Catheter-based percutaneous transluminal gene delivery (PTGD) into the coronary artery still falls behind the expectations of an efficient myocardial gene delivery system. In this study gene delivery was applied by selective pressureregulated retroinfusion through the coronary veins to prolong adhesion of replication defective adenovirus within the targeted myocardium. Adenoviral vectors consisted either of luciferase (Ad.rsv-Luc) or ␤-galactosidase (Ad.rsv-␤Gal) reporter gene under control of an unspecific promotor derived from the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV). In this pig model, selective retrograde gene delivery into the anterior cardiac vein during a brief period of ischemia substantially

Small areas of myocardial necrosis were found in 36 of 100 patients dying secondary to central nervous system disease, such as subarachnoid hemorrhage, parenchymal intracerebral hemorrhage, encephalomalacia, and various brain tumors. The myocardial lesions were observed with increasing frequency in the following disorders: subarachnoid hemorrhage, parenchymal intracerebral hemorrhage, encephalomalacia, and brain tumors. The main factor in the pathogenesis of these myocardial lesions appears to represent neurohumoral mechanisms with a hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system. These findings may be important for human cardiac transplantation.

AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a virtual mindfulness meditation intervention on stress and anxiety levels of 145 nursing students. BACKGROUND Because of the twin demands of classroom and clinical workloads, nursing students experience greater amounts of stress and anxiety than the average college student. Mindfulness meditation is a promising method to alleviate stress and anxiety. METHOD A pretest-posttest randomized controlled design was used. Participants received either weekly mindfulness meditation recordings or recordings on nursing information. Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale. RESULTS A two-way mixed analysis of variance and follow-up simple main effects tests revealed that participants in the experimental group, who received meditation recordings, experienced significantly lower levels of stress and anxiety on posttest surveys than the control group. CONCLUSION Mindfulness meditation can reduce stress and anxiety levels in nursing students. This can improve students’ overall mental and physical well-being.

Intraoperative iSD-OCT is highly useful as an additional intraoperative diagnostic tool in patients with vitreous haemorrhage. In addition to the en face microscope image, it facilitates intraoperative real-time diagnosis and aids therapeutic decision-making during surgery.