical simulation, to the study of heat transfer in flat solar collectors. On the basis of some experimental data, several simulation calculations have been carried out in order to determine the influencing parameters allowing better performance of the sensors and ensuring a good homogeneity of the temperature distributions. Based on the observation that, due to the low thermophysical properties of the air used as heat transfer fluid, solar air collectors rather give poor yields. It has been found very useful to have ‘baffling’ obstacles of various shapes and forms in the solar collector duct. This increases the thermal transfer of a coolant, which clearly improves the thermal efficiency of the solar air collector. This article consists mainly of studying the effects on heat transfer of turbulent forced convection by baffles of zigzag shapes, placed in a rectangular channel, using the finite volume method. The pressure-velocity coupling has been processed by the SIMPLEC algorithm. The results are presented in terms of the average Nusselt number and temperature field for different positions