Processing Methods and Storage Conditions on Chocolate and Coffee Powder Flow Properties

Powders are widely used in a countless number of industries, and are crucial to the quality control of products in areas such as pharmaceuticals and food. Particle physicochemical properties (morphology, solid state – crystalline, amorphous or both) are important factors for powder flow, which in turn can have significant impact on the stability, performance, and presentation of powders. Different processing methods as well as storage conditions such as relative humidity (RH) can drastically affect powder flow. Due to the widespread use of chocolate and coffee powder around the world, and their importance to the food industry, this work investigates two and five different batches of chocolate and coffee powders respectively. To observe the effect of RH on flow, powders were exposed to RHs of 60% and 70% for 24 hours. Powder flow behavior of the powders was determined before and after exposure to the various RH’s using the REVOLUTION Powder Analyzer (RPA). The RPA uses a dynamic powder avalanching technique to determine the flow of a powder. The key results include that different processing methods can greatly influence the morphology of powders, which can drastically affect the flow. The results showed that overall the coffee powders when exposed to higher RH the flow rate was reduced. This is may be due to the acquired morphology and solid-state properties after the different powder processing conditions that leads to different behavior. This study demonstrates the impact of storage conditions and processing methods of chocolate and coffee have on the powder flow behavior. This study will help and complement the understanding of the origin of agglomeration when assessing surface interactions

EP Testing in Asymptomatic Brugada Patients with Recurrent Palpitations. Just do it

Brugada syndrome is a rare heritable arrhythmogenic disease characterized by a coved ST segment elevation in the right precordial leads and by an increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest as a result of polymorphic ventricular tachyarrhythmias or ventricular fibrillation (1). Although implantable cardioverter defibrillators are considered to be the main therapy in patients with a history of ventricular arrhythmias or syncope, risk stratification in cases without these symptoms remains controversial. Patients with confirmed Brugada pattern and a history of palpitations without major events should be scheduled for risk stratification. Even though its value has been questioned, inducibility of VTs/VF at programmed electric stimulation is widely used to select candidates to receive a prophylactic implantable cardiac defibrillator in these categories. Herein, we report a patient with type I Electrocardiogram (ECG) pattern induced at the Ajmaline test and a family history of sudden cardiac death who had episodes of palpitations. We describe and discuss our management proving the importance of complete electrophysiological testing in the setting of Brugada asymptomatic patients' risk stratification

Non-invasive Focal Mechanical Vibrations Delivered by Wearable Devices: An Open-Label Pilot Study in Childhood Ataxia

Non-invasive focal mechanical vibrations (NIFMV) now represent a strategy of increasing interest to improve motor control in different neurological diseases. Nanotechnology allowed the creation of wearable devices transforming thermal variations into mechanical energy with focal vibrations. This kind of wearable stimulators (WS) has produced encouraging preliminary results when used in the treatment of movement disorders and ataxia in adults. In this open label pilot study we first evaluated the feasibility, safety and effectiveness of NIFMV by WS in a cohort of 10 patients with childhood ataxia, a phenomenological category including different conditions still lacking of effective symptomatic therapies. Through the assessment of both clinical rating scales and spatio-temporal gait parameters via standardized gait analysis, we observed that a 4 weeks long treatment with WS Equistasi® was safe and provided significantly different effects in stride features of patients with slow/non-progressive cerebellar ataxia and Friedreich's Ataxia. Although limited by the sample size, the absence of a placebo-controlled group, the poor compliance of enrolled population to the original experimental design and the partial accuracy of outcome measures in pediatric subjects, we suggest that NIFMV by WS could support locomotion of patients with childhood slow/non-progressive cerebellar ataxia with preserved sensory system and no signs of peripheral neuropathy. Future studies are definitely necessary to confirm these preliminary results and define criteria for successful NIFMV-based treatmen

A 3D in vitro cell culture model based on perfused bone-like scaffolds for healthy and pathological bone research

