17 research outputs found
“New Cardiac Devices: from adults to children”
No full textIl presente simposio internazionale, con il supporto di professionisti italiani ed europei, ognuno con comprovata esperienza non solo clinica ma anche scientifica, ha lo scopo di fornire un aggiornamento sulle più rilevanti novità in tali ambiti, di cui possono usufruire attualmente i pazienti cardiopatici. Il simposio è articolato in tutti gli ambiti che articolano l'uso dei nuovi device, dalla diagnosi, all'indicazione terapeutica, l'impianto e la gestione post-procedurale. Il convegno è indirizzato sopratutto ai cardiologi, medici di base del territorio, infermieri di cardiologia, tecnici di emodinamica e cardio-tecnici
Intra-ovarian dynamic blood flow in pseudopregnant rabbits during prostaglandin F2α-induced luteolysis
No full textContents In the present study, we evaluated the dynamic changes of intra-ovarian blood flow, by real-time colour-coded and pulsed Doppler ultrasonography, as well as the immunopresence of prostaglandin F2 (PGF2) receptor (FP) and peripheral plasma progesterone concentrations in pseudopregnant rabbit after PGF2 treatments at either early- (4days) and mid-luteal (9days) stages. During the pre-treatment observation interval of one hour, the ovarian blood flows showed a fluctuating pattern. Independently of luteal stage, PGF2 administration caused a fourfold decline in the blood flow within 40min that was followed 50min later by a reactive hyperaemia that lasted several hours, while the resistive index showed an opposite trend. Twenty-four hour later, the blood flow was one half that measured before PGF2 injection. At day 4 of pseudopregnancy, PGF2 did not affect peripheral plasma progesterone concentrations, but at day 9, it caused functional luteolysis as progesterone levels declined 6hr later to reach basal values after 24hr. The changes in the ovarian blood flows of pseudopregnant rabbits receiving PGF2 were accompanied by simultaneous changes in the resistance index. This biphasic response in the blood flow and vascular resistances likely reflects reactive hyperaemia following vasoconstriction. By immunohistochemistry, strong positive immune reaction for FP was detected in the cytoplasm of endothelial cells of ovarian arteries, veins and capillaries. In conclusion, these results suggest that PGF2 could acutely regulate the ovarian blood flow of pseudopregnant rabbits, even if there is no evidence of a blood flow reduction anticipating luteolysis
Aortic root surgery in Marfan syndrome: Bentall procedure with the composite mechanical valved conduit versus aortic valve reimplantation with Valsalva graft
No full textAbstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study is to compare mid-term results of Bentall aortic root replacement with composite mechanical valved conduit and aortic valve reimplantation procedure using the Valsalva graft for the treatment of aortic root aneurysm in patients with Marfan syndrome.
METHODS: We retrospectively compared data of 23 patients (mean age 38 + or - 14 years) who had undergone the Bentall procedure (group B) to those of 24 patients (mean age 36 + or - 12 years) who had undergone aortic valve reimplantation (group R) during a 14-year period. Follow-up (mean duration 65 + or - 44 months) was 100% complete.
RESULTS: There were no operative deaths in either group. In group B, as compared with group R, preoperative aortic insufficiency (3.2 + or - 1.1/4 vs. 1.7 + or - 1.4/4, P < 0.001), ascending aorta diameter (55.8 + or - 4.9 vs. 44.1 + or - 8.7 mm, P = 0.001) were prevailing; cardiopulmonary bypass (107 + or - 51 vs. 145 + or - 32 min, P < 0.05) and aortic cross-clamp (77 + or - 17 vs. 116 + or - 30 min, P = 0.005) times were shorter. Eight-year survival and freedom from cardiac death and reoperation were 91 + or - 6, 96 + or - 4 and 100% in group B and 100, 100 and 91 + or - 6% in group R, respectively (P = NS for all comparisons). At follow-up, echocardiography showed significant improvement of left ventricular ejection fraction (0.60 + or - 0.10 vs. 0.52 + or - 0.09 preoperatively, P = 0.01) and end-systolic diameter (34 + or - 5 vs. 47 + or - 14 mm, P = 0.001) in group B and significant reduction of preoperative aortic insufficiency (0.7 + or - 1.0/4 vs. 1.7 + or - 1.4/4, P = 0.01) and aortic annulus (24 + or - 2.4 vs. 33 + or - 5 mm, P = 0.01) in group R.
