Echocardiography Detects and Demonstrates Disappearance of Right Atrial and Pulmonary Artery Thrombus: Case Report

We present the case of a patient with acute pulmonary embolism and a large right atrial and a smaller pulmonary artery thrombus. Thrombi were successfully treated with intravenous heparin. Echocardiography was used to document the morphological evolution of thrombi and to evaluate the medical treatment.     

Enhancement of Saltiness Perception in Hyperosmotic Solutions

Salt (sodium chloride) plays a major role in perception of flavor in food products. Though reducing sodium content in processed food could significantly improve the health level of the population, the detrimental change in flavor presents a major challenge as consumers generally find low salt products unacceptable. Therefore, technological solutions are being sought to lower the salt content of processed foods without altering their taste. In order to better understand saltiness perception in thickened products such as soups and sauces, this study was designed to evaluate the possibility of enhancing saltiness perception through use of hyperosmotic solutions containing high polymer concentration (up to 30%). Saltiness and sweetness perception were investigated in Newtonian solutions of identical viscosity thickened with different concentrations of dextran, which was achieved by using dextrans of different molecular weights. Attribute difference tests (paired comparisons and multiple paired comparisons) were performed by untrained subjects. A significant enhancement of saltiness, but not of sweetness, was found in hyperosmotic solutions (higher polymer concentration) compared to solutions of lower osmolality (lower polymer concentration). The present results may be considered as a human study validation of an in vitro demonstrated effect of osmolality on the response of taste receptor cells to NaCl and suggests that high concentrations of low molecular weight thickeners could be used to enhance saltiness perception in low salt products.     

Silent Pulmonary Embolism of a Large Right Atrial Thrombus

We report the case of a patient who was admitted to the hospital with acute pulmonary embolism 2 weeks after a complicated pelvis fracture. Echocardiography revealed a large, long, and mobile thrombus in the right atrium. The patient was scheduled to undergo urgent surgical thrombectomy. Preoperative echocardiography did not detect any thrombi in the right heart and pulmonary artery. The obvious embolism of this large thrombus in the pulmonary circulation was silent as the patient remained asymptomatic and hemodynamically stable. We discuss the contribution of echocardiography to the appropriate therapeutic management of right atrial thrombi and particularly to the cancellation of urgent operative thrombectomy.     

Traumatic aortic transection

We report three cases of patients with blunt thoracic trauma, who underwent transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) because of high index of clinical suspicion for acute traumatic aortic syndrome. TEE revealed three different locations of aortic injury one of which was not diagnosed with aortography.     

Effect of Pulsed or Continuous Delivery of Salt on Sensory Perception Over Short Time Intervals

Salt in the human diet is a major risk factor for hypertension and many countries have set targets to reduce salt consumption. Technological solutions are being sought to lower the salt content of processed foods without altering their taste. In this study, the approach was to deliver salt solutions in pulses of different concentrations to determine whether a pulsed delivery profile affected sensory perception of salt. Nine different salt profiles were delivered by a Dynataste device and a trained panel assessed their saltiness using time–intensity and single-score sensory techniques. The profile duration (15 s) was designed to match eating conditions and the effects of intensity and duration of the pulses on sensory perception were investigated. Sensory results from the profiles delivered in either water or in a bouillon base were not statistically different. Maximum perceived salt intensities and the area under the time–intensity curves correlated well with the overall perceived saltiness intensity despite the stimulus being delivered as several pulses. The overall saltiness scores for profiles delivering the same overall amount of sodium were statistically not different from one another suggesting that, in this system, pulsed delivery did not enhance salt perception but the overall amount of salt delivered in each profile did affect sensory perception.