bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
P1561 Three-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography-derived normal reference values of left atrial volumes and volume-based functional properties in healthy adults
Authors: Nemes A , Kormanyos A , Domsik P , Kalapos A , Ambrus N , Lengyel C , Forster T 
Published: January 2020

Abstract

Introduction
Three-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (3DSTE) is a new promising imaging method based on block-matching algorithm. The present study was designed to define normal reference values of 3DSTE-derived LA volumes, stroke volumes and emptying fractions respecting the cardiac cycle and to determine their age- and gender-dependency in healthy adults.

Methods
The present study involved 256 healthy adult subjects in sinus rhythm, who underwent complete two-dimensional Doppler echocardiography and 3DSTE at the same time. However, due to inferior image quality 87 subjects have been excluded. The remaining population comprised 169 cases who gave informed consent to participate in the study (mean age: 33.2 ± 12.8 years, 77 males). Complete two-dimensional Doppler echocardiography and 3DSTE have been performed in all subjects.

Results
While systolic maximum LA volume (Vmax) and early diastolic LA volume before atrial contraction (VpreA) did not change over age decades, late-diastolic minimum LA volume decreased over age decades and was lowest in subjects aged 40-49 years with an increase after 50 years. Total atrial stroke volume (TASV) remained unchanged over age decades. Passive atrial stroke volume (PASV) showed a continuous increase over age decades and a significant difference could be demonstrated between subjects aged 18-29 years and &gt;50 years. Active atrial stroke volume (AASV) did not change over age decades with a non-significant reduction in subjects aged &gt;50 years. Total atrial emptying fraction (TAEF) increased over age decades with a reduction after 50 years. Passive atrial emptying fraction (PAEF) showed a significant continuous increase over age decades. Active atrial emptying fraction (AAEF) did not change in younger ages, was highest at ages 40-49 years with a significant impairment after 50 years. Females have tendentiously higher LA volumes than males. Significant difference could be demonstrated in Vmax and VpreA of females versus males at ages 30-39 years. No significant differences were found between genders in LA stroke volumes, while indexed TASV and indexed AASV were higher in females as compared to males at ages 30-39 years. Similarly, no significant differences were found between genders in LA emptying fractions, while indexed TAEF were higher in females as compared to males at ages 18-29 years and 30-39 years, indexed PAEF at ages 18-29 years and indexed AAEF at ages 30-39 years. No correlations could be demonstrated between transmitral flow E and A velocities as well as their ratio and any of LA volumes neither in younger age group (less than 50 year) nor in older age group (more than 50 years).

Conclusions
Age- and gender-dependency of normal values of 3DSTE-derived LA volumes, stroke volumes and emptying fractions respecting the cardiac cycle were defined in healthy adult subjects.
P1567 Left atrial function - association with left ventriculoarterial function in hypertensive patients
Authors: Georgieva N , Borizanova - Petkova A , Kinova E , Goudev A 
Published: January 2020

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Vascular stiffness and left atrial volume index (LAVI) are predictors of cardiovascular complications in hypertensive patients. The correlation of left atrium (LA) with left ventricle (LV) – arterial functional changes has not been well established.

PURPOSE
To investigate the relationship between LA remodeling and ventriculoarterial function.

METHODS
We studied 70 consecutive middle-aged patients (54 ± 13 years), separated in two groups: 55 with mild to moderate hypertension and duration up to 5 years and 15 healthy controls. All parameters for arterial stiffness – 24-hour central systolic pressure (cSys24h), central pulse pressure (cPP24h), augmentation index 24h (Aix24h) and 24-hour pulse wave velocity (PWV24h) were measured non–invasively with oscillometric method by Mobil-O-graph PWA. All patients underwent standard two-dimentional echocardiography with Spackle tracking analysis for LA and LV global longitudinal strain (GLS).

