444, P < 0.001), E/E +/- ratio (r(s) = 0.444, P <

0.001), LA volume index (r(s) = 0.370, P < 0.001), and PIIIP level (r(s) = 0.305, P = 0.002). During a mean follow-up period of 33.8 +/- 12.2 months, 45 patients (29%) presented with AF recurrences. A Cox proportional hazard regression analysis showed the LA stiffness index was an independent predictor of recurrence of AF (HR 2.88; 95% CI 1.75 to 4.73, P < 0.001).\n\nConclusions: In patients with AF, the LA stiffness index is related to left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, LA dilatation, and collagen synthesis and may predict AF recurrences after PVI. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 22, pp. 999-1006, September 2011)”
“Granulomatous mastitis is an inflammatory breast condition of unknown etiology. selleck compound Management remains controversial and treatment algorithms are lacking from the literature.

Few resources exist PF 03491390 that discuss breast reconstruction following extirpation. This descriptive case series reviews the clinicopathologic features of granulomatous mastitis. We describe the surgical management undertaken at our institution including General and Plastic Surgery procedures. Eleven clinical charts and histologic slides of biopsy specimens were reviewed in our health region between 1992 and 2007. Demographic data, clinical presentation, and radiologic findings were tabulated. Treatment consisted of empirical antibiotics and surgical excision. Procedures performed included incision and drainage (n = 8), excisional biopsy (n = 15), partial mastectomy (n = 5), partial mastectomy with reduction mammaplasty (n = 2), and mastectomy with TRAM flap reconstruction (n = 1).\n\nTreatment was successful in all but One case. Multiple surgeries for recurrent lesions were often required to achieve final remission. Following extirpation, we recommend delayed breast reconstruction to monitor for recurrence.”
“Although individuality in alarm calls has been reported for many ground-dwelling sciurids, the degree to which the vocal identity encoded in alarm calls is stable with selleck inhibitor time has been studied only for a single sciurid species. Thus, no comparable

data are available. We examined the retention of the vocal keys to individual identity after hibernation in a natural colony of yellow ground squirrels (Spermophilus fulvus), long-lived, obligate-hibernating rodents that maintain stable social groups for years. We recorded alarm calls in 2 subsequent years, separated by hibernation, from 22 individually marked animals. All individuals could be distinguished with high probability by their alarm calls within a year. However, only 6 of the 22 animals kept their alarm calls stable after hibernation. Sex, age, year of data collection, and the distance that individuals moved between years did not have significant effects on the retention of a stable alarm call structure after hibernation.