AIM Patients with sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias are at high risk for sudden cardiac death. The mechanisms leading to multiple temporally related episodes of ventricular fibrillation (VF) are not yet fully elucidated, and treatment options are limited. We investigated whether K(ATP)-channels could be involved in triggering VF. METHODS We determined postarrhythmic changes of monophasic...

Objective: Monkey B virus (BV) infection in humans and other macaque species has a mortality rate of approximately 80%. Because BV infects through bites, scratches, injuries inflicted by macaques, the simple rapid diagnosis field laboratories is great importance to protect veterinarians, laboratory researchers, support personnels from threat infection. Methods: Two recombinase polymerase amplif...

Plants of the genus Valeriana (Valerianaceae) are used in traditional medicine as a mild sedative, antispasmodic and tranquilizer in many countries. This study was undertaken to explore the neurobehavioral effects of systemic administration of a valepotriate extract fraction of known quantitative composition of Valeriana glechomifolia (endemic of southern Brazil) in mice. Adult animals were tre...

This study investigated the neuromuscular mechanisms underlying the initial stage of adaptation to novel dynamics. A destabilizing velocity-dependent force field (VF) was introduced for sets of three consecutive trials. Between sets a random number of 4-8 null field trials were interposed, where the VF was inactivated. This prevented subjects from learning the novel dynamics, making it possible...

INTRODUCTION Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is an inherited retinal disorder, characterized by photoreceptor degeneration inducing progressive vision loss. This study evaluates its impact on quality of life (QOL) and emotional states of patients affected by RP. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 RP patients diagnosed with rod-cone dystrophy and on 20 control subjects. The RP popul...

BACKGROUND Ventricular fibrillation (VF) and tachycardia (VT) are the common and potential life-threatening complications after CABG. Ischemic preconditioning (IP) has been proved effective in reducing ischemia reperfusion arrhythmia in animals and humans. Whether IP is effective in suppressing postoperative VF/VT in patients with CABG has not been studied. METHODS AND RESULTS Eighty-six pati...

Myocardial ischemia results in metabolic changes, which collapse the mitochondrial network, that increase the vulnerability of the heart to ventricular fibrillation (VF). It has been demonstrated at the single cell level that uncoupling the mitochondria using carbonyl cyanide p-(tri-fluoromethoxy)phenyl-hydrazone (FCCP) at low concentrations can be cardioprotective. The aim of our study was to ...

We tested whether the interventions typically required for optical mapping affect activation patterns during ventricular fibrillation (VF). A 21 x 24 unipolar electrode array (1.5 mm spacing) was sutured to the left ventricular epicardium of 16 anesthetized pigs, and four episodes of electrically induced VF (30-s duration) were recorded. The hearts were then rapidly excised and connected to a L...

In order to nd the optimal control of continuous state-space and time reinforcement learning (RL) problems, we approximate the value function (VF) with a particular class of functions called the barycentric interpolators. We establish su cient conditions under which a RL algorithm converges to the optimal VF, even when we use approximate models of the state dynamics and the reinforcement functi...

In order to find the optimal control of continuous state-space and time reinforcement learning (RL) problems, we approximate the value function (VF) with a particular class of functions called the barycentric interpolators. We establish sufficient conditions under which a RL algorithm converges to the optimal VF, even when we use approximate models of the state dynamics and the reinforcement fu...