Mental Models of Communication and Television Advertising

In their paper, Mental Models of Communication and Television Advertising, Detlev Nothnagel and Gilda Vera Aguirre discuss the question whether and if so, how and to what extent television advertisement spots differ cross-culturally. In contrast to the majority of studies on this topic, Nothnagel and Aguirre concentrate on a protocol-based formal analysis that is statistically oriented. In a more general perspective, the relation between face-to-face communication and communication mediated by technology is scrutinized. Provided that there are important differences, one hypothesis would be that they originate in habits of communication older than those found in technically-mediated communication. That would, at least in part, presuppose a transfer between different media, linking the organization of speech with that of pictures, etc. As only comparative studies are suited to address these questions, two samples are compared in the study, contrasting German and Ecuadorian examples of data. In order to avoid an overestimation of cross-cultural differences and to get a handle on content-related fluctuations, intercultural differences are measured in a parallel fashion

Modelos mentales de comunicación y consumo. Una comparación intercultural de publicidad televisiva

Este estudio prospectivo plantea la interrogante si la publicidad televisiva difiere entre distintas culturas y si es así, cómo y en qué medida. En contraste a la mayoría de los estudios respectivos, nos hemos concentrado en un protocolo detallado basado en un análisis formal que está estadísticamente orientado. En una perspectiva más amplia, la relación entre la comunicación cara-a-cara y la comunicación mediatizada por la tecnología está escrutada. Asumiendo que hay varias diferencias, una hipótesis sería que éstas se originan en hábitos de comunicación antiguos a aquellos encontrados en la comunicación por medios tecnológicos. En parte, eso supondría una transferencia entre diferentes medios, relacionando la organización del habla con la de las imágenes. Como solamente por medio de estudios comparativos se puede responder dichas interrogantes, se compararon dos muestras de publicidad alemana y ecuatoriana. Para evitar una sobreestimación de las diferencias culturales es inevitable el investigar también el nivel intercultural para evaluar las fluctuaciones relacionadas con los contenidos

Left Ventricular Hypertrabeculation Is Not Associated With Cardiovascular Morbity or Mortality: Insights From the Eurocmr Registry

Aim: Left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC) is perceived as a rare high-risk cardiomyopathy characterized by excess left ventricular (LV) trabeculation. However, there is increasing evidence contesting the clinical significance of LV hyper-trabeculation and the existence of LVNC as a distinct cardiomyopathy. The aim of this study is to assess the association of LV trabeculation extent with cardiovascular morbidity and all-cause mortality in patients undergoing clinical cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) scans across 57 European centers from the EuroCMR registry. Methods and Results: We studied 822 randomly selected cases from the EuroCMR registry. Image acquisition was according to international guidelines. We manually segmented images for LV chamber quantification and measurement of LV trabeculation (as per Petersen criteria). We report the association between LV trabeculation extent and important cardiovascular morbidities (stroke, atrial fibrillation, heart failure) and all-cause mortality prospectively recorded over 404 ± 82 days of follow-up. Maximal non-compaction to compaction ratio (NC/C) was mean (standard deviation) 1.81 ± 0.67, from these, 17% were above the threshold for hyper-trabeculation (NC/C > 2.3). LV trabeculation extent was not associated with increased risk of the defined outcomes (morbidities, mortality, LV CMR indices) in the whole cohort, or in sub-analyses of individuals without ischaemic heart disease, or those with NC/C > 2.3. Conclusion: Among 882 patients undergoing clinical CMR, excess LV trabeculation was not associated with a range of important cardiovascular morbidities or all-cause mortality over ~12 months of prospective follow-up. These findings suggest that LV hyper-trabeculation alone is not an indicator for worse cardiovascular prognosis

Current variables, definitions and endpoints of the European Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Registry

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is increasingly used in daily clinical practice. However, little is known about its clinical utility such as image quality, safety and impact on patient management. In addition, there is limited information about the potential of CMR to acquire prognostic information. METHODS: The European Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Registry (EuroCMR Registry) will consist of two parts: 1) Multicenter registry with consecutive enrolment of patients scanned in all participating European CMR centres using web based online case record forms. 2) Prospective clinical follow up of patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) every 12 months after enrolment to assess prognostic data. CONCLUSION: The EuroCMR Registry offers an opportunity to provide information about the clinical utility of routine CMR in a large number of cases and a diverse population. Furthermore it has the potential to gather information about the prognostic value of CMR in specific patient populations

El tiempo pide unhéroe. Donde el progreso es tradición

Sin resume

CMR imaging predicts death and other adverse events in suspected cardiac sarcoidosis

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to demonstrate that the presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) is a predictor of death and other adverse events in patients with suspected cardiac sarcoidosis. BACKGROUND Cardiac sarcoidosis is the most important cause of patient mortality in systemic sarcoidosis, yielding a 5-year mortality rate between 25% and 66% despite immunosuppressive treatment. Other groups have shown that LGE may hold promise in predicting future adverse events in this patient group. METHODS We included 155 consecutive patients with systemic sarcoidosis who underwent cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) for workup of suspected cardiac sarcoid involvement. The median follow-up time was 2.6 years. Primary endpoints were death, aborted sudden cardiac death, and appropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) discharge. Secondary endpoints were ventricular tachycardia (VT) and nonsustained VT. RESULTS LGE was present in 39 patients (25.5%). The presence of LGE yields a Cox hazard ratio (HR) of 31.6 for death, aborted sudden cardiac death, or appropriate ICD discharge, and of 33.9 for any event. This is superior to functional or clinical parameters such as left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF), LV end-diastolic volume, or presentation as heart failure, yielding HRs between 0.99 (per % increase LVEF) and 1.004 (presentation as heart failure), and between 0.94 and 1.2 for potentially lethal or other adverse events, respectively. Except for 1 patient dying from pulmonary infection, no patient without LGE died or experienced any event during follow-up, even if the LV was enlarged and the LVEF severely impaired. CONCLUSIONS Among our population of sarcoid patients with nonspecific symptoms, the presence of myocardial scar indicated by LGE was the best independent predictor of potentially lethal events, as well as other adverse events, yielding a Cox HR of 31.6 and of 33.9, respectively. These data support the necessity for future large, longitudinal follow-up studies to definitely establish LGE as an independent predictor of cardiac death in sarcoidosis, as well as to evaluate the incremental prognostic value of additional parameters