At a continuous transition into a nonunique absorbing state, particle systems may exhibit nonuniversal critical behavior, in apparent violation of hyperscaling. We propose a generalized scaling theory for dynamic critical behavior at a transition into an absorbing state, which is capable of describing exponents which vary according to the initial configuration. The resulting hyperscaling relation is supported by simulations of two lattice models.

We investigated the phase transition behavior of a binary spreading process in two dimensions for different particle diffusion strengths (D). We found that N>2 cluster mean-field approximations must be considered to get consistent singular behavior. The N=3,4 approximations result in a continuous phase transition belonging to a single universality class along the D subset (0,1) phase transition line. Large scale simulations of the particle density confirmed mean-field scaling behavior with logarithmic corrections. This is interpreted as numerical evidence supporting the bosonic field theoretical prediction that the upper critical dimension in this model is d(c)=2. The pair density scales in a similar way but with an additional logarithmic factor to the order parameter. At the D=0 end point of the transition line we found directed percolation criticality.

Aortic coarctation can be repaired surgically or percutaneously. The decision should be made according to the anatomy and location of the coarctation, age of the patient, presence of other cardiac lesions, and other anatomic determinants (extensive collaterals or aortic calcification). This article reviews the different therapeutic options available, explaining the differences between children and adults, describing different approaches to the same disease, exemplified by three cases of nonclassic surgical approach and one percutaneous treatment.

We have investigated the effect of the initial condition on the spreading exponents of the onedimensional pair contact process (PCP) and threshold transfer process (TTP).The non-order field was found to exhibit critical fluctuations, relaxing to its natural value with the same power-law as the order parameter field. We argue that this slow relaxation, which was not taken into account in earlier studies of these models, is responsible for the continuously changing survival probability exponent. High precision numerical simulations show evidence of a (slight) dependence of the location of the transition point on the initial concentration, in the case of PCP. The damage spreading (DS) point and the spreading exponents coincide with those of the ordinary critical point in both cases.

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Both EuroSCORE I and II satisfactorily stratify risk in active infective endocarditis; however, EuroSCORE II performed better in the overall comparison. Specific endocarditis features will increase model complexity without an unequivocal improvement in predictive ability.

Stroke after cardiac surgery remains a devastating complication and its treatment options are limited. Systemic fibrinolysis is a relative contraindication, because it raises the risk of systemic hemorrhage. Endovascular therapy, mechanical thrombectomy, and intra-arterial fibrinolysis have emerged as safer options. We present three patients who developed strokes following cardiac surgery who underwent successful mechanical thrombectomy and review the literature on this subject. doi: 10.1111/jocs.12776 (J Card Surg 2016;31:517-520).

We propose and study a model where, for the first time, two aspects are present: parity conservation and infinitely many absorbing states. Whereas steady-state simulations show that the static critical behaviour is not affected by the presence of multiple absorbing configurations, the influence of the initial state associated with the presence of slowly decaying memory effects is clearly displayed in time dependent simulations. We report results of a detailed investigation of the dependence of critical spreading exponents on the initial particle density.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures.p