The strength of the acoustic startle response (ASR) to short bursts of broadband noise or tone pips (4, 8 and 16 kHz) and the prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the ASR elicited by prepulse tones (4, 8 and 16 kHz) were measured in parvalbumin-deficient (PV-/-) mice and in age-matched PV+/+ mice as controls. Hearing thresholds as determined from recordings of auditory brainstem responses were found to...

BACKGROUND Electrical disconnection of the myocardial extensions into arrhythmogenic pulmonary veins (PVs) is recognized as a curative technique for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the presence of electrical connections between the PVs, which may make achievement of PV disconnection difficult, has not been systematically evaluated. METHODS AND RESULTS Forty-nine consecutive pati...

Starting-up of photovoltaic (PV) inverters involves pre-charging of the input dc bus capacitance. Ideally, direct precharge of this capacitance from the PV modules is possible as the PV modules are current limited. Practically, the parasitic elements of the system such as the PV module capacitance, effective wire inductance and resistance determine the startup transient. The start-up transient ...

Plasmalemma vesicle protein-1 (PV-1) is a caveolae-associated protein that is enriched in lung endothelial cells. The PV-1 protein is first detected in the lung at embryonic day 12, before that of caveolin-1 (Cav-1). There is a postnatal rise in PV-1 and Cav-1 mRNA levels, reaching a peak at the time of weaning and declining to their lowest levels in the adult lung. In contrast, the PV-1 protei...

Portal vein (PV) occlusion after liver transplant is an uncommon clinical situation, and percutaneous interventional treatment for this condition has not been widely described. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term treatment effect of interventional treatment for PV occlusion after liver transplantation (LT). Follow-up data of 13 patients who received interventional treatment for ...

OBJECTIVES We sought to evaluate whether porcine pulmonary vein (PV) isolation (PVI) can be produced by ablation using our novel radiofrequency (RF) thermal balloon catheter (RBC). BACKGROUND It has been proposed that PVI can prevent focal atrial fibrillation (AF) originating in or close to the PV. METHODS The RBC is composed of a 12F main shaft, a 4F inner tube and a balloon. Inside the ba...

BACKGROUND In recent years an increasing number of cases with polyomavirus (PV)-nephropathy after renal transplantation were reported from several transplant centres. New, highly potent immunosuppressive drugs like tacrolimus or mycophenolate mofetil were accused as risk factors for this increase. However, data about the incidence of PV-nephropathy in correlation to different immunosuppressive ...

Energy States Alliance). For providing the data that were central to the analysis contained herein, we thank (formerly with the CPUC), all of whom were highly supportive and extremely patient throughout the complicated data aquistion process. Finally, we would like to thank the many external reviewers for providing valuable comments on an earlier draft version of the report. Of course, any rema...

Climate change awareness, the drive to sustainability and the push for energy independence have resulted in the wider utilization of renewable energy sources. Photovoltaic (PV) power is a renewable solar energy source that is increasing in use as its costs decrease. We have developed an assessment and planning tool to quantify the longer-term variable effects of large-scale PV energy production...

Ten strains of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines, the causal agent of bacterial pustule of soybean, which were isolated from various soybean growing regions of Thailand, produced an extracellular diffusible factor (DSF) related to a well-characterized quorum sensing molecule produced by other Xanthomonas spp. Genomic DNA of the 10 strains of X. axonopodis pv. glycines contained rpfF, a gene e...