Aims: Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and therapeutic hypothermia (TH) have improved the neurological outcomes of patients who have suffered sudden cardiac arrest; however, the benefits of and differences between cooling devices remain unclear. The aim of this study was to clarify the significance of the Arctic Sun(®) for surface cooling in patients treated with TH.
Methods: Fifty-one patients (60.
Background And Purpose: An early diagnosis is essential for therapeutic decision and risk stratification in patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We analyzed and compared the diagnostic value of high-sensitivity troponin T (hs-TnT) and other cardiac markers in patients with an initially negative troponin T test at presentation.
Methods And Subjects: The present study was a prospective, multicenter study including five participating emergency cardiovascular tertiary centers in Japan.
A 17-year-old girl with multiple areas of skin hemangiomas that had been present since birth was referred to our institution complaining of sudden onset of dyspnea. Enhanced CT demonstrated a pulmonary thromboembolism and transthoracic echocardiogram showed a thrombus-like echo in the right ventricle. CT further revealed thrombi in the inferior vena cava (IVC) and peripheral vein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of three-dimensional T1-weighted spoiled gradient-recalled echo (3D T1-GRE) images for the preoperative anatomical evaluation of lumbosacral lipoma, thick filum terminale, and myelomeningocele as a means of compensating for the drawbacks of 3D heavily T2-weighted (3D hT2-W) images.
Methods: Nine patients with lumbosacral lipomas, one patient with tight filum terminale, and five patients with myelomeningoceles were included in this study. 3D T1-GRE images were compared with 3D hT2-W images or conventional magnetic resonance images in terms of delineation of lipomas and other structures in the patients with lipomas and tight filum terminale.
Background: Relationships between plaque morphology on optical coherence tomography (OCT) and biomarker levels in the patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) have not been fully investigated.
Methods: ACS patients (n=128) were prospectively enrolled and their plasma levels of soluble lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor-1 (sLOX-1), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and high-sensitivity troponin T (hs-TnT) were measured. Another set of 20 patients with stable angina pectoris (SAP) without plaque rupture or erosion served as controls.
Neurol Med Chir (Tokyo)
February 2014
A 74-year-old female suffered hearing disturbance in the right ear persisting for several years, followed by sudden onset of right facial nerve palsy. Her symptoms gradually worsened and neuroradiological imaging revealed a 4-cm cerebellopontine angle (CPA) tumor. Intraoperatively, the tumor was found to originate from the facial nerve.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The predictive factors for survival after percutaneous cardiopulmonary support (PCPS) are unknown.
Methods And Results: Data for 105 patients with cardiovascular disease requiring PCPS were analyzed. The patients were divided into a survivor (n=21) or a non-survivor group (n=84).
Background: Radiation-induced glioma arising in the spinal cord is extremely rare. We report a case of radiation-induced spinal cord glioblastoma with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dissemination 10 years after radiotherapy for T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma.
Case Description: A 32-year-old male with a history of T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma presented with progressive gait disturbance and sensory disturbance below the T4 dermatome 10 years after mediastinal irradiation.