CONCLUSION: In Marfan patients, the Bentall procedure is associated with excellent mid-term outcome. The reimplantation technique, adopted for less dilated aortas, provides similarly satisfactory results. The Valsalva graft seems, with time, to allow a stable aortic valve function
Pregnancy and Fetal Development: Cephalic Presentation and Other Descriptive Ultrasonographic Findings from Clinically Healthy Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) under Human Care
No full textUltrasonography is widely used in veterinary medicine for the diagnosis of pregnancy, and can also be used to monitor abnormal pregnancies, embryonic resorption, or fetal abortion. Ultrasonography plays an important role in modern-day cetacean preventative medicine because it is a non-invasive technique, it is safe for both patient and operator, and it can be performed routinely using trained responses that enable medical procedures. Reproductive success is an important aspect of dolphin population health, as it is an indicator of the future trajectory of the population. The aim of this study is to provide additional relevant data on feto-maternal ultrasonographic monitoring in bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) species, for both the clinicians and for in situ population studies. From 2009 to 2019, serial ultrasonographic exams of 11 healthy bottlenose dolphin females kept under human care were evaluated over the course of 16 pregnancies. A total of 192 ultrasound exams were included in the study. For the first time, the sonographic findings of the bottlenose dolphin organogenesis and their correlation with the stage of pregnancy are described. Furthermore, this is the first report that forecasts the cephalic presentation of the calf at birth, according to its position within the uterus
Aglepristone (RU534) effects on luteal function of pseudopregnant rabbits: steroid receptors, enzymatic activities, and hormone productions in corpus luteum and uterus
No full textThe study was designed to examine the aglepristone (RU534) mechanisms affecting the corpora lutea (CL) lifespan in pseudopregnant rabbits. Aglepristone (10mg/kg b.w.) was injected subcutaneously twice at either early- or mid-luteal phase (Days 3 and 4, or Days 8 and 9, respectively) after induction of ovulation with GnRH (Day 0). Corpora lutea and uteri, explanted at days 6 and 11, were evaluated for immunohistochemistry and western blotting of progesterone (PR) and estrogen (ER) receptors, cyclooxygenase 1 (COX1), COX2, and PGE2-9-ketoreductase (PGE2-9-K) enzymatic activities, and progesterone, PGF2α, and PGE2 in vitro synthesis. Independent of luteal stage, aglepristone prolonged the functional luteal phase by 3 Days over that of controls as assessed by blood progesterone profiles. Aglepristone decreased protein for ER during both luteal-stages in CL and uteri. Progesterone receptor protein was decreased by RU354 at Days 6 in the uterus and at Days 11 in CL, whereas RU534 increased PR at Days 11 in uteri. In the CL, RU534 enhanced progesterone production at Days 6 and 11, whereas it decreased PGF2α and increased PGE2 at Day 11. In the uteri, RU534 decreased PGF2α and increased PGE2 synthesis at both days. COX2 and PGE2-9K activities were decreased by RU534 in the CL at Day 11, whereas in the uteri COX2 increased and PGE2-9-K decreased at Days 6 and 11. In conclusion, these data on aglepristone effects suggest that progesterone has a regulatory role on luteal function through direct and uterine-mediated mechanisms in pseudopregnant rabbits
Long-term outcomes after surgical ventricular restoration and coronary artery bypass grafting in patients with postinfarction left ventricular anterior aneurysm.
No full textAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Surgical ventricular restoration (SVR) for postinfarction left ventricular anterior aneurysm improves left ventricular function. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether concomitant multivessel coronary artery disease (MVCAD) can affect long-term outcome. Thus, long-term results of SVR associated with multiple coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for MVCAD (group 1) were compared with SVR with or without CABG to left anterior descending artery and/or its diagonal branch for single-vessel coronary artery disease (group 2).