RESULTS
Statistically significant differences in parameters of vascular stiffness were found in patients with hypertension in comparison with healthy controls: cSys24h (116.64 ± 10.52 vs. 108.4 ± 6.19 mm Hg, p &lt; 0.001), cPP24h (47.64 ± 9.43 vs. 40.4 ± 4.98 mmHg, p &lt; 0.001), PWV24h (8.59 ± 1.49 vs. 6.29 ± 0.91 m/s, p &lt; 0.0001). Patients with hypertension have higher LV filling pressures: E/e ratio (9.62 ± 3.13 vs. 7.62 ± 1.58, p &lt; 0.006), higher velocities of A–wave transmitral blood flow (85.15 ± 16.88 vs. 64.57 ± 13.76 cm/s, p &lt; 0.0001), dilated LA (LAVI: 33.78 ± 10.68 vs. 24.96 ± 4.89 ml/m², p &lt; 0.001) and reduced LA GLS (29.34 ± 3.45 vs. 41.33 ± 4.37%, p &lt; 0.0001) in comparison to control group. There were no statistically significant differences in Aix24h and cardiac output between the two groups. There is moderate positive correlation between LAVI with cPP24h (r = 0.491, p &lt; 0.0001) and cSys24h (r = 0.366, p &lt; 0.004). We found moderate positive correlation between LAVI and LV mass index (r = 0.386, p &lt; 0.002). PWV24h correlated moderately and positively with LAVI (r = 0.404, p&lt; 0.0001), and negatively with LA GLS (r = -0.471, p &lt; 0.0001). CONCLUSION: LA remodeling is determined by the high 24-hour values of non-invasively measured central systolic pressure and pulse wave velocity. The parameters of arterial stiffness - cSys24h, cPP24h correlate positively with LA. PWV24h correlates negatively with reservoir strain of the left atrium. Using the method in clinical practice can improve risk stratification and therapeutic management. Further investigations are needed for prognostic and therapeutic value of LA remodeling.
P1570 Evaluation of The Echocardiographic Parameters of Patients Enrolled to The CZECH-ICIT Study
Authors: Poloczkova H , Krejci J , Hude P , Ozabalova E , Godava J , Honek T , Spinarova L , Belaskova S 
Published: January 2020

Abstract

Background
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a serious disease leading to heart failure (HF) often in young people. One of the most common causes of DCM is myocarditis.

Aim of the study
To compare the changes of the echocardiographic (ECHO) parameters of patients enrolled to the CZCEH-ICIT study (randomized study comparing the immunosuppression regiment with conventional heart failure therapy in patients with biopsy proven inflammatory cardiomyopathy). The primary outcome was the change of LVEF in 12 months after randomization. Obtained ECHO parameters were analysed at the baseline and in 12 months during the study .

Study population
We enrolled 20 patients (17 men and 2 women), age from 18 to 65 years , with diagnosis of recent onset dilated cardiomyopathy. EF LV &lt; 40% and NYHA class II or worse who underwent EMB with confirmation of inflammatory cells in myocardium (&gt; 14 LCA+ and/or &gt; 7 CD3+ cells/mm2). All patients had negative PCR of infectious cardiotropic agents and were randomized in to two groups – IT – (prednison and azathioprin given on the top of standard HF therapy) and conventional HF therapy (CHT).

Results
Mean value of EF at the baseline clustered by groups were for IT group 22.3% with SD = 4.7 and for CHT group 21.7% with SD = 4. There were no statistically significant differences between two groups at the baseline p = 0.757. The mean value clustered for groups in 12 months were significant different, we found mean EF = 33.7% for IT group with SD = 9.5 and mean EF = 41.3 with SD = 13 for CHT group. The p-value based on t-test in 12 months was p = 0.175 due to huge variability. The results obtained on the basis of linear mixed models show that there is a trend that needs to be considered. At the baseline there is slightly lower level of EF in the group CHT (estimate of difference is -0.63, p = 0.879) the trend is changing in the time in 12 month - there is higher level of EF in CHT (estimate of difference is 11.37, p = 0.008). Total p-value difference based on the F test adjusted obtained for group is p = 0.065, for time p &lt; 0.0001 and for time*group p = 0.537.

