Aortic Root Replacement With Biological Valved Conduits

none9The execution of Bentall procedures using biological valved conduits is expanding owing to the increased incidence of aortic valve and root diseases in the aging population. To review the available data, a systematic search identified 29 studies with a total of 3,298 patients. Although evidence on short-term results suggested favorable outcomes after biological Bentall operations, data beyond 5 years are limited and highlight the urgent need for further investigations with longer follow-up.openCastrovinci, Sebastiano; Tian, David H; Murana, Giacomo; Cefarelli, Mariano; Berretta, Paolo; Alfonsi, Jacopo; Yan, Tristan D; Di Bartolomeo, Roberto; Di Eusanio, MarcoCastrovinci, Sebastiano; Tian, David H; Murana, Giacomo; Cefarelli, Mariano; Berretta, Paolo; Alfonsi, Jacopo; Yan, Tristan D; Di Bartolomeo, Roberto; Di Eusanio, Marc

PDA self-register system for eating disorders: a study on acceptability and satisfaction

Self-monitoring techniques, such as the use of dietary registers, are considered to be central to cognitive-behavioral treatment of Eating Disorders (ED). This information allows the clinician to identify the triggers of the behaviors associated to ED as purges and/or binges, and the associated thoughts and emotions, helping to carry out a more accurate assessment. Traditionally these registers are made with paper and pencil mode, where the patient has to register every eating and the emotions/thoughts associated; but this system has some problems, as low portability, low adherence or methodological difficulties. The use of PDA for self-registers can help to solve these problems. The aim of this study is to study the levels of acceptability and satisfaction with PDAs self-register system specifically designed for assessment and treatment of ED. Samples of 30 subjects diagnosed with ED are receiving a PDA with software specifically designed for recording type and amount of food, emotions before and after eating and other behaviors. The participants are completing self-register daily during a week, and afterwards answer an acceptance and satisfaction questionnaire. This work is in progress at the moment. It is expected that the PDA system will show high levels of acceptance and satisfaction

The Diboson Excess: Experimental Situation and Classification of Explanations; A Les Houches Pre-Proceeding

We examine the `diboson' excess at $\sim 2$ TeV seen by the LHC experiments in various channels. We provide a comparison of the excess significances as a function of the mass of the tentative resonance and give the signal cross sections needed to explain the excesses. We also present a survey of available theoretical explanations of the resonance, classified in three main approaches. Beyond that, we discuss methods to verify the anomaly, determining the major properties of the various surpluses and exploring how different models can be discriminated. Finally, we give a tabular summary of the numerous explanations, presenting their main phenomenological features.Comment: 37 pages, 9 Figures, 1 Tabl

Estimated absolute effects on efficacy and safety outcomes of using non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants in 'real-world' atrial fibrillation patients:A comparison with optimally acenocoumarol anticoagulated patients

Background Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have been proposed as an alternative to vitamin K antagonists (VKA) for atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Some studies have proposed that well-managed warfarin therapy is still a valid alternative as efficacious as NOACs but the potential impact and absolute effect of NOACs in “real world” optimally management of VKA AF patients is unknown. Purpose To estimate the potential absolute benefit in clinical outcome rates if the optimally anticoagulated “real-world” AF patients with acenocoumarol had been treated with NOACs. Methods We included 1361 patients stable on acenocoumarol with a time in therapeutic range of 100% for the previous 6 months and 6.5 years of follow-up. The estimation of clinical events avoided was calculated applying absolute risk reductions, relative risk reductions and hazard ratios from the pivotal clinical trials, relative to acenocoumarol. Results Compared to acenocoumarol, the highest estimated event reduction for stroke was seen with dabigatran 150 mg, with an estimated reduction of 0.53%/year. For major bleeding, the highest estimated reduction was seen with apixaban (0.88%/year). For mortality, the largest estimated reduction was with dabigatran 150 mg (0.75%/year). In net clinical outcome, apixaban had the estimated highest reduction (1.23%/year). All NOACs showed significantly lower rates for intracranial haemorrhage. Conclusion In optimally acenocoumarol anticoagulated AF patients, estimated reductions in stroke, bleeding and net clinical outcomes with various NOACs are evident. NOACs would potentially show an improvement even among optimally VKA AF patients

Instability of hyper-compact Kerr-like objects

Viable alternatives to astrophysical black holes include hyper-compact objects without horizon, such as gravastars, boson stars, wormholes and superspinars. The authors have recently shown that typical rapidly-spinning gravastars and boson stars develop a strong instability. That analysis is extended in this paper to a wide class of horizonless objects with approximate Kerr-like geometry. A detailed investigation of wormholes and superspinars is presented, using plausible models and mirror boundary conditions at the surface. Like gravastars and boson stars, these objects are unstable with very short instability timescales. This result strengthens previous conclusions that observed hyper-compact astrophysical objects with large rotation are likely to be black holes.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures. To be published in CQ

Genetic characterization of some neoponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) populations within the foetida species complex

