Heart arrhythmia beat. Any part of the heart that initiates an impulse without waiting for the sinoatrial node is called an ectopic focus and is, by definition, a pathological phenomenon. This may cause a single premature beat now and then, or, if the ectopic focus fires more often than the sinoatrial node, it can produce a sustained abnormal rhythm. Rhythms produced by an ectopic focus in the atria, or by the atrioventricular node, are the least dangerous dysrhythmias; but they can still produce a decrease in the heart's pumping efficiency, because the signal reaches the various parts of the heart muscle with
Lymph node and fixed macrophages. The subcapsular sinus has clinical importance as it is the most likely location where the earliest manifestations of a metastatic carcinoma in a lymph node would be found. The cortex of the lymph node is the outer portion of the node, underneath the capsule and the subcapsular sinus. It has an outer superficial part and a deeper part known as the paracortex. The subcapsular sinus drains to the trabecular sinuses, and then the lymph flows into the medullary sinuses. The outer cortex consists mainly of the B cells arranged as follicles, which may develop a germinal center