Research Abstract:
Cardiovascular physiologic signals (pressures, flow, velocities, volumes) and static and/or dynamic images (echo, cath, MRI, CT) contain a wealth of information about the physical, biological and material attributes of the system. Only a minute amount of the total information in these signals is utilized for characterization of the presence and severity of disease, and essentially none of the information is used to gain a deeper understanding of the basic principles by which the components work as a system, or how the physiology and pathophysiology can be quantitatively characterized in terms of basic causal laws that can be expressed mathematically.
The Cardiovascular Biophysics Laboratory research group pursues a multi-disciplinary program encompassing selected aspects of physiology, biophysics, engineering, physics and clinical medicine. The overall goal is to solve basic and applied problems in physiology and medicine using a multidisciplinary approach, to discover “new” physiology, and to advance the frontiers of diagnosis and therapy. Areas of interest include: theoretical biology and physiology, characterization of the kinematic and material properties of cardiovascular tissue and its relation to matrix biology, 4-chamber heart function, diastolic function, ventriculo-arterial impedance, maximization of information extraction from physiologic signals, mathematical modeling of cardiovascular function and its in-vivo verification, and development of new technology for imaging and physiologic signal acquisition and processing.
Selected Publications:
Shmuylovich L, Kovács SJ. Stiffness and relaxation components of the exponential and logistic time-constants may be used to derive a load-independent index of isovolumic pressure decay. American Journal of Physiology Heart and Circulatory Physiology 2008 Dec; 295(6):H2551-9. Epub 2008 Oct 24.
Boskovski M, Shmuylovich L, Kovács SJ. Transmitral Flow Velocity-Contour Variation After Premature Ventricular Contractions: a Novel Test of the Load-Independent Index of Diastolic Filling. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology 2008 34:12;1901-1908.
Zhang W, Kovács SJ. The Diastatic Pressure-Volume Relationship Is Not the Same as the End-Diastolic Pressure-Volume Relationship. American Journal of Physiology Heart and Circulatory Physiology 2008doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00200.
Riordan MM, Weiss EP, Meyer TE, Ehsani AA, Racette SB, Villareal D, Fontana L, Holloszy JO, Kovács SJ. The Effects of Caloric Restriction- and Exercise-Induced Weight Loss on Left Ventricular Diastolic Function. American Journal of Physiology Heart and Circulatory Physiology 2008 294:H1174-82.
Chung CS, Kovács SJ. The Physical Determinants of Left Ventricular Isovolumic Pressure Decline: Model Prediction with in-vivo Validation. American Journal of Physiology, Heart and Circulatory Physiology 2008 294:1589-1596.
Last Updated: 08/11/2009 |