In the setting of suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI), a cardiologist needs to know three things: (1) whether there is actually an ongoing infarction, (2) whether reperfusion therapy has succeeded, and (3) how much myocardium was salvaged by reperfusion. Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) can answer the first question by demonstrating the presence of a perfusion defect resulting...

BACKGROUND We aimed to investigate the cardiac effects of left bundle-branch block (LBBB) using myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) to ascertain the value of MCE for detecting coronary artery disease (CAD) and to uncover the mechanism that affects the accuracy of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in these patients. METHODS AND RESULTS Sixty-three symptomatic LBBB patie...

BACKGROUND During coronary stenosis, flow reserve in the adjacent nonstenotic bed decreases, but the microvascular mechanisms are unknown. Because myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) assesses microvascular physiology, we used it to relate flow reserve to intramyocardial blood volume in the adjacent bed. METHODS AND RESULTS A noncritical left anterior descending (LAD) stenosis was creat...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of dried Momordica charantia aqueous extracts (MCA) and ethanol extracts (MCE) on obesity and lipid profiles in mice fed a high-fat diet. MATERIALS/METHODS Forty two ICR mice were randomly divided into six groups. The normal group was fed a basal diet, and other groups were fed a 45% high-fat diet (HFD) for 7 wee...

BACKGROUND Despite successful reperfusion therapy of acute myocardial infarction and complete restoration of infarct-related artery patency, the improvement of systolic function in long-term outcome depends on preserved microvasculature integrity. Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) is a useful technique for identification of viable myocardium. AIM To assess the value of real-time myoc...

1 Department of Geography, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK, Tel +44 (0)116 252 3812, Fax +44 (0)116 252 3854, 2 School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT 3 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361, Laxenburg, Austria Tel +43 (0)2236 807 0, Fax: +43 (0)2236 71 313 4 Centre for Mountain Studies, Perth College-UHI, Perth, PH1 2NX, ...

Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) is a relatively new technique that utilises the intravascular injection of microbubbles of air.' As these bubbles traverse the coronary microcirculation, they produce myocardial opacification that can be seen and measured. During their transit through the myocardium these bubbles remain entirely within the intravascular space and, if they are small, th...

Magnetocaloric effect (MCE) and thermal conductivity of two gadolinium hydroxides, Gd(OH)3 (1) and Gd2O(OH)4(H2O)2 (2), are investigated. Magnetic studies indicate that both 1 and 2 exhibit antiferromagnetic interaction, and the MCE values for 1 and 2 at 2 K and ΔH = 7 T are 62.00 J kg(-1) K(-1) and 59.09 J kg(-1) K(-1), respectively. Investigation of their thermal conductivity reveals that the...

Multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) is perhaps the most fundamental of decision support operations in geographical information systems (GIS). This paper reviews two main MCE approaches employed in GIS, namely Boolean and Weighted Linear Combination (WLC), and discusses issues and problems associated with both. To resolve the conceptual di€ erences between the two approaches, this paper proposes the...