ESC Guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndromes in patients presenting without persistent ST-segment elevation : The Task Force for the management of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in patients presenting without persistent ST-segment elevation of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

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2015 ESC Guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndromes in patients presenting without persistent ST-segment elevation: Task Force for the Management of Acute Coronary Syndromes in Patients Presenting without Persistent ST-Segment Elevation of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)

2018 ESC/EACTS Guidelines on myocardial revascularization.

Authors/Task Force Members: Franz-Josef Neumann* (ESC Chairperson) (Germany), Miguel Sousa-Uva* (EACTS Chairperson) (Portugal), Anders Ahlsson (Sweden), Fernando Alfonso (Spain), Adrian P. Banning (UK), Umberto Benedetto (UK), Robert A. Byrne (Germany), Jean-Philippe Collet (France), Volkmar Falk (Germany), Stuart J. Head (The Netherlands), Peter Jüni (Canada), Adnan Kastrati (Germany), Akos Koller (Hungary), Steen D. Kristensen (Denmark), Josef Niebauer (Austria), Dimitrios J. Richter (Greece), Petar M. Seferovi c (Serbia), Dirk Sibbing (Germany), Giulio G. Stefanini (Italy), Stephan Windecker (Switzerland), Rashmi Yadav (UK), Michael O. Zembala (Poland) Document Reviewers: William Wijns (ESC Review Co-ordinator) (Ireland), David Glineur (EACTS Review Co-ordinator) (Canada), Victor Aboyans (France), Stephan Achenbach (Germany), Stefan Agewall (Norway), Felicita Andreotti (Italy), Emanuele Barbato (Italy), Andreas Baumbach (UK), James Brophy (Canada), Héctor Bueno (Spain), Patrick A. Calvert (UK), Davide Capodanno (Italy), Piroze M. Davierwala

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2014 ESC/EACTS Guidelines on myocardial revascularization: The Task Force on Myocardial Revascularization of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS)Developed with the special contribution of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI).

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease results in >19 million deaths annually, and coronary heart disease accounts for the majority of this toll. Despite major advances in treatment of coronary heart disease patients, a large number of victims of the disease who are apparently healthy die suddenly without prior symptoms. Available screening and diagnostic methods are insufficient to identify the victims before the event occurs. The recognition of the role of the vulnerable plaque has opened new avenues of opportunity in the field of cardiovascular medicine. This consensus document concludes the following. (1) Rupture-prone plaques are not the only vulnerable plaques. All types of atherosclerotic plaques with high likelihood of thrombotic complications and rapid progression should be considered as vulnerable plaques. We propose a classification for clinical as well as pathological evaluation of vulnerable plaques. (2) Vulnerable plaques are not the only culprit factors for the development of acute coronary syndromes, myocardial infarction, and sudden cardiac death. Vulnerable blood (prone to thrombosis) and vulnerable myocardium (prone to fatal arrhythmia) play an important role in the outcome. Therefore, the term "vulnerable patient" may be more appropriate and is proposed now for the identification of subjects with high likelihood of developing cardiac events in the near future. (3) A quantitative method for cumulative risk assessment of vulnerable patients needs to be developed that may include variables based on plaque, blood, and myocardial vulnerability. In Part I of this consensus document, we cover the new definition of vulnerable plaque and its relationship with vulnerable patients. Part II of this consensus document focuses on vulnerable blood and vulnerable myocardium and provide an outline of overall risk assessment of vulnerable patients. Parts I and II are meant to provide a general consensus and overviews the new field of vulnerable patient. Recently developed assays (eg, C-reactive protein), imaging techniques (eg, CT and MRI), noninvasive electrophysiological tests (for vulnerable myocardium), and emerging catheters (to localize and characterize vulnerable plaque) in combination with future genomic and proteomic techniques will guide us in the search for vulnerable patients. It will also lead to the development and deployment of new therapies and ultimately to reduce the incidence of acute coronary syndromes and sudden cardiac death. We encourage healthcare policy makers to promote translational research for screening and treatment of vulnerable patients.

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From vulnerable plaque to vulnerable patient: a call for new definitions and risk assessment strategies: Part II.