The 2007 World Health Organization classification defined a new variant of glioblastoma (GBM) containing oligodendroglioma foci as GBM with an oligodendroglioma component (GBMO), which shows a favorable clinical outcome compared with "classic" GBM. However, all of the reported cases of GBMO have been adult cases, with no previous reports of pediatric cases. In this report, we demonstrated molecular characteristics of a pediatric GBMO case, showing aggressive clinical behavior with 8-month overall survival.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng
March 2013
Intra-operative medical imaging enables incorporation of human experience and intelligence in a controlled, closed-loop fashion. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an ideal modality for surgical guidance of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, with its ability to perform high resolution, real-time, high soft tissue contrast imaging without ionizing radiation. However, for most current image-guided approaches only static pre-operative images are accessible for guidance, which are unable to provide updated information during a surgical procedure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most common and dismal brain tumors in adults. Further elucidation of the molecular pathogenesis of GBM is mandatory to improve the overall survival of patients. A novel small non-coding RNA molecule, microRNA (miRNA), appears to represent one of the most attractive target molecules contributing to the pathogenesis of various types of tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo overcome the problems of limited needle insertion accuracy and human error in the use of a conventional needle guide template in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided prostate intervention, we developed a motorized MRI-compatible needle guide template that resembles a transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate template. The motorized template allows automated, gapless needle guidance in a 3T MRI scanner with minimal changes in the current clinical procedure. To evaluate the impact of the motorized template on MRI, signal-to-noise ratio and distortion were measured under various system configurations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn improved molybdenum blue spectrophotometry using a soluble membrane filter and CaCO(3)-column was proposed for determining arsenic in drinking water supplied from ground water in the presence of phosphate. A 100 mL sample solution containing 0.5 - 10 μg arsenic was passed through a CaCO(3)-column to remove phosphate, arsenate (As(V)).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There have been few reports about the clinical significance of the time of admission for acute heart failure (AHF).
Methods: Five hundred thirty-one patients with AHF admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) were analyzed. The patients were assigned to either the daytime HF group (n=195, visited from 08:00 to 20:00, Group D) or nighttime HF group (n=336, visited from 20:00 to 08:00, Group N).
HcRNAV is a single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) virus that specifically infects the bivalve-killing dinoflagellate, Heterocapsa circularisquama. HcRNAV strains are grouped into 2 types (UA and CY), based on intra-species host specificity and the amino acid sequence of the major capsid protein (MCP). In the present study, we report the isolation of novel HcRNAV clones (n=51) lytic to the H.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe SOS/umu genotoxicity assay evaluates the primary DNA damage caused by chemicals from the β-galactosidase activity of S. typhimurium. One of the weaknesses of the common umu test system based on spectrophotometric detection is that it is unable to measure samples containing a high concentration of colored dissolved organic matters, sediment, and suspended solids.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany conventional chemotherapeutic drugs exert their cytotoxic function by inducing DNA damage in the tumor cell. Therefore, a cell-inherent DNA repair pathway, which reverses the DNA-damaging effect of the cytotoxic drugs, can mediate therapeutic resistance to chemotherapy. The monofunctional DNA-alkylating agent temozolomide (TMZ) is a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug and the gold standard treatment for glioblastoma (GBM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To determine if prediabetes is associated with atherosclerosis of coronary arteries, we evaluated the degree of coronary atherosclerosis in nondiabetic, prediabetic, and diabetic patients by using coronary angioscopy to identify plaque vulnerability based on yellow color intensity.
Research Design And Methods: Sixty-seven patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) underwent angioscopic observation of multiple main-trunk coronary arteries. According to the American Diabetes Association guidelines, patients were divided into nondiabetic (n = 16), prediabetic (n = 28), and diabetic (n = 23) groups.
Background: The relationship between acute kidney injury (AKI) in the acute phase of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) and patient outcome has not yet been reported.
Methods And Results: Data for 625 patients with ADHF admitted to the intensive care unit were analyzed. No AKI occurred in 281 patients (no AKI) during the first 5 days.
Background: Although coronary vasospasm (CVS) would be one of the major causes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), the characteristics of patients with cardiac arrest caused by CVS have not been clarified.
Methods And Results: In study 1, 1,000 consecutive patients with OHCA were retrospectively categorized based on the cause of OHCA, and the prevalence of CVS OHCA was elucidated. In study 2, 138 consecutive CVS patients were divided into 2 groups: CVS with cardiac arrest (arrest-CVS, n=12) and CVS without cardiac arrest (non-arrest-CVS, n=126).
Background And Objective: Immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease is a multi-organ disorder that can include the lungs. IgG4-related lung disease can present in various forms; the clinical, radiological and pathological features of patients with this disease have been assessed.
Methods: Forty-eight patients suspected of having IgG4-related lung disease, with a high serum concentration of IgG4 and abundant IgG4-positive plasma cell infiltration into the intrathoracic organs, were retrospectively evaluated.