39 research outputs found
Three-dimensional echocardiography in coronary artery disease
Two-dimensional echocardiography has
proven to be a very useful tool in the
evaluation of global and regional left ventricular
function in patients with coronary
artcry disease. It has also been used in recognizing
viable versus non-viable myocardium,
combined with exercise or pharmacological
stress. Recent development in
transpulmonary ultrasound contrast agents
inspired new interest in the cardiologists in
myocardial perfusion imaging. Though most
agents have proven helpful in (a few agents,
including Optison and Leovist
, have
been approved for clinical application in
several continents) left ventricular border
delineation, their roles in myocardial perfusion
imaging has not been studied extensively.
The ability of two-dimensional
methods in accurate assessment of the site
and extent of wall motion and perfusion
abnormalities is limited to the use of a few
selected cross-sectional views of the left
ventricle and employment of geometric assumptions
of the ventricular cavity and
walls. This leads to source of errors in
quantitative studies of non-symmetric ventricles
such as those undergone myocardial
infarction and geometric remodeling. Twodimensional
echocardiography is also limited
in the evaluation of the mechanism of
and in quantifying the severity of mitral
regurgitation in patients with ischemic heart
diseasc. Other complications of ischemic
heart disease such as intracardiac thrombus
can be diagnosed by two-dimensional echocardiography,
but a more reproducible technique,
such as three-dimensional echocardiography,
may provide more reliable data on
the therapeutic results in serial follow-up
studies. Imaging of the blood vessels inc1uding coronary and carotid arteries has
been relied mainly on invasive techniques.
Two-dimensional ultrasound has shown
limited promises in vascular imaging.
Both the heart and the blood vessels are
three-dimensional structures. An ideal approach
in accurate and comprehensive examination
of the heart and blood vessels is
one that can collect volumetric information
of the heart or vessels and is able to display
them in three dimensions. Threedimensional
echocardiography has demonstrated
its superiority over two-dimensional
methods in quantification of chamber volumes
and function and in display of congenital
or valvular abnormalities. Its role in
the evaluation of coronary artery disease has
not been fully explored.
The purpose of this thesis was to examine
the potential of three-dimensional echocardiography
in qualitative and quantitative
evaluation of coronary artery disease and
related abnormalities
Taxonomic studies of the hydras
9 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 9).Description of Hydra cauliculata, new species -- Further notes on Hydra littoralis Hyman, 1931 -- Distributional notes on other species
Genetic Interactions with Age, Sex, Body Mass Index, and Hypertension in Relation to Atrial Fibrillation: The AFGen Consortium
It is unclear whether genetic markers interact with risk factors to influence atrial fibrillation (AF) risk. We performed genome-wide interaction analyses between genetic variants and age, sex, hypertension, and body mass index in the AFGen Consortium. Study-specific results were combined using meta-analysis (88,383 individuals of European descent, including 7,292 with AF). Variants with nominal interaction associations in the discovery analysis were tested for association in four independent studies (131,441 individuals, including 5,722 with AF). In the discovery analysis, the AF risk associated with the minor rs6817105 allele (at the PITX2 locus) was greater among subjects ≤ 65 years of age than among those > 65 years (interaction p-value = 4.0 × 10-5). The interaction p-value exceeded genome-wide significance in combined discovery and replication analyses (interaction p-value = 1.7 × 10-8). We observed one genome-wide significant interaction with body mass index and several suggestive interactions with age, sex, and body mass index in the discovery analysis. However, none was replicated in the independent sample. Our findings suggest that the pathogenesis of AF may differ according to age in individuals of European descent, but we did not observe evidence of statistically significant genetic interactions with sex, body mass index, or hypertension on AF risk