Comprehensive research, particularly in evaluating drug efficacy, still heavily relies on the results obtained by the utilization of cell monolayers and animals. However, the inherent limitations of these models such as their physiological disparities from humans pose significant obstacles to acquiring reliable results thus impeding further scientific progression. To address this challenge, 3D in vitro cell culture models emerged as physiologically relevant models having the potential to enhance research and drug discovery. Our study aimed to develop a 3D in vitro cell culture model based on bone-like scaffolds in conjunction with a perfusion bioreactor (“3D Perfuse”, Innovation Center FTM, Belgrade, Serbia) for studying both physiological and pathological (i.e. tumors) bone conditions

New generation implantable cardiac rhythm devices allow safe radiotherapy treatments: A large single centre study

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2019 HRS/EHRA/APHRS/LAHRS expert consensus statement on catheter ablation of ventricular arrhythmias: Executive summary

Ventricular arrhythmias are an important cause of morbidity and mortality and come in a variety of forms, from single premature ventricular complexes to sustained ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation. Rapid developments have taken place over the past decade in our understanding of these arrhythmias and in our ability to diagnose and treat them. The field of catheter ablation has progressed with the development of new methods and tools, and with the publication of large clinical trials. Therefore, global cardiac electrophysiology professional societies undertook to outline recommendations and best practices for these procedures in a document that will update and replace the 2009 EHRA/HRS Expert Consensus on Catheter Ablation of Ventricular Arrhythmias. An expert writing group, after reviewing and discussing the literature, including a systematic review and meta-analysis published in conjunction with this document, and drawing on their own experience, drafted and voted on recommendations and summarized current knowledge and practice in the field. Each recommendation is presented in knowledge byte format and is accompanied by supportive text and references. Further sections provide a practical synopsis of the various techniques and of the specific ventricular arrhythmia sites and substrates encountered in the electrophysiology lab. The purpose of this document is to help electrophysiologists around the world to appropriately select patients for catheter ablation, to perform procedures in a safe and efficacious manner, and to provide follow-up and adjunctive care in order to obtain the best possible outcomes for patients with ventricular arrhythmias

Electrocardiographic findings in patients with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy and right bundle branch block ventricular tachycardia

AIMS: Little is known about patients with right bundle branch block (RBBB)-ventricular tachycardia (VT) and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM). Our aims were: (i) to describe electrocardiogram (ECG) characteristics of sinus rhythm (SR) and VT; (ii) to correlate SR with RBBB-VT ECGs; and (iii) to compare VT ECGs with electro-anatomic mapping (EAM) data. METHODS AND RESULTS: From the European Survey on ACM, 70 patients with spontaneous RBBB-VT were included. Putative left ventricular (LV) sites of origin (SOOs) were estimated with a VT-axis-derived methodology and confirmed by EAM data when available.  Overall, 49 (70%) patients met definite Task Force Criteria. Low QRS voltage predominated in lateral leads (n = 37, 55%), but QRS fragmentation was more frequent in inferior leads (n = 15, 23%). T-wave inversion (TWI) was equally frequent in inferior (n = 28, 42%) and lateral (n = 27, 40%) leads. TWI in inferior leads was associated with reduced LV ejection fraction (LVEF; 46 ± 10 vs. 53 ± 8, P = 0.02). Regarding SOOs, the inferior wall harboured 31 (46%) SOOs, followed by the lateral wall (n = 17, 25%), the anterior wall (n = 15, 22%), and the septum (n = 4, 6%). EAM data were available for 16 patients and showed good concordance with the putative SOOs. In all patients with superior-axis RBBB-VT who underwent endo-epicardial VT activation mapping, VT originated from the LV. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with ACM and RBBB-VT, RBBB-VTs originated mainly from the inferior and lateral LV walls. SR depolarization and repolarization abnormalities were frequent and associated with underlying variants

Indici per la valutazione della qualit? ecologica dei laghi

Collection of methods to evaluate lake quality using biological element