Final Means Research Articles

The Art to End All Arts

The death of art has been a notion used in connection with the development and progress of art. This view of the development of art, the movement from one position to another, can go on forever. From another view, we see art as part of a narration, which makes the death of art absolute and final, even though art is still produced (Hegel’s version). In our time, the American philosopher A. C. Danto uses Hegel’s developmental view on history to explain pictorial Western art from the Renaissance up until now. In Danto’s philosophy of art, the final end means that a certain theory of art ends; the development of the theory of art as a sensuous object cannot be developed further. I agree that something happens during the 60s that is extremely important. But what happens is that old systems evaporate and pluralism enters the art scene. To understand this new scene we must give up old grand systems, and see the theory-boundedness of the practices of art we meet today. Yes, this death concerns grand theories, and, by no means, art as theory.

The effect of plyometric and speed training on kinetic energy and jumping performance of college level long jumpers

Plyometric is a conditioning technique used to increase performance in sports that require explosive speed and power along with quick change of pace–stop-and go movement. Depth Jump is the most popular and most effective method for the development of explosiveness. It is also the most effective method for developing the reactive ability of your neuromuscular system. The investigator selected 60 long jumpers of college level boys who participated in the college and inter college competition as subjects. The age group of the subjects was 18 to 25 years. there were divided in to 3 equal groups. One group was designed as control group, Experimental group I, and Experimental group II. The groups were equated on the basis of the mean and standard deviation of long jump performance. Experimental group I was applied with speed training (Wind Sprint, Harness running, interval training) Experimental group II was applied with plyometric training (Depth jump, Bounding drill, Squat jumps). In order to find out the improvement in kinetic energy and long jumping performance. ANACOVA technique used as suggested by Clark and Clarke, of the F ration was significant the scheffes post hoc test was used to find out the paired mean difference. In analysis of Co-variance, the final means were adjusted for difference in initial means and the adjusted means were tested for significance.

Desire beyond the Château d'If

Desire beyond the Château d'If

Coercivity dynamics and origin of time-delayed magneto-optical hysteresis loops in pump-probe Kerr spectroscopy

Time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TR-MOKE) is used to measure hysteresis loops of a magnetic film at a different delayed time after femtosecond laser excitations. Coercivity dynamics of the magnetic film is obtained from TR-MOKE loops as usual. However, we point out that the dynamics of coercivity does not reflect the evolution of initial coercivity shown by the initial hysteresis loop with no laser excitation, but that of the final coercivity under laser excitation, where the final coercivity means one given by the hysteresis loop measured at a negative pump-probe delay time under pump excitation. TR-MOKE loops usually cannot track the evolution of coercivity of a magnetic system upon strong laser shot, and can do that only when the magnetic system is reversible under a low excitation. The oscillatory recovery behavior of the final coercivity is observed, and is ascribed to metastability of zero magnetization state.

Daily Consumption of Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato for 60 Days Increased Plasma β-Carotene Concentration but Did Not Increase Total Body Vitamin A Pool Size in Bangladeshi Women1–3

We assessed the effect of daily consumption of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP), with or without added fat, on the vitamin A (VA) status of Bangladeshi women with low initial VA status. Women (n= 30/group) received one of the following for 6 d/wk over 10 wk:1) 0μg retinol activity equivalents (RAE)/d as boiled white-fleshed sweet potatoes (WFSP) and a corn oil capsule,2) 600μg RAE/d as boiled OFSP and a corn oil capsule,3) fried OFSP and a corn oil capsule, or4) boiled WFSP and a retinyl palmitate capsule in addition to their home diets. Plasma concentrations of retinol and β-carotene and total body VA pool size were assessed before and after the 60-d intervention. Initial and final plasma retinol concentrations (mean ± SD) were 0.75 ± 0.18μmol/L and 0.84 ± 0.19μmol/L, respectively (P= 0.31); final means did not differ by group. Initial and final plasma β-carotene concentrations were 0.10 ± 00μmol/L and 0.18 ± 0.09μmol/L, respectively (P< 0.0001); final mean plasma β-carotene concentrations were higher in groups that received OFSP (P< 0.0001), and final mean plasma β-carotene was marginally higher in the group that received fried OFSP compared with boiled OFSP (P= 0.07). Initial and final total body VA pool sizes were 0.060 ± 0.047 mmol and 0.091 ± 0.070 mmol, respectively (P= 0.05,n= 110) and did not differ by group. Despite an increase in plasma β-carotene concentration, the impact of OFSP on VA status appears to be limited in Bangladeshi women residing in a resource-poor community.

