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Background: Mitral annular plane systolic excursion (MAPSE) and left ventricular (LV) early diastolic velocity (e’) are key metrics of systolic and diastolic function, but not often measured by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). Its derivation is possible with manual, precise annotation of the mitral valve (MV) insertion points along the cardiac cycle in both two and four-chamber long-axis c

Wall shear stress (WSS) distribution in the human aorta is a highly interesting hemodynamic factor for atherosclerosis development. We present a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based subject specific WSS estimation method and demonstrate it on a group of nine healthy volunteers (males age 23.6 ± 1.3 years). In all nine subjects, the aortic blood flow was sim

This paper describes a novel method for regional characterization of three-dimensional vector fields using a pattern matching approach. Given a three-dimensional vector field, the goal is to automatically locate, identify, and visualize a selected set of classes of structures or features. Rather than analytically defining the properties that must be fulfilled in a region in order to be classified

A four-dimensional mapping (three spatial dimensions + time) of myocardial strain-rate would help to describe the mechanical properties of the myocardium, which affect important physiological factors such as the pumping performance of the ventricles. Strain-rate represents the local instantaneous deformation of the myocardium and can be calculated from the spatial gradients of the velocity field.

Echocardiographic quantification of myocardial perfusion after IV contrast is possible, based on the intensity of the received intermittent second harmonic signal. To investigate the influence of respiration on the intensity of myocardial signals, we examined nine patients with normal coronary angiograms. At baseline, end-expiratory and end-inspiratory images were obtained in broadband radiofreque

The distortion of a sound wave during propagation results in progressive transfer of the energy from fundamental to higher harmonics, and is dependent on the nonlinearity of the medium. We studied if relative changes in acoustical nonlinearity occur in healthy myocardium during the cardiac cycle. Radiofrequency data were acquired from transthoracic echocardiography (2.5 and 3.5 MHz), parasternal l

The clinical evaluation of regional delays in myocardial motion (myocardial asynchrony) has proved problematic, yet it remains an important functional parameter to evaluate. Prior attempts to quantify regional asynergy have met with limited success, often thwarted by the low temporal resolution of imaging-system data acquisition. If a delay in onset of motion of 30-40 msec is clinically important

This paper describes a new method for improving border detection in image sequences by including both spatial and temporal information. The method is based on three dimensional quadrature filters for estimating local orientation. A simplification that gives a significant reduction in computational demand is also presented. The border detection framework is combined with a segmentation algorithm ba

While many methods exist for visualising scalar and vector data, visualisation of tensor data is still troublesome. We present a method for visualising second order tensors in three dimensions using a hybrid between direct volume rendering and glyph rendering. An overview scalar field is created by using three-dimensional adaptive filtering of a scalar field containing noise. The filtering process

In the present study, we investigate the combined interaction of mesoporous silica (SiO2) and photocatalytic titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles with lipid membranes, using neutron reflectometry (NR), cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), fluorescence oxidation assays, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and ζ-potential measurements. Based on DLS, TiO2 nanoparticles were found to display

For internal cooling of a turbine blade, various advanced rib turbulators can markedly contribute to the heat transfer enhancement while suffering a great increase in pressure loss. In those designs, ribs with the same configuration are periodically and evenly mounted on the channel wall. In this context, this work proposes a hierarchical design concept to optimize the rib arrangement with the des

Big Science and Research Infrastructures are ostensibly important features of contemporary European science and innovation policy. But while we can look back on half a century of attention to Big Science, in political debate as well as scholarly studies of depth and breadth, Research Infrastructures is a more recent phenomenon. In this concluding chapter, we summarize the findings and the contribu

Treatment of lost tissue oen relies on transplantations, either of donor or of autologous tissue. Both alternatives have limitations; there is for example a limited supply of donor transplants, which also require immunosuppression therapy with possible side eects. Transplanted autologous tissue may lack some of the functions of the original tissue and the procedure may also introduce complications

This article analyzes the efforts of Egyptian feminist activists to insert gender equality in the country’s post-revolutionary constitutions in 2012 and 2014. While the literature on women’s political role during this period provides insights into exclusionary gender practices and conditions for bargaining power structures, this study contributes with a conceptual analysis of how feminist activist

Interleukin-27 (IL-27) uniquely assembles p28 and EBI3 subunits to a heterodimeric cytokine that signals via IL-27Rα and gp130. To provide the structural framework for receptor activation by IL-27 and its emerging therapeutic targeting, we report here crystal structures of mouse IL-27 in complex with IL-27Rα and of human IL-27 in complex with SRF388, a monoclonal antibody undergoing clinical trial