METHODS: Data from 104 consecutive patients (age 64 +/- 8 years) with left ventricular anterior aneurysm, subjected to SVR from January 1994 to December 2004 and divided into group 1 (n = 79) and group 2 (n = 25), were analyzed.
RESULTS: In group 1 vs. group 2, number of grafts/patient (2.7 +/- 0.9 vs. 0.6 +/- 0.6, P < 0.0001) was higher, cardiopulmonary bypass (109 +/- 30 vs. 65 +/- 28 min, P < 0.0001) and aortic cross-clamp times (65 +/- 18 vs. 44 +/- 23 min, P < 0.0001) were longer, resected aneurysmatic area (12 +/- 8 vs. 17 +/- 11 cm2, P < 0.05) was smaller. Operative mortality was 3.7 vs. 4% (P = not significant). At 12 years, survival (85 +/- 5 vs. 80 +/- 16%) and freedom from cardiac events (70 +/- 7 vs. 75 +/- 16%) were not statistically different in both groups. Follow-up echocardiography showed significant left ventricular ejection fraction improvement in group 1 (0.45 +/- 0.07 vs. 0.34 +/- 0.10 preoperatively, P < 0.0001) and group 2 (0.47 +/- 0.09 vs. 0.36 +/- 0.12, P = 0.001). Independent predictors of late death were preoperative history of ventricular arrhythmias (P < 0.001) and hypo/akinesia of proximal myocardial anterior wall (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSION: Late survival and freedom from cardiac events are excellent after SVR, also when concomitant MVCAD requires complete revascularization. Ventricular arrhythmias and impaired left ventricular anterior wall function are predictors of worse outcome
The modernist character : a study in the short fiction of Bontempelli, Gadda, Landolfi and Palazzeschi
No full textThis study seeks to explore the relationsh~ between the short story/racconto genre and the negative representation of the character in Italian modernist literatufe. In the first chapter, considerations regarding the crisis at the tum ofthe twentieth century and the concept and development ofthe Italian racconto are investigated, with the purpose ofhighlighting modernist features within Italian literature around and prior to the 1930s, the time in which my selected authors (Bontempelli, Gadda, Landolfi and Palazzeschi) were writing. Subsequently, the notion ofantihero within these writers' selected raccolte di racconti is explored: the character emerges as an inetto, an essentially negative creature, bearing the signs ofEuropean modernism. These features (alienation, solitude, social anomaly, melancholy, dissolution ofselfhood, anguish, fragmentation) are then considered in the following four chapters, each one dedicated to one author. For each author, the issue of character representation is explored in relation to a different conception ofracconto writing. Bontempelli's objective approach, Gadda's and Landolfi's subjective approaches, and Palazzeschi's return to objectivity are discussed together in the conclusion, where a mapping ofthe negative modernist character is attempted, ultimately revealing, through Palazzeschi's buffo, an unexpected, positive outcome to the problematic representation ofthe modernist antihero.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
A case study of virtual learning course development in Scottish higher education
No full textVirtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are now an important part of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strategy in Scottish Higher Educational institutions and beyond. VLEs, which can have a variety of other names such as virtual campuses, interactive web environments and managed learning environments (MLEs) are now considered as part of a group of software, known as learning platforms. The dissertation, which is insider research, examines the non-technical issues involved in VLE course development. The author has been developing a number of VLE courses for two departments in one Scottish Higher Education Institution, using the WebCT VLE. The promotion of learning in the educational context is discussed which examines some of the central claims of the constructivism versus behaviourism debate. A literature review has also been completed on a number of subjects such as Virtual Learning Environments, Managed Learning Environments, and the rise of VLEs in Higher Education, particularly in Scotland. Practical and theoretical definitions of VLE are discussed. A case study has been completed on the author's VLE course development. The thesis reports on a number of issues in the case study. These include the fear factor amongst academics, the range of staff training both in using VLEs and their application to academic subjects, as well as some of the policy and management decisions that were taken at department and university levels. The discussion expands some of the issues raised in the literature review and case study, particularly with regards to the nature of training given to academics, and the promotion of the VLE as a learning tool
