BACKGROUND Giardia duodenalis infects humans and other mammals by ingestion of cysts in contaminated water or food, or directly in environments with poor hygiene. Eight assemblages, designated A-H, are described for this species. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We investigated by microscopy or by direct immunofluorescence technique the occurrence of G. duodenalis in 380 humans, 34 animals, 44 ...

BACKGROUND QRS narrowing following cardiac resynchronization therapy with biventricular (BiV) or left ventricular (LV) pacing is likely affected by patient-specific conduction characteristics (PR, qLV, LV-paced propagation interval), making a universal programming strategy likely ineffective. We tested these factors using a novel, device-based algorithm (SyncAV) that automatically adjusts paced...

AIMS Some authors recommend avoiding fusion with left ventricular (LV) intrinsic depolarization during cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). If fusion is still present during optimized biventricular (Biv) pacing and its long-term effects on the response to CRT are currently unknown. The aim of the study was to analyse the endocardial LV activation pattern induced by echocardiographically opt...

BACKGROUND The first generation of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices approved for the treatment of heart failure used simultaneous biventricular (BiV) pacing to achieve ventricular resynchronization. Left ventricular pacing alone and sequential BiV pacing also show promise as alternative ways to deliver CRT, but have not been studied together in a large randomized trial. METHODS...

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was established for the rapid detection of specific bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) antibodies in cattle, using recombinant Gag protein as an antigen. The gag coding region from BIV was cloned into an expression vector, pQE32, which expressed high levels of recombinant protein from Escherichia coli. The ELISA was standardized by a checkerboard ti...

Abstract Background The clinical role for HIS-pacing in cardiac resynchronization therapy (HIS-CRT) is promising but yet to be established. randomised His-alternative study showed better remodelling with HIS-CRT compared patients receiving conventional biventricular pacing (BIV-CRT) the per-protocol-analysis. Purpose In this substudy we investigated whether was more efficient BIV-CRT improving ...

Abstract Background Dark-blood late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is proved to be superior bright-blood LGE MRI in localising subtle subendocardial scar the ventricles, because of improved contrast between myocardial and blood. However, dark-blood has not yet been applied identify atrial left atrium (LA) therefore its threshold determine unknown. Purpose To optim...

OBJECTIVES We compared mechanical dyssynchrony and the impact of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in failing hearts with a pure right (RBBB) versus left bundle branch block (LBBB). BACKGROUND Cardiac resynchronization therapy is effective for treating failing hearts with conduction delay and discoordinate contraction. Most data pertain to LBBB delays. With RBBB, the lateral wall contra...