There was substantial interreviewer agreement for rhythm classification. Agreement was greater for dual-chamber compared to single-chamber devices, indicating the atrial lead adds diagnostic value in rhythm interpretation. (PACE 2011;34:1003-1012)”
“A

worldwide cardiac pacing and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) survey was undertaken for calendar year Selleckchem S3I-201 2009 and compared to a similar survey conducted in 2005. There were contributions from 61 countries: 25 from Europe, 20 from the Asia Pacific region, seven from the Middle East and Africa, and nine from the Americas. The 2009 survey involved 1,002,664 pacemakers, with 737,840 new implants and 264,824 replacements. The United States of America (USA) had the largest number of cardiac pacemaker implants (225,567) and Germany the highest new implants per million population (927). Virtually all countries showed increases in implant numbers over the 4 years between surveys. High-degree atrioventricular block and sick sinus syndrome remain the major indications for implantation of a cardiac pacemaker. There remains a high percentage of VVI(R) pacing in the developing countries, although compared

to the 2005 survey, virtually all countries had increased the percentage of DDDR implants. Pacing leads were predominantly transvenous, bipolar, and active fixation. The survey also involved 328,027 ICDs, with 222,407 new implants and 105,620 replacements. Virtually all countries surveyed showed a significant rise in the use of ICDs BV-6 with the largest implanter being the USA (133,262) with 434 new implants per million population.

This was the largest AZD6244 mw pacing and ICD survey ever performed, because of mainly a group of loyal enthusiastic survey coordinators. It encompasses more than 80% of all the pacemakers and ICDs implanted worldwide during 2009. (PACE 2011;34:1013-1027)”
“Time-of-Flight (ToF) experiments were carried out to study the electrical transport and charge trapping properties of oxidized freestanding single crystalline (100) CVD diamond crystals. It is shown that the diamond surface and properties of the electrical contacts are of extreme importance, influencing measured charge carrier mobility values. While sputtered Al contacts yield textbook ToF spectra and electron mobilities mu(e) exceeding 1860 cm(2)/Vs, thermally deposited contacts suffer from enhanced trapping. We propose a model in which the observed polarization effects can be explained by charge transfer to oxygen-related surface states, which interact with surface adsorbates, according to the well-known transfer-doping model. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3556748]“
“Clinically, gout is generally considered as a preferential male disease. However, it definitely does not occur exclusively in males. Our aim was to assess differences in the clinical features of gout arthritis between female and male patients.