With a great response from the audience Christopher Flach's film Madeleine Castaing, ended the last days of the Cesis Festival along with the final concert "Imants Kalnins and Philip Glass." Attended by more than 1800 visitors, this years 2011Festival contained a rich program featuring a diverse range of art forms included classical music concerts, visual art exhibitions, films and drama performances. Christopher Flach's film "Madeleine Castaing," is the documentary that explores the personality and influence of the French decorator and antique dealer. ...

Acute myocardial Infarction (AMI) is a major cause of death and disability. Worldwide, one in eight patients die of an ischemic heart disease. Its rapid and accurate diagnosis is critical for the initiation of effective evidence based medical management, including early revascularization, but is still an unmet clinical need. The gradual implementation of high-sensitive cardiac troponins (hs-cTnT) in clinical practice has helped clinicians to detect and treat patients with acute myocardial infarction earlier than with conventional assays. But, high-sensitive assays have ...

Compared to patients who had persistently high platelet reactivity, those who achieved low platelet reactivity, according to the VerifyNow P2Y12 Test, had a reduced incidence of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stent thrombosis, as indicated by a clinical trial presented today at the ESC Congress 2011. These findings were part of a secondary analysis of the Gauging Responsiveness with A VerifyNow P2Y12 Assay- Impact on Thrombosis and Safety (GRAVITAS) trial, the largest prospective trial to date to test the clinical efficacy of antiplatelet therapy modification, ...

Although medication which decreases the risk of angina attacks (chest pain caused by blockage of the arteries that supply the heart), are frequently prescribed in patients who have sustained a myocardial infarction, the possible influence of medication on long-term survival is not known, with the exception of beta-blocking agents, which have been shown to decrease mortality in clinical trials performed 30 years ago. Because antianginal drugs also protect the myocardium against ischemia (insufficient oxygen delivery to the heart muscle), there is a possibility that they ...

Results from a study presented today at the ESC Congress 2011, show that TAVI implantation in low risk patients, met with 100% procedural success (versus 95.3% in the high Euroscore group (p=0.1). "The most interesting point to observe is the absence of death at one month in the low Euroscore group, versus a mortality rate of 11.1% in the high Euroscore group (>20%), (p < 0.04) and this result is confirmed at 1-year with 5 vs 24.8 %, (p END ...

Because of improved management at the acute stage, the risk of dying in hospital after a heart attack has decreased by about 50% in the past 10 years. Likewise, the prescription of recommended medications when patients leave hospital, has resulted in improved survival and fewer recurrent heart attacks. One of the challenges is now to try and further decrease long-term mortality in patients who leave the hospital on "optimal" medical therapy (i.e. who are prescribed all the recommended medications). The French registry of Acute ST-elevation and non-ST-elevation Myocardial ...

The rapid growth of global sales by leading U.S. companies has once again placed Access Technology Solutions in the international spotlight. For the fourth straight year, Utah Business magazine has ranked Access Technology Solutions among its top companies on the Utah Fast 50 list of the fastest-growing companies in Utah. The Utah Fast 50 program was designed to recognize companies for their entrepreneurial spirit, innovative business tactics and skyrocketing revenue growth. Access Technology Solutions was honored at an event in Salt Lake City on August 25th. Access' ...

Thrombotic (clotting) and bleeding events are complications that may occur after surgery. With the aging population in the western world, there are more patients undergoing orthopedic surgery than ever before. This makes understanding the risk of complications from orthopedic surgery exceedingly important. However, there is a lack of data investigating the incidence of thrombotic and bleeding complications in orthopedic surgery. The new study by investigators at NYU School of Medicine was comprised of 3,082 patients undergoing orthopedic surgery of the hip, knee, and ...

With the increased prevalence of chronic heart failure (HF), there is a concomitant increase in the number of related hospitalisations; as chronic HF progresses, the risk of acute exacerbation increases. Registries and surveys of HF have been generally conducted in patients with either chronic or acute conditions, but a description of the whole clinical history of patients with HF, including the acute episodes, consequent changes in clinical conditions and management strategies, have not been available. The final results of the Heart Failure Pilot Study, a general ...

Bergen County, New Jersey Dentist Dr. Sherzoy is a well qualified Cosmetic Dentist who has helped his patients restore their smiles, beauty and self-confidence with Dental Implants. Dental Implants are a proven and effective solution for people who have damaged or missing teeth who find themselves embarrassed about their smiles and want a smile restoration. Dr. Sherzoy is well qualified in the field of Implant Dentistry, a specialized aspect of dentistry, dealing with the placement and restoration of dental implants. Dental Implants are Dr. Sherzoy's preferred method ...

Results presented today from the Atrial Fibrillation Ablation Pilot Study show that almost 40% of patients undergoing a catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation have no underlying disease associated with the arrhythmia, and precipitating factors are rare. The survey, which is a pilot survey from the ESC's EurObservational registry programme, also confirmed that symptoms are present in 86% of patients but vary considerably; symptoms include palpitations, fatigue, and shortness of breath or dizziness. "The AFib Ablation Pilot Study shows that, while symptoms remain the ...

Pre-existing heart disease in pregnancy remains a concern. Complications are frequent and in some cases may be life-threatening for both the mother and her child. In Europe maternal heart disease has now become the major cause of maternal death during pregnancy. As interim data from the ESC's special registry on pregnancy in cardiac disease suggests, the numbers of women at risk is not in decline, mainly because of today's older age at first pregnancy and with it a concomitant increase in risks of diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Professor Jolien Roos-Hesselink, ...