Conclusion
In our small study population we haven´t found positive effect of the immunosuppressive therapy on the development of the ECHO parameters.
P1575 Preserved myocardial work efficiency after transcatheter aortic valve implantation-induced left bundle branch block
Authors: Klaeboe L G , Brekke P H , Haugaa K H , Edvardsen T 
Published: January 2020

Abstract
Background
Left bundle branch block (LBBB) frequently complicates transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), but may not induce classical mechanical dyssynchrony typically observed in heart failure patients with LBBB. Non-invasive estimated myocardial work by pressure strain-loops is a novel method for evaluation of left ventricular (LV) performance including loading conditions and identifies responders to cardiac resynchronization therapy. Assessment of myocardial work in TAVI-induced LBBB has, however, not been performed earlier.
Purpose
We aimed to evaluate myocardial performance in TAVI-induced LBBB by myocardial work.
Methods
Patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) and normal ventricular conduction undergoing transfemoral TAVI were included. TAVI-induced LBBB was defined according to strict ECG criteria. In addition to standard echocardiographic parameters, we performed speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) within 2 days post procedure. Post-procedural myocardial work was estimated by commercially available software, combining LV strain by STE and a non-invasively estimated LV pressure curve. Peak systolic LV pressure was assumed to be equal to the sum of peak arterial cuff pressure and mean aortic valve pressure gradient. The proportion of constructive work relative to the sum of wasted and constructive work was expressed as myocardial work efficiency (Figure). A global work efficiency &lt; 90 % was considered abnormal according to the recently published EACVI NORRE study.
Results
We included 109 consecutive patients undergoing TAVI (83 ± 7 years old, 54 % women, logistic Euroscore 16 ± 10) with severe AS (valve area 0.7 ± 0.2 cm2, mean transvalvular gradient 54 ± 18 mmHg), QRS duration 94 ± 10 ms, and a relatively preserved LV ejection fraction (54 ± 9%). New-onset LBBB was observed in 28 patients (26 %) after TAVI. Although post-procedural myocardial work efficiency was slightly better in patients who retained normal ventricular conduction than those with TAVI-induced LBBB (93.6 ± 2.5% vs 91.2 ± 3.4%, p = 0.004), both groups of patients had global myocardial work efficiency within the normal reference range.
Conclusions
Patients with TAVI-induced LBBB have preserved work efficiency despite gross electrical block satisfying strict ECG criteria. The reduced myocardial work efficiency in TAVI-induced LBBB was within the reference range of normal in the recently published EACVI NORRE study. The preservation of myocardial work in TAVI-induced LBBB may explain why LBBB as a complication to TAVI does not necessarily imply poor prognosis.
Abstract P1575 Figure.
The Maternal Nutritional Buffering Model: an evolutionary framework for pregnancy nutritional intervention
Authors: Thayer Zaneta M , Rutherford Julienne , Kuzawa Christopher W 
Published: January 2020

AbstractEvidence that fetal nutrition influences adult health has heightened interest in nutritional interventions targeting pregnancy. However, as is true for other placental mammals, human females have evolved mechanisms that help buffer the fetus against short-term fluctuations in maternal diet and energy status. In this review, we first discuss the evolution of increasingly elaborate vertebrate strategies of buffering offspring from environmental fluctuations during development, including the important innovation of the eutherian placenta. We then present the Maternal Nutritional Buffering Model, which argues that, in contrast to many micronutrients that must be derived from dietary sources, the effects of short-term changes in maternal macronutrient intake during pregnancy, whether due to a deficit or supplementation, will be minimized by internal buffering mechanisms that work to ensure a stable supply of essential resources. In contrast to the minimal effects of brief macronutrient supplementation, there is growing evidence that sustained improvements in early life and adult pre-pregnancy nutrition could improve birth outcomes in offspring. Building on these and other observations, we propose that strategies to improve fetal macronutrient delivery will be most effective if they modify the pregnancy metabolism of mothers by targeting nutrition prior to conception and even during early development, as a complement to the conventional focus on bolstering macronutrient intake during pregnancy itself. Our model leads to the prediction that birth weight will be more strongly influenced by the mother’s chronic pre-pregnancy nutrition than by pregnancy diet, and highlights the need for policy solutions aimed at optimizing future, intergenerational health outcomes.Lay summary: We propose that strategies to improve fetal macronutrient delivery will be most effective if they modify the pregnancy metabolism of mothers by targeting nutrition prior to conception and even during early development, as a complement to the conventional focus on bolstering macronutrient intake during pregnancy itself.
English Prize Essay Happiness and Experimentalism: on H(a)ppy and The Lesser Bohemians
Authors: Purvis Samantha 
Published: January 2020

