The cardiomyocytes in the superior vena cava (SVC) myocardial sleeve have distinct action potentials and ionic current profiles, but the refractoriness of these cells has not been reported. Using standard intracellular microelectrode techniques, we demonstrated in sheep that the effective refractory period (ERP) of the cardiomyocytes in the SVC (114.7 +/- 6.5 ms) is shorter than that in the inf...

Spaceborne lidar observations have recently revealed a previously undetected significant population of Subvisible Cirrus (SVC). We show them to be colder than−74 , with an optical depth below 0.0015 on average. The formation and persistence over time of this new cloud population could be related to several atmospheric phenomena. In this paper, we investigate if these clouds follow the same form...

Aims The superior vena cava (SVC) has been established as an important source of atrial fibrillation (AF). The role of SVC in long-standing persistent AF and the efficacy of empiric electrical isolation of the SVC are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to judge the role of SVC in catheter ablation of long-standing persistent AF. Methods and results A total of 102 consecutive patient...

AIMS With the new era of multi-tip radiofrequency or balloon ablation catheters replacing the point-to-point ablation strategy, we aimed to determine the feasibility of a ring-laser catheter ablation technology to electrically isolate the superior vena cava (SVC) by exploring the advantages of the limitless catheter tip size possibly with the photodynamic therapy (PDT)-mediated ablation. METH...

BACKGROUND Minimally invasive robot-assisted cardiac surgery is generally performed nowadays. To avoid the interference of a superior vena cava (SVC) cannula during surgery, it should be inserted before the operation. The position of this cannula is very important because it can cause poor venous drainage during operation. The proper position of the SVC cannula was investigated in the present s...

Superior vena cava (SVC) obstruction most often is a complication of malignant tumors such as lung cancer or lymphoma. The common use of long-term indwelling central venous catheters also has added to the prevalence of SVC obstruction. This report describes the first case of SVC obstruction in a patient with cystic fibrosis due to extrinsic compression from benign reactive mediastinal lymphaden...

Superior vena cava syndrome can occur from benign conditions that might not alter life expectancy. Here we present a case of a superior vena cava (SVC) obstruction caused by soft tissue encircling the SVC, which was strongly suspected of being an unusual focal type of fibrosing mediastinitis. A 39-year-old man with no prior medical history presented with a four-week history of facial plethora, ...

We report the case of a 66 year-old male who underwent catheter ablation for drug-refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) at our institution. Radiofrequency catheter ablation was performed using a three-dimensional electroanatomical mapping system. During ablation of the pulmonary veins (PV), right atrial ectopics were noted to repeatedly trigger AF and atrial tachycardia (AT). After PV ...

This paper proposes Bacteria Foraging Optimization Algorithm (BFOA) based Static Var Compensator (SVC) for the suppression of oscillations in a multimachine power system. The proposed design problem of SVC over a wide range of loading conditions is formulated as an optimization problem. BFOA is employed to search for optimal controller parameters by minimizing the time domain objective function...

BACKGROUND The metabolic syndrome is associated with increased risk for both diabetes and coronary artery disease, which insulin resistance alone does not satisfactorily explain. We propose an additional and complementary underlying mechanism of glucocorticoid resistance. RESULTS Using acanthosis nigricans (AN) and skin vasoconstrictor (SVC) response to topically applied beclomethasone diprop...