Gold nanoparticles have been used in biomedical applications since their first colloidal syntheses more than three centuries ago. However, over the past two decades, their beautiful colors and unique electronic properties have also attracted tremendous attention due to their historical applications in art and ancient medicine and current applications in enhanced optoelectronics and photovoltaics. In spite of their modest alchemical beginnings, gold nanoparticles exhibit physical properties that are truly different from both small molecules and bulk materials, as well as from other nanoscale particles. Their unique combination of properties is just beginning to be fully realized in range of medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications. This critical review will provide insights into the design, synthesis, functionalization, and applications of these artificial molecules in biomedicine and discuss their tailored interactions with biological systems to achieve improved patient health. Further, we provide a survey of the rapidly expanding body of literature on this topic and argue that gold nanotechnology-enabled biomedicine is not simply an act of ‘gilding the (nanomedicinal) lily’, but that a new ‘Golden Age’ of biomedical nanotechnology is truly upon us. Moving forward, the most challenging nanoscience ahead of us will be to find new chemical and physical methods of functionalizing gold nanoparticles with compounds that can promote efficient binding, clearance, and biocompatibility and to assess their safety to other biological systems and their long-term term effects on human health and reproduction (472 references).

The golden age: gold nanoparticles for biomedicine

This Conference Presentation, High fidelity polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography through deep learning, was recorded at SPIE Photonics West 2022 held in San Francisco, California, United States.” 

High fidelity polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography through deep learning

O PTICAL C OHERENCE T OMOGRAPHIC I MAGING OF H UMAN T ISSUE AT 1.55 (cid:109) M AND 1.81 (cid:109) M U SING E R - AND T M -D OPED F IBER S OURCES

Cellularity of the fibrous caps of coronary atheromas, manifested by the infiltration of macrophages (average size, 20 to 30 microm), is thought to weaken the structural integrity of the cap and predispose plaques to rupture. Therefore, an imaging technology capable of identifying macrophages within fibroatheroma caps in patients could provide valuable information for assessing plaque rupture risk. Recently, intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT), a high-resolution coronary imaging modality, with an axial resolution of approximately 10 microm, has been introduced into the clinical setting. OCT images of the microstructure of the coronary artery wall enable accurate plaque-type characterization, supported by histopathological comparison data. Because of its high resolution, OCT may also be used to identify macrophages in vivo. In this paper we review recent developments in OCT for measuring macrophages in atherosclerotic plaques.

Challenges on the frontier of intracoronary imaging: atherosclerotic plaque macrophage measurement by optical coherence tomography

Quantitative analysis of OCT data can be strongly hampered by speckle. We propose a new method to reduce speckle,
operating on a single Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) A-line. The full acquired spectrum is
used for image generation, exhibiting fully developed speckle. By subdividing the same acquired spectrum in a number
of distinct narrower windows, each with a different center frequency, several independent speckles can be generated.
These can be averaged to yield a lower-resolution image with strongly reduced speckle. The full resolution image
remains available for human interpretation; the low resolution version can be used for parametric imaging. We
demonstrate this technique using in vivo intravascular optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI) data.

Wavelength multiplexing for FD-OCT speckle averaging

An apparatus and source arrangement for filtering an electromagnetic radiation can be provided which may include at least one spectral separating arrangement configured to physically separate one or more components of the electromagnetic radiation based on a frequency of the electromagnetic radiation. The apparatus and source arrangement may also have at least one continuously rotating optical arrangement which is configured to receive at least one signal that is associated with the one or more components. Further, the apparatus and source arrangement can include at least one beam selecting arrangement configured to receive the signal.

Brett E. Bouma

Papers

High fidelity polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography through deep learning

O PTICAL C OHERENCE T OMOGRAPHIC I MAGING OF H UMAN T ISSUE AT 1.55 (cid:109) M AND 1.81 (cid:109) M U SING E R - AND T M -D OPED F IBER S OURCES

Challenges on the frontier of intracoronary imaging: atherosclerotic plaque macrophage measurement by optical coherence tomography

Wavelength multiplexing for FD-OCT speckle averaging

Wavelength-tunable light source