From SARS to swine flu, virus outbreaks can be unpredictable — and devastating. But now a new application through the ubiquitous social networking site Facebook, developed in a Tel Aviv University lab, is poised to serve as a better indicator of how infections spread among populations. Dr. Gal Almogy and Prof. Nir Ben-Tal of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at TAU's George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences have developed a Facebook application called PiggyDemic, which allows users to "infect" their friends with a simulated virus or become infected ...

Contact Centers are facing a wave of new challenges. With social media and self-service channels becoming a common method of interacting with customers, the need to support a multi-channel customer contact center is now greater than ever. With that need has come a proliferation of new multi-channel contact center technology choices. Many companies are opting for cloud based computing models. Cloud-based contact centers have advantages to be sure. They can cut costs, create flexibility with anywhere, anytime access for agents and customers alike to interact without the cumbersome ...

OTS Solutions recently announced that their Quality Management System has been registered as compliant within the International Standard ISO 9001. This achievement was a direct result of the entire organization working together in effectively developing and maintaining the Quality System in order to be registered. Meeting the ever growing customer demands for the highest level of quality is vital to the future success of every company in any kind of business. OTS has demonstrated their commitment to quality and to the continuous improvement of their management system ...

Results of the independently-funded Bern-Rotterdam cohort study provide robust evidence of an "important" reduction in overall and very late stent thrombosis. The reduction in incidence was found when a newer generation everolimus-eluting stent (EES) was compared with early generation drug-eluting stents (DES) at long-term follow-up. "The near elimination of stent thrombosis observed between one and four years after implantation shows that everolimus-eluting stents overcome the principal limitation of early generation DES," said investigator Dr Lorenz Räber from the ...

Depending on the age of asthmatic children, on their exposure to molds or dampness in their bedroom, and on the severity of their asthma, vitamin C has greater or smaller beneficial effect against asthma, according to a study published in the Clinical and Translational Allergy. Proposals that vitamin C might be beneficial in the treatment of asthma date back to the 1940s, but the findings from controlled trials have been conflicting. Drs Mohammed Al-Biltagi from the Tanta University in Egypt and Harri Hemila from the University of Helsinki in Finland analyzed the effect ...

A randomised multicentre open-label study evaluating the efficacy and safety of prolonged antiplatelet therapy in patients with coronary disease has found that 24 months' duration of dual therapy is no better than six months DAPT in preventing adverse cardiac events. However, the PROlonging Dual antiplatelet treatment after Grading stent-induced Intimal hyperplasia studY (PRODIGY) also found a consistently greater risk of haemorrhage in the 24-month dual therapy group according to all prespecified bleeding definitions, including the recently proposed Bleeding Academic ...

Insurance companies and government entities are warning drivers and other East Coast residents that while the storm has passed, danger still abounds for motorists in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, according to Online Auto Insurance News. Roadways that are normally safe can be dangerous after hurricanes and other natural disasters, authorities say. And auto accidents pose more than just physical risks--they can also drive up premiums for policyholders, especially those with tarnished driving records or who for other reasons already carry high risk car insurance policies. ...

A phase II dose-finding study has found that the new oral Factor Xa inhibitor darexaban was associated with a two to four-fold increase in bleeding when added to dual antiplatelet therapy in patients following an acute coronary syndrome. Professor Gabriel Steg from the Hôpital Bichat in Paris, presenting results from the RUBY-1 trial in a Hot Line session of the ESC Congress today, said the study produced no other safety concerns and that "establishing the role of low-dose darexaban in preventing major cardiac events after ACS now requires a large phase III trial". The ...

The second generation drug-eluting stent Xience V performs well in patients having primary PCI for ST elevation myocardial infarction, and has a better safety profile than that of bare metal stents, according to results of the EXAMINATION (Evaluation of Xience-V stent in Acute Myocardial INfArcTION) trial. The study was a randomised controlled trial with an "all-comers" design to evaluate the Xience V stent in the complex setting of STEMI and to provide data that may be applicable to the real world population. Dr Sabate said that the first generation drug-eluting stents ...

Intra-aortic balloon pump counterpulsation prior to PCI in patients with ST segment elevation MI does not reduce infarct size as measured by MRI, according to results from the Counterpulsation Reduces Infarct Size Acute Myocardial Infarction (CRISP AMI) trial. Intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation is a procedure in which a balloon inserted in the aorta is timed to inflate at the start of diastole and to deflate before the start of systole. This increases diastolic pressure, which increases coronary perfusion and oxygen delivery to the myocardium, and facilitates ejection ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — When Kathryn Orzech attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia, she participated in drama and choir. Rehearsals that would have ended at 10 p.m. in high school now went much later. Social opportunities around the dorm — card games, trips to late-night snack hangout spots — beckoned but without parents around to wield the cudgel of a curfew. For a long list of reasons, college freshmen are often subpar sleepers. A new study by Orzech, now a postdoctoral fellow in sleep research at Brown University, and student health officials ...

Researchers at King's College London have discovered how coral produces natural sunscreen compounds to protect itself from damaging UV rays, leading scientists to believe these compounds could form the basis of a new type of sunscreen for humans. The team has begun to uncover the genetic and biochemical processes behind how these compounds are produced and eventually hope to recreate them synthetically in the laboratory for use in developing sun protection. This month, as part of the three-year project funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council ...

Boulder, Colorado, USA - As a prelude to The Geological Society of America's 2011 Annual Meeting & Exposition in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, the September issue of GSA Today departs from its normal format by publishing four short science articles intended to introduce different aspects of the geology of the Upper Midwest and the contemporary role of the geologist in society. Find them online at http://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/21/9/. The theme of the 8󈝸 Oct. 2011 GSA Annual Meeting & Exposition is Archaean to Anthropocene: The past is the key to the ...