Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is well established and considered the gold standard for assessing myocardial volumes and function, and for quantifying myocardial fibrosis in both ischemic ...and nonischemic heart disease. Recent developments in CMR imaging techniques are enabling clinically-feasible rapid parametric mapping of myocardial perfusion and magnetic relaxation properties (T1 , T2 , and T2 * relaxation times) that are further expanding the range of unique tissue parameters that can be assessed using CMR. To generate a parametric map of perfusion or relaxation times, multiple images of the same region of the myocardium are acquired with different sensitivity to the parameter of interest, and the signal intensities of these images are fit to a model which describes the underlying physiology or relaxation parameters. The parametric map is an image of the fitted perfusion parameters or relaxation times. Parametric mapping requires acquisition of multiple images typically within a breath-hold and thus requires specialized rapid acquisition techniques. Quantitative perfusion imaging techniques can more accurately determine the extent of myocardial ischemia in coronary artery disease and provide the opportunity to evaluate microvascular disease with CMR. T1 mapping techniques performed both with and without contrast are enabling quantification of diffuse myocardial fibrosis and myocardial infiltration. Myocardial edema and inflammation can be evaluated using T2 mapping techniques. T2 * mapping provides an assessment of myocardial iron-overload and myocardial hemorrhage. There is a growing body of evidence for the clinical utility of quantitative assessment of perfusion and relaxation times, although current techniques still have some important limitations. This article will review the current imaging technologies for parametric mapping, emerging applications, current limitations, and potential of CMR parametric mapping of the myocardium. The specific focus will be the assessment and quantification of myocardial perfusion and magnetic relaxation times.
ABSTRACT
We present high-cadence multifrequency radio observations of the long gamma-ray burst (GRB) 190829A, which was detected at photon energies above 100 GeV by the High Energy Stereoscopic ...System (H.E.S.S.). Observations with the Meer Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT, 1.3 GHz) and Arcminute Microkelvin Imager – Large Array (AMI-LA, 15.5 GHz) began one day post-burst and lasted nearly 200 d. We used complementary data from Swift X-Ray Telescope (XRT), which ran to 100 d post-burst. We detected a likely forward shock component with both MeerKAT and XRT up to over 100 d post-burst. Conversely, the AMI-LA light curve appears to be dominated by reverse shock emission until around 70 d post-burst when the afterglow flux drops below the level of the host galaxy. We also present previously unpublished observations of the other H.E.S.S.-detected GRB, GRB 180720B from AMI-LA, which shows likely forward shock emission that fades in less than 10 d. We present a comparison between the radio emission from the three GRBs with detected very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission and a sensitivity-limited radio afterglow sample. GRB 190829A has the lowest isotropic radio luminosity of any GRB in our sample, but the distribution of luminosities is otherwise consistent, as expected, with the VHE GRBs being drawn from the same parent distribution as the other radio-detected long GRBs.
Nudging to improve hand hygiene Caris, M.G.; Labuschagne, H.A.; Dekker, M. ...
The Journal of hospital infection,
April 2018, 2018-Apr, 2018-04-00, 20180401, Letnik:
98, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Hand hygiene is paramount to prevent healthcare-associated infections, but improving compliance is challenging. When healthcare workers seldom encounter healthcare-associated infections, they will ...consider the odds of causing infections through poor hand hygiene negligible. Cognitive biases such as these may induce non-compliance. Nudging, ‘a friendly push to encourage desired behaviour’, could provide an easily implemented, inexpensive measure to address cognitive biases and thus support hand hygiene interventions.
To investigate whether behavioural nudges, displayed as posters, can increase the use of alcohol-based hand rub.
We developed nudges based on a systematic review of previously described cognitive biases, and tested these through a cross-sectional survey among the target audience. We then conducted a controlled before–after trial on two hospital wards, to assess the effect of these nudges on the use of alcohol-based hand rub, measured with electronic dispensers.
