Patch Materials for Pulmonary Artery Arterioplasty and Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Augmentation: A Review

Patch augmentation of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and pulmonary artery (PA) arterioplasty are relatively common procedures in the surgical treatment of patients with congenital heart disease. To date, several patch materials have been applied with no agreed upon clinical standard. Each patch type has unique performance characteristics, cost, and availability. There are limited data describing the various advantages and disadvantages of different patch materials. We performed a review of studies describing the clinical performance of various RVOT and PA patch materials and found a limited but growing body of literature. Short-term clinical performance has been reported for a multitude of patch types, but comparisons are limited by inconsistent study design and scarce histologic data. Standard clinical criteria for assessment of patch efficacy and criteria for intervention need to be applied across patch types. The field is progressing with improvements in outcomes due to newer patch technologies focused on reducing antigenicity and promoting neotissue formation which may have the ability to grow, remodel, and repair

mRNA Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccine-Associated Myopericarditis in Adolescents: A Survey Study

In this survey study of institutions across the US, marked variability in evaluation, treatment, and follow-up of adolescents 12 through 18 years of age with mRNA coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine-associated myopericarditis was noted. Only one adolescent with life-threatening complications was reported, with no deaths at any of the participating institutions

Analytical methods for mapping river bathymetry from multi-spectral satellite images

Rivers are an important part of the aquatic environment, which supply freshwater essential to human life, support economic activities, and provide natural habitats for aquatic species. The river environment needs to be managed properly for the protection of river floods, channel erosion and water pollution as well as for the safety of in-stream hydraulic and other river engineering structures. River management needs data of river channel bathymetry as fundamental input. The purpose of this research is to explore new, efficient methods for mapping channel bathymetry. Traditionally, field methods are used for point-by-point measurements of flow depth, which need an operator to use instrument at a river site. The field methods are costly and inconvenient, true particularly for remote river sites. Recently, advancing remote sensing technology has offered promising opportunities for mapping river bathymetry, leading to the development of some empirical methods for converting light intensity in satellite images to river flow depth. A major shortcoming of the methods is that the conversion involves a light attenuation coefficient; its value needs to be determined using adequate field measurements from a river site of application, which are often not available. This thesis reports new analytical methods for retrieving river bathymetry from multi-spectral high-resolution satellite images. No field measurements are needed for the determination of regression relationships. The analytical methods are applied to a 25-km reach of the Nicolet River in Quebec, Canada. The application uses multi-spectral high-resolution images from WorldView-2 and WorldView-3 satellites. The methods involve radiometric corrections to images in order to remove the atmospheric effect on wavelengths and calculations of effective attenuation coefficient that allows for the effects of water column on the wavelengths. After removing the ambient effects, the ratio of a pair of selected wavelengths is used in algorithms for determining the flow depth. The bathymetry results show an 85% accuracy for WorldView-3 satellite image. The accuracy is lower for WorldView-2 satellite image due to a lack of two atmospheric factors in radiometric correction. The results offer a spatial resolution as high as 1.2-m (for WorldView-3 image). Analytical methods have been used in coastal water and marine applications. This study is perhaps the first application to the river environment, where the spatial gradient of depth is typically much larger than those of the coastal and marine environment. There is no doubt that future satellite operations will provide increasing spatial resolution and coverage. There is a great potential to revolutionise the approach to mapping river bathymetry and to substantially reduce the need of costly and time-consuming field efforts

Mapping Underwater Bathymetry of a Shallow River from Satellite Multispectral Imagery

