Heart valve reoperations can be performed with an acceptable operative mortality. However, we have identified several categories of patients in whom reoperation carries an increased risk.

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For fully-developed turbulent flow in straight channels of non-circular cross-section, there exists a transverse mean flow superimposed upon the axial mean flow. This transverse flow, commonly known as secondary flow, interacts with the axial mean flow and turbulence structure in a complex manner. In this paper several heretofore unexplored aspects of this type of secondary flow are discussed on the basis of results of an extensive experimental programme which was conducted for steady, incompressible, fully-developed turbulent air flow in both square and rectangular channels. Specifically, the following aspects are examined: (a) the Reynolds-number effect on secondary flow, (b) the directional characteristics of local wall shear stress, (c) the orientation of Reynolds-stress principal planes in a plane normal to the axial flow direction, and (d) the Reynolds equation along a secondary-flow streamline.Within the Reynolds-number range of the investigation, the results indicate that secondary-flow velocities, when non-dimensionalized with either the bulk velocity or the axial mean-flow velocity at the channel centreline, decrease for an increase in Reynolds number. Also, the greatest skewness of local wall shear-stress vectors is shown to occur in the near vicinity of corners where secondary flow is maximum. In addition, it is shown that in planes normal to the axial flow direction, traces of Reynolds stress principal planes are not tangent and normal to lines of constant axial mean-flow velocity. This behaviour is in contrast to that for less complicated turbulent flows, for example, two-dimensional channel flow or circular-pipe flow where such traces are always tangent and normal to lines of constant axial mean-flow velocity in accordance with symmetry considerations. Finally, through experimental evaluation of terms in a momentum balance along a typical secondary-flow streamline, it is shown that secondary flow is the result of small differences in magnitude of opposing forces exerted by the Reynolds stresses and static pressure gradients in planes normal to the axial flow direction.

Despite recent progress in cell-analysis technology, rapid classification of cells remains a very difficult task. Among the techniques available, flow cytometry (FCM) is considered especially powerful, because it is able to perform multiparametric analyses of single biological particles at a high flow rate-up to several thousand particles per second. Moreover, FCM is nondestructive, and flow cytometric analysis can be performed on live cells. The current limit for simultaneously detectable fluorescence signals in FCM is around 8-15 depending upon the instrument. Obtaining multiparametric measurements is a very complex task, and the necessity for fluorescence spectral overlap compensation creates a number of additional difficulties to solve. Further, to obtain wellseparated single spectral bands a very complex set of optical filters is required. This study describes the key components and principles involved in building a next-generation flow cytometer based on a 32-channel PMT array detector, a phase-volume holographic grating, and a fast electronic board. The system is capable of full-spectral data collection and spectral analysis at the single-cell level. As demonstrated using fluorescent microspheres and lymphocytes labeled with a cocktail of antibodies (CD45/FITC, CD4/PE, CD8/ECD, and CD3/Cy5), the presented technology is able to simultaneously collect 32 narrow bands of fluorescence from single particles flowing across the laser beam in \5 ls. These 32 discrete values provide a proxy of the full fluorescence emission spectrum for each single particle (cell). Advanced statistical analysis has then been performed to separate the various clusters of lymphocytes. The average spectrum computed for each cluster has been used to characterize the corresponding combination of antibodies, and thus identify the various lymphocytes subsets. The powerful data-collection capabilities of this flow cytometer open up significant opportunities for advanced analytical approaches, including spectral unmixing and unsupervised or supervised classification. ' 2011 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry Key terms hyperspectral cytometry; flow cytometry; next-generation instruments FLOW cytometry (FCM) is a very powerful cell-analysis technique, applied in various fields of life science ranging from basic cell biology to genetics, immunology, molecular biology, microbiology, plant cell biology, and environmental science (1). FCM uses optical properties of biological particles and makes analysis possible at the single-cell level. Forward-angle light scatter (size-related) and side-angle light scatter (shape-and structure-related) as well as various fluorescence emissions are collected following illumination/excitation (usually by one or several lasers). The data are collected, digitized, and stored on a computer where they are further processed to discriminate populations of particles (cells) with similar characteristics.Detection systems used in current commercial instruments are almost all based on a simple con...