Recurrent left ventricular thrombus after the direct surgical thrombectomy in Fabry disease.

Unlabelled: A 60-year-old woman with a recent history of presumed cardiogenic cerebral infarction was referred for surgical removal of a left ventricular mass. She was diagnosed with Fabry disease eight years before. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a mobile echogenic mass in the left ventricular apex.

Role of intermediate water in alleviating postsurgical intrapericardial adhesion.

Purpose: Various polymers have been used as postsurgical antiadhesive materials; however, the mechanisms underlying their efficacy remain unclear. Intermediate water has been found to prevent the adhesion between polymer molecules and proteins or cells. The present study investigated the role of intermediate water retained in the polymer in alleviating postsurgical pericardial adhesion.

Incidence of serious infections in the working-age Japanese adult population with rheumatoid arthritis treated with tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors and interleukin-6 inhibitors: A nationwide retrospective cohort study.

Aim: This retrospective cohort study aimed to compare the risk of serious infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors (TNFαi) and interleukin-6 inhibitors (IL-6i), with no prior use of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs).

Methods: We employed the nationwide insurance claims database encompassing the years 2005 to 2018 in Japan. The inclusion criteria specified patients who were prescribed any type of bDMARDs, including TNFαi and IL-6i.

Photoluminescence measurement of ruby excited by duty ratio-controlled pulse light-emitting diodes (LED) light source.

Photoluminescence (PL) spectra from ruby were obtained using a highly stable LED light source, employing pulse width modulation technique for excitation. The temporal variation in PL intensity caused by the increasing temperature of the LED used for excitation can be mitigated by adjusting the duty ratio (%) of the pulsed LED light to below 10% for cooling the LED. Stable PL spectra measurements were achieved with a duty ratio of less than 10% using a duty ratio-controlled pulsed LED light source, as temperature fluctuations in LED light intensity are minimized at duty ratios less than 10%.