Type F congenital quadricuspid aortic valve: A very rare case diagnosed by 3-dimenional transoesophageal echocardiography

Congenital quadricuspid aortic valve (QAV) is a rare cardiac anomaly. Several different anatomical variations of a quadricuspid aortic valve have been described. Aortic regurgitation is the predominant valvular dysfunction associated with QAV and patients tend to present in their 5(th) or 6(th) decade of life. This anomaly is rarely picked up by transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE). A comprehensive transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) study is more likely to diagnose it. We describe a very rare type of QAV - Type F in a 52-year-old lady who presented with symptoms of shortness of breath and pre-syncope. We include TOE images and intra-operative valve images

Effects of web-based electrocardiography simulation on strategies and learning styles

Objective: To identify the association between the use of web simulation electrocardiography and the learning approaches, strategies and styles of nursing degree students. Method: A descriptive and correlational design with a one-group pretest– posttest measurement was used. The study sample included 246 students in a Basic and Advanced Cardiac Life Support nursing class of nursing degree. Results: No significant differences between genders were found in any dimension of learning styles and approaches to learning. After the introduction of web simulation electrocardiography, significant differences were found in some item scores of learning styles: theorist (p < 0.040), pragmatic (p < 0.010) and approaches to learning. Conclusion: The use of a web electrocardiogram (ECG) simulation is associated with the development of active and reflexive learning styles, improving motivation and a deep approach in nursing students

“Magnetic Force Microscopy and Energy Loss Imaging of Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles”

We present quantitative, high spatially resolved magnetic force microscopy imaging of samples based on 11 nm diameter superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in air at room temperature. By a proper combination of the cantilever resonance frequency shift, oscillation amplitude and phase lag we obtain the tip-sample interaction maps in terms of force gradient and energy dissipation. These physical quantities are evaluated in the frame of a tip-particle magnetic interaction model also including the tip oscillation amplitude. Magnetic nanoparticles are characterized both in bare form, after deposition on a flat substrate, and as magnetically assembled fillers in a polymer matrix, in the form of nanowires. The latter approach makes it possible to reveal the magnetic texture in a composite sample independently of the surface topography

Convergence of density expansions of correlation functions and the Ornstein-Zernike equation

We prove absolute convergence of the multi-body correlation functions as a power series in the density uniformly in their arguments. This is done by working in the context of the cluster expansion in the canonical ensemble and by expressing the correlation functions as the derivative of the logarithm of an appropriately extended partition function. In the thermodynamic limit, due to combinatorial cancellations, we show that the coeffi- cients of the above series are expressed by sums over some class of two-connected graphs. Furthermore, we prove the convergence of the density expansion of the “direct correlation function” which is based on a completely different approach and it is valid only for some inte- gral norm. Precisely, this integral norm is suitable to derive the Ornstein-Zernike equation. As a further outcome, we obtain a rigorous quantification of the error in the Percus-Yevick approximation

Spoken term detection ALBAYZIN 2014 evaluation: overview, systems, results, and discussion

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13636-015-0063-8Spoken term detection (STD) aims at retrieving data from a speech repository given a textual representation of the search term. Nowadays, it is receiving much interest due to the large volume of multimedia information. STD differs from automatic speech recognition (ASR) in that ASR is interested in all the terms/words that appear in the speech data, whereas STD focuses on a selected list of search terms that must be detected within the speech data. This paper presents the systems submitted to the STD ALBAYZIN 2014 evaluation, held as a part of the ALBAYZIN 2014 evaluation campaign within the context of the IberSPEECH 2014 conference. This is the first STD evaluation that deals with Spanish language. The evaluation consists of retrieving the speech files that contain the search terms, indicating their start and end times within the appropriate speech file, along with a score value that reflects the confidence given to the detection of the search term. The evaluation is conducted on a Spanish spontaneous speech database, which comprises a set of talks from workshops and amounts to about 7 h of speech. We present the database, the evaluation metrics, the systems submitted to the evaluation, the results, and a detailed discussion. Four different research groups took part in the evaluation. Evaluation results show reasonable performance for moderate out-of-vocabulary term rate. This paper compares the systems submitted to the evaluation and makes a deep analysis based on some search term properties (term length, in-vocabulary/out-of-vocabulary terms, single-word/multi-word terms, and in-language/foreign terms).This work has been partly supported by project CMC-V2 (TEC2012-37585-C02-01) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. This research was also funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the Galician Regional Government (GRC2014/024, “Consolidation of Research Units: AtlantTIC Project” CN2012/160)

Hippocampal - diencephalic - cingulate networks for memory and emotion: An anatomical guide

This review brings together current knowledge from tract tracing studies to update and reconsider those limbic connections initially highlighted by Papez for their presumed role in emotion. These connections link hippocampal and parahippocampal regions with the mammillary bodies, the anterior thalamic nuclei, and the cingulate gyrus, all structures now strongly implicated in memory functions. An additional goal of this review is to describe the routes taken by the various connections within this network. The original descriptions of these limbic connections saw their interconnecting pathways forming a serial circuit that began and finished in the hippocampal formation. It is now clear that with the exception of the mammillary bodies, these various sites are multiply interconnected with each other, including many reciprocal connections. In addition, these same connections are topographically organised, creating further subsystems. This complex pattern of connectivity helps explain the difficulty of interpreting the functional outcome of damage to any individual site within the network. For these same reasons, Papez’s initial concept of a loop beginning and ending in the hippocampal formation needs to be seen as a much more complex system of hippocampal–diencephalic–cingulate connections. The functions of these multiple interactions might be better viewed as principally providing efferent information from the posterior medial temporal lobe. Both a subcortical diencephalic route (via the fornix) and a cortical cingulate route (via retrosplenial cortex) can be distinguished. These routes provide indirect pathways for hippocampal interactions with prefrontal cortex, with the preponderance of both sets of connections arising from the more posterior hippocampal regions. These multi-stage connections complement the direct hippocampal projections to prefrontal cortex, which principally arise from the anterior hippocampus, thereby creating longitudinal functional differences along the anterior–posterior plane of the hippocampus