The foetida species complex comprises 13 Neotropical species in the ant genus Neoponera Emery (1901). Neoponera villosa Fabricius (1804) , Neoponera inversa Smith (1858), Neoponera bactronica Fernandes, Oliveira & Delabie (2013), and Neoponera curvinodis (Forel, 1899) have had an ambiguous taxonomic status for more than two decades. In southern Bahia, Brazil, these four species are frequently found in sympatry. Here we used Bayesian Inference and maximum likelihood analyses of COI and 16S mtDNA sequence data and conventional cytogenetic data together with observations on morphology to characterize sympatric populations of N. villosa, N. inversa, N. bactronica, and N. curvinodis. Our results showed marked differences in the karyotype of these ants. Both N. curvinodis and N. inversa have chromosome number of 2n = 30. Their chromosome composition, however, is distinct, which indicates that N. curvinodis is more closely related to N. bactronica. These four species clustered into three distinct groups. The close relationship between N. bactronica and N. curvinodis deserves further investigation since it has not been fully resolved here. Our results confirm that N. inversa, N. villosa, N. bactronica + N. curvinodis indeed represent four distinct taxa within the foetida species complex

Coronary flow velocity reserve after percutaneous interventions is predictive of periprocedural outcome

BACKGROUND: Because heterogeneous results have been reported, we assessed coronary flow velocity changes in individuals who underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and examined their impact on clinical outcome. METHODS AND RESULTS: As part of the Doppler Endpoints Balloon Angioplasty Trial Europe (DEBATE) II study, 379 patients underwent Doppler flow-guided angioplasty. All patients were evaluated according to their coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) results (> or =2.5 or < 2.5) at the end of the procedure. A CFVR < 2.5 after angioplasty was associated with an elevated baseline blood flow velocity in both the target artery and reference artery. CFVR before PTCA and CFVR in the reference artery were independent predictors of an optimal CFVR after balloon angioplasty (CFVR before PTCA: odds ratio [OR], 2.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.57 to 3.24; CFVR in reference artery: OR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.21 to 2.98; both P<0.001) and stent implantation (before PTCA: OR, 2.54; 95% CI, 1.47 to 4.36; reference artery: OR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.07 to 3.87; both P<0.05). A low CFVR at the end of the procedure was an independent p

Dense matter with eXTP

In this White Paper we present the potential of the Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) mission for determining the nature of dense matter; neutron star cores host an extreme density regime which cannot be replicated in a terrestrial laboratory. The tightest statistical constraints on the dense matter equation of state will come from pulse profile modelling of accretion-powered pulsars, burst oscillation sources, and rotation-powered pulsars. Additional constraints will derive from spin measurements, burst spectra, and properties of the accretion flows in the vicinity of the neutron star. Under development by an international Consortium led by the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science, the eXTP mission is expected to be launched in the mid 2020s.Comment: Accepted for publication on Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. (2019

Occurrence of B chromosomes in Tetragonisca Latreille, 1811 (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini): A new contribution to the cytotaxonomy of the genus

Tetragonisca angustula and Tetragonisca fiebrigi have recently been listed as valid species. This study aimed to cytogenetically investigate both species, emphasizing the new registry of B chromosomes in the tribe Meliponini. We analyzed colonies of T. angustula and T. fiebrigi collected at Tangará da Serra, Mato Grosso, Brazil, through conventional Giemsa staining, C-banding, and base-specific fluorochrome staining (CMA3/DAPI). T. angustula showed 2n = 34 chromosomes in females and n = 17 in males, with karyotype formula 2K = 34AM. T. fiebrigi showed numeric variation, with chromosome number varying from 2n = 34 to 2n = 36 in females and from n = 17 to n = 18 in males, with karyotype formula 2K = 32AM+2AMc and 2K = 32AM+2AMc + 1 or 2 B-chromosomes. The B chromosomes are heterochromatic. In T. fiebrigi, the CMA3/DAPI staining revealed four chromosomes with a CMA3 positive band. All individuals from the same colony showed the same number of B chromosomes. T. angustula and T. fiebrigi showed karyotype divergence, principally due to the presence of B chromosomes, which are found only in T. fiebrigi. Our data corroborate the status of valid species for both T. angustula and T. fiebrigi, as recently proposed

Genetically determined Amerindian ancestry correlates with increased frequency of risk alleles for systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective To assess whether genetically determined Amerindian ancestry predicts increased presence of risk alleles of known susceptibility genes for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within 16 confirmed genetic susceptibility loci for SLE were genotyped in a set of 804 Mestizo lupus patients and 667 Mestizo healthy controls. In addition, 347 admixture informative markers were genotyped. Individual ancestry proportions were determined using STRUCTURE. Association analysis was performed using PLINK, and correlation between ancestry and the presence of risk alleles was analyzed using linear regression. Results A meta-analysis of the genetic association of the 16 SNPs across populations showed that TNFSF4 , STAT4 , ITGAM , and IRF5 were associated with lupus in a Hispanic Mestizo cohort enriched for European and Amerindian ancestry. In addition, 2 SNPs within the major histocompatibility complex region, previously shown to be associated in a genome-wide association study in Europeans, were also associated in Mestizos. Using linear regression, we predicted an average increase of 2.34 risk alleles when comparing an SLE patient with 100% Amerindian ancestry versus an SLE patient with 0% Amerindian ancestry ( P < 0.0001). SLE patients with 43% more Amerindian ancestry were predicted to carry 1 additional risk allele. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that Amerindian ancestry is associated with an increased number of risk alleles for SLE.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78480/1/27753_ftp.pd