Daily consumption of orange‐fleshed sweet potato increased plasma beta‐carotene concentration but did not increase total body vitamin A pool size in Bangladeshi women

We assessed the effect of daily consumption of orange‐fleshed sweet potato (OFSP), with or without added fat, on the total body vitamin A (VA) pool size of Bangladeshi women with low initial VA status. Women (n=120) received for 60d either 1) 0 μg RAE/d as boiled white‐fleshed sweet potatoes (WFSP) and a corn oil (CO) capsule; or 600 μg RAE/d as either 2) boiled OFSP and a CO capsule, 3) fried OFSP and a CO capsule, or 4) boiled WFSP and a retinyl palmitate capsule, in addition to their home diets. Plasma concentrations of retinol and β‐carotene, and total body VA pool size were assessed before and after the 60‐d intervention. Initial and final mean plasma retinol concentrations were 0.75 ± 0.18 μmol/L and 0.84 ± 0.19 μmol/L, respectively (p=0.31); final means did not differ by group (p=0.11). Initial and final mean plasma β‐carotene concentrations were 0.10 ± 00 μmol/L and 0.18 ± 0.09 μmol/L, respectively (p&lt;0.0001); final mean plasma β‐carotene concentrations were higher in groups that received OFSP (p&lt;0.0001). Initial and final mean total body VA pool sizes were 17.2 ± 13.3 mg and 26.0 ± 20.1 mg, respectively (p=0.048; n=110). Final mean VA pool sizes did not differ by group (p≥0.12). The 60‐d OFSP intervention increased plasma β‐carotene concentrations but did not increase total body VA pool size. Supported by the HarvestPlus Program and the Int'l Atomic Energy Agency.

Clustering of collinear data points in lower dimensions

Clustering using the basic version of the K-Means algorithm begins by randomly selecting K cluster centers, assigning each point to the cluster whose mean is closest in a Euclidean distance sense, computing the mean vectors of the points assigned to each cluster and using these as new centers in an iterative approach. This suggests that if we identify points in the dataset which represent the final unchanging means, the task of clustering reduces to just assigning the remaining points in the dataset into clusters which are closest to these final means based on the Euclidean Distance measure. Taking a cue from the result of the K-Means algorithm this paper presents an approach for performing collinear clustering based on the idea that values in a dataset can be put into different clusters, depending on which points in the dataset lie at maximum distance from each other. The clusters are formed by finding the minimum Euclidean distance of all points in the dataset and these maximally separated data points.

MRI estimates of brain iron concentration in normal aging using quantitative susceptibility mapping

Quantifying tissue iron concentration in vivo is instrumental for understanding the role of iron in physiology and in neurological diseases associated with abnormal iron distribution. Herein, we use recently-developed Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) methodology to estimate the tissue magnetic susceptibility based on MRI signal phase. To investigate the effect of different regularization choices, we implement and compare ℓ1 and ℓ2 norm regularized QSM algorithms. These regularized approaches solve for the underlying magnetic susceptibility distribution, a sensitive measure of the tissue iron concentration, that gives rise to the observed signal phase. Regularized QSM methodology also involves a pre-processing step that removes, by dipole fitting, unwanted background phase effects due to bulk susceptibility variations between air and tissue and requires data acquisition only at a single field strength. For validation, performances of the two QSM methods were measured against published estimates of regional brain iron from postmortem and in vivo data. The in vivo comparison was based on data previously acquired using Field-Dependent Relaxation Rate Increase (FDRI), an estimate of MRI relaxivity enhancement due to increased main magnetic field strength, requiring data acquired at two different field strengths. The QSM analysis was based on susceptibility-weighted images acquired at 1.5 T, whereas FDRI analysis used Multi-Shot Echo-Planar Spin Echo images collected at 1.5 T and 3.0 T. Both datasets were collected in the same healthy young and elderly adults. The in vivo estimates of regional iron concentration comported well with published postmortem measurements; both QSM approaches yielded the same rank ordering of iron concentration by brain structure, with the lowest in white matter and the highest in globus pallidus. Further validation was provided by comparison of the in vivo measurements, ℓ1-regularized QSM versus FDRI and ℓ2-regularized QSM versus FDRI, which again yielded perfect rank ordering of iron by brain structure. The final means of validation was to assess how well each in vivo method detected known age-related differences in regional iron concentrations measured in the same young and elderly healthy adults. Both QSM methods and FDRI were consistent in identifying higher iron concentrations in striatal and brain stem ROIs (i.e., caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, red nucleus, and substantia nigra) in the older than in the young group. The two QSM methods appeared more sensitive in detecting age differences in brain stem structures as they revealed differences of much higher statistical significance between the young and elderly groups than did FDRI. However, QSM values are influenced by factors such as the myelin content, whereas FDRI is a more specific indicator of iron content. Hence, FDRI demonstrated higher specificity to iron yet yielded noisier data despite longer scan times and lower spatial resolution than QSM. The robustness, practicality, and demonstrated ability of predicting the change in iron deposition in adult aging suggest that regularized QSM algorithms using single-field-strength data are possible alternatives to tissue iron estimation requiring two field strengths.

