Subclavian PTA is safe and can be performed as effectively in aortoarteritis as in atherosclerosis, with good long-term results. Long-term follow-up shows that it provides good symptomatic relief.

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Our findings support previous research and add the roles of national public health accreditation and emerging issues as factors in agencies' ability to create and sustain a quality improvement culture.

When engaging in QI, LHDs should consider investing efforts in gaining leadership support and dedicating staff time early in the QI journey to ensure that QI efforts and initiatives are sustained. Local health departments interested in developing a QI culture should also consider pursuing accreditation, as it provides a structured framework for continuous improvement. They should also actively develop QI knowledge and skills among all staff members to minimize the negative impact of staff turnover.

The traditional approach to the management of coronary artery disease (CAD) focuses mainly on low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) which is often considered a crucial risk factor for the progression of atherosclerosis. Despite its extensive use in predicting CAD risk, it has become a sub-optimal marker owing to several limitations. Recently, non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) and apolipoprotein-B (Apo-B) have been substantiated to be more reliable predictors of CAD risk. On the basis of available evidence, it is fair to say that non-HDL-C is a more realistic primary target of therapy and can be used for initial screening. In the current scenario, India being a developing country, the population would not be burdened with additional cost of Apo-B estimation as non-HDL-C can be estimated in the non-fasting state which makes it both patient and clinician friendly. Considering this fact, the aim of the present review article is to highlight the reliability and efficacy of non-HDL-Cholesterol and hence make recommendations to incorporate non-HDL-C in routine lipid panel for better assessment of CAD.

ObjectivesTo evaluate, in the FLEX Registry, clinical outcomes of an ultrathin (60 µm) biodegradable polymer-coated Supraflex sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) for the treatment of coronary artery disease. Additionally, to determine the vascular response to the Supraflex SES through optical coherence tomography (OCT) analysis.SettingMulticentre, single-arm, all-comers, observational registry of patients who were treated with the Supraflex SES, between July 2013 and May 2014, at nine different centres in India.Participants995 patients (1242 lesions) who were treated with the Supraflex SES, between July 2013 and May 2014, at nine different centres in India. A total of 47 participants underwent OCT analysis at 6 months’ follow-up.InterventionsPercutaneous coronary intervention with Supraflex SES,Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe primary endpoint—the rate of major adverse cardiac events (defined as a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction (MI), target lesion revascularisation (TLR))—was analysed during 12 months.ResultsAt 12 months, the primary endpoint occurred in 36 (3.7%) of 980 patients, consisting of 18 (1.8%) cardiac deaths, 16 (1.6%) MI, 7 (0.7%) TLR and 2 (0.2%) cases of non-target lesion target vessel revascularization. In a subset of 47 patients, 1227 cross-sections (9309 struts) were analysed at 6 months by OCT. Overall, a high percentage of struts was covered (98.1%), with a mean neointimal thickness of 0.13±0.06 µm.ConclusionsThe FLEX Registry evaluated clinical outcomes in real-world and more complex cohorts and thus provides evidence that the Supraflex SEX can be used safely and routinely in a broader percutaneous coronary intervention population. Also, the Supraflex SES showed high percentage of stent strut coverage and good stent apposition during OCT follow-up.

Transcatheter closure has been attempted in selected cases of ventricular septal defects using Lock clamshell device, Rashkind umbrella device, and Sideris buttoned device. A small perimembranous ventricular septal defect with aneurysm of membranous septum in a 12 year old girl was closed successfully with a detachable steel coil of 8 mm diameter with four loops, after failure of deployment of a Rashkind double umbrella device. (Heart 1999;82:395-396)

We have measured the stopping powers and straggling of fast, highly ionized atoms passing through thin bilayer targets made up of metals and insulators. We were surprised to find that the energy losses as well as the straggling depend on the ordering of the target and have small but significantly different values on bilayer reversal. We ascribe this newly found difference in energy loss to the surface energy loss field effect due to the differing surface wake fields as the beam exits the target in the two cases. This finding is validated with experiments using several different projectiles, velocities, and bilayer targets. Both partners of the diatomic molecular ions also display similar results. A comparison of the energy loss results with those of previous theoretical predictions for the surface wake potential for fast ions in solids supports the existence of a self-wake.Comment: 5 page