BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine whether the myocardial electrophysiological properties are useful for predicting changes in the ventricular fibrillatory pattern. METHODS AND RESULTS Thirty-two Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts were used to record ventricular fibrillatory activity with an epicardial multiple electrode. Under control conditions and after flecainide, verap...

BACKGROUND/STUDY AIM  Linked color imaging (LCI) by a laser endoscope (Fujifilm Co, Tokyo, Japan) is a novel narrow band light observation. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether LCI could improve the visibility of colorectal polyps using endoscopic videos. PATIENTS AND METHODS  We prospectively recorded videos of consecutive polyps 2 - 20 mm in size diagnosed as neoplastic polyps. Th...

INTRODUCTION A prospective study to evaluate the reliability of cystoscopy was performed with fluorescence (photodynamic diagnosis, PDD) compared with standard white light (WL) cystoscopy in patients with solitary carcinoma in situ (CIS), undergoing BCG treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between February 2004 and March 2006, 49 patients suffering from CIS were enrolled in the study. Patients ag...

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of working length (WL) measurements by using the Root ZX II, Apex NRG XFR, and Mini Apex Locator with rotary nickel-titanium (NiTi) instruments. METHODS Twenty-eight teeth had their WLs determined with each electronic apex locator (EAL) by using 0.04 taper ProFiles sizes 40-20 in a crown-down technique until WL was reached. Fo...

Background: Computed tomography (CT) and bronchoscopy have been shown to improve the detection rates of peripheral and central lung cancers (LC), respectively. However, the performance of the combination of CT and bronchoscopy in detecting LC, in high-risk patients, is not clear. Patients & Methods: This prospective study included 205 high-risk patients with a history of at least 2 of the follo...

A general representation of the quaternion gradients presented in the literature is proposed, and an universal update equation for QLMS-like algorithms is obtained. The general update law is used to study the convergence of widely linear (WL) algorithms. It is proved that techniques obtained with a gradient similar to the i-gradient are the fastest-converging in two situations: 1) When the corr...

AIM To evaluate and determine intracanal temperature rises at 2 and 4 mm from the working length (WL) necessary to obtain proper replication of intracanal anatomy with gutta-percha (GP) using the System B heat source during vertical condensation. METHODOLOGY A split-tooth model was prepared and artificial shallow depressions were cut in the buccal canal wall 2 and 4 mm from the WL. At the sam...

BACKGROUND Dombrock blood group system genotyping has revealed various rearrangements of the Dombrock gene and identified new variant alleles in Brazil (i.e., DO*A-SH, DO*A-WL and DO*B-WL). Because of the high heterogeneity of the Brazilian population, interregional differences are expected during the investigation of Dombrock genotypes. OBJECTIVE The present study aims to determine the frequ...

CONTEXT When weight loss (WL) is needed, it is recommended that athletes do it gradually by 0.5-1 kg/wk through moderate energy restriction. However, the effect of WL rate on long-term changes in body composition (BC) and performance has not been investigated in elite athletes. PURPOSE To compare changes in body mass (BM), fat mass (FM), lean body mass (LBM), and performance 6 and 12 mo after...