Search results for "thickness"

Relationship between childhood obesity cut-offs and metabolic and vascular comorbidities: comparative analysis of three growth standards

2013

Background: To compare the association between metabolic and vascular comorbidities and the body mass (BMI)-for-age cut-off criteria from three growth standards [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2000; World Health Organization (WHO), 2007; Spanish Reference Criteria (Carrascosa Lezcano et al., 2008)] that are used to define being overweight and obese in childhood. Methods: A prospective study was conducted in 137 children (aged 8–16 years). Based on BMI-for-age Z-scores according to WHO cut-offs, 59 participants were obese, 35 were overweight and 43 were normal-weight. All participating children were subsequently reclassified applying the CDC and Spanish Reference Criteria.…

Relationship between left ventricular hypertrophy, diastolic function and extracardiac atherosclerosis in newly diagnosed hypertensives

2001

A Simple Apparatus for the Determination of the Optical Constants and the Thickness of Absorbing Thin Films

2001

We report on a simple and inexpensive apparatus useful for measuring the optical constants n, k and the thickness of weakly absorbing thin films. The measurement is based on an accurate determination of the reflectance and transmittance of a specimen illuminated by a laser beam. The laser beam is incident on a transparent substrate coated with the film to be evaluated, with an angle of incidence equal to the Brewster angle for the substrate, and its polarization can be switched between the p and s states. If the thickness is known to be within a presumptive range, measurements of the p and s reflectance and transmittance allow a calculation of the optical constants n, k and the thickness of…

Effects of finite thickness on interfacial widths in confined thin films of coexisting phases

1999

The capillary broadening of a 2-phase interface is investigated both experimentally and theoretically. When a binary mixture in a thin film with thickness D segregates into two coexisting phases the interface between the two phases may form parallel to the substrate due to preferential surface attraction of one of the components. We show that the interfacial profile (of intrinsic width w0) is broadened due to capillary waves, which lead to fluctuations, of correlation length of the local interface positions in the directions parallel to the confining walls. We postulate that acts as an upper cutoff for the spectrum of capillary waves on the interface, so that the effective mean square inter…

Electrocardiographic Imaging for Atrial Fibrillation: A Perspective From Computer Models and Animal Experiments to Clinical Value

2021

[EN] Electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI) is a technique to reconstruct non-invasively the electrical activity on the heart surface from body-surface potential recordings and geometric information of the torso and the heart. ECGI has shown scientific and clinical value when used to characterize and treat both atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Regarding atrial fibrillation (AF), the characterization of the electrical propagation and the underlying substrate favoring AF is inherently more challenging than for ventricular arrhythmias, due to the progressive and heterogeneous nature of the disease and its manifestation, the small volume and wall thickness of the atria, and the relatively large…

Ultrasonography in Heart Failure: A Story that Matters

2019

Abstract Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome caused by structural and/or functional cardiac abnormalities, resulting in a reduced cardiac output and/or elevated intracardiac pressures at rest or during stress. It is the leading cause of hospitalization in Internal Medicine departments. This article aims at reviewing evidence of the importance of ultrasound in HF both for hospitalized patients and in the follow-up. Ultrasound may be used as a recovery monitoring instrument at the bedside and also as a global cardiovascular assessment tool for these patients. HF represents an exciting opportunity to create an integrative ultrasound approach in Internal Medicine and/or Geriatric departme…

Naïve hepatitis B e antigen-negative chronic hepatitis B patients are at risk of carotid atherosclerosis: A prospective study

2021

BACKGROUND There is an increased risk of atherosclerosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C or human immunodeficiency virus, but there is scarce data on hepatitis B virus infection. The hypothesis of this study is that hepatitis B virus infection increases the risk of carotid plaques and subclinical atherosclerosis in naïve hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) negative subjects. AIM To assess the rate of carotid plaques and subclinical atherosclerosis in naïve HBeAg negative subjects in comparison with a cohort of healthy controls. METHODS Prospective case-control collaborative study conducted in two tertiary hospitals. Four hundred and two subjects prospectively recruited at the outpatient clin…

Preclinical atherosclerosis and metabolic syndrome increase cardio- and cerebrovascular events rate: a 20-year follow up

2013

BACKGROUND: Intima-media thickness (IMT) is a validated marker of preclinical atherosclerosis and a predictor of cardiovascular events. PATIENTS: We studied a population of 529 asymptomatic patients (age 62 ± 12.8 years), divided into two groups of subjects with and without Metabolic Syndrome (MetS). METHODS: All patients, at baseline, have had a carotid ultrasound evaluation and classified in two subgroups: the first one without atherosclerotic lesions and the second one with preclinical atherosclerosis (increased IMT or asymptomatic carotid plaque). Cardiovascular endpoints were investigated in a 20-years follow-up. RESULTS: There were 242 cardiovascular events: 144 among patients with Me…

Renal function and carotid atherosclerosis in adults with no known kidney disease

2017

Abstract Background and aims A high prevalence of atherosclerotic lesions characterizes patients with chronic kidney disease, though there is little data on the relationship between kidney function and atherosclerotic changes in the healthy population or in people with no known renal impairment. The aim of our study was to analyze, in a comprehensive general population with no known kidney disease, the relationship between renal function and subclinical carotid atherosclerotic damage. Methods and results A general real-life population of 611 participants (233 males and 378 females; age ≥18 years) with no known kidney failure was selected for the study. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) w…

Liraglutide improves metabolic parameters and carotid intima-media thickness in diabetic patients with the metabolic syndrome: an 18-month prospectiv…

2016

Abstract Background Liraglutide, a GLP-1 analogue, exerts several beneficial non-glycemic effects in patients with type-2 diabetes (T2DM), such as those on body weight, blood pressure, plasma lipids and inflammation markers. However, the effects of liraglutide on cardiovascular (CV) risk markers in subjects with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) are still largely unknown. We herein explored its effects on various cardio-metabolic risk markers of the MetS in subjects with T2DM. Methods We performed an 18-month prospective, real-world study. All subjects had T2DM and the MetS based on the AHA/NHLBI criteria. Subjects with a history of a major CV event were excluded. One hundred-twenty-one subject…