Poisson regression analyses adjusted for workload showed that nudges displayed next to dispensers increased their overall use on one ward poster 1: relative risk: 1.6 (95% confidence interval: 1.2–2.2); poster 2: 1.7 (1.2–2.5) and during doctor's rounds on both wards poster 1: ward A: 1.7 (1.1–2.6); ward B: 2.2 (1.3–3.8). Use of dispensers without adjacent nudges did not increase.
Nudges based on cognitive biases that play a role in hand hygiene, and displayed as posters, could provide an easy, inexpensive measure to increase use of alcohol-based hand rub. When applying nudges to change behaviour, it is important to identify the right nudge for the right audience.
Plants resist infection and herbivory with innate immune responses that are often associated with reduced growth. Despite the importance of growth-defense tradeoffs in shaping plant productivity in ...natural and agricultural ecosystems, the molecular mechanisms that link growth and immunity are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that growth-defense tradeoffs mediated by the hormone jasmonate are uncoupled in an Arabidopsis mutant (jazQ phyB) lacking a quintet of Jasmonate ZIM-domain transcriptional repressors and the photoreceptor phyB. Analysis of epistatic interactions between jazQ and phyB reveal that growth inhibition associated with enhanced anti-insect resistance is likely not caused by diversion of photoassimilates from growth to defense but rather by a conserved transcriptional network that is hardwired to attenuate growth upon activation of jasmonate signalling. The ability to unlock growth-defense tradeoffs through relief of transcription repression provides an approach to assemble functional plant traits in new and potentially useful ways.
Members of the heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptor (GPCR) family play key roles in many physiological functions and are extensively exploited ...pharmacologically to treat diseases. Many of the diverse effects of individual GPCRs on cellular physiology are transduced by heterotrimeric G proteins, which are composed of α, β, and γ subunits. GPCRs interact with and stimulate the binding of guanosine triphosphate (GTP) to the α subunit to initiate signaling. Mammalian genomes encode 16 different G protein α subunits, each one of which has distinct properties. We developed a single-platform, optical strategy to monitor G protein activation in live cells. With this system, we profiled the coupling ability of individual GPCRs for different α subunits, simultaneously quantifying the magnitude of the signal and the rates at which the receptors activated the G proteins. We found that individual receptors engaged multiple G proteins with varying efficacy and kinetics, generating fingerprint-like profiles. Different classes of GPCR ligands, including full and partial agonists, allosteric modulators, and antagonists, distinctly affected these fingerprints to functionally bias GPCR signaling. Finally, we showed that intracellular signaling modulators further altered the G protein-coupling profiles of GPCRs, which suggests that their differential abundance may alter signaling outcomes in a cell-specific manner. These observations suggest that the diversity of the effects of GPCRs on cellular physiology may be determined by their differential engagement of multiple G proteins, coupling to which produces signals with varying signal magnitudes and activation kinetics, properties that may be exploited pharmacologically.
Common envelope (CE) phases in binary systems where the primary star reaches the tip of the red giant branch are discussed as a formation scenario for hot subluminous B-type (sdB) stars. For some of ...these objects, observations point to very low-mass companions. In hydrodynamical CE simulations with the moving-mesh code
AREPO
, we test whether low-mass objects can successfully unbind the envelope. The success of envelope removal in our simulations critically depends on whether or not the ionization energy released by recombination processes in the expanding material is taken into account. If this energy is thermalized locally, envelope ejection eventually leading to the formation of an sdB star is possible with companion masses down to the brown dwarf range. For even lower companion masses approaching the regime of giant planets, however, envelope removal becomes increasingly difficult or impossible to achieve. Our results are consistent with current observational constraints on companion masses of sdB stars. Based on a semi-analytic model, we suggest a new criterion for the lowest companion mass that is capable of triggering a dynamical response of the primary star thus potentially facilitating the ejection of a CE. This gives an estimate consistent with the findings of our hydrodynamical simulations.
