Differences of disease progression in congestive heart failure due to alcoholic as compared to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy

In patients with alcoholic cardiomyopathy there is evidence that mild heart failure is reversible if patients abstain from alcohol, but there is no consensus whether the disease is progressive once structural myocardial dilatation has evolved. The aim of the present study was to compare the long-term course of congestive heart failure due to alcoholic and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Of 75 patients with overt congestive heart failure, 23 had alcoholic cardiomyopathy and were compared to 52 patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy. The mean age was 48 ± 12 years. Despite medical therapy, heart failure class New York Heart Association III-IV was present in 52% of patients with alcoholic and 47% of patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy (not significant). Their mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 30 ± l2% vs 28 ± 12% and left ventricular end-diastolic volumes were 264 ± 125 ml and 254 ± 100 ml respectively (not significant). Overall survival at 1, 5 and 10 years was l00%, 81% and 81% for the group with alcoholic dilated cardiomyopathy and 89%, 48% and 30% for the group with idiopathic cardiomyopathy, respectively (P=0·041 and the difference was even greater for transplant-free survival P=0·005 Clinical and invasive signs of left and right heart failure as well as left ventricular dimensions were predictive of a fatal outcome; however, symptom duration and left ventricular volumes were only predictive in patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy, suggesting that in the two patient groups different mechanisms may lead to death. Mortality in patients with severe congestive heart failure and left ventricular dilatation due to alcoholic cardiomyopathy is significantly lower than that in patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy and similar degrees of heart failure. Thus, despite structural changes mherent in marked left ventricular dilatation, disease progression in alcoholic dilated cardiomyopathy is different from that in idiopathic cardiomyopathy and thus may have implications for the choice of therap

Transverse emittance measurement in 2D and 4D performed on a Low Energy Beam Transport line: benchmarking and data analysis

2D and 4D transverse phase-space of a low-energy ion-beam is measured with two of the most common emittance scanners. The article covers the description of the installation, the setup, the settings, the experiment and the benchmark of the two emittance meters. We compare the results from three series of measurements and present the advantages and drawbacks of the two systems. Coupling between phase-space planes, correlations and mitigation of deleterious effects are discussed. The influence of background noise and aberrations of trace-space figures on emittance measurements and RMS calculations is highlighted, especially for low density beams and halos. A new data analysis method using noise reduction, filtering, and reconstruction of the emittance figure is described. Finally, some basic concepts of phase-space theory and application to beam transport are recalled

Current density distribution in cylindrical Li-Ion cells during impedance measurements

In this work, modified commercial cylindrical lithium-ion cells with multiple separate current tabs are used to analyze the influence of tab pattern, frequency and temperature on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. In a first step, the effect of different current tab arrangements on the impedance spectra is analyzed and possible electrochemical causes are discussed. In a second step, one terminal is used to apply a sinusoidal current while the other terminals are used to monitor the local potential distribution at different positions along the electrodes of the cell. It is observed that the characteristic decay of the voltage amplitude along the electrode changes non-linearly with frequency, where high-frequent currents experience a stronger attenuation along the current collector than low-frequent currents. In further experiments, the decay characteristic is controlled by the cell temperature, driven by the increasing resistance of the current collector and the enhanced kinetic and transport properties of the active material and electrolyte. Measurements indicate that the ac current distribution depends strongly on the frequency and the temperature. In this context, the challenges for electrochemical impedance spectroscopy as cell diagnostic technique for commercial cells are discussed

INDUCED HEATING POWER EVALUATION IN RIB TRANSFER LINE OF SPIRAL2

Abstract The production of the future Radioactive Ion Beams at SPIRAL2 is studied in the case of an ECR ion source and helium as supporting gas. The RIBs transported in the transfer lines have a multi-component composition and the total current of the beams is mainly defined by helium ions. The total power of the helium component may reach 300 W. For magnetic optical elements the focusing force acting on the ions in the transfer beam line is strongly dependent on mass-to-charge ratio. For this reason the supporting gas ions will be lost at the initial part of the beam line between the ECR ion source and the analysing magnet. The helium beam losses and induced heating power density at the wall of the vacuum tube are evaluated in this report for the transport of Ar, Xe and U ion beams in the RIB transfer line of the future SPIRAL2 facility