OBJECTIVES We sought to compare left ventricular (LV) systolic stiffness and contractility in normal subjects, hypertensive patients without heart failure, and patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and to determine whether LV systolic stiffness or myocardial contractility is associated with the rate of mortality in patients with HFpEF. BACKGROUND Arterial load is...

OBJECTIVES Post-transplantation hypertension is prevalent and is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and subsequent graft dysfunction. The present study aimed to identify the factors associated with arterial stiffness as measured by the ambulatory arterial stiffness index. METHODS The current study used a prospective, observational, analytical design to evaluate a group of adul...

this research was conducted in order to evaluate fatigue behavior of asphalt mixes containing electric arc furnace (eaf) steel slag. after initial evaluation of the properties of eaf steel slag using x-ray diffraction (xrd) and scanning electric microscope (sem), six sets of laboratory mixtures were prepared. each set were treated replacing various portions of limestone aggregates of the mix wi...

Cells from many different tissues sense the stiffness and spatial patterning of their microenvironment to modulate their shape and cortical stiffness. It is currently unknown how substrate stiffness, cell shape, and cell stiffness modulate or interact with one another. Here, we use microcontact printing and microfabricated arrays of elastomeric posts to independently and simultaneously control ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Large vessels are also affected in sickle cell disease. The aim of this study was to assess several parameters in adult patients with sickle cell disease compared with control subjects and in patients with sickle cell disease with stroke. METHODS Carotid arterial stiffness, intima-media thickness, and transcranial Doppler ultrasonography were measured. RESULTS Arteria...

" The brain's motor control can be studied by characterizing the activity of spinal motor nuclei to brain control, expressed as motor unit activity recordable by surface electrodes " [1]. When a specific area is under consideration, the first step in investigation of the motor control system pertinent to it is the system identification of that specific body part or area. The aim of this researc...

Adult Brown Norway (BN) rats exhibit numerous internal elastic lamina (IEL) ruptures in the abdominal aorta (AA) and a lower aortic elastin-to-collagen ratio (E/C) compared with other strains. We studied here AA mechanical properties in BN compared with control strains. AA stiffness (assessed by plotting elastic modulus/wall-stress curves obtained under anesthesia), thoracic aorta elastin and c...