Application of electrical field to the heart during the refractory period of the beat has been shown to increase the force of contraction both in animal models and in heart failure patients (cardiac contractility modulation, or CCM). A direct increase in intracellular calcium during CCM has been suggested to be the mechanism behind the positive inotropic effect of CCM. We studied the effect of ...

Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are vascular lesions affecting the central nervous system. CCM occurs either sporadically or in an inherited, autosomal dominant manner. Constitutional (germline) mutations in any of three genes, KRIT1, CCM2 and PDCD10, can cause the inherited form. Analysis of CCM lesions from inherited cases revealed biallelic somatic mutations, indicating that CCM foll...

A method for solving large-scale constraint satisfaction problems is proposed in the present paper. This method is stochastic (or randomized) and uses local information only, i.e., no global plan is expressed in the program and the computation refer to no global information. This method uses CCM (Chemical Casting Model) as a basis, which is a model for emergent computation proposed by the autho...

A modified application of the chemical cleavage of mismatch (CCM) method has been used to screen three contiguous exons (exons 9, 10, and 11) of the phenylalanine hydroxylase gene in 17 Italian PKU patients. A new nonsense heterozygous C-->G transversion within exon 11 (S359X) was identified in a single patient. Only one of the four mutations previously reported in this DNA region in Caucasians...

BACKGROUND Community case management (CCM) involves training, supporting, and supplying community health workers (CHWs) to assess, classify and manage sick children with limited access to care at health facilities, in their communities. This paper aims to provide an overview of the status in 2013 of CCM policy and implementation in sub-Saharan African countries. METHODS We undertook a cross-s...

Neurology 2012;78:614–615 Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) are comprised of vascular sinusoids lacking smooth muscle cells, elastic lamina, and tight junctions between endothelial cells, which renders them prone to intracranial hemorrhage.1 The magnitude of the risk of CCM hemorrhage and its predictors are of considerable concern to patients2 and care providers (Angioma Alliance [www.angi...

INTRODUCTION Micro-organism adhesion and plaque formation is affected by surface free energy (SFE), surface roughness, hydrophilicity, surface chemistry, surface charge and the presence of proteins. AIMS The aim of this study was to assess and compare surface characteristics of surgical grade cobalt chromium alloy (CCM) and of commercially pure titanium (cpTi). METHOD Nine metallic cylinder...

The disease known as cerebral cavernous malformations mostly occurs in the central nervous system, and their typical histological presentations are multiple lumen formation and vascular leakage at the brain capillary level, resulting in disruption of the blood-brain barrier. These abnormalities result in severe neurological symptoms such as seizures, focal neurological deficits and hemorrhagic ...

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Considering the World Health Organization recommendation to implement child contact management (CCM) for TB, we conducted a mixed-methods systematic review to summarize CCM implementation, challenges, predictors, and recommendations. We searched the electronic databases of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science ...