Recent studies have shown that myocardial oxygen consumption does not proportionally decrease with the deterioration of contractile function in stunned myocardium. To investigate this disproportion, we studied the end-systolic pressure-volume relation and the relation between oxygen consumption per beat (Vo2) and systolic pressure-volume area (PVA, a measure of total mechanical energy) in stunn...

Nanotechnology provides new opportunities in human medicine, mainly for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. The autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is often diagnosed after irreversible joint structural damage has occurred. There is an urgent need for a very early diagnosis of RA, which can be achieved by more sensitive imaging methods. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO...

Background. Left ventricular mechanical efficiency is one of the most important measures of left ventricular pump performance. Several clinical studies, however, have shown that mechanical efficiency does not fall substantially as the heart fails. To clarify the insensitivity of mechanical efficiency to the change in pump performance, we analyzed human left ventricular mechanical efficiency, ap...

In this work, we report the fabrication and cell affinity studies of the poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/hyaluronic acid (HA) cross-linked nanofibers via electrospinning and post cross-linking. FT-IR and TGA analysis demonstrate that HA is not influenced by acid environment such as HCl vapor during cross-linking, and well incorporated into PVA nanofibers. Swelling behavior and cell adhesion of the P...

Poly(vinyl alcohol)-heparin hydrogels with varying water content were synthesized for use as sensor catheter membranes. Films were cast from aqueous mixtures of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), a photosensitive cross-linker p-diazonium diphenyl amine polymer (PA), glutaraldehyde (GA) and heparin. After drying, the films were cross-linked by successive UV irradiation and heat treatment. To get an indi...

We previously found the frequency distribution of the left ventricular (LV) effective afterload elastance (E(a)) of arrhythmic beats to be nonnormal or non-Gaussian in contrast to the normal distribution of the LV end-systolic elastance (E(max)) in canine in situ LVs during electrically induced atrial fibrillation (AF). These two mechanical variables determine the total mechanical energy [systo...

Our previous research showed that poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanoparticles incorporating DNA with hydrogen bonds obtained by high hydrostatic pressurization are able to deliver DNA without any significant cytotoxicity. To enhance transfection efficiency of PVA/DNA nanoparticles, we describe a novel method to prepare PVA/DNA nanoparticles encapsulating nanoscaled hydroxyapatites (HAps) prepared b...

Recent studies have shown that myocardial oxygen consumption does not proportionally decrease with the deterioration of contractile function in stunned myocardium. To investigate this disproportion, we studied the end-systolic pressure-volume relation and the relation between oxygen consumption per beat (VO2) and systolic pressure-volume area (PVA, a measure of total mechanical energy) in stunn...

Metal-organic frameworks (MOF), potentially porous coordination structures, are envisioned for adsorption-based natural gas (ANG) storage, including mobile applications. The factors affecting the performance of ANG system with a zirconium-based MOF benzene dicarboxylic acid as linker (ZrBDC) an adsorbent were considered: textural properties and thermal effect arising upon adsorption. high-densi...

Poplitealvenous aneurysms (PVA) are associated with deep venous thrombosis and recurrentpulmonary thromboembolism (PE). We report three cases of PVA. In all three patients the first sign of PVA was acute PE; in one case, the PE was recurrent. Computed tomography and duplex ultrasonography revealed not only PE but also popliteal venous dilatation with thrombus. Surgical reconstruction was perfor...