Abstract
This essay contends that happiness offers an alternative point of entry into recent debates about the supposed ‘hybridity’ or ‘dialectic’ of realism and experimentalism in contemporary literature. Sarah Ahmed’s The Promise of Happiness suggests that happiness is a particularly contemporary concern; I will also argue that it has been brought surprisingly to the fore in two recent experimental texts, Eimear McBride’s The Lesser Bohemians1 and Nicola Barker’s H(A)PPY. At first glance, the marriage of experimentalism and happiness may appear odd; as Sianne Ngai observes, the avant-garde ‘is conventionally imagined as sharp and pointy, as hard- or cutting-edge’, and Rachel Greenwald Smith has delineated a supposed tension between affect and postmodernism. However, Claire Colebrook’s theory of a relationship between literature and non-teleological or desubjectivized happiness helps us to see how Barker and McBride mobilize the destabilizing capacities inhering in literary form to return a greater complexity and ambivalence to the concept of happiness. This suggests one way of placing the novels in terms of literary history and contemporary aesthetics, evoking what Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker call a ‘metamodernist oscillation’ between postmodern suspicion and modernist hope. However, the erratic behaviour of happiness as narrative telos in the novels also challenges the logic of aesthetic categories by alerting us to the strangeness of literary form, suggesting that qualities normally attributed to experimental writing may be possibilities inhering in literature as such.
Direct stress field estimation through waveform matching
Authors: Kuang Wenhuan , Zhang Jie 
Published: January 2020

SUMMARYConventionally, the routine workflow of stress field estimation from seismic data consists of two steps: focal mechanism inversion and stress inversion. This two-step workflow suffers from the cumulative uncertainties of both the focal mechanism inversion process and the stress inversion process. To mitigate the cumulative errors, a few previous studies have put efforts to directly estimate the stress field using P-wave polarities. In this study, we develop a new approach to directly estimate tectonic stress fields with better accuracy through waveform matching. This new approach combines the two steps into a one-step workflow to mitigate the cumulative uncertainties through the physical relationship between a stress field and the recorded waveforms. This method assumes a homogeneous stress field in space in the local source region and that the fault slip occurs in the direction of the resolved shear stress acting on the fault plane. Under these assumptions, the stress pattern that generates the theoretical waveforms that best fit the waveforms observed is directly retrieved as the true stress field. The merits of the new approach include that this approach can mitigate the cumulative uncertainties suffered from the conventional two-step workflow and does not require determination of the focal mechanisms of each event; thus, this method is applicable to data sets with few stations. Synthetic tests with and without noise are conducted to demonstrate the performance and merits of this method. Then, the new approach is applied to a real data set from central Oklahoma between March 2013 and March 2016. The resulting stress pattern is consistent with that estimated from previous studies examining the same region. These applications show the benefits and validity of the new approach.
National health information technology priorities for research: A policy and development agenda
Authors: Zayas-Cabán Teresa , Chaney Kevin J , Rucker Donald W 
Published: January 2020

