Development of post-pump syndrome in a sheep after mitral valve stenting

A one-year-old healthy sheep received an implant stenting the mural ('posterior') leaflet of the mitral valve. The experiment was authorized by the Cantonal Ethical Committee. The surgery was performed on the open, beating heart during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Management of anaesthesia was based on isoflurane with mechanical intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) of the lungs, combined with intercostal nerve blocks and intravenous fentanyl and lidocaine. Marked cardiovascular depression occurred towards the end of CPB time and required high doses of dopamine, dobutamine, lidocaine and ephedrine to allow for weaning off the CPB pump. Moreover, severe pulmonary dysfunction developed when IPPV was re-initiated after CPB. Hypoxaemia persisted throughout the recovery from general anaesthesia. Multiple organ failure developed gradually during the three postoperative days, leading to euthanasia of the animal. As described in this case, marked lung injury associated with some degree of failure of other vital organs may occur in sheep after CPB. Intraoperative cardiorespiratory complications when weaning-off may indicate the development of 'post-pump syndrome'.

Dissecting abdominal aortic aneurysm in Angiotensin II-infused mice: the importance of imaging

INTRODUCTION Since the initial publication in 2000, Angiotensin II-infused mice have become one of the most popular models to study abdominal aortic aneurysm in a pre-clinical setting. We recently used phase contrast X-ray based computed tomography to demonstrate that these animals develop an apparent luminal dilatation and an intramural hematoma, both related to mural ruptures in the tunica media in the vicinity of suprarenal side branches. AIMS The aim of this narrative review was to provide an extensive overview of small animal applicable techniques that have provided relevant insight into the pathogenesis and morphology of dissecting AAA in mice, and to relate findings from these techniques to each other and to our recent PCXTM-based results. Combining insights from recent and consolidated publications we aimed to enhance our understanding of dissecting AAA morphology and anatomy. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION We analyzed in vivo and ex vivo images of aortas obtained from macroscopic anatomy, histology, high-frequency ultrasound, contrast-enhanced micro-CT, micro-MRI and PCXTM. We demonstrate how in almost all publications the aorta has been subdivided into a part in which an intact lumen lies adjacent to a remodeled wall/hematoma, and a part in which elastic lamellae are ruptured and the lumen appears to be dilated. We show how the novel paradigm fits within the existing one, and how 3D images can explain and connect previously published 2D structures. We conclude that PCXTM-based findings are in line with previous results, and all evidence points towards the fact that dissecting AAAs in Angiotensin II-infused mice are actually caused by ruptures of the tunica media in the immediate vicinity of small side branches.

Collecting the Painted Netherlands: The Art Collection of Ernest of Austria in Brussels

The (art) collection of Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553-1595) is widely unknown when it comes to early-modern Habsburg collections. Ernest, younger brother of Emperor Rudolf II (b. 1552) and educated at the Madrid court, was appointed Governor-General of the Netherlands by King Philip II of Spain, his uncle, in summer 1593. Ernest relocated his court from Vienna to Brussels in early 1594 and was welcomed there with lavish festivities: the traditional Blijde Inkomst, Joyous Entry, of the new sovereign. Unfortunately, the archduke died in February 1595 after residing in Brussels for a mere thirteen months. This investigation aims to shed new light on the archduke and his short-lived collecting ambitions in the Low Countries, taking into account that he had the mercantile and artistic metropolis Antwerp in his immediate reach. I argue, that his collecting ambitions can be traced back to one specific occasion: Ernest’s Joyous Entry into Antwerp in June 1594. There the archduke received a series of six paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525/30-1569) known as The Months (painted in 1565), hanging today in separate locations in Vienna, New York and Prague. These works of art triggered Ernest’s collecting ambitions and prompted him to focus mainly on works of art and artefacts manufactured at or traded within the Netherlands during the last eight months of his lifetime. Additionally, it will be shown that the archduke was inspired by the paintings’ motifs and therefore concentrated on acquiring works of art depicting nature and landscape scenes from the 1560s and 1590s. On the basis of the archduke’s recently published account book (Kassabuch) and of the partially published inventory of his belongings, it becomes clear that Ernest of Austria must be seen in line with the better-known Habsburg collectors and that his specific collection of “the painted Netherlands” can be linked directly to his self-fashioning as a rightful sovereign of the Low Countries.

Extreme River Floods in Western Switzerland and the Lake of Constance Region in the Period Prior to Instrumental Measurements

The floods that occurred on the Aare and Rhine rivers in May 2015 and the mostly successful handling of this event in terms of flood protection measures are a good reminder of how important it is to comprehend the causes and processes involved in such natural hazards. While the needed data series of gauge measurements and peak discharge calculations reach back to the 19th century, historical records dating further back in time can provide additional and useful information to help understanding extreme flood events and to evaluate prevention measures such as river dams and corrections undertaken prior to instrumental measurements. In my PhD project I will use a wide range of historical sources to assess and quantify past extreme flood events. It is part of the SNF-funded project “Reconstruction of the Genesis, Process and Impact of Major Pre-instrumental Flood Events of Major Swiss Rivers Including a Peak Discharge Quantification” and will cover the research locations Fribourg (Saane R.), Burgdorf (Emme R.), Thun, Bern (both Aare R.), and the Lake of Constance at the locations Lindau, Constance and Rorschach. My main goals are to provide a long time series of quantitative data for extreme flood events, to discuss the occurring changes in these data, and to evaluate the impact of the aforementioned human influences on the drainage system. Extracting information given in account books from the towns of Basel and Solothurn may also enable me to assess the frequency and seasonality of less severe river floods. Finally, historical information will be used for remodeling the historical hydrological regime to homogenize the historical data series to modern day conditions and thus make it comparable to the data provided by instrumental measurements. The method I will apply for processing all information provided by historical sources such as chronicles, newspapers, institutional records, as well as flood marks, paintings and archeological evidence has been developed and successfully applied to the site of Basel by Wetter et al. (2011). They have also shown that data homogenization is possible by reconstructing previous stream flow conditions using historical river profiles and by carefully observing and re-constructing human changes of the river bed and its surroundings. Taken all information into account, peak discharges for past extreme flood events will be calculated with a one-dimensional hydrological model.

Room for Experiment: The Countess of Arundel’s "Site of Medication"

The so-called Dutch Pranketing Room of Alethea Talbot, Countess of Arundel, at Tart Hall was a site of domestic experiments, courtly splendour and global ambition. Lady Arundel, the probable author of a famous recipe book, would have used Tart Hall for cooking and experiments as well as for impressive dinner parties, and she would have used large amounts of sugar to create intricate imitations of meat and vegetables to astonish, entertain and delight her guests. Linking household practice with global trade as well as artistic creation, Lady Arundel’s banquets are situated not only between a national tradition of cooking, as it appears in Markham’s manuals, and the new possibilities the arising global trade provided, but also played with a mismatch between taste and sight. This mediating role could be compared to that played by the artists the Countess employed. Within this context it is worth noting that a series of paintings displayed in the building’s gallery showed still lifes, markets, and a cook. The inventory of Tart Hall gives an insight into the world of the widely travelled collector and patron of Van Dyck and Rubens, but raises also a number of questions. In my talk I would like to explore the Countess’ Pranketing Room as a site of mediation between alimentary and painterly experiments, considering the use of recipes, experience, invention and transformation