Coronary Microvascular Angina: A State-of-the-Art Review

Up to 60-70% of patients, undergoing invasive coronary angiography due to angina and demonstrable myocardial ischemia with provocative tests, do not have any obstructive coronary disease. Coronary microvascular angina due to a dysfunction of the coronary microcirculation is the underlying cause in almost 50% of these patients, associated with a bad prognosis and poor quality of life. In recent years, progress has been made in the diagnosis and management of this condition. The aim of this review is to provide an insight into current knowledge of this condition, from current diagnostic methods to the latest treatments.Copyright © 2022 Spione, Arevalos, Gabani, Sabaté and Brugaletta

Pulse processing routines for neutron time-of-flight data

A pulse shape analysis framework is described, which was developed for n_TOF-Phase3, the third phase in the operation of the n_TOF facility at CERN. The most notable feature of this new framework is the adoption of generic pulse shape analysis routines, characterized by a minimal number of explicit assumptions about the nature of pulses. The aim of these routines is to be applicable to a wide variety of detectors, thus facilitating the introduction of the new detectors or types of detectors into the analysis framework. The operational details of the routines are suited to the specific requirements of particular detectors by adjusting the set of external input parameters. Pulse recognition, baseline calculation and the pulse shape fitting procedure are described. Special emphasis is put on their computational efficiency, since the most basic implementations of these conceptually simple methods are often computationally inefficient.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 5 table

Onset and development of aggressive behavior in the early life stages of the seven-band grouper Epinephelus septemfasciatus

Onset and development of aggressive behavior were observed in the early life stages of seven-band grouper Epinephelus septemfasciatus. Fish culture was divided into two terms: the first term, from hatch until 21 days after hatching (DAH); and the second term, from 21 DAH until settlement (65 DAH). During the second term the effect of different aeration rate on survival was investigated. Survival during the first term was 14.1 ± 7.1%. In the second term, survival in control tanks (aeration rate 200 mL/min) was 14.7 ± 10.2% and 18.8 ± 7.8% in the increasing aeration tanks (aeration rate 200-800 mL/min). Behavioral observations were conducted at about 8-day intervals and aggressive behavior was quantified by the frequency of chase behavior. Aggressive behavior was first observed on 52 DAH when pigment appeared on the dorsal area of the metamorphosing larvae (standard length 16.6 ± 6.0 mm). Aggressive behavior significantly increased from 59 DAH coinciding with the beginning of settlement

Pulse processing routines for neutron time-of-flight data

A pulse shape analysis framework is described, which was developed for n_TOF-Phase3, the third phase in the operation of the n_TOF facility at CERN. The most notable feature of this new framework is the adoption of generic pulse shape analysis routines, characterized by a minimal number of explicit assumptions about the nature of pulses. The aim of these routines is to be applicable to a wide variety of detectors, thus facilitating the introduction of the new detectors or types of detectors into the analysis framework. The operational details of the routines are suited to the specific requirements of particular detectors by adjusting the set of external input parameters. Pulse recognition, baseline calculation and the pulse shape fitting procedure are described. Special emphasis is put on their computational efficiency, since the most basic implementations of these conceptually simple methods are often computationally inefficient.Croatian Science Foundation - Project No. 168

Intravenous Statin Administration During Myocardial Infarction Compared With Oral Post-Infarct Administration