Arterial Thrombosis in Ulcerative Colitis: Case Report.

Arterial thrombosis is a rare complication of ulcerative colitis with many difficulties in its treatment. The pathogenesis of thrombosis is not well known and many factors are implicated such as elevated fibrinogen, increased platelet count, and decreased antithrombin III levels. We report a case of a 43-year-old man with ulcerative colitis and sudden and refractory thrombosis of the brachial and radial artery. Despite efforts to restore the blood flow, the final and effective means was the resection of the large bowel.

Broadband Signal Processing for Deep Space Array Network Based on Frequency-domain Beamformer

Deep space communications have entered a new era of high speed transmission.Based on the deployment of large arrays of small antennae within radio astronomy community.Deep Space Array Network(DSAN) has become the final means for high speed transmission of deep space network. Based on the FX correlator,the architecture of frequency domain beamformer which has integrated array signal forming with correlate processing is presented.The method presented in this paper is to break up the signal into different frequency channels and analyze each frequency channel separately to obtain phase and delay feedback information.The method would be a significant step forward in both performance and complexity,which has great flexibility and robustness,and can support multi-missions.Finally,the key techniques of analysis-synthesis filtering,sub-array signals coherent forming,and adaptive variable fraction delay are described.

Assessment of the Relative Merits of a Few Methods to Detect Evolutionary Trends

Some of the most basic questions about the history of life concern evolutionary trends. These include determining whether or not metazoans have become more complex over time, whether or not body size tends to increase over time (the Cope-Depéret rule), or whether or not brain size has increased over time in various taxa, such as mammals and birds. Despite the proliferation of studies on such topics, assessment of the reliability of results in this field is hampered by the variability of techniques used and the lack of statistical validation of these methods. To solve this problem, simulations are performed using a variety of evolutionary models (gradual Brownian motion, speciational Brownian motion, and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck), with or without a drift of variable amplitude, with variable variance of tips, and with bounds placed close or far from the starting values and final means of simulated characters. These are used to assess the relative merits (power, Type I error rate, bias, and mean absolute value of error on slope estimate) of several statistical methods that have recently been used to assess the presence of evolutionary trends in comparative data. Results show widely divergent performance of the methods. The simple, nonphylogenetic regression (SR) and variance partitioning using phylogenetic eigenvector regression (PVR) with a broken stick selection procedure have greatly inflated Type I error rate (0.123-0.180 at a 0.05 threshold), which invalidates their use in this context. However, they have the greatest power. Most variants of Felsenstein's independent contrasts (FIC; five of which are presented) have adequate Type I error rate, although two have a slightly inflated Type I error rate with at least one of the two reference trees (0.064-0.090 error rate at a 0.05 threshold). The power of all contrast-based methods is always much lower than that of SR and PVR, except under Brownian motion with a strong trend and distant bounds. Mean absolute value of error on slope of all FIC methods is slightly higher than that of phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS), SR, and PVR. PGLS performs well, with low Type I error rate, low error on regression coefficient, and power comparable with some FIC methods. Four variants of skewness analysis are examined, and a new method to assess significance of results is presented. However, all have consistently low power, except in rare combinations of trees, trend strength, and distance between final means and bounds. Globally, the results clearly show that FIC-based methods and PGLS are globally better than nonphylogenetic methods and variance partitioning with PVR. FIC methods and PGLS are sensitive to the model of evolution (and, hence, to branch length errors). Our results suggest that regressing raw character contrasts against raw geological age contrasts yields a good combination of power and Type I error rate. New software to facilitate batch analysis is presented.

