The air/PFO and the buried electrode/PFO interfaces have been investigated by two-color SFG spectroscopy. Due to the interface confinement effects, the planes of PFO rings are nearly parallel to the surface plane, and the optical band gaps become smaller at the interfaces than those of the bulk.

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is experiencing increased clinical interest as a congenital cardiac lesion persisting into adulthood. It is implicated in several serious clinical syndromes, including stroke, myocardial infarction, and systemic embolism. The PFO is now amenable to percutaneous interventional therapies, and multiple novel technologies are either available or under development for lesi...

The anaerobic bacterium Clostridium perfringens expresses multiple toxins that promote disease development in both humans and animals. One such toxin is perfringolysin O (PFO, classically referred to as θ toxin), a pore-forming cholesterol-dependent cytolysin (CDC). PFO is secreted as a water-soluble monomer that recognizes and binds membranes via cholesterol. Membrane-bound monomers undergo st...

P atent foramen ovale (PFO), the most common postnatal residue of the fetal circulation, has for many years been considered to have almost no clinical relevance. In an autopsy study from the Mayo Clinic, PFO was found in 27% of 965 normal human hearts, with an incidence declining with increasing age (34% in the first three decades and 20% in the ninth and 10th decades).' PFO size ranged between...

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) carries an increased risk of ischaemic stroke, but the underlying mechanism is not clear. As right-to-left shunting can occur through a patent foramen ovale (PFO) during periods of apnoea, we investigated nocturnal changes in fibrinolytic activity and platelet function in subjects who had OSA with or without PFO and in controls. We determined plasminogen activator...

The primate prefrontal cortex contributes to stimulus-guided behavior, but the functional specializations among its areas remain uncertain. To better understand such specializations, we contrasted neuronal activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFdl) and the orbital prefrontal cortex (PFo). The task required rhesus monkeys to use a visual cue to choose a saccade target. Some cues instr...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of transcatheter patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure on migraine frequency in patients with paradoxical cerebral embolism. BACKGROUND The prevalence of migraine headache is higher in cryptogenic stroke patients with PFO than in the general population. Previous studies have suggested that closure of the PFO may reduce migrainous ...

Acute Pulmonary Embolism and Right Ventricular Enlargement Who Are at Risk for Adverse Clinical Events To the Editor: The recent report by Quiroz et al1 that detection of right ventricular (RV) enlargement on chest computed tomography helped identify patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) for adverse clinical events has important prognostic and therapeutic implications, but the authors did...

PURPOSE We aimed to examine the incidence of patent foramen ovale (PFO) and atrial septal aneurysms (ASA) in the Turkish population using coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA); assess the feasibility of coronary CTA for PFO diagnosis by conducting a comparison with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE); and determine the diagnostic role and characteristics of the interatrial tunnel, fre...

An exposure assessment and risk characterization was conducted to better understand the potential human health significance of trace levels of perfluorooctanoate (PFO) detected in certain consumer articles. PFO is the anion of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Concentrations of PFO in the consumer articles were determined from extraction tests and product formulation information. Potential exposur...