Rivers play an important role in water supply, waterway transport, and riverine species habitations. The underwater depth of a river channel is a fundamental geometric element and a key input to studies for the aforementioned and other applications. Traditional in-situ field surveys for flow depth measurements would incur high costs and encounter technical and/or logistical difficulties, particularly for river channels of large extents, very shallow channels, and remote, inaccessible channels. Recent advances in satellite remote sensing of inland water bodies like rivers, streams, and creeks have allowed mapping flow depth in an inexpensive, convenient, and efficient manner. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the retrieval of river flow depth from high-resolution (1.2 m) WorldView-3 satellite imagery. The depth retrieval methods are based on the ratio of top-of-atmosphere reflectance between two pairing wavelength bands of multispectral imagery. The originality of the methods lies in using analytical relationships without resorting to ground data of river flow depth for calibration, which improves from previous studies of remote sensing of river flow depth. The methods are successfully applied to mapping the underwater bathymetry of a 26 km reach of the Nicolet River in Quebec, Canada. This study shows the importance of geometric and radiometric corrections to the satellite images. The obtained flow depths using the ratio of reflectance of the red band (630–690 nm) to that of the green band (510–580 nm), among the eight bands in the visible spectrum, agree best with in-situ measurements. This study is perhaps the first use of the analytical approach for mapping river bathymetry. It is feasible to implement the approach to other river channels, with a good potential to reduce the costs and increase the efficiency of mapping river bathymetries

Mapping Underwater Bathymetry of a Shallow River from Satellite Multispectral Imagery

Rivers play an important role in water supply, waterway transport, and riverine species habitations. The underwater depth of a river channel is a fundamental geometric element and a key input to studies for the aforementioned and other applications. Traditional in-situ field surveys for flow depth measurements would incur high costs and encounter technical and/or logistical difficulties, particularly for river channels of large extents, very shallow channels, and remote, inaccessible channels. Recent advances in satellite remote sensing of inland water bodies like rivers, streams, and creeks have allowed mapping flow depth in an inexpensive, convenient, and efficient manner. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the retrieval of river flow depth from high-resolution (1.2 m) WorldView-3 satellite imagery. The depth retrieval methods are based on the ratio of top-of-atmosphere reflectance between two pairing wavelength bands of multispectral imagery. The originality of the methods lies in using analytical relationships without resorting to ground data of river flow depth for calibration, which improves from previous studies of remote sensing of river flow depth. The methods are successfully applied to mapping the underwater bathymetry of a 26 km reach of the Nicolet River in Quebec, Canada. This study shows the importance of geometric and radiometric corrections to the satellite images. The obtained flow depths using the ratio of reflectance of the red band (630–690 nm) to that of the green band (510–580 nm), among the eight bands in the visible spectrum, agree best with in-situ measurements. This study is perhaps the first use of the analytical approach for mapping river bathymetry. It is feasible to implement the approach to other river channels, with a good potential to reduce the costs and increase the efficiency of mapping river bathymetries

Interleukin-2, -16, and -17 gene polymorphisms in Iranian patients with chronic periodontitis

Aim: Chronic periodontitis (CP) is a multifactorial disease and the most common type of periodontitis mainly caused by microbial plaque. CP can be brought on by, and progresses with, insufficient oral hygiene, and environmental and genetic susceptibilities. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between interleukin (IL)-2 (T-330G), IL-16 (T-295C), and IL-17 (A-7383G) gene polymorphisms and the susceptibility to CP in an Iranian population.Methods: Ninety-nine cases diagnosed with CP and 75 matched healthy controls engaged in the present study. 3 cc peripheral blood samples were obtained for DNA isolation. Genotype analysis was performed using restriction fragment length polymorphism polymerase chain reaction. Genotype distribution and allele frequencies within groups were compared using chi(2)-test, and logistic regression analysis was used to recognize the independent relation between the disease and the absence or presence of alleles.Results: There was no polymorphism in IL-2 (T-330G) among our patients, and the TT genotype was present in both study groups. Moreover, none of the studied genotypes and alleles of IL-16 (T-295C) and IL-17 (A-7383G) was significantly associated with CP.Conclusion: The present study demonstrated no association between IL-2 (T-330G), IL-16 (T-295C), and IL-17 (A-7383G) genotypes and CP in an Iranian population