Oxidative CO2 Reforming of Methane on Alumina-Supported Co−Ni Catalyst

CO2 reforming of CH4 in the presence of O2 in the feed has been investigated in a fixed bed reactor containing a Co−Ni catalyst. The reforming rate increased with O2 partial pressure before leveling out at O2:CH4 = 1 at temperature greater than 823 K. Although CO production decreased with O2 addition, H2 formation initially rose to a maximum before a slow decline. An expression relating the optimum O2 partial pressure for H2 production as a function of temperature was obtained as, PO2,max = 1.008 × 10−3e8420/T. The H2:CO product ratio increased from 0.9 for pure CO2 reforming and peaked at 1.73 as O2 partial pressure increased to an equimolar level in the feed. The increased reaction temperature resulted in lower H2:CO due to increased CO2 reforming kinetics. The complete consumption of O2 in the final product stream means that the oxidative CO2 reforming of CH4 may be used to generate nearly ideal syngas composition for Fischer−Tropsch synthesis if feed CO2:CH4 is unity. In particular, the overall heat d...

In-vitro study of cellular viability and nitric oxide production by J774 macrophages stimulated by interferon gamma with ceramic, polycarbonate, and polyoxymethylene brackets

Ceramic brackets are chemically inert in the oral cavity, whereas polycarbonate and polyoxymethylene brackets can degrade and release bisphenol-A and formaldehyde, respectively. More reliable tests are needed to assess the potential toxicity of these materials. In addition to traditional cytotoxicity tests, the study of nitric oxide (NO) cellular production stimulated by a specific material has been shown to be a reliable tool for evaluating cytotoxic potential. The purpose of this study was to assess, with esthetic brackets, cellular viability by 3,(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay (Sigma, St. Louis, Mo) in the macrophage cell line J774 stimulated with interferon gamma. Interferon gamma is a key cytokine in the activation of macrophages, plays an important role in immunologic processes, and also quantifies NO production by these macrophages. Well plates were seeded with 2 x 104 J774 cells per well, in a volume of 100 microL, resuspended in Roswell Park Memorial Institute Supplemented Medium 1640. The macrophage cell line J774 was stimulated with interferon gamma. Ceramic, polycarbonate, and polyoxymethylene brackets were added and kept in the culture for 24, 48, or 72 hours in 5% carbon dioxide at 37 degrees C; the control samples did not include brackets. At the end of each incubation period, the supernatant was collected for posterior NO quantification, and the cells were evaluated for cytotoxicity. Cellular viability in all groups was higher at 72 hours than at 24 hours. The final means in the bracket groups did not show significant differences compared with the control group. NO production was significantly greater in all groups at the final time than at the initial time. However, the brackets with the interferon gamma stimulation did not result in greater NO production than did the cells in the control group.

In-vitro study of the cellular viability and nitric oxide production by J774 macrophages with ceramic, polycarbonate, and polyoxymethylene brackets

Studies show that ceramic brackets are chemically inert in the oral cavity, whereas polycarbonate and polyoxymethylene brackets can degrade, releasing bisphenol-A and formaldehyde, respectively. In addition to the traditional cytotoxicity tests, the study of nitric oxide cellular production stimulated by a specific material has been shown to be a reliable tool for evaluating its cytotoxic potential. We aimed to assess cellular viability by MTT (Sigma, St. Louis, Mo): 3,(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay in a murine macrophage cell line J774 with esthetic brackets and quantify nitric oxide production by these macrophages. Cell cultures were evaluated at 3 times: 24, 48, and 72 hours. Cellular viability in all groups was higher at 72 hours compared with 24 hours. This increase was significant in the control and ceramic brackets groups. Final means in the bracket groups showed no significant differences compared with the control group. Nitric oxide production was significantly greater in all groups at final time. There was no significant difference between the final means of the bracket groups and the control group, although polyoxymethylene brackets showed significantly greater means at 24 and 48 hours. Final means in the bracket groups showed no significant differences compared with the control group.

