Commentary: Increased Beat-to-Beat Variability of T-Wave Heterogeneity Measured From Standard 12-Lead Electrocardiogram Is Associated With Sudden Cardiac Death: A Case-Control Study

The electrocardiogram (ECG) reflects the electrical activity within the heart. Following the discovery of the small electrical signals in the human heart, the Dutch scientist Willem Einthoven developed sensitive methods for detecting them and recognized their clinical implications (Kligfield, 2002). For his contributions Willem Einthoven, whose scientific roots originated from the Utrecht physiology department (Einthoven, 1885), was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1924. Since then, many enigmas of the ECG have been solved and its intricate information carries valuable clues for clinical decision making. In vivo mapping studies have established that spatial heterogeneity in repolarization is a requisite for re-entrant ventricular arrhythmias by effecting unidirectional conduction block. Important modulators of spatial heterogeneity of repolarization include autonomic tone, ischemia, heart rate and premature or ectopic beats, which can produce temporal heterogeneity in the order of seconds, minutes, or hours depending on their time-constants. In the contemporary era of dynamic surface electrocardiography, a formidable challenge is quantifying spatiotemporal repolarization heterogeneity with sufficient fidelity to image the arrhythmogenic myocardial substrate and thereby provide indices for a patient’s risk of arrhythmic death (Laguna et al., 2016). Hekkanen et al. (2020) performed a large case-control study of 200 victims..

Test engineering education in Europe: the EuNICE-Test project

The paper deals with a European experience of education in industrial test of ICs and SoCs using remote testing facilities. The project addresses the problem of the shortage in microelectronics engineers aware with the new challenge of testing mixed-signal SoCs far multimedia/telecom market. It aims at providing test training facilities at a European scale in both initial and continuing education contexts. This is done by allowing the academic and industrial partners of the consortium to train engineers using the common test resources center (CRTC) hosted by LIRMM (Laboratoire d'Informatique, de Robotique et de Microelectronique de Montpellier, France). CRTC test tools include up-to-date/high-tech testers that are fully representative of real industrial testers as used on production testfloors. At the end of the project, it is aimed at reaching a cruising speed of about 16 trainees per year per center. Each trainee will have attend at least one one-week training using the remote test facilities of CRTC

LADUMA: looking at the distant universe with the MeerKAT array

The cosmic evolution of galaxies’ neutral atomic gas content is a major science driver for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), as well as for its South African (MeerKAT) and Australian (ASKAP) precursors. Among the H I large survey programs (LSPs) planned for ASKAP and MeerKAT, the deepest and narrowest tier of the “wedding cake” will be defined by the combined L-band+UHF-band Looking At the Distant Universe with the MeerKAT Array (LADUMA) survey, which will probe H I in emission within a single “cosmic vuvuzela” that extends to z = 1.4, when the universe was only a third of its present age. Through a combination of individual and stacked detections (the latter relying on extensive multi-wavelength studies of the survey’s target field), LADUMA will study the redshift evolution of the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation and the cosmic H I density, the variation of the H I mass function with redshift and environment, and the connection between H I content and galaxies’ stellar properties (mass, age, etc.). The survey will also build a sample of OH megamaser detections that can be used to trace the cosmic merger history. This proceedings contribution provides a brief introduction to the survey, its scientific aims, and its technical implementation, deferring a more complete discussion for a future article after the implications of a recent review of MeerKAT LSP project plans are fully worked out

Periprocedural continuation versus interruption of oral anticoagulant drugs during transcatheter aortic valve implantation:rationale and design of the POPular PAUSE TAVI trial

About one-third of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) use oral anticoagulants (OAC), mainly due to atrial fibrillation. General guidelines advise interrupting OAC in patients with a high risk of bleeding undergoing interventions. However, preliminary observational data suggest that the continuation of OAC during TAVI is safe and may reduce the risk of periprocedural thromboembolic events. The Periprocedural Continuation Versus Interruption of Oral Anticoagulant Drugs During Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (POPular PAUSE TAVI) is a multicentre, randomised clinical trial with open-label treatment and blinded endpoint assessment. Patients are randomised 1:1 to periprocedural continuation versus interruption of OAC and are stratified for vitamin K antagonist or direct oral anticoagulant use. The primary endpoint is a composite of cardiovascular mortality, all stroke, myocardial infarction, major vascular complications and type 2-4 bleeding within 30 days after TAVI, according to the Valve Academic Research Consortium-3 criteria. Secondary endpoints include separate individual and composite outcomes, quality of life and cost-effectiveness. Since continuation of OAC is associated with the ancillary benefit that it simplifies periprocedural management, the primary outcome is first analysed for non-inferiority; if non-inferiority is proven, superiority will be tested. Recruitment started in November 2020, and the trial will continue until a total of 858 patients have been included and followed for 90 days. In summary, POPular PAUSE TAVI is the first randomised clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of periprocedural continuation versus interruption of OAC in patients undergoing TAVI.</p

Modulation of motor cortical excitability following rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation

Objective: To investigate the effect of high frequency rTMS (25 Hz at 90-100% of resting motor threshold) on the excitability of the motor cortex of healthy human subjects.Methods: Resting and active motor threshold, MEP recruitment curve (I/O curve), short interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and facilitation (ICF), and the duration of the silent period (SP) were tested in the right first dorsal interosscous muscle (FDI) before and twice after the end of 1500 pulses in 16 normal young adult male volunteers.Results: Twenty-five Hertz rTMS decreased motor thresholds, reduced the duration of the silent period and had a tendency to increase the slope of the I/O curve. Most of these effects lasted for the duration of the two post-testing sessions (at least 30 min) and had returned to normal by 2 h. There were no significant effects on SICI/ICF.Conclusion: Twenty-five Hertz rTMS can produce a long lasting increase in cortical excitability in healthy subjects.Significance: This method may prove useful for the study of normal human physiology and for therapeutic manipulation of brain plasticity. (c) 2006 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved