Linear imaging theory for differential phase contrast and other phase imaging modes in scanning transmission electron microscopy.

We propose a linear imaging theory for differential phase contrast under the weak-phase-weak-amplitude object approximation. Contrast transfer functions are defined for thin and thick weak objects, and they successfully describe several imaging characteristics of differential phase contrast. We discuss the defocus dependence of the contrast for several examples: atomic resolution, a p-n junction, a heterointerface, and grain boundaries.

Magnetic-structure imaging in polycrystalline materials by specimen-tilt series averaged DPC STEM.

Differential phase contrast (DPC) imaging in scanning transmission electron microscopy is a technique to visualize electromagnetic field distribution inside specimens at high spatial resolution. However, diffraction contrast strongly hampers electromagnetic contrast in DPC images especially in polycrystalline samples. In this paper, we develop an imaging technique to effectively suppress diffraction contrast in DPC images.

Gastroesophageal reflux during enteral feeding in stroke patients: a 24-hour esophageal pH-monitoring study.

Background: Patients who are unable to eat or drink after stroke may receive percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) or nasogastric tube feeding. Although the most common serious complication is well known to be aspiration pneumonia, the role of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) has not been fully assessed. The aim of this study was to examine, by means of 24-hour esophageal pH monitoring, whether GER is related to aspiration pneumonia and whether the size and laterality of brain lesions influence GER.

Steroid-induced crisis and rhabdomyolysis in a patient with pheochromocytoma: a case report and review.

A 66-year-old Japanese woman was urgently referred to our hospital. Two days prior to admission, her general practitioner began to administer prednisolone for treatment of a diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica. At the time of admission, laboratory results indicated multiorgan failure with rhabdomyolysis.

Activation of inducible NOS in peripheral vessels and outcomes in heart failure patients.

Background: Activation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) has been reported in congestive heart failure (CHF) conditions. However, it is unknown whether activation of iNOS affects prognosis of CHF patients. We prospectively studied the influence of activation of iNOS in the forearm on the outcome of CHF patients.

The pitfall of coagulase-negative staphylococci: a case of Staphylococcus lugdunensis endocarditis.

We report a case of a 60-year-old woman. She was transferred from a local hospital to our cardiovascular medicine department with a diagnosis of infectious endocarditis due to Staphylococcus lugdunensis. Transthoracic echocardiograph confirmed the presence of large vegetations on the native aortic and mitral valve, and subsequent severe regurgitation due to the aortic and mitral valve destruction.

Effects of long-term nicorandil administration on endothelial function, inflammation, and oxidative stress in patients without coronary artery disease.

Long-term administration of nicorandil has been shown to improve outcomes through cardioprotective effects in patients with coronary artery disease. To identify the mechanisms responsible for these effects, this study examined the impact of long-term nicorandil administration on endothelial function, systemic inflammatory markers, and oxidative stress in patients with cardiovascular risk factors. Fifty-three patients were assigned to receive either nicorandil therapy (15 mg/day; n = 26) (nicorandil group) or usual care (n = 27) (nonnicorandil group).

Transient elevation of serum tumor markers in a patient with hypothyroidism.

We report a case of a 66-year-old woman admitted to our hospital for examination and treatment of uterine and rectal prolapse, pleural and pericardial effusion, and ascites. On further examination, she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Test results showed markedly elevated concentrations of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA 125).

Cardiac involvement in Kugelberg-Welander disease: a case report and review.

There are few reports of cardiac involvement in patients with Kugelberg-Welander disease. We report a case of a 51-year-old man with Kugelberg-Welander disease who presented with syncope. His electrocardiogram showed complete right bundle branch block and transient complete atrioventricular block without escape rhythm.

[Effect of sarpogrelate in enteral feeding of patients with gastroesophageal reflux (GER)].

Aim: Enteral feeding of patients who are unable to eat or drink because of neurological disorders finally undergo percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) or nasogastric tube feeding. Their most common serious complication is aspiration pneumonia. Our objectives were to evaluate the effect of sarpogrelate (a 5-HT2A receptor blocker) on gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in these patients.

Functional and bioenergetic consequences of AT1 antagonist olmesartan medoxomil in hearts with postinfarction LV remodeling.

The structural left ventricular (LV) remodeling and contractile dysfunction of hearts with postinfarction LV remodeling are benefited by angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1) blocker. However, the myocardial bioenergetic consequences of AT1 blocker in these hearts are not known. To investigate, we used a porcine model of postinfarction LV remodeling produced by ligation of the left circumflex coronary artery.

