Minimally invasive atrioventricular valve surgery – current status and future perspectives

We are currently witnessing rapid evolution in minimally invasive and catheter-based atrioventricular valve interventions as acceptable alternatives to classic sternotomy access (CSA). Collectively, minimally invasive atrioventricular valve surgery (MIAS) is associated with significant learning curves and its routine application is met with varying degrees of enthusiasm in view of strict quality control, clinical governance and outcome reporting. Whether the reported potential benefits and comparable efficacy across a range of long-term outcome measures reported by experienced MIAS centres can be translated into general international surgical practice, are not well defined. This paper describes the historic evolution of MIAS, the contemporary clinical outcomes of MIAS compared with CSA, and the application of MIAS in “real-life” general practice

Stratigraphy and paleoenvironments of the early to middle Holocene Chipalamawamba Beds (Malawi Basin, Africa)

We describe the Chipalamawamba Beds, early to middle Holocene deposits at the southern margin of long-lived Lake Malawi. The beds are exposed because of downcutting of the upper Shire River. The Chipalamawamba sediments are medium to coarse, yellow to brown sands deposited in lenses varying in horizontal extent from a few meters to several hundreds of meters. Four units are recognized; the first three mainly contain lacustrine sediments deposited during lake high stands about 10.6–9.7 cal ka BP (Unit 1), 7.6–6.5 cal ka BP (Unit 2) and 5.9–5.3 cal ka BP (Unit 3). Sediments of Unit 4 overlay Units 1 to 3, are coarser and display regular foresets and oblique-bedding, suggesting deposition in riverine environments after installation of the Shire River (~ 5.5–5.0 ka BP). Freshwater mollusk assemblages and bioturbation regularly occur in the lacustrine sediments, but are largely absent from Unit 4. Diverse and often contradicting hypotheses on the lake levels of Lake Malawi have been proposed for the early and middle Holocene. The Chipalamawamba Beds allow straightforward recognition of water levels and provide strong evidence for oscillating lake levels during this period, rather than continuous high or low levels. Sedimentation rates have been high and individual shell beds have typically been deposited during a few decades. Because the Chipalamawamba Beds contain a sequence of mollusk assemblages with intervals between subsequent shell beds ranging from a century to a few millennia, they enable paleontological analysis of the fauna with an unusually high temporal resolution. That some mollusk lineages inhabiting Lake Malawi are in the early stages of diversification and radiation increases the paleobiological relevance of these beds

A low-energy rate-adaptive bit-interleaved passive optical network

Energy consumption of customer premises equipment (CPE) has become a serious issue in the new generations of time-division multiplexing passive optical networks, which operate at 10 Gb/s or higher. It is becoming a major factor in global network energy consumption, and it poses problems during emergencies when CPE is battery-operated. In this paper, a low-energy passive optical network (PON) that uses a novel bit-interleaving downstream protocol is proposed. The details about the network architecture, protocol, and the key enabling implementation aspects, including dynamic traffic interleaving, rate-adaptive descrambling of decimated traffic, and the design and implementation of a downsampling clock and data recovery circuit, are described. The proposed concept is shown to reduce the energy consumption for protocol processing by a factor of 30. A detailed analysis of the energy consumption in the CPE shows that the interleaving protocol reduces the total energy consumption of the CPE significantly in comparison to the standard 10 Gb/s PON CPE. Experimental results obtained from measurements on the implemented CPE prototype confirm that the CPE consumes significantly less energy than the standard 10 Gb/s PON CPE

Evolution of antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolates from pigs in Belgium

The aim of the present study was to investigate the antimicrobial sensitivity of Salmonella isolates from pigs between 2011 and 2015. In total, 275 Salmonella isolates from samples originating from pigs sent in for diagnostic examination at Animal Health Care Flanders were tested for their sensitivity against different antimicrobials. Except for colistin, where the disk prediffusion test was used, the disk diffusion test was used. E. coli ATCC 25922 was used as reference isolate and the interpretative breakpoints were based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute

Local strain variation in the plies of a satin weave composite: experimental vs. numerical

