The following are highlights from the series, Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions Topic Review. This series summarizes the most important manuscripts, as selected by the editors, which have published in the Circulation portfolio. The studies included in this article represent the most noteworthy research in the areas of transcatheter aortic valve replacement and transcatheter aortic-valve...

A new component replacement analysis method to solve asset replacement problems for complex electricity distribution systems is developed. In the present model a Taylor series expansion is used to approximate the associated opportunity cost for each component in the system. The method is based on an iterative dynamic programming and integer programming methods to obtain optimal system-level com...

Significant coronary artery disease (CAD) is present in up to 50% of patients with symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS). Although numerous databases have shown that the addition of bypass grafting to an aortic valve replacement (AVR) nearly doubles the mortality, surgical series have shown that leaving significant coronary stenosis untreated increases AVR mortality.1–4 Thus, the standard of care fo...

Biologic valve re-replacement was examined in a series of 1343 patients who underwent aortic valve replacement at The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, with a cryopreserved or 4 degrees C stored allograft valve or a xenograft valve. A parametric model approach was used to simultaneously model the competing risks of death without re-replacement and re-replacement before death. One hundred eleve...

OBJECTIVE Review of surgical repair of aortic root aneurysms using composite graft or homograft in children. METHODS A consecutive series of 34 children (mean age 10.8+/-5.4 years) who underwent elective aortic root replacement using composite graft or homograft from 1987 to 2003 (mean follow-up 5.7+/-3.7 years). RESULTS Preoperatively, the aortic annulus and aortic root average z-scores we...

The functional life span of feathers is always much less than the potential life span of birds, so feathers must be renewed regularly. But feather renewal entails important energetic, time and performance costs that must be integrated into the annual cycle. Across species the time required to replace flight feather increases disproportionately with body size, resulting in complex, multiple wave...

Ochronosis or black joints disorder is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by deficiency of homogentisic acidoxidase. Orthopaedic manifestations are common and mostly involve spine and large joints such as knee and hip.Arthropathy is progressive and will eventually leads to arthroplasty. Not being familiar with this disorder might lead todevastating complications. We present a 57 year-ol...

INTRODUCTION Gomphodonts are a clade of derived non-mammalian cynodonts characterized by the possession of transversely expanded postcanine teeth with crown-to-crown occlusion. These molar-like postcanines, characterized as ‘gomphodont’ teeth, are generally considered to be specialized for processing a predominantly herbivorous diet (Hopson 1971). If the contentious Tritylodontidae are omitted ...