Placement of the Dumon stent using a flexible bronchofiberscope via tracheostomy

In this paper, we report on a new technique of Dumon stent placement using a flexible bronchofiberscope. This procedure was used to insert Dumon stents in two bronchial obstruction and two bronchofistula cases. The stenting technique described here can be used through either a tracheostoma or the oral cavity; it presents a very straightforward and safe procedure that does not require the use of a rigid bronchoscope.     

Infective endocarditis with a huge mitral vegetation related to atopic dermatitis and high serum level of infection-related antiphospholipid antibody: a case report]

A 24-year-old woman with atopic dermatitis was admitted to our hospital with fever. Echocardiography showed a huge vegetation attached to the posterior mitral commissure without mitral valve dysfunction. Blood culture identified methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus. The serum level of antiphospholipid antibody was elevated. A splenic infarction occurred on the second hospital day. Surgery to resect the residual mobile vegetation was performed uneventfully on the 6th hospital day. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged after 4 weeks of antibiotic therapy. Preservation of the mitral valve is rare in the face of virulent Staphylococcus infection and the presence of a huge mobile vegetation. These findings were apparently related to the high serum level of infection-related antiphospholipid antibody and atopic dermatitis.     

Theoretical model of the two-chamber pressure casting process

This article develops a theoretical model of the two-chamber pressure casting process. In this process, a molten metal drop, formed by arc melting a solid ingot, falls into a conical crucible attached to a gas-filled, porous cast mold. An energy-based formulation of the mold-filling process is developed which focuses on the drop’s motion within the crucible and mold cavity and on pressure evolution within the mold cavity. The model shows that drop acceleration into the mold depends on three dimensionless parameters, the Euler number, Eu, the Froude number, Fr, and the pressure loss coefficient, K, across the crucible exit. These parameters are in turn determined by the mold’s permeability to the process gas, the characteristic initial pressure difference between the interior and exterior of the mold, the mold thickness, the process gas viscosity, and the metal density. Drop acceleration into the mold compresses trapped gas within the mold cavity; under most conditions, pressure decay due to leakage of the trapped gas through the mold occurs at a faster rate than inertial compression. Under these circumstances, a downward acting pressure force, having a magnitude determined by the Euler number, acts on the drop. At low Froude numbers, however, gas compression occurs at a faster rate than leakage-induced decay and the pressure force acts upward, again with a magnitude determined by Eu. Scaling arguments show that friction and evaporation recoil forces are negligible in determining drop motion, while surface tension, pressure, drop inertia, and gravity are dominant. In addition, solidification effects are shown to be negligible.     

Deoxidation of Ti Melt by Newly Developed Two-Step Plasma Arc Melting Process Using Hydrogen

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B - A two-step plasma arc melting process, comprising a first step under Ar-30 pct H2 gas flow and the second step under Ar gas flow, has been...     

Effect of irrelevant differences as a function of the relations between relevant and irrelevant dimensions in the same-different task.

The effects of irrelevant differences as a function of the relations between relevant and irrelevant dimensions in the same–different task were examined. Form, size, and orientation were used as task conditions in Experiment 1, and form, size, and color were used in Experiment 2. In each experiment, 6 subjects were instructed to report same or different according to a relevant dimension, irrespective of two irrelevant dimensions. In Experiment 3, the degree of integrality was examined in all the combinations of dimensions involved, in the restricted-classification task. The results of the three experiments suggested that (a) effects of irrelevant differences depended on the degree of integrality between relevant and irrelevant dimensions, and (b) two irrelevant dimensions were processed by the subjects serially. Neither the relevance rechecking model (Miller & Bauer, 1981) nor the response competition model (e.g., Williams, 1974) alone could explain all the types of effects of irrelevant dimensions obtained in this study. Instead, a modified relevance rechecking model, in which the degree of integrality was introduced to the original relevance rechecking model, could predict and explain all types of effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Promoter/repressor system of Lactobacillus plantarum phage og1e: characterization of the promoters pR49-pR-pL and overproduction of the cro-like protein cng in Escherichia coli

Previous studies have shown that extensive damage to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of rats causes reversal learning deficits. The mPFC of rats, however, consists of several subareas that are different from each other in both cytoarchitecture and neural connectivity, suggesting a functional dissociation among the mPFC subareas. In the present study, selective lesions of the mPFC of rats were made with a specially designed microknife whose intracranial placement could be controlled stereotaxically. Restricted lesions were made to each of the 3 parts of the mPFC: the anterior cingulate area (AC) (including the medial precentral area, PrCm), the prelimbic area (PL), and the infralimbic area (IL). One week after surgery, rats were trained in an aversively motivated visual discrimination task in a novel rotating T-maze. After reaching the acquisition criterion, rats were trained in a reversal task in the same maze. No difference was found in acquisition between control and mPFC lesioned rats. However, lesions of either the PL or the IL produced a marked deficit in the reversal task. This behavioral deficit was not found in rats with lesions of the AC. The results indicate that the mPFC of rats is not essential for discrimination learning, but that each of the 2 ventral subareas of the mPFC, PL, and IL, plays a critical role in reversal learning.     

Suppression of intracellular resistance factors by adriamycin augments heat-induced apoptosis via interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme activation in pancreatic carcinoma cells

The liver is an important target organ for gene therapy but its mitotic quiescence makes it resistant to integrative gene transfer. Retrovirus-based vectors integrate into liver cells in vivo but require the liver to be primed before transduction; experimentally a 70% hepatectomy is commonly used to stimulate regeneration, rendering the liver susceptible to transduction during the resulting wave of cell proliferation. Our aim was to develop a clinically acceptable method of inducing hepatocyte replication before in vivo retroviral gene transfer which is both simple and effective. We have used the physiological hormone tri-iodothyronine (T3) to stimulate hepatocyte replication. A single dose of T3 (400 micrograms/100 g bw) was given subcutaneously to euthyroid rats. This produced a labelling index of 31.7% in the hepatocyte population without histological or biochemical evidence of preceding liver damage. Following T3 administration the rat livers were transfected in vivo with an amphotropic retrovirus, TELCeB/AF-7 which encodes the beta-galactosidase reporter gene together with a nuclear localisation signal. Transgene expression was noted only within the liver where 1.3% of hepatocytes expressed the beta-galactosidase enzyme. This compared to 5.2% of hepatocytes transduced following a 70% hepatectomy, and 0.02% in animals receiving neither T3 nor partial hepatic resection before transduction. T3 administration is a simple way to prime the liver before in vivo retroviral vector-based gene transfer.     

Two patients with polymyositis or dermatomyositis complicated with massive pleural effusion

Two patients with polymyositis (PM) or dermatomyositis (DM) complicated with massive pleural effusion are reported here. Both patients presented a high-grade fever, pleural effusion prominent on the right, and good response to steroid therapy. In a 50-year-old woman with PM, combined process of pleural inflammation, cardiomyopathy and coexisting hypothyroidism were considered to be responsible for the accumulation of the massive pleural effusion. However, in a 34-year-old man with DM, pleural inflammation associated with interstitial pneumonia or pleural microvasculopathy in DM was considered to be responsible for the accumulation of the massive pleural effusion.