14 research outputs found
Handheld ultrasound device-guided axillary vein access for pacemaker and defibrillator implantation
Get PDFWhile ultrasound assistance for accessing the axillary vein has been established as a reliable method for cardiac pacemaker and cardioverter-defibrillator leads implantation, there is a lack of information regarding the utilization of portable handheld ultrasound devices within this context. We describe our experience with the systematic use of a pocket-sized handheld ultrasound device during the implantation of transvenous cardiovascular implantable electronic devices
Feasibility and role of right ventricular stress echocardiography in adult patients
No full textBackground: The great technological advancements in the field of echocardiography have led to applications of stress echocardiography (SE) in almost all diagnostic fields of cardiology, from ischemic heart disease to valvular heart disease and diastolic function. However, the assessment of the right ventricle (RV) in general, and in particular in regard to the contractile reserve of the RV, is an area that has not been previously explored. We, therefore, propose a study to investigate the potential use of SE for the assessment of RV function in adult patients. Aims and objectives: The primary aim is to evaluate the feasibility of right ventricular SE. The secondary aim is to assess right ventricular contractile reserve. Matherials and Methods: Eighty-one patients undergoing a physical or dobutamine stress echocardiogram for cardiovascular risk stratification or chest pain were the subject of the study. An exercise leg cycle using a standard WHO protocol was used to simultaneously assess the right and left ventricular global and regional function as well as acquiring Doppler data. Whereas the patient had limitations in mobility, a dobutamine SE was be performed. We evaluated the average values of tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), fractional area change (FAC), S-wave, systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP), and right ventricle global longitudinal (free wall) strain (RVGLS) during baseline and at the peak of the effort. RV contractile reserve was defined as the change in RVGLS from rest to peak exercise. We also assessed the reproducibility of these measurements between two different expert operators (blind analysis). Results: At least 3 over 5 RV function parameters were measurable both during baseline and at the peak of the effort in 95% of patients, while all 5 parameters in 65% of our population, demonstrating an excellent feasibility. All RV-studied variables showed a statistically significant increase (P < 0.001) at peak compared to the baseline. The average percentage increases at peak were 31.1% for TAPSE, 24.8% for FAC, 50.6% for S-wave, 55.2% for PAPS, and 39.8% for RV strain. The reproducibility between operators at baseline and peak was excellent. Our study demonstrates that TAPSE, FAC, and S-wave are highly feasible at rest and at peak, while TAPSE, S-wave, and sPAP are the most reliable measurements during RV stress echo. Conclusion: RVGLS is useful in the assessment of RV contractile reserve in patients with good acoustic window. Further studies are needed to evaluate the impact of contrast echocardiography in improving RV contractile reserve assessment during SE
Travels with a medieval queen
No full textThe author retraces the many paths of Constance of Hauteville, who traveled from Germany south to reclaim her father's throne
St Joseph's Day in Kerala
No full textActing on a chance comment by an Indian visitor, the author travels to Southern India to see how the Christian community of Kerala celebrates St. Joseph’s Day, expecting to find something similar to the elaborately decorated altars erected in Sicily to honor this saint. Feeding the poor in St. Joseph’s honor has taken quite a different direction in Kerala, however. The author is taken to visit churches where preparations are underway for a ritual meal that will be served to hundreds of parishioners, ensuring them the saint’s blessing for the year that follows. The meal includes payasam, aviyal, and other traditional dishes that she later learns have been borrowed from Hindu rituals. She also participates in a very simple yet moving ceremony in a private home, in which three of the poor representing the Holy Family are fed and given new clothes.</jats:p
Paola Lanzani e La Rinascente: la professione di una vita
No full textIt was in the mid-sixties when Paola Lanzani – as she recalled by donating her archive to the Milan Triennale Foundation (2008) – “sensed the great difficulty in those times for a woman to exercise the profession of Architect and, on a trip to America with her daughter Piercarla, observed the world of department stores, visited them carefully and they fascinated her” (Ciagà & Feraboli, 2008).
The talk aims to frame the activity of Paola Lanzani (Nerviano, 1933 – Milan, 2021) by emphasizing both her resourcefulness, able to build her career with courage and autonomy, and the different threads that weave the fabric of her personal activity as a designer by merging rationality, experimentation, interest in art and leading her to spe-cialize ante litteram as an interior designer for large-scale retail.
After graduating from the Milan Polytechnic in 1959, she followed her husband to Bogota where they opened a studio, working on the different scales of architecture; Paola, however, immediately manifested a marked inclination for the study of retail spaces and furnishings. She thus took her first steps in the world of retail and furniture design as a consultant for the Ervico furniture industry between 1960 and 1964.
She teaches Technical Drawing at the University of America in Bogotá, an experience that shines through in the precise and coherent design of the layouts and exhibition supports that, once back in Italy, she will create for Rinascente, starting in 1996 at the “Sales Promotion Service.” If the distributional organization of the layouts reveals a profound rationality, the reflection on the module, on repeatability, on color, on potential variations allows different patterns and suggests the perception of movement marking a meeting point with the art of Dadamaino and Enrico Castellani. This influence is found, for example, in the installation with programmed lights made under the portico of la Rinascente with Livio Castiglioni (1970). He also experimented with the potential of plastics, from inflatable BP gasoline gadgets to Plexiglas furnishings with Ugo La Pietra to geometric lamps with Turi Simeti. The activity of a lifetime, however, paraphrasing Mario Praz’s “the house of a lifetime,” remains the outfitting for large-scale retail and, in particular, for Rinascente, where, since 1979, she has become the head of the “Design and Consultancy Service,” taking care of all the locations of the department store and its affiliates
Induction or Enhancement of Competence for Active Defense by Genes Involved in the Synthesis of Phytohormones from Agrobacterium tumefaciens in Transgenic Tomato Cells Susceptible or Resistant to Fusarium
No full textReciprocal Induction of Repeated DNA Amplification in an in vitro Host-Parasite System (Lycopersicon aesculentum - Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici)
No full textSanta Maria del Quartiere in Parma. Storia, rilievo e stabilità di una fabbrica farnesiana
No full textTomato: a crop species amenable to improvement by cellular and molecular methods
Get PDFTomato is a crop plant with a relatively small DNA content per haploid genome and a well developed genetics. Plant regeneration from explants and protoplasts is feasable which led to the development of efficient transformation procedures.
In view of the current data, the isolation of useful mutants at the cellular level probably will be of limited value in the genetic improvement of tomato. Protoplast fusion may lead to novel combinations of organelle and nuclear DNA (cybrids), whereas this technique also provides a means of introducing genetic information from alien species into tomato. Important developments have come from molecular approaches. Following the construction of an RFLP map, these RFLP markers can be used in tomato to tag quantitative traits bred in from related species. Both RFLP's and transposons are in the process of being used to clone desired genes for which no gene products are known. Cloned genes can be introduced and potentially improve specific properties of tomato especially those controlled by single genes. Recent results suggest that, in principle, phenotypic mutants can be created for cloned and characterized genes and will prove their value in further improving the cultivated tomato.