Along with the advantages of multi directional load carrying capabilities, the complicated interlacing pattern of the yarns in a textile composite produce large stress – strain gradients. The stress-strain behavior in a textile composite is influenced by: a) stacking sequence; b) number of plies in the laminate; c) distance of the ply to the surface [1]. From the numerical perspective, the investigation of the free edge and free surface effects in a textile composite unit cell [2] reveals that the local stress behavior changes considerably depending upon the finite/ infinite conditions used for the unit cell FE analysis. In the above context, to capture the variation in local parameters such as strain and damage profiles at different locations (inside/surface) of the satin weave composite under the tensile load, experimental techniques such as strain mapping, Fibre Brag Grating sensors (FBG’s) and the microscopic analysis is used. For the numerical validation, different unit cell stacking models with appropriate boundary conditions are used for the FE analysis. Comparison of the numerical and experimental results (Table 1) provides valuable information regarding the local strain variation (from edge to the centre) in a satin weave composite (Figure 1). In the similar guide lines, local damage variation is also studied using different unit cell stacks

Micro-CT-scanning as a valuable source of data for musculoskeletal studies in biology

Over time, so-called classic biological studies (such as anatomical studies) have evolved into modern, highly integrated strategies tackling important questions in evolutionary biology. Where early morphologists limited themselves to descriptions based on dissections, non-invasive imaging techniques nowadays allow to uncover details of anatomy in a way that morphologists can go far beyond basic and descriptive anatomy, e.g. through modelling. In this presentation, an overview is presented on some on-going research projects that rely on X-ray tomography data, which focus on the adaptive evolution of musculoskeletal systems in different vertebrate lineages. Cases discussed are (1) a study on the cranial anatomical diversity and functional implications in the feeding apparatus in seahorses, (2) as well as multi-body modelling of the tail system in these fishes; and (3) structural diversity in Darwin’s finches in relation to high performance seed cracking. These cases clearly show the (still not fully explored) potential for testing specific hypotheses with respect to adaptive evolution, where X-ray tomography provides the tools to model experimental conditions that are impossible to achieve with live specimens (e.g. perfect control of specific parameters)

Continuous low- to moderate-intensity exercise training is as effective as moderate- to high-intensity exercise training at lowering blood HbA1c in obese type 2 diabetes patients

Aims/hypothesis: Exercise represents an effective interventional strategy to improve glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes patients. However, the impact of exercise intensity on the benefits of exercise training remains to be established. In the present study, we compared the clinical benefits of 6 months of continuous low- to moderate-intensity exercise training with those of continuous moderate- to high-intensity exercise training, matched for energy expenditure, in obese type 2 diabetes patients. Methods: Fifty male obese type 2 diabetes patients (age 59∈±∈8 years, BMI 32∈± ∈4 kg/m2) participated in a 6 month continuous endurance-type exercise training programme. All participants performed three supervised exercise sessions per week, either 55 min at 50% of whole body peak oxygen uptake left(VO2peak) (low to moderate intensity) or 40 min at 75% of VO2peak (moderate to high intensity). Oral glucose tolerance, blood glycated haemoglobin, lipid profile, body composition, maximal workload capacity, whole body and skeletal muscle oxidative capacity and skeletal muscle fibre type composition were assessed before and after 2 and 6 months of intervention. Results: The entire 6 month intervention programme was completed by 37 participants. Continuous endurance-type exercise training reduced blood glycated haemoglobin levels, LDL-cholesterol concentrations, body weight and leg fat mass, and increased VO2peak, lean muscle mass and skeletal muscle cytochrome c oxidase and citrate synthase activity (p∈<∈0. 05). No differences were observed between the groups training at low to moderate or moderate to high intensity. Conclusions/interpretation: When matched for energy cost, prolonged continuous low- to moderate-intensity endurance-type exercise training is equally effective as continuous moderate- to high-intensity training in lowering blood glycated haemoglobin and increasing whole body and skeletal muscle oxidative capacity in obese type 2 diabetes patients. © 2009 Springer-Verlag

Beyond 'Trimming the fat': the sub-editing stage of newswriting

Thus far, professional editing has not been researched extensively in writing research. This article zooms in on sub-editing in newswriting as a form of professional editing, addressing three research questions: (a) What are the ways in which a news article's text is altered?, (b) Are some types of news article altered more significantly than others?, and (c) Are certain news article sections more prone to alterations? Merging the contextualized insights of fieldwork with a corpus-based discourse analytic research perspective, we trace the differences (viz. additions, deletions, translocations, replacements) between the initial (right before sub-editing) and final (published) version of six different types of news article, (frontpage, headline, long, medium, short, and news wire article) in a corpus sample of 30 broadsheet articles. Our findings are first thatcontrary to popular belief that sub-editors mainly hack away at news stories, or merely trim the fatadditions prevail. Second, we found that most interventions occur in high-stakes articles. Third, we discovered the largest number of interventions in the entry points of an article, that is, whereaccording to eye-tracking researchreaders stop scanning and start reading. We discuss our findings in the light of training for professional newswriters