Nutritional support in severely malnourished children with cerebral palsy

ObjectiveThe purpose is to demonstrate that a five‐week‐period of enteral feeding attains an efficient nutritional recovery in children severely malnourished children with cerebral palsy (CP).MethodsInformation of a clinical assay on 21 subjects was included; 78% had spastic cuadriplejia. All were fed a cow's milk infant or soy protein isolated formula by continuous enteral feeding either by naso‐gastric or gastrostomy via. Subjects were stratified into three subgroups: Group 1 &lt; 5 kg; Group 2 &gt; 5 to = 10 kg and group 3 &gt; 10 kg of weight. A paired student t test for the comparison basal vs. final means was used.Results58% were females, 5 subjects under 15, 8 from 12 to 71, 8 from 72 to 120 months and 10 &gt; 120 months of age. The amount of liquids (mL) was higher, final vs. initial mean in groups 1 and 2 (686 vs. 1034, 1222 vs. 1755 respectively) (p &lt; 0.02). There were not differences in the protein and energy intake final vs. basal in any group. At final, groups 1, 2 and 3 were receiving 153, 130, 84 kcal/kg/d and proteins 3.6, 2.8, 1.7 g/kg/d respectively. Direct and indirect anthropometric indicators (weight, height, skin folds, BMI, muscular and fat arm areas) were significant higher in the final vs. basal measurements (p &lt; 0.01).ConclusionFive weeks of nutritional support were sufficient for attaining a significantly nutritional recovery in severely malnourished children with CP when they were stratified by weight instead of age.

Parent and caretaker knowledge about avulsion of permanent teeth

Traumatic dentoalveolar injuries are frequent in children and adolescents, affecting teeth, their supporting structures and adjacent soft tissues and contributing to the appearance of major psychosocial and economic problems. Tooth avulsion, the most severe dentoalveolar lesion, is a dental emergency. The prognosis of avulsed teeth significantly depends on prompt and efficient action at the site of the accident, thus requiring that parents or caretakers be knowledgeable about the correct management of this situation. The objective of the present study was to assess the level of knowledge of parents or caretakers concerning the management of tooth avulsion and to investigate the association between level of knowledge and schooling, monthly family income and age. We interviewed 107 parents or caretakers using a 12-item questionnaire comprising objective questions whose answers received a score from 0 to 3. The results show that 99% of those interviewed would immediately seek professional help; however, 71% did not know what avulsion was. Only 3% would use milk as storage medium and 16% would attempt replantation of the avulsed tooth. The distribution of final means for the overall level of parent or caretaker knowledge was 44.63% for score 3, 15.88% for score 2, 17.99% for score 1 and 21.47% for score 0, showing a low level of knowledge concerning tooth avulsion. Schooling, monthly family income and age were not associated with the knowledge scores for any of the 12 questions. The level of parent and caretaker knowledge concerning the management of tooth avulsion is low, without association with age, schooling and monthly family income.

Automated Enhancement of Grayscale Images using a Fast and Scalable K-Means approach

Image enhancement is a widely used technique in disciplines ranging from Medicine to Meteorology. A grayscale image can be regarded as a dataset in which each pixel has a spatial location and an intensity level. Enhancement of grayscale images is distinctly challenging, because of the inability of the human eye to distinguish between any two consecutive gray intensities, and due to the limited range of intensity levels among which the pixels of the image have to be redistributed, so as to make the whole image appear sharper than before. In this approach, initially, I alter some extreme intensities present in the image, and divide the residual ones into groups, known as clusters, based on their Eucledian distances from the clusters' mean intensities, using the K-Means clustering algorithm. Then, I change the final cluster means in proportion to their mutual distances, such that, the new means are spread over the entire range of possible intensity levels. Finally, I assign the pixels of the image to the intensity levels corresponding to the new means of the clusters to which the pixels' intensities before clustering were assigned. This technique was tested on satellite images of Kolkata and Mumbai, and on some other photographs. The clarity enhancement obtained was far better than what could be achieved by using conventional contrast enhancement tools like Contrast stretching and Histogram equalization. Moreover, this technique could process the 512 pixels X 512 pixels grayscale satellite images typically within 600 milliseconds, even on a slow computer running Java version 1.5 on a 568 MHz Intel Celeron processor. This fact clearly reflects its speed and scalability.