Sugar-sweetened carbonated beverage consumption correlates with BMI, waist circumference, and poor dietary choices in school children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence of obesity and overweight is increasing globally. Frequently coexisting with under-nutrition in developing countries, obesity is a major contributor to chronic disease, and will become a serious healthcare burden especially in countries with a larger percentage of youthful population. 35% of the population of Saudi Arabia are under the age of 16, and adult dietary preferences are often established during early childhood years. Our objective was to examine the dietary habits in relation to body-mass-index (BMI) and waist circumference (W_C), together with exercise and sleep patterns in a cohort of male and female Saudi school children, in order to ascertain whether dietary patterns are associated with obesity phenotypes in this population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>5033 boys and 4400 girls aged 10 to 19 years old participated in a designed Food Frequency Questionnaire. BMI and W_C measurements were obtained and correlated with dietary intake.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 12.2% and 27.0% respectively, with boys having higher obesity rates than girls (P ≤ 0.001). W_C and BMI was positively correlated with sugar-sweetened carbonated beverage (SSCB) intake in boys only. The association between male BMI and SSCB consumption was significant in a multivariate regression model (P < 0.0001). SSCB intake was positively associated with poor dietary choices in both males and females. Fast food meal intake, savory snacks, iced desserts and total sugar consumption correlated with SSCB intake in both boys (r = 0.39, 0.13, 0.10 and 0.52 respectively, P < 0.001) and girls (r = 0.45, 0.23, 0.16 and 0.55 respectively, P < 0.001). Older children reported eating significantly less fruit and vegetables than younger children; and less eggs, fish and cereals. Conversely, consumption of SSCB and sugar-sweetened hot beverages were higher in older versus younger children (P < 0.001). BMI and W_C were negatively correlated with hours of night-time sleep and exercise in boys, but only with night time sleep in girls, who also showed the lowest frequency of exercise.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A higher intake of SSCB is associated with poor dietary choices. Male SSCB intake correlates with a higher W_C and BMI. Limiting exposure to SSCB could therefore have a large public health impact.</p

Validation of diabetes mellitus and hypertension diagnosis in computerized medical records in primary health care

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Computerized Clinical Records, which are incorporated in primary health care practice, have great potential for research. In order to use this information, data quality and reliability must be assessed to prevent compromising the validity of the results.</p> <p>The aim of this study is to validate the diagnosis of hypertension and diabetes mellitus in the computerized clinical records of primary health care, taking the diagnosis criteria established in the most prominently used clinical guidelines as the gold standard against which what measure the sensitivity, specificity, and determine the predictive values.</p> <p>The gold standard for diabetes mellitus was the diagnostic criteria established in 2003 American Diabetes Association Consensus Statement for diabetic subjects. The gold standard for hypertension was the diagnostic criteria established in the Joint National Committee published in 2003.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional multicentre validation study of diabetes mellitus and hypertension diagnoses in computerized clinical records of primary health care was carried out. Diagnostic criteria from the most prominently clinical practice guidelines were considered for standard reference.</p> <p>Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and global agreement (with kappa index), were calculated. Results were shown overall and stratified by sex and age groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The agreement for diabetes mellitus with the reference standard as determined by the guideline was almost perfect (κ = 0.990), with a sensitivity of 99.53%, a specificity of 99.49%, a positive predictive value of 91.23% and a negative predictive value of 99.98%.</p> <p>Hypertension diagnosis showed substantial agreement with the reference standard as determined by the guideline (κ = 0.778), the sensitivity was 85.22%, the specificity 96.95%, the positive predictive value 85.24%, and the negative predictive value was 96.95%. Sensitivity results were worse in patients who also had diabetes and in those aged 70 years or over.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results substantiate the validity of using diagnoses of diabetes and hypertension found within the computerized clinical records for epidemiologic studies.</p

Automated Discrimination of Brain Pathological State Attending to Complex Structural Brain Network Properties: The Shiverer Mutant Mouse Case

Neuroimaging classification procedures between normal and pathological subjects are sparse and highly dependent of an expert's clinical criterion. Here, we aimed to investigate whether possible brain structural network differences in the shiverer mouse mutant, a relevant animal model of myelin related diseases, can reflect intrinsic individual brain properties that allow the automatic discrimination between the shiverer and normal subjects. Common structural networks properties between shiverer (C3Fe.SWV Mbpshi/Mbpshi, n = 6) and background control (C3HeB.FeJ, n = 6) mice are estimated and compared by means of three diffusion weighted MRI (DW-MRI) fiber tractography algorithms and a graph framework. Firstly, we found that brain networks of control group are significantly more clustered, modularized, efficient and optimized than those of the shiverer group, which presented significantly increased characteristic path length. These results are in line with previous structural/functional complex brain networks analysis that have revealed topologic differences and brain network randomization associated to specific states of human brain pathology. In addition, by means of network measures spatial representations and discrimination analysis, we show that it is possible to classify with high accuracy to which group each subject belongs, providing also a probability value of being a normal or shiverer subject as an individual anatomical classifier. The obtained correct predictions (e.g., around 91.6–100%) and clear spatial subdivisions between control and shiverer mice, suggest that there might exist specific network subspaces corresponding to specific brain disorders, supporting also the point of view that complex brain network analyses constitutes promising tools in the future creation of interpretable imaging biomarkers