introduction: developmental changes in atrioventricular nodal conduction time and refractoriness have been shown in several studies. prevalence of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (avnrt) is clearly age-dependent. the purpose of this study was to determine developmental changes of basic and frequency-dependent electrophysiological properties of the atrioventricular node (av-node) in...

The values of quark condensate and tensor susceptibility of QCD vacuum are calculated with different number of flavors. It is shown that, the values of tensor susceptibility are obviously dependent on the flavor numbers while the flavor-number dependence of quark condensate is undetermined. PACS : 11.15.Tk; 11.30.Fs; 12.38.Aw; 12.38.Lg

Using scanning SQUID susceptometry, the authors measure local magnetic response of arrays proximity-coupled superconducting nanoislands with engineered spatial disorder. The measurements, along detailed numerical simulations, reveal a susceptibility that is nonlinear, spatially inhomogeneous, and strongly dependent on This work demonstrates design, control, measurement model system to simulate ...

Although lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation through the Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4/MD-2 receptor complex activates host defense against Gram-negative bacterial pathogens, how species-specific differences in LPS recognition impact host defense remains undefined. Herein, we establish how temperature dependent shifts in the lipid A of Yersinia pestis LPS that differentially impact recognition by...

Susceptibility testing for Aspergillus fumigatus is usually performed using a fungal conidial suspension. However, assessment of the susceptibility of fungal hyphae may be more relevant in attempting to mimic the fungal status in infected tissues. In the present study of 12 A. fumigatus clinical isolates and 1 ATCC strain, the antifungal susceptibilities of conidial suspensions, suspensions of ...

BACKGROUND Vascular aneurysm is an abnormal local dilatation of an artery that can lead to vessel rupture and sudden death. The only treatment involves surgical or endovascular repair or exclusion. There is currently no approved medical therapy for this condition. Recent data established a strong association between genetic variants in the 9p21 chromosomal region in humans and the presence of c...

Genetic factors are known to contribute to seizure susceptibility, although the long-term effects of these predisposing factors on neuronal viability remain unclear. To examine the consequences of genetic factors conferring increased seizure susceptibility, we surveyed a class of Drosophila mutants that exhibit seizures and paralysis following mechanical stimulation. These bang-sensitive seizur...

In a coral-algae symbiotic system, heat-dependent photoinhibition of photosystem II (PSII) leads to coral bleaching. When the reef-building coral Acropora digitifera was exposed to light, a moderate increase of temperature induced coral bleaching through photobleaching of algal pigments, but not through expulsion of symbiotic algae. Monitoring of PSII photoinhibition revealed that heat-dependen...