Screening for thoracic aortic pathology: Clinical practice in a single tertiary center

Objective: The aim is to present current clinical practice of thoracic aorta screening in a tertiary referral center. We identified how often imaging techniques were used for screening and established the value of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in comparison with computed tomography (CT) to detect aortic dilation. We also investigated which additional abnormalities of the heart, aorta or smaller arteries were discovered. Design: All patients ≥15 years who visited our tertiary center in 2012-2016 for first thoracic aortic screening were retrospectively included. Diameters of the sinus of Valsalva (SoV) and maximum ascending aorta (AA) were compared between TTE and CT. The sensitivity and specificity of TTE to detect aortic dilation (≥40 mm) was assessed with CT as reference standard. Intracardiac abnormalities found with TTE and arterial abnormalities found with CT were identified. Results: In total 349 patients (155 men, age 41 ± 15 years, 10% genetic mutation) were included. Screening wa

Evolution of blood biomarker levels following percutaneous atrial septal defect closure in adults

Background: We sought to assess the effects of percutaneous atrial septal defect (ASD) closure on blood biomarker levels that possibly reflect reverse cardiac remodeling. Therefore, this study investigated temporal changes in six blood biomarkers following percutaneous ASD closure in adults. Methods: In this prospective observational cohort study, adults with ASD type II scheduled for percutaneous closure were included (2012–2016).

Neotropical freshwater fisheries : A dataset of occurrence and abundance of freshwater fishes in the Neotropics

The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data. The number of species for the most numerous orders are as follows: Characiformes (1289), Siluriformes (1384), Cichliformes (354), Cyprinodontiformes (245), and Gymnotiformes (135). The most recorded species was the characid Astyanax fasciatus (4696 records). We registered 116,802 distribution records for native species, compared to 1802 distribution records for nonnative species. The main aim of the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set was to make these occurrence and abundance data accessible for international researchers to develop ecological and macroecological studies, from local to regional scales, with focal fish species, families, or orders. We anticipate that the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set will be valuable for studies on a wide range of ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, fishery pressure, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation, and the impacts of species invasion and climate change. There are no copyright restrictions on the data, and please cite this data paper when using the data in publications