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Objectives High-salt intake has been demonstrated in link to hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases could be programmed in fetal origins. We determined the influence of high-salt diet during pregnancy on the development of the heart. Methods Fetal cardiac structures, cell cycle, renin–angiotensin system (RAS), and epigenetic alternations in the heart following maternal high salt intake during pregnancy were examined. Results Following exposure to high salt, disorganized myofibrillae and mitochondria cristae loss were found in the fetus, S-phase for cardiac cells was enhanced, plasma angiotensin II decreased, and cardiac angiotensin II increased in the fetus. Angiotensin II-increased S-phase in the fetal cardiac cells was primarily via AT1 receptor mechanisms. AT2 receptor mRNA and protein in the fetal heart were not affected, whereas AT1 receptor protein, AT1a, and AT1b mRNA were increased. DNA methylation was found at the CpG sites that were related to AT1b receptors in the fetal heart. Cardiac AT1 receptor protein in the adult offspring was also higher following exposure to prenatal high salt. Conclusion The results suggest a relationship between high-salt diet in pregnancy and developmental changes of the cardiac cells and renin–angiotensin system.

In this paper, we introduce a set of discrete orthogonal functions known as dual Hahn polynomials. TheTchebichef and Krawtchouk polynomials are special cases of dual Hahn polynomials. The dual Hahn polynomials are scaled to ensure the numerical stability, thus creating a set of weighted orthonormal dualHahn polynomials. They are allowed to define a new type of discrete orthogonal moments. The discrete orthogonality of the proposed dual Hahn moments not only ensures the minimal information redundancy, but also eliminates the need for numerical approximations. The paper also discusses the computational aspects of dual Hahn moments, including the recurrence relation and symmetry properties. Experimental results show that the dual Hahn moments perform better than the Legendre moments, Tchebichef moments, and Krawtchouk moments in terms of image reconstruction capability in both noise-free and noisy conditions. The dual Hahn moment invariants are derived using a linear combination of geometricmoments. An example of using the dual Hahn moment invariants as pattern features for a pattern classification application is given.

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There is considerable evidence that the localization and evolution of vascular disease are mediated, at least in part, by mechanical factors. The mechanical environment of the coronary arteries, which are tethered to the beating heart, is influenced by cardiac motion; the motion of the vessels must be described quantitatively to characterize fully the mechanical forces acting on and in the vessel wall. Several techniques that have been used to characterize coronary artery dynamics from biplane cineangiograms are described and illustrated. There is considerable variability in dynamic geometric parameters from site to site along a vessel, between the right and left anterior descending arteries, and among individuals, consistent with the hypotheses that variations in stresses mediated by geometry and dynamics affect the localization of atherosclerosis and individual risk of coronary heart disease. The few frankly atherosclerotic vessels that have been examined exhibit high torsions in the neighborhood of lesions, an observation which may have etiologic or diagnostic implications.

Discrete orthogonal moments are powerful tools for characterizing image shape features for applications in pattern recognition and image analysis. In this paper, a new set of discrete orthogonal moments is proposed, based on the discrete Racah polynomials. In order to ensure numerical stability, the Racah polynomials are normalized, thus creating a set of weighted orthonormal Racah polynomials, to define the so-called Racah moments. This new type of discrete orthogonal moments eliminates the need for numerical approximations. The paper also discusses the properties of Racah polynomials such as recurrence relations and permutability property that can be used to reduce the computational complexity in the calculation of Racah polynomials. Finally, we demonstrate Racah moments' feature representation capability by means of image reconstruction and compression. Comparison with other discrete orthogonal transforms is performed, and the results show that the Racah moments are potentially useful in the field of image analysis. r

Objective-It is widely recognized that hemodynamic and wall mechanical forces are involved in the initiation and development of atherosclerosis. In the coronary vasculature, these forces are likely mediated by arterial dynamics and geometry. This research examines the hypothesis that coronary artery motion and geometry affect the local predisposition to disease, presumably through their influence on the stresses at and in the artery wall. Methods and Results-The dynamics of a human right coronary artery and the variation of wall thickness along its length were characterized from biplane cineangiograms and intravascular ultrasound records, respectively. The dynamic geometry parameters were distance along the vessel, cyclic displacement, axial strain, curvature, and torsion. Multiple regression analyses using principal components show that (1) no single dynamic geometry parameter has a dominant influence on wall thickness, (2) Key Words: coronary arteries Ⅲ dynamic geometry Ⅲ wall thickness Ⅲ biplane angiography Ⅲ intravascular ultrasound A lthough several cardiovascular risk factors, including hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, smoking, and diabetes, have been associated with coronary heart disease (CHD), 1,2 it is conventional knowledge among investigators in atherosclerosis that these factors can explain no more than half of the variability in the occurrence of atherosclerotic lesions or CHD. [3][4][5] This situation suggests that there are additional risk factors that predispose to arterial disease. Friedman and colleagues 6 -8 have proposed that variations in arterial geometry, including the dynamic characteristics of the coronary arteries, can contribute to some of the unexplained variation in cardiovascular risk. This idea is based on the abundant and increasing evidence that hemodynamics and vascular wall stresses play an important role in the initiation and development of atherosclerosis. 9,10 The fluid dynamic environment at the arterial wall depends on the geometry and motion of the channel through which the flow is passing, and geometries that promote an adverse hemodynamic milieu could constitute additional risk factors for disease. Similarly, the motion of the coronary arteries during the cardiac cycle can lead to cyclic stresses in the wall that may prompt an atherosclerotic response.Most research seeking associations between coronary artery geometry and vessel pathology has been based on autopsy hearts. [11][12][13][14] This is in part because of a lack of relevant data for the in vivo situation. Biplane cineangiography and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) are 2 powerful modalities for assessing this relationship in vivo. While the former modality makes it possible to accurately reconstruct the time-dependent 3D course of the coronary vessels on the beating heart, the latter provides the necessary in vivo vessel wall morphology. In this study, we demonstrate the use of these diagnostic techniques to evaluate the relationship between the dynamic geometry and morphometry of a human right coronary ar...