Perspectives in noninvasive imaging for chronic coronary syndromes

Both the latest European guidelines on chronic coronary syndromes and the American guidelines on chest pain have underlined the importance of noninvasive imaging to select patients to be referred to invasive angiography. Nevertheless, although coronary stenosis has long been considered the main determinant of inducible ischemia and symptoms, growing evidence has demonstrated the importance of other underlying mechanisms (e.g., vasospasm, microvascular disease, energetic inefficiency). The search for a pathophysiology-driven treatment of these patients has therefore emerged as an important objective of multimodality imaging, integrating "anatomical" and "functional" information. We here provide an up-to-date guide for the choice and the interpretation of the currently available noninvasive anatomical and/or functional tests, focusing on emerging techniques (e.g., coronary flow velocity reserve, stress-cardiac magnetic resonance, hybrid imaging, functional-coronary computed tomography angiography, etc.), which could provide deeper pathophysiological insights to refine diagnostic and therapeutic pathways in the next future

Servizi ICT al MIUR

Le attività istituzionali del CASPUR si rivolgono alle Università consorziate ed al Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR). Il CASPUR è presente presso la sede del MIUR di Piazza Kennedy 20 da oltre quattordici anni, garantendo, con adeguate professionalità e competenze, la continuità dei servizi informatici di base e lo sviluppo dell’infrastruttura ICT. Il supporto del CASPUR presso il MIUR è organizzato in due aree funzionali: l’area Sistemi e quella Sviluppo Software. La prima si occupa delle attività di gestione, manutenzione e presidio della sala macchina e provvede alla connettività ed alla sicurezza dell’infrastruttura di rete locale. Mentre l’area funzionale Sviluppo Software si occupa delle attività di redazione tecnica dei siti web del MIUR, della realizzazione di applicazioni software ed offre consulenza e formazione agli utenti del Ministero sull’uso dei prodotti in dotazione

More than a Sonic Wave: Sound as/and Cultural Communication

Der von Anna Symanczyk, Daniela Wagner und Miriam Wendling in der Schriftenreihe der Isa-Lohmann-Siems-Stiftung herausgegebene multidisziplinäre Sammelband Klang – Kontakte. Kommunikation, Konstruktion und Kultur von Klängen untersucht in 13 inhaltlich, methodisch und historisch sehr unterschiedlich verorteten Beiträgen besonders den vermittelnden Aspekt von Klängen in kulturellen Kommunikationsprozessen. Hierbei steht vornehmlich Transmedialität, d.h. die Transformation und Darstellung von Klängen in Sprache, Text und (Ab-)Bild im Zentrum des Forschungsinteresses. Als mehrheitlich geisteswissenschaftlich geprägt ergänzt dieser Band das im Vergleich zur Musikpsychologie und (Psycho-) Akustik bisher noch verhältnismäßig junge Forschungsfeld der Klang- bzw. Sound Studies und bietet disziplinspezifische Anregungen.Klang – Kontakte. Kommunikation, Konstruktion und Kultur von Klängen (Isa-Lohmann-Siems publication series, Vol. 9) is a multidisciplinary publication edited by Anna Symanczyk, Daniela Wagner, und Miriam Wendling. 13 contributions differing in methodological, historical, and content-related perspectives aim at understanding and exploring mediating aspects of sound in cultural communication processes. Within this context, it is especially transformation into and representation of sounds in language, text, and images that are key subjects of research in this volume. As a humanities-based anthology, this volume supplements the research field of sound studies, which is relatively young compared to the fields of the psychology of music and psycho-acoustics, and offers discipline-specific impulses

Relation of vascular dilator function and cardiac autonomic function with coronary angiography findings in patients with non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome

BACKGROUND: A sizeable number of patients with a diagnosis of non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome show non-obstructive coronary artery disease. In this study we assessed whether differences in vascular and cardiac autonomic function exist between non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome patients with obstructive or non-obstructive coronary artery disease.METHODS AND RESULTS: Systemic endothelium-dependent and independent vascular dilator function (assessed by flow-mediated dilation and nitrate-mediated dilation of the brachial artery, respectively) and cardiac autonomic function (assessed by time-domain and frequency-domain heart rate variability parameters) were assessed on admission in 120 patients with a diagnosis of non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome. Patients were divided into two groups according to coronary angiography findings: (a) 59 (49.2%) with obstructive coronary artery disease ( 6550% stenosis in any epicardial arteries); (b) 61 (50.8%) with non-obstructive coronary artery disease. No significant differences between the two groups were found in both flow-mediated dilation (5.03\ub12.6 vs. 5.40\ub12.5%, respectively; P=0.37) and nitrate-mediated dilatation (6.79\ub12.8 vs. 7.30\ub13.4%, respectively; P=0.37). No significant differences were also observed between the two groups both in time-domain and frequency-domain heart rate variability variables, although the triangular index tended to be lower in obstructive coronary artery disease patients (30.2\ub19.5 vs. 33.9\ub111.6, respectively; P=0.058). Neither vascular nor heart rate variability variables predicted the recurrence of angina, requiring emergency room admission or re-hospitalisation, during 11.3 months of follow-up.CONCLUSIONS: Among patients admitted with a diagnosis of non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome we found no significant differences in systemic vascular dilator function and cardiac autonomic function between those with obstructive coronary artery disease and those with non-obstructive coronary artery disease