This study evaluates BNP as a marker of LV diastolic dysfunction in a cohort of patients with preserved LV ejection fraction who underwent AVR for pure aortic stenosis and the relationship between BNP values and the grade of LV diastolic dysfunction.
A total of 113 patients were included in the study. Echocardiographic evaluation was performed preoperatively,
5 days postoperatively and at 12-month follow-up, to assess LV dimensional and functional parameters. Diastolic function was labelled as normal, mild, moderate or severe dysfunction. Concomitantly, BNP levels were evaluated.
Mild to severe diastolic dysfunction occurred preoperatively in all patients. At 12-month follow-up, 65 (62.5%) patients had mild and 25 (24.1%) moderate to severe diastolic dysfunction. BNP values, categorized for quartile distribution, correlated with diastolic dysfunction grade (P < 0.001 for each comparison). buy CX-6258 At receiver operating characteristic analysis, the BNP level of 120 pg/ml was 91% sensitive and 85% specific for diastolic disease, while 300 pg/ml was 80% sensitive and 91% specific for moderate or severe diastolic dysfunction. Twelve months after AVR, BNP values MLN8237 research buy were strongly correlated with the significant echocardiographic parameters suggestive of diastolic dysfunction (P < 0.006 in all cases).
The BNP level following AVR is related to diastolic
disease severity and may complement echocardiographic evaluation when symptoms are unclear and LV function is difficult to interpret.”
“Hypothesis: Performance in tone
perception and production are correlated in prelingually deafened pediatric cochlear implant (CI) users across individuals. Demographic variables, such as age at I-BET-762 datasheet implantation, contribute to the performance variability.
Background: Poor representation of pitch information in CI devices hinders pitch perception and affects perception of lexical tones in cochlear implant users who speak tonal languages.
Methods: One hundred ten Mandarin-speaking, prelingually deafened CI subjects and 125 typically developing, normal-hearing subjects were recruited from Beijing, China. Lexical tone perception was measured using a computerized tone contrast test. Tone production was judged by native Mandarin-speaking adult listeners as well as analyzed acoustically and with an artificial neural network. A general linear model analysis was performed to determine factors that accounted for performance variability.
Results: CI subjects scored similar to 67% correct on the lexical tone perception task. The degree of differentiation of tones produced by the CI group was significantly lower than the control group as revealed by acoustic analysis. Tone production performance assessed by the neural network was highly correlated with that evaluated by human listeners.