Persistent cognitive and motor deficits following acute hydrogen sulphide poisoning

The incidence of thromboembolic complications among 288 patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who were followed up during an average period of 7.2 years was examined retrospectively. The annual incidence of thromboembolic complications was 1.6% in total, 1.7% in valvular heart disease (n=128), and 2.1% in non-valvular heart disease (n=117). No thromboembolism occurred in lone AF (n=43), defined as the complete absence of any underlying disease. The type of AF before embolic attack was chronic in 26 cases and paroxysmal in 6 cases. The cardiac rhythm at the time of the embolic attack was AF, except in 2 cases in which ECG was not recorded. In all patients with thromboembolic complications who were receiving antithrombotic therapy during the follow-up, the anticoagulant effect just before the embolic attack was found to be insufficient. Major bleeding was not observed in the patients receiving antithrombotic therapy. Thromboembolism in AF in long-term follow-up tends to occur more frequently in patients with underlying heart disease and in those with chronic AF compared rather than paroxysmal AF; it rarely occurs in lone AF. We should not hesitate to administer sufficient anticoagulant therapy in AF patients who are at high risk of developing thromboembolic complications.     

High-Rate Diamond Deposition by Combustion Flame Method Using Twin Acetylene/Oxygen Gas Welding Torch

To develop a high-rate diamond deposition process using combustion flame method, diamond deposition equipment with twin acetylene/oxygen welding torch was manufactured, and diamond deposition by using this equipment was carried out. 304 Stainless steel plates and molybdenum plates were used as substrates. The diamond deposition was conducted under the following conditions: oxygen flow rate: 1.25 SLM, acetylene/oxygen flow ratio: 1.15, and diamond deposition temperature: around 1473 K. Consequently, diamonds could be deposited even on the stainless steel substrate, and diamond deposition rate was promoted by using twin torch equipment. Besides, the diamond/molybdenum hybrid coating using diamonds deposited by twin torch equipment have the same wear-resistant property as that using diamonds by the single torch equipment. From these results, this technique was thought to have high potential for high-rate diamond deposition in combustion flame method.     

Refractory ascites in cirrhosis: roles of volume expansion and plasma atrial natriuretic factor level elevation

Cirrhotic patients with ascites refractory to diuretics also have blunted response to marked elevations of plasma atrial natriuretic factor levels alone or to moderate intravascular volume expansion by head-out water immersion. However, these patients usually undergo natriuresis after peritoneovenous shunting. To dissect the factors responsible for this response, we studied the effects on separate days of moderate intravascular volume expansion and highly elevated plasma atrial natriuretic factor levels (head-out water immersion and atrial natriuretic factor infusion) or marked volume expansion and moderate plasma atrial natriuretic factor level elevation (head-out water immersion and albumin infusion) in 13 alcoholic cirrhotic patients with massive ascites. Three of these patients, who responded to initial head-out water immersion with a negative sodium balance, served as controls. Unresponsiveness to head-out water immersion was confirmed in the remaining 10 patients on both days on the basis of blunted natriuretic response (urinary sodium excretion < 0.8 mmol/hr after 2 hr). In contrast, these 10 refractory patients were able to achieve negative sodium balance with both combinations. Mean urinary sodium excretion increased from a baseline level of 0.13 +/- 0.10 mmol/hr to a peak level of 2.29 +/- 0.61 mmol/hr after head-out water immersion and atrial natriuretic factor infusion and from 0.10 +/- 0.3 mmol/hr to 1.61 +/- 0.62 mmol/hr after head-out water immersion and albumin infusion. Both maneuvers were associated with suppression of plasma renin activity and serum aldosterone levels. With head-out water immersion and atrial natriuretic factor infusion, we noted a significant increase in 5' cyclic GMP levels, a second messenger of atrial natriuretic factor, indicating possible activation of atrial natriuretic factor receptors at the inner medullary collecting ducts. In contrast, with head-out water immersion and albumin infusion no such increase in levels occurred, indicating that the increase in urinary sodium excretion was mainly due to increased delivery of sodium to the cortical distal nephron, as indicated by a disproportionate increase in urinary potassium excretion. In conclusion, massive (as opposed to moderate) volume expansion or greatly elevated levels of plasma atrial natriuretic factor associated with moderate volume expansion can improve blunted atrial natriuretic factor responsiveness in cirrhotic patients with refractory ascites. This appears to be achieved by way of a marked increase in distal delivery of filtrate in the kidney, with or without activation of distal atrial natriuretic factor receptors in the inner medullary collecting ducts.     

Measurement of emotional reactivity and association ability of the Tsukuba emotional strains of rats (Rattus norvegicus) in licking and lever-pressing conditioned suppression situations.

The emotional reactivity and association ability of the Tsukuba High Emotional (THE), the Tsukuba Low Emotional (TLE), and the Wistar-Imamichi (WI) strains of rats were studied in two experiments. Suppression of licking and lever pressing by unsignaled shocks were used to measure emotionality in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Contrary to our expectations, the WI rats which had formed a part of the foundation population of the Tsukuba strains, proved to be the most emotional, and the THE and TLE did not differ in emotionality from each other in either experiment. Association ability was measured by the speed of discriminating dangerous and safe periods under matched levels of emotional arousal. Association ability proved to be best in TLE rats, especially in Experiment 2, in which the procedures were somewhat improved on the basis of the results of Experiment 1. We discuss the results in terms of the motivational system and of the behavioral characteristics established during the course of selective breeding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supramolecular method for the determination of absolute configuration of chiral compounds: theoretical derivatization and a demonstration for a phenolic crown ether-2-amino-1-ethanol system

A combination of anisotropic shielding effect and temperature dependence of NMR chemical shifts makes it possible to develop a supramolecular method for determination of absolute configuration of chiral compounds. The concept, theoretical derivatization, and first demonstration of this daedal noncovalent method using a host-guest system is described. This noncovalent method requires only three substrate solutions and can in principle be applied to any host-guest systems that follow the van't Hoff relation and have a clear anisotropic shielding effect based on a well-defined complex structure regardless of the extent of enantiomer selectivity.