INTRODUCTION Unexplained syncope is a common condition with a significant impact both on the patient and on healthcare expenditure. Often, the diagnosis is hampered due to the temporary sporadic nature of the symptoms. Conventional monitoring methods have a low yield for identifying an abnormality during a spontaneous event. The implantable loop recorder (ILR), often underutilised, is an import...

Detection of occult AF using implantable loop recorders (ILR) has become routine practice in the evaluation cryptogenic stroke, yet there are few data demonstrating that ILRs reduce risk recurrent stroke. Our aim was to determine if diagnostic yield for ILR-detected patients with stroke may be improved clinical characteristics, and ILR-directed changes medical therapy We observed 282 consecutiv...

AIMS In about 30% of patients with syncope, the responsible mechanisms remain unrecognised. Nevertheless, the possibility of an arrhythmic aetiology remains, however, difficult to rule out. METHODS We therefore monitored with an implantable loop recorder (ILR, Reveal Plus, Medtronic) 34 subjects (60+/-15 years) with at least two unexplained syncopal episodes and negative neurological and card...

People-centric sensing with smart phones can be used for large scale sensing of the physical world at low cost by leveraging the available sensors on the phones. However, the sensed data submitted by participants is not always reliable as they can submit false data to earn money without executing the actual task at the desired location. To address this problem, the authors propose ILR, a scheme...

It is hypothesised that during immune system activation, there is a competition for amino acids (AA) between body protein deposition and immune system functioning. The aim of the present study was to quantify the effect of immune system activation on N retention and AA metabolism in growing pigs, depending on dietary protein supply. A total of sixteen barrows received an adequate (Ad) or restri...

Syncope is a very common clinical problem. Given the extensive differential diagnosis, we have developed a structured approach for the evaluation and management of patients with unexplained syncope. Patients with overt cardiac, neurologic, or metabolic disturbances are identified and treated accordingly. However, the remaining patients with high-risk characteristics are hospitalized for risk st...

Through a retrospective study concerning the experience of our center in patients affected by Neurally Mediated reflex Syncope (NMS) we wanted to verify not only the diagnostic yield of the Implantable Loop Recorder (ILR) but its possible placebo therapeutic effect. In the context of patients affected by a severe clinical presentation of NMS identified through a careful clinical evaluation, we ...

The effect of relative humidity (RH: 30% to >95%) of a gas-phase mixture composed of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and para-, meta- and ortho-xylenes (BTEX), inlet concentrations (0.2-12.6 g m(-3)), and empty bed residence times (EBRTs) (48-144 s) was tested in a fungi-dominant biofilter. A maximum elimination capacity (EC(max)) of 244.2 gBTEX m(-3) h(-1) was achieved at a total inlet loading ...