Abstract
We describe the Survey for Pulsars and Extragalactic Radio Bursts (SUPERB), an ongoing pulsar and fast transient survey using the Parkes radio telescope. SUPERB involves real-time ...acceleration searches for pulsars and single-pulse searches for pulsars and fast radio bursts. We report on the observational set-up, data analysis, multiwavelength/messenger connections, survey sensitivities to pulsars and fast radio bursts and the impact of radio frequency interference. We further report on the first 10 pulsars discovered in the project. Among these is PSR J1306−40, a millisecond pulsar in a binary system where it appears to be eclipsed for a large fraction of the orbit. PSR J1421−4407 is another binary millisecond pulsar; its orbital period is 30.7 d. This orbital period is in a range where only highly eccentric binaries are known, and expected by theory; despite this its orbit has an eccentricity of 10−5.
Abstract
After spending almost a decade in a radio-quiet state, the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar XTE J1810–197 turned back on in early 2018 December. We have observed this radio magnetar at 1.5 GHz with ...nearly daily cadence since the first detection of radio re-activation on 2018 December 8. In this paper, we report on the current timing properties of XTE J1810–197 and find that the magnitude of the spin frequency derivative has increased by a factor of 2.6 over our 48-d data set. We compare our results with the spin-down evolution reported during its previous active phase in the radio band. We also present total intensity pulse profiles at five different observing frequencies between 1.5 and 8.4 GHz, collected with the Lovell and the Effelsberg telescopes. The profile evolution in our data set is less erratic than what was reported during the previous active phase, and can be seen varying smoothly between observations. Profiles observed immediately after the outburst show the presence of at least five cycles of a very stable ∼50 ms periodicity in the main pulse component that lasts for at least tens of days. This remarkable structure is seen across the full range of observing frequencies.
Recent clinical evidence identified anemia to be correlated with severe complications of cardiovascular disease (CVD) such as bleeding, thromboembolic events, stroke, hypertension, arrhythmias, and ...inflammation, particularly in elderly patients. The underlying mechanisms of these complications are largely unidentified. Recent Advances: Previously, red blood cells (RBCs) were considered exclusively as transporters of oxygen and nutrients to the tissues. More recent experimental evidence indicates that RBCs are important interorgan communication systems with additional functions, including participation in control of systemic nitric oxide metabolism, redox regulation, blood rheology, and viscosity. In this article, we aim to revise and discuss the potential impact of these noncanonical functions of RBCs and their dysfunction in the cardiovascular system and in anemia.
The mechanistic links between changes of RBC functional properties and cardiovascular complications related to anemia have not been untangled so far.
To allow a better understanding of the complications associated with anemia in CVD, basic and translational science studies should be focused on identifying the role of noncanonical functions of RBCs in the cardiovascular system and on defining intrinsic and/or systemic dysfunction of RBCs in anemia and its relationship to CVD both in animal models and clinical settings. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 26, 718-742.
The present work aims to enhance the energy efficiency of water supply networks by investigating technical and economical feasibility of energy recovery plants at low installed capacities. A cost ...effective stainless steel machine is investigated in pump and turbine operation and established conversion methods are used for predicting the best efficiency point of the turbine. The obtained results show a reasonable agreement of the BEP, but experimental investigations are still indispensable for a determination of complete Q-H-characteristics.
The hydraulic machine is implemented in field at the transfer shaft of a high-level tank and valuable data concerning investment costs and water hammer have been collected. A proposed cost classification scheme will facilitate the acquisition of investment costs for further applications. The economic profitability of the hydropower plant is evaluated by the net present value method and the obtained results give incentives to exploit unused energy recovery potential within water supply systems.
•Technical and economical feasibility of energy recovery plants at low capacities.•Investigation of a reverse running stainless steel pump in laboratory and field.•Detailed discussion on conversion methods from pump to turbine mode.•New cost classification scheme facilitates the acquisition of investment costs.•Incentives for the exploitation of unused energy recovery potential.
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