AIMS Biomarkers can be used for diagnosis, risk stratification, or management of patients with heart failure (HF). Knowledge about the biological variation is needed for proper interpretation of serial measurements. Therefore, we aimed to determine and compare the biological variation of a large panel of biomarkers in healthy subjects and in patients with chronic HF. METHODS AND RESULTS The b...

Spray drift is a great concern because of environmental consequences of agricultural practices. Many studies were conducted in wind tunnel (Miller, 2011; Nuyttens, 2007; Herbst, 2003) mainly focusing on the definition of quantitative deposition on collectors at different distances or heights according to (ISO 22856, 2008). In most cases, only one nozzle positioned frontally (wind direction perp...

Here we describe a Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVI) patient with large granular (LG) lymphocytosis and systemic non-malignant lymphadenopathy who developed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the stomach. This is the first report of gastric high-grade lymphoma with widespread lymphadenopathy in a patient with LG lymphocytosis associated with CVI.

PURPOSE Cortical visual impairment (CVI) is the most common cause of bilateral vision impairment in children in Western countries. Better quantitative tools for measuring vision are needed to assess these children, to allow measurement of their visual deficit, and to monitor their response to treatment and rehabilitation. The author performed a series of experiments to assess the use of the swe...

PURPOSE The aims of this study were to adapt the Paediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory, Dutch version (PEDI-NL) for children with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) and cerebral palsy (CP) and determine test-retest and inter-respondent reliability. METHOD The Delphi method was used to gain consensus among twenty-one health experts familiar with CVI. Test-retest and inter-respondent reli...

BACKGROUND Elevated neck pain prevalence among skydivers is associated with exposure to repeated parachute opening shock (POS). A study is planned to evaluate a preventive free fall acrobatics intervention, but prior assessment of the protocol is necessary given the complex and safety-critical study environment. AIM To validate an intervention protocol to reduce POS neck loads. METHODS A pr...

BACKGROUND Physiological reflexes modulated primarily by the vagus nerve allow the heart to decelerate and accelerate rapidly after a deep inspiration followed by rapid movement of the limbs. This is the physiological and pharmacologically validated basis for the 4-s exercise test (4sET) used to assess the vagal modulation of cardiac chronotropism. OBJECTIVE To present reference data for 4sET...

In living organisms sugars not only provide energy and carbon skeletons but also act as evolutionarily conserved signaling molecules. The three major soluble sugars in plants are sucrose, glucose, and fructose. Information on plant glucose and sucrose signaling is available, but to date no fructose-specific signaling pathway has been reported. In this study, sugar repression of seedling develop...

The natural environment is unequivocally the life support for all human systems. Far for being a luxury available only to those who can afford it, successful environmental management will increasingly become the basis for the success or failure of the economics and social systems of entire countries. In the last two decades, concern has been expressed about possible effects of climate change in...