Left Ventricular Pacing In Patients With Congestive Heart Failure

Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) using biventricular (BIV) pacing has proved its effectiveness to correct myocardial asynchrony and improve clinical status of patients with severe congestive heart failure (CHF) and widened QRS. Despite a different effect on left ventricular electrical dispersion, left univentricular (LV) pacing is able to achieve the same mechanical synchronisation as BIV pacing in experimental studies and in humans. This results in clinical benefits of LV pacing at mid-term follow-up, with significant improvement in functional class, quality of life and exercise tolerance at the same extent as those observed with BIV stimulation in non randomised studies. Furthermore these benefits are obtained at lesser costs and with conventional dual-chamber devices. However, LV pacing has to be compared to BIV pacing in randomised trials before being definitely considered as a cost-effective alternative to BIV pacing

Tenors and concepts of herbaceous figures in the Throne of Jamshid

Petroglyphs are an important features of the Throne of Jamshid. Its architecture is filled with numerous themes, concepts, and fundamental values from Iranian culture; and in this regard, the importance of herbaceous motifs is unique. Particularly, these motifs can be seen in various parts of the structure like stairways, Halls and … either used separately, or in merger with other animal or human motifs. Amongst the herbaceous figures, cypress, and amongst flowers, lotus and rosette are seen in the figures of Persepolis. Extensive presence of these figures is related to the ancient belief of sanctification of herbs and deep respect of Iranians for nature. Symbols, thematic structures, and metaphors related to herbs are a vast part of ancient Persian myths. This article discusses the connection between the herbaceous figures of the Throne of Jamshid and the ancient Persian myths; it also discusses the hidden concepts and tenors. The results have shown that the herbaceous figures of Persepolis are related to the religious and mythical concepts of the Iranian culture; and the Persian artist illustrates his percipient of the truth, universe, creation, and natural forces with the exploitation of allusions and symbols; therefore, by exploiting these concepts and symbols, the artist could make the unknown, something palpable in the eyes of the viewers

Involuntary and Persistent Environmental Noise Influences Health and Hearing in Beirut, Lebanon

Objective. This study was conducted to assess the effects of involuntary and persistent noise exposure on health and hearing among Lebanese adults in Beirut, Lebanon, where people are exposed to noise from construction sites, power generators, honking cars, and motorcycles. Methods. Using a descriptive and exploratory design with mixed methods, participants were surveyed, interviewed, and tested for hearing while street noise levels were measured near their residents and work places. Results. Self-reports of 83 Lebanese adult, who lived and worked in Beirut, helped identify common patterns in experiences such as irritability, anger, headaches, and sleep disturbances due to noise annoyance. Of those tested, 30% suffered from high-frequency hearing impairment. Our results showed that environmental sound dB had increased by 12% and sound intensity by 400% above the maximum standard level when compared to the WHO report of 1999. Conclusion. Environmental noise contributes to premature hearing loss and potentiates systemic diseases among Lebanese

ELL Families: Myths, Truths and Strategies for Engagement

This article is the first in our new category, Teaching Tips. These are practitioner articles designed to enhance existing in-service teacher\u27s classroom strategies with ELs. Parental involvement may be the strongest predictor of a child receiving a solid education. This means it is vital that teachers and administrators understand the students’ families’ culture and the way they view education. We also must be proactive with them so that we can empower them with literacy strategies to ensure academic success. Also, many English Language Learner (ELL) families are not familiar with the school system in the United States and may be intimidated to speak up. We must first shatter this myth that ELL parents/families do not care. Then, it becomes the responsibility of an educator to empower and engage them to ensure not only a smooth transition into a new language and the school but also to future success. Engaging the families and promoting the contributions of ELL families will only help schools work for the benefit of the entire community

Multi-kink collisions in the ϕ6\phi^6 model

We study simultaneous collisions of two, three, and four kinks and antikinks of the $\phi^6$ model at the same spatial point. Unlike the $\phi^4$ kinks, the $\phi^6$ kinks are asymmetric and this enriches the variety of the collision scenarios. In our numerical simulations we observe both reflection and bound state formation depending on the number of kinks and on their spatial ordering in the initial configuration. We also analyze the extreme values of the energy densities and the field gradient observed during the collisions. Our results suggest that very high energy densities can be produced in multi-kink collisions in a controllable manner. Appearance of high energy density spots in multi-kink collisions can be important in various physical applications of the Klein-Gordon model.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures; v2: minor changes to match version published in JHE

Scattering of the double sine-Gordon kinks

We study the scattering of kink and antikink of the double sine-Gordon model. There is a critical value of the initial velocity $v_{cr}$ of the colliding kinks, which separates different regimes of the collision. At $v_{in}>v_{cr}$ we observe kinks reflection, while at $v_{in}<v_{cr}$ their interaction is complicated with capture and escape windows. We obtain the dependence of $v_{cr}$ on the parameter of the model. This dependence possesses a series of local maxima, which has not been reported by other authors. At some initial velocities below the critical value we observe a new phenomenon -- the escape of two oscillons in the final state. Besides that, at $v_{in}<v_{cr}$ we found the initial kinks' velocities at which the oscillons do not escape, and the final configuration looks like a bound state of two oscillons.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures; v2: minor changes to match version published in EPJ