Small polypoid lesions of the gallbladder: differential diagnosis and surgical indications by helical computed tomography

We report the case of a 16-year-old girl who experienced sudden cardiac arrest from ventricular fibrillation, complicating an arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, a rare heart muscle disorder, occurring typically in young adults, characterized by a fibrofatty replacement of the right ventricular myocardium. Symptomatic ventricular arrhythmias are frequent, and sudden death has been reported. In our case, diagnosis of arrhythmogenic dysplasia was based on the association of one major criterion and two minor criteria as suggested by the relevant task force. In contrast with most other reports, the chest ECG did not display the typical features. An automatic transvenous pectoral cardioverter-defibrillator was implanted. The authors emphasise that juvenile forms are more exposed to ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac death, and consequently require the early detection of the disease. Family cases have been described and the occurrence in one individual must lead to investigations in the relatives.     

Bioelectrical impedance analysis of body composition in patients with pulmonary emphysema

In this study we utilized bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to compare the body composition of 36 stable pulmonary emphysema (PE) patients with 19 healthy controls. We compared the PE patients and healthy controls in terms of fat-free mass (FFM) and body fat (BF) as percentages of ideal body weight (FFM/IBW, BF/IBW). FFM/IBW and BF/IBW were significantly lower in the PE patients than in the controls (75.0 +/- 9.8% vs. 85.2 +/- 7.3%, p < 0.001 and 11.8 +/- 6.4% vs. 16.7 +/- 7.7%, p < 0.05, respectively). We divided the PE patients into two subgroups according to FFM, then investigated the relationships between FFM and skeletal muscle strength, and between FFM and respiratory muscle strength. In patients with reduced FFM (FFM < 43.5 kg) grip strength as an index of skeletal muscle strength was significantly lower than in patients without reduced FFM (FFM > or = 43.5 kg) (25.7 +/- 7.8 kg vs. 36.2 +/- 7.2 kg, p < 0.005). As indexes of respiratory muscle strength, maximal expiratory pressure (PEmax) and maximal inspiratory pressure (PImax) were lower in the patients with reduced of FFM, but not to a statistically significant degree (49.6 +/- 20.8 cm H2O vs. 58.7 +/- 23.9 cm H2O and 40.5 +/- 19.2 cm H2O vs. 50.2 +/- 22.1 cm H2O, respectively). In the PE patients, FFM correlated closely with vital capacity (r = 0.528, p < 0.001), forced vital capacity (FVC) (r = 0.531, p < 0.001), FEV1.0 (r = 0.554, p < 0.001), FEV1.0/FVC (r = 0.467, p < 0.005), RV/TLC (r = -0.395, p < 0.05), DLco (r = 0.770, p < 0.001), and DLco/VA (r = 0.622, p < 0.001). However no correlation was observed between BF and any of the measures of lung function. The findings of our study suggest that FFM correlates with skeletal muscle strength, respiratory muscle strength and some measures of lung function in patients with PE, and that assessments of body composition are valuable to their clinical management.     

Phase and magnetic properties of iron oxide clusters in 20CaO·20SiO2·7Fe2O3·6FeO glasses

The annealing of 20CaO·20SiO₂·7Fe₂O₃·6FeO glasses at 973K in vacuo produced clusters of iron oxide, the shape of which was nearly spherical and the diameter distributed in the narrow range 25–115Å. The phase of clusters was identified to be Fe³⁺(Fe³⁺ _{poststagger|1.30}Fe²⁺ _{poststagger|0.55}V_0.15)·O₄ in the inverse spinel structure based upon the Mössbauer spectra and x-ray diffraction profiles. The clusters exhibited superparamagnetism and their effective anisotropy energy constant was inversely proportional to the cluster diameter. The magnetization of the glasses measured by a vibrating sample magnetometer was 7.2 × 10^-6 Wbmkg^-1 at 10 kOe at room temperature and smaller than the value calculated assuming that the whole clusters have superparamagnetism. These results suggest the pinning of spins near the cluster surface.     

Topical Phenomena Observed in a Short-Gap Atmospheric Discharge Using Rotor and Post Electrodes

Correlation of light emission, discharge structure, waveform of the discharge current, electrode configuration, and electromagnetic radiation is examined with the intent of obtaining an effective means for preventing electromagnetic interference (EMI) due to a short-gap discharge. The electromagnetic radiation (EMR) level resulting from a current step which, in turn, was formed by a discrete movement of a cathode spot was clearly recognized. A combination of needle rotor and needle post gave the smallest electromagnetic radiation level in the experiments.     

Graft copolymerization of glass fiber and its application

Modified glass fibers, containing unsaturated hydrocarbon surface groups, were prepared by a hydrothermal treatment, with allylglycidylether in excess as reagent. Graft polymerization of the treated glass fiber with styrene and methylmethacrylate was carried out in sealed tubes, under nitrogen, using benzoyl peroxide (BPO) and cumene hydroperoxide (CHPO) as initiators. When BPO was used as the initiator, the grafting efficiency was extremely low, but the graft copolymerization behavior was similar to that of usual organic polymers. With CHPO, both grafting ratio and grafting efficiency were very high. Various properties of composite materials containing grafted glass cloth were studied. Flexural strength, flexural modulus, and interlaminar shear strength increased proportionally to the increase of the grafting ratio; the same values were decreased only in a small extent after the boiling test.     

Hydrothermal crystal growth of perovskite-type fluorides

Single crystals of perovskite-type fluorides were grown from potassium fluoride and di-valent metal chloride solutions by a hydrothermal method under a temperature gradient, at maximum temperature 600° C and pressure 98 MPa. Single-crystal cubes of KMnF₃, KFeF₃, KCoF₃ and KZnF₃, of cube edge sizes ranging from 0.2 to 2.0 mm, were grown. Crystals of KNiF₃ grew in rectangular prisms and those of KCdF₃ in anhedral form. Single crystals of KCuF₃ were grown in pure water from co-precipitated KCuF₃ powder. KMgF₃ crystals were not grown by this method.