Beyond lipid-lowering, statins exert cardioprotective effects. High-dose statin treatment seems to reduce cardiovascular complications in high-risk patients. The ideal timing and administration regime remain unknown. This study compared the cardioprotective effects of intravenous statin administration during myocardial infarction (MI) with oral administration immediately post-MI. Hypercholesterolemic pigs underwent MI induction (90 min of ischemia) and were kept for 42 days. Animals were distributed in 3 arms (A): A1 received an intravenous bolus of atorvastatin during MI; A2 received an intravenous bolus of vehicle during MI; and A3 received oral atorvastatin within 2 h post-MI. A1 and A3 remained on daily oral atorvastatin for the following 42 days. Cardiac magnetic resonance analysis (days 3 and 42 post-MI) and molecular/histological studies were performed. At day 3, A1 showed a 10% reduction in infarct size compared with A3 and A2 and a 50% increase in myocardial salvage. At day 42, both A1 and A3 showed a significant decrease in scar size versus A2; however, A1 showed a further 24% reduction versus A3. Functional analyses revealed improved systolic performance in A1 compared with A2 and less wall motion abnormalities in the jeopardized myocardium versus both groups at day 42. A1 showed enhanced collagen content and AMP-activated protein kinase activation in the scar, increased vessel density in the penumbra, higher tumor necrosis factor α plasma levels and lower peripheral blood mononuclear cell activation versus both groups. Intravenous administration of atorvastatin during MI limits cardiac damage, improves cardiac function, and mitigates remodeling to a larger extent than when administered orally shortly after reperfusion. This therapeutic approach deserves to be investigated in ST-segment elevation MI patients

Immediate versus staged revascularisation of non-culprit arteries in patients with acute coronary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Although there is robust evidence that revascularisation of non-culprit vessels should be pursued in patients presenting with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and multivessel coronary artery disease (MVD), the optimal timing of complete revascularisation remains disputed. In this systematic review and meta-analysis our results suggest that outcomes are comparable for immediate and staged complete revascularisation in patients with ACS and MVD. However, evidence from randomised controlled trials remains scarce and cautious interpretation of these results is recommended. More non-biased evidence is necessary to aid future decision making on the optimal timing of complete revascularisation

The prion-like RNA-processing protein HNRPDL forms inherently toxic amyloid-like inclusion bodies in bacteria

BACKGROUND: The formation of protein inclusions is connected to the onset of many human diseases. Human RNA binding proteins containing intrinsically disordered regions with an amino acid composition resembling those of yeast prion domains, like TDP-43 or FUS, are being found to aggregate in different neurodegenerative disorders. The structure of the intracellular inclusions formed by these proteins is still unclear and whether these deposits have an amyloid nature or not is a matter of debate. Recently, the aggregation of TDP-43 has been modelled in bacteria, showing that TDP-43 inclusion bodies (IBs) are amorphous but intrinsically neurotoxic. This observation raises the question of whether it is indeed the lack of an ordered structure in these human prion-like protein aggregates the underlying cause of their toxicity in different pathological states. RESULTS: Here we characterize the IBs formed by the human prion-like RNA-processing protein HNRPDL. HNRPDL is linked to the development of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy 1G and shares domain architecture with TDP-43. We show that HNRPDL IBs display characteristic amyloid hallmarks, since these aggregates bind to amyloid dyes in vitro and inside the cell, they are enriched in intermolecular β-sheet conformation and contain inner amyloid-like fibrillar structure. In addition, despite their ordered structure, HNRPDL IBs are highly neurotoxic. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that at least some of the disorders caused by the aggregation of human prion-like proteins would rely on the formation of classical amyloid assemblies rather than being caused by amorphous aggregates. They also illustrate the power of microbial cell factories to model amyloid aggregation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12934-015-0284-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Towards Zero Emissions CO2-Reduction in Mediterranean Social Housing

An in-depth study of the construction, use and deconstruction of a 60 apartment social housing complex to be built close to Barcelona revealed the importance of the application of life-cycle analysis, as the materials’ embodied energy showed to be responsible for half of the building’s life-cycle emissions. A 72% energy reduction compared to conventional housing projects is expected by implementation of centralised HVAC and DHW systems, based on ground source heat pumps and solar thermal energy, introducing an in Catalonia innovative facility management approach where energy and flow meters are installed in each flat for internet-based control of energy consumption, invoicing and supervision of the installation. A second study showed that up to 90% CO2 reduction considering the overall lifecycle is feasible at reasonable cost by giving priority to organic building materials like wood (CO2 storage effect), minimizing underground construction and increasing energy supply based on renewable energies