Chain Packing and Its Anomalous Effect on Mechanical Toughness for Poly(lactic acid).

The effect of chain packing on tensile properties was studied employing amorphous poly(lactic acid) PLA. It was found that the samples cooled in the temperature range from 60 to 80 °C, that is, slightly higher than the glass transition temperature Tg, showed ductile behavior with a low brittle-ductile transition temperature. Furthermore, the samples obtained by prolonged cooling at 56 °C also showed ductile behavior, whereas a shorter cooling time at the same temperature provided a brittle product.

Contrast medium volume to estimated glomerular filtration rate ratio as a predictor of contrast-induced nephropathy developing after elective percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) has been recognized as a serious complication of diagnostic coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and has been associated with prolonged hospitalization and adverse clinical outcomes. A key step to minimize the risk for developing CIN is to identify patients at risk for CIN.

Methods And Results: We retrospectively investigated clinical factors associated with the development of CIN in 60 stable angina patients who had undergone elective PCI.

Differential oncogenic potential of geographically distinct Helicobacter pylori CagA isoforms in mice.

Infection with cagA-positive Helicobacter pylori is associated with gastric carcinoma. The cagA-encoded CagA protein is delivered into gastric epithelial cells and, upon tyrosine phosphorylation at the C-terminal EPIYA segments, binds and deregulates SHP-2 oncoprotein. On the basis of the differential alignment of the EPIYA segments, CagA can be subdivided into Western CagA, which is produced by H.

Transgenic expression of Helicobacter pylori CagA induces gastrointestinal and hematopoietic neoplasms in mouse.

Infection with cagA-positive Helicobacter pylori is associated with gastric adenocarcinoma and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma of B cell origin. The cagA-encoded CagA protein is delivered into gastric epithelial cells via the bacterial type IV secretion system and, upon tyrosine phosphorylation by Src family kinases, specifically binds to and aberrantly activates SHP-2 tyrosine phosphatase, a bona fide oncoprotein in human malignancies. CagA also elicits junctional and polarity defects in epithelial cells by interacting with and inhibiting partitioning-defective 1 (PAR1)/microtubule affinity-regulating kinase (MARK) independently of CagA tyrosine phosphorylation.

Small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is a useful marker of metabolic syndrome in patients with coronary artery disease.

Aim: An evaluation of the relation between small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sd-LDL-C) levels measured by the heparin-magnesium precipitation method and metabolic syndrome (MetS).

Methods: We have prospectively measured sd-LDL-C levels by the heparin-magnesium precipitation method in 112 Japanese patients (male/female=80/32) with coronary artery disease (CAD) who received percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Patients were diagnosed with MetS according to modified Japanese criteria.