Uniformity of Soil-Plant-Atmosphere-Research Chambers

Uniformity of plant responses and gas exchange calculations within and among Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Research (SPAR) chambers was evaluated using 12 SPAR chambers located at Beltsville, Maryland. Periodic non-destructive and destructive measurements were conducted at the same locations within each chamber using wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. USU-Apogee) as the crop. Identical experimental protocols were applied to each chamber. Analysis of variance indicated significant location effects within chambers at three different harvest dates. The patterning of variation within the SPAR chambers was primarily south to north and appeared to be a response to wind speed, radiation gradients, and soil media settling. Analysis of canopy radiation interception and photosynthetic responses indicated differences in early leaf area establishment among chambers. This result can be attributed primarily to variations in emergence rate, irrigation delivery, and media settling. However, no significant differences among final chamber means for any plant growth response were found, and most values were within 95% confidence limits of the pooled chamber mean. Overall, this study indicated that although differences in among-chamber and within-chamber variability were present, when appropriate experimental protocols are followed and within-chamber positional effects are taken into account during sampling, effects of inherent differences in chamber performance on plant responses can be reduced.

Changes in macronutrient intake among HIV-infected children between 1995 and 2004

BackgroundNutritional concerns in HIV-infected children have evolved, from wasting to obesity and insulin resistance. However, little is known about the diet of these children during this evolution. ObjectiveWe analyzed dietary macronutrient intake in HIV-infected children over nearly 10 y. DesignHIV-infected children underwent periodic longitudinal nutritional assessments between 1995 and 2004. Sex-specific initial and final means or proportions and time trends in macronutrient intakes were estimated with regression analyses. ResultsThree hundred thirty nutritional records from 49 males and 411 from 67 females were analyzed. Caloric intake exceeded the estimated energy requirement (EER) for ideal body weight in 1995 by 62% for males and 39% for females and decreased by 3% of the EER per year in males (P = 0.02) and by 2% in females (P = 0.004). In 2004, caloric intake still remained >19% above the EER in both groups. Protein intake was nearly 400% of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for ideal body weight in 1995 among both males and females and decreased by 13% of the RDA per year for males (P = 0.001) and by 21% per year for females (P < 0.001). However, daily protein intake still exceeded the RDA by >60% in both groups in 2004. Females consumed more energy from carbohydrates (P = 0.05) and sugar (P = 0.10) and less from monounsaturated (P = 0.04), polyunsaturated (P = 0.05), saturated (P = 0.03), and total (P = 0.10) fat in 2004 than in 1995. ConclusionExcessive caloric intake and a shift in dietary composition toward carbohydrates in females suggest that continued monitoring of diet in HIV-infected children is important to avoid increased nutritional risk.

Usefulness of Atrioventricular Delay Optimization Using Doppler Assessment of Mitral Inflow in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

This study evaluated the utility of atrioventricular (AV) optimization using Doppler echocardiography in patients who undergo cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). AV optimization in patients who undergo CRT is performed inconsistently, with few data supporting its utility. Data were collected from 215 patients in New York Heart Association class III or IV heart failure (66% ischemic) who underwent AV optimization <30 days after implantation from 1999 to 2003. All patients arrived with AV delay programmed at the time of their CRT procedures (100 to 120 ms). AV delay was optimized using Doppler mitral inflow data to target stage I diastolic filling. Baseline clinical characteristics, AV delay, and diastolic functional stage were recorded. The mean follow-up period was 23 months. Five hundred patients underwent CRT, 215 of whom underwent AV optimization <30 days after implantation. Baseline mean age was 66 +/- 12 years, left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction 19 +/- 8%, LV end-diastolic dimension 6.5 +/- 1 cm, LV end-systolic dimension 5.5 +/- 1 cm, QRS duration 166 +/- 27 ms, and time to AV optimization 2.5 +/- 4 days. Baseline and final AV delay means were 120 +/- 25 and 135 +/- 40 ms, respectively (p = 0.0001). In 40% of patients (86 of 215), final AV delay settings were >140 ms. Left atrial diameter and AV block predicted patients in whom AV delay settings >140 ms were optimal. There was no difference in mortality in patients with final AV delays of >140 ms. In conclusion, AV optimization in patients who underwent CRT resulted in final AV delay settings of >140 ms in 40% of patients. AV delay optimization based on Doppler echocardiographic determination of optimal diastolic filling is useful and safe in patients who undergo CRT.