Mitral commissural prolapse.

Mitral commissural prolapse or flail, either isolated or combined with more extensive degenerative valve disease, imposes several challenges both on its diagnosis and management while being a risk factor for valve reoperation after mitral valve repair. Accurate identification of the prolapsing segment is often not feasible with transthoracic 2D echocardiography, with transesophageal 3D imaging then required for correct diagnosis and surgical planning. Various surgical techniques employed alone or in combination have yielded good results in the repair of commissural prolapse. Herein, we analyze the specific characteristics of commissural disease focusing our attention on 2D and 3D echocardiographic findings and we briefly comment on techniques employed for surgical correction of the disease.

RECLAIM: Toward a New Era of Refurbishment and Remanufacturing of Industrial Equipment.

Refurbishment and remanufacturing are the industrial processes whereby used products or parts that constitute the product are restored. Remanufacturing is the process of restoring the functionality of the product or a part of it to "as-new" quality, whereas refurbishment is the process of restoring the product itself or part of it to "like-new" quality, without being as thorough as remanufacturing. Within this context, the EU-funded project RECLAIM presents a new idea on refurbishment and remanufacturing based on big data analytics, machine learning, predictive analytics, and optimization models using deep learning techniques and digital twin models with the aim of enabling the stakeholders to make informed decisions about whether to remanufacture, upgrade, or repair heavy machinery that is toward its end-of-life. The RECLAIM project additionally provides novel strategies and technologies that enable the reuse of industrial equipment in old, renewed, and new factories, with the goal of saving valuable resources by recycling equipment and using them in a different application, instead of discarding them after use. For instance, RECLAIM provides a simulation engine using digital twin in order to predict maintenance needs and potential faults of large industrial equipment. This simulation engine keeps the virtual twins available to store all available information during the lifetime of a machine, such as maintenance operations, and this information can be used to perform an economic estimation of the machine's refurbishment costs. The RECLAIM project envisages developing new technologies and strategies aligned with the circular economy and in support of a new model for the management of large industrial equipment that approaches the end of its design life. This model aims to reduce substantially the opportunity cost of retaining strategies (both moneywise and resourcewise) by allowing relatively old equipment that faces the prospect of decommissioning to reclaim its functionalities and role in the overall production system.

Isolated left ventricular apical hypoplasia: a newly recognized unclassified cardiomyopathy.

We describe two relatively asymptomatic cases diagnosed with the newly recognized unclassified cardiomyopathy, isolated left ventricular apical hypoplasia. The disease has been described mainly in cardiac magnetic resonance, whereas this study presents the echocardiographic characteristics of this new cardiomyopathy.