Functional Assessment for Congenital Heart Disease

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Circulating annexin A5 levels after atrial switch for transposition of the great arteries: relationship with ventricular deformation and geometry

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Vascular health late after Kawasaki disease: implications for accelerated atherosclerosis

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Investigative study on the development of a green UWB antenna

Copyright @ 2010 ISA

Vascular mechanics at Rest and During Exercise after Arterial Switch Operation for Complete Transposition of the Great Arteries

Free Paper Session: Paediatric Cardiology 1published_or_final_versio

An antenna for UWB and Bluetooth standards with band-notched characteristic

This paper presents the design and results of a small size, integrated Bluetooth and Ultrawideband (UWB) planar monopole antenna with a band-notched characteristic in the WLAN band. The antenna consists of a dual-ring radiator as the primary radiation element for the Bluetooth and UWB bands and a complementary split-ring resonator (CSRR) to produce a notched characteristic at the center frequency of 5.5GHz. The return loss, voltage-standing-wave ratio (VSWR), radiation pattern and peak gain of the antenna are studied by computer simulation and verified by measurements which agree well with the simulation results. © 2009 IEEE.published_or_final_versionThe 2009 IEEE International Conference on Ultra-Wideband (ICUWB 2009), Vancouver, BC., 9-11 September 2009. In Proceedings of ICUWB, 2009, p. 170-17

Microbial-flora of root canals at the time of root filling and the outcome of treatment

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Effects of ground-plane size on planar UWB monopole antenna

Planar monopole antennas have found widespread applications in wireless communication systems. Their advantages of compact size, omnidirectional radiation pattern and wide impedance bandwidth make them good candidates for the designs of ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas. This paper investigates the effects of the dimensions of the rectangular ground-plane on the return loss and efficiency of an elliptical planar monopole antenna for UWB applications. Computer simulation and measurement are carried out on a group of nine antennas with different rectangular ground plane sizes. The simulated and measured results on return loss agree well. However, the simulated and measured efficiencies do not agree well in the lower UWB band. The measured efficiency shows that the efficiency is affected more by the width rather than by the length of the ground plane while the length of the ground plane affects the lower cutoff frequency. © 2010 IEEE.published_or_final_versionThe 2010 IEEE Region 10 International Conference (TENCON 2010), Fukuoka, Japan, 21-24 November 2010. In TENCON (IEEE Region 10 Conference) Proceedings, 2010, p. 422-42

Progressive pulmonary hypertension in cyanotic congenital heart disease with severe pulmonary stenosis

We report the progressive development of pulmonary hypertension despite the presence of severe pulmonary stenosis in three patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease. The associated intracardiac lesions were complete transposition with a ventricular septal defect, double outlet right ventricle, and a heart with univentricular atrioventricular connection, respectively. Serial measurements on hemodynamics andhistological findings documented the progression of pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary vascular diseases. The underlying etiology remains speculative. In view of the possibility of development of pulmonary hypertension despite a 'protected' pulmonary vasculature, corrective surgery should be contemplated as soon as technically feasible. © World Publishers Incorporated.published_or_final_versio

New two-dimensional global longitudinal strain and strain rate imaging for assessment of systemic right ventricular function

Objectives: To determine the usefulness of new two-dimensional strain indices, based on speckle tracking imaging, for assessment of systemic right ventricular (RV) function after an atrial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Tertiary paediatric cardiac centre. Methods: 26 patients, mean (SD) age 21.0 (3.6) years at 19.9 (3.2) years after an atrial switch operation, and 27 age-matched controls were studied. Two-dimensional imaging at the four-chamber view was obtained with tracing of the entire RV endocardial border. The RV global longitudinal strain (GLS) and GLS rate were derived using automated software (EchoPAC, GE Medical) and correlated with tissue Doppler-derived RV isovolumic acceleration (IVA), and, in the patient cohort, with cardiac magnetic resonance-derived RV ejection fraction. Results: Intra- and interobserver variability for measurement of GLS, as determined from the mean (SD) of differences in two consecutive results from 20 studies, were 0.06 (1.39)% and 0.24 (1.77)%, respectively. Compared with controls, patients had lower RV GLS (17.1 (1.9)% vs 26.3 (2.9)%, p<0.001), a reduced GLS rate (0.78 (0.11)/s vs 1.33 (0.23)/s, p<0.001), lower RV IVA (1.10 (0.36) m/s 2 vs 1.56 (0.53) m/s 2, p<0.001) and increased RV myocardial performance index (0.52 (0.09) vs 0.38 (0.09), p<0.001). Both RV GLS and GLS rate correlated positively with RV IVA (r = 0.43, p = 0.001 and r = 0.46, p<0.001, respectively), and negatively with RV myocardial performance index (r = -0.65, p<0.001 and r = -0.57, p<0.001, respectively). In patients, the GLS rate correlated positively with RV ejection fraction (r = 0.62, p = 0.001). Conclusions: Two-dimensional RV GLS and GLS rate are new, potentially useful indices for assessment of systemic RV function.published_or_final_versio