Abstract
The growth of digitized health data presents exciting opportunities to leverage the health information technology (IT) infrastructure for advancing biomedical and health services research. However, challenges impede use of those resources effectively and at scale to improve outcomes. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) led a collaborative effort to identify challenges, priorities, and actions to leverage health IT and electronic health data for research. Specifically, ONC led a review of relevant literature and programs, key informant interviews, and a stakeholder workshop to identify electronic health data and health IT infrastructure gaps. This effort resulted in the National Health IT Priorities for Research: A Policy and Development Agenda, which articulates an optimized health information ecosystem for scientific discovery. This article outlines 9 priorities and recommended actions to be implemented in collaboration with the research and informatics communities for realizing this vision.
Net Energy of high-protein sunflower meal fed to growing pigs and effect of dietary phosphorus on measured values of NE
Authors: Kim Jong Woong , Lee Jinyoung , Nyachoti Charles Martin 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAn experiment was carried out to determine energy values of high-protein sunflower meal (HP-SFM) and to compare the energy values of HP-SFM determined using either a phosphorus (P)-deficient basal diet or a P-adequate basal diet. Twenty-four growing barrows were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments with 6 replicates per treatment. Four experimental diets including 2 basal diets containing 2 levels of standardized total tract digestible P (i.e., P-deficient and P-adequate) and the other 2 diets containing 30% HP-SFM with each basal diet (i.e., HP-SFM 1 diet and HP-SFM 2 diet) were formulated to determine the energy values of HP-SFM and to compare energy values of HP-SFM determined by the difference method using 2 basal diets. Pigs were fed diets for 15 d including 10 d for adaptation and 5 d for total collections. Pigs were then moved to indirect calorimetry chambers to determine total heat production (THP) and fasting heat production (FHP). A reduced (P &lt; 0.01) amount of nitrogen was retained in pigs fed the P-deficient basal diet compared with those fed the other diets. The THP of pigs fed the HP-SFM 1 and 2 diets was greater (P &lt; 0.01) than those fed the P-deficient basal diet with the intermediate value for pigs fed the P-adequate basal diet. The retained energy (RE) as protein of pigs fed the P-deficient basal diet was less (P &lt; 0.01) but RE as lipid was greater (P &lt; 0.01) than those fed the P-adequate basal, or HP-SFM 1 and 2 diets. However, there was no difference in FHP of pigs among the dietary treatments. The NE of HP-SFM determined using the P-deficient basal diet was 2,062 kcal/kg, as-fed basis, whereas the value determined using the P-adequate basal diet was 2,151 kcal/kg. Although no differences were observed in energy values, the amount of P in basal diet might affect energy balance by modifying N utilization, thus, a diet containing adequate amount of P is a more suitable basal diet when the difference method is used for calculation of NE in a feed ingredient.
Reducing Unjust Convictions: Plea Bargaining, Trial, and Evidence Disclosure
Authors: Daughety Andrew F , Reinganum Jennifer F 
Published: January 2020

AbstractWe develop a dynamic model of a criminal case, from arrest through plea bargaining and (possibly) trial, allowing for the potential discovery of exculpatory evidence by prosecutors (who choose whether to disclose it) and defendants. We consider three regimes: (1) no disclosure required; (2) disclosure only required before trial; and (3) early disclosure required from arrest onward. These regimes have complex distributional consequences for the defendants. We find that innocent defendants ex ante prefer early disclosure whereas guilty defendants prefer disclosure only before trial. We also explore some of the social costs attributable to the regimes (JEL K4, D82, D73).
Characterizing lognormal fractional-Brownian-motion density fields with a convolutional neural network
Authors: Bates M L , Whitworth A P , Lomax O D 
Published: January 2020

ABSTRACT
In attempting to quantify statistically the density structure of the interstellar medium, astronomers have considered a variety of fractal models. Here, we argue that, to properly characterize a fractal model, one needs to define precisely the algorithm used to generate the density field, and to specify – at least – three parameters: one parameter constrains the spatial structure of the field, one parameter constrains the density contrast between structures on different scales, and one parameter constrains the dynamic range of spatial scales over which self-similarity is expected (either due to physical considerations, or due to the limitations of the observational or numerical technique generating the input data). A realistic fractal field must also be noisy and non-periodic. We illustrate this with the exponentiated fractional Brownian motion (xfBm) algorithm, which is popular because it delivers an approximately lognormal density field, and for which the three parameters are, respectively, the power spectrum exponent, β, the exponentiating factor, ${\cal S}$, and the dynamic range, ${\cal R}$. We then explore and compare two approaches that might be used to estimate these parameters: machine learning and the established Δ-Variance procedure. We show that for 2 ≤ β ≤ 4 and $0\le {\cal S}\le 3$, a suitably trained Convolutional Neural Network is able to estimate objectively both β (with root-mean-square error $\epsilon _{_\beta }\sim 0.12$) and ${\cal S}$ (with $\epsilon _{_{\cal S}}\sim 0.29$). Δ-variance is also able to estimate β, albeit with a somewhat larger error ($\epsilon _{_\beta }\sim 0.17$) and with some human intervention, but is not able to estimate ${\cal S}$.