Impact of drug eluting stent length on outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (from the EVENT registry).

In randomized trials, longer drug-eluting stent (DES) length has been associated with adverse clinical events. We used data from the EVENT registry to examine the impact of DES length on outcomes in routine clinical practice. We identified 5,425 unselected consecutive patients from the EVENT registry who had a single vessel treated with DES for nonemergency indications from 2004 through 2007.

A central role for CD68(+) macrophages in hepatopulmonary syndrome. Reversal by macrophage depletion.

Rationale: The etiology of hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS), a common complication of cirrhosis, is unknown. Inflammation and macrophage accumulation occur in HPS; however, their importance is unclear. Common bile duct ligation (CBDL) creates an accepted model of HPS, allowing us to investigate the cause of HPS.

Inability of intracoronary stenting to provide long-term relief for coronary compression secondary to chronic constrictive pericarditis.

Chronic constrictive pericarditis can result in extrinsic compression of coronary arteries during diastole. We present one such case wherein the coronary compression and the resultant cardiac ischemia developed late after surgical pericardiectomy, and treatment with intracoronary stenting was unsuccessful. Issues pertaining to management of this rare condition are discussed and a case made for surgical treatment for such patients.

Semiconductor laser phase-noise cancellation using an electrical feed-forward scheme.

We demonstrate the reduction of semiconductor laser phase noise by using an electrical feed-forward scheme. We have carried out proof-of-concept experiments on a commercially available distributed-feedback laser emitting at the 1550 nm communication band. The preliminary results show more than 20 times reduction in the phase-noise power spectrum.