Effects of oral beraprost sodium, a prostaglandin I2 analogue, on endothelium dependent vasodilatation in the forearm of patients with coronary artery disease.

1. Previous clinical studies with prostaglandin I(2) (PGI(2)) analogue beraprost sodium suggested the potential effects on protection of cardiovascular events in patients with peripheral artery disease. Although the mechanism is not well known, experimental studies have shown protective effects of endothelial cells.

Quantitative evaluation of sphingolipids using delayed extraction matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry with sphingosylphosphorylcholine as an internal standard. Practical application to cardiac valves from a patient with Fabry disease.

Fabry disease is a glycolipid storage disorder caused by a defect of alpha-galactosidase A, and characterized by the systemic deposition of glycosphingolipids with terminal alpha-galactosyl moieties, mainly globotriaosylceramide, in tissues. Using delayed extraction matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (DE MALDI-TOF-MS), we analyzed the sphingolipids in the cardiac valves from a 49-year-old male patient with Fabry disease who suffered from congestive cardiac failure. Crude lipids were extracted from the cardiac valves with chloroform and methanol.

Short duration of reactive hyperemia in the forearm of subjects with multiple cardiovascular risk factors.

Background: Peripheral vascular endothelial dysfunction is an independent predictor of cardiovascular events, and can be assessed noninvasively by measuring reactive hyperemia, either by vascular ultrasound measurement of flow-mediated vasodilatation or, less commonly, by measurement of blood flow using plethysmography. In the present study reactive hyperemia was measured using plethysmography in healthy subjects with multiple cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods And Results: Reactive hyperemia was measured following 5-min occlusion of the upper arm in 449 healthy subjects (302 men, 147 women, age range 20-70 years) with (n=352) and without (n=97) risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, family history of cardiovascular disease, and menopause.

Vascular involvement in a patient with mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes.

A 26-year-old man with mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) was admitted to our hospital for further cardiovascular examination. A muscle biopsy demonstrated strongly succinate dehydrogenase-reactive blood vessels. Pulse wave contour analysis revealed that both capacitive and oscillatory compliance were markedly reduced in this patient compared with 45 normal age-matched control subjects.

Reduced high serum hepatocyte growth factor levels after successful cardioversion in patients with atrial fibrillation.

1. Serum hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is considered to be a potent marker of vascular endothelial injury. The present study was designed to examine serum HGF levels in atrial fibrillation and after successful direct current (DC) cardioversion.

New insights into the mechanism of the elevation of plasma brain natriuretic polypeptide levels in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy.

Background: Messenger RNA of brain natriuretic polypeptide (BNP) is detected in both the atrium and the ventricle in vitro. Clinical usefulness has been shown in assessment of BNP level in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy; however, few studies have reported the role of the atrium and ventricle separately in the secretion of BNP from the hypertrophied heart.

Objective: To investigate how the atrium and ventricle secrete natriuretic peptides by comparing the regional concentration of atrial natriuretic polypeptide (ANP) or BNP in the hypertrophied heart with clinical parameters.

Increased nitric oxide in proportion to the severity of heart failure in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy: close correlation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha with systemic and local production of nitric oxide.

Recent studies have demonstrated that proinflammatory cytokines induce large amounts of nitric oxide (NO) and that the amount increases in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). There are, however, few reports regarding the relationships between NO production, cytokines and the severity of heart failure, so the plasma concentrations of nitrite and nitrate (NOx), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) were measured in 43 patients with CHF caused by dilated cardiomyopathy and 26 age- and sex-matched normal control subjects. Forearm blood flow (FBF) was measured using plethysmography during infusions of acetylcholine and nitroglycerin and after the administration of the NO synthesis inhibitor L-NMMA (N(G)-monomethyl-L-arginine).

Nicorandil improves myocardial high-energy phosphates in postinfarction porcine hearts.

1. Nicorandil is a potent vasodilator combining the effects of a nitrate with an ATP-sensitive potassium channel (K(ATP)) opener. Because the postinfarct remodelled heart has increased vulnerability to subendocardial hypoperfusion, it is possible that the vasodilator effects of nicorandil could cause transmural redistribution of blood flow away from the subendocardium.

Impaired exercise-induced vasodilatation in chronic atrial fibrillation--role of endothelium-derived nitric oxide.

Exercise capacity is often reduced in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), but very few studies have focused on changes in endothelial function as a potential mechanism for the exercise limitation. The present study used using venous occlusion plethysmography to investigate whether nitric oxide (NO)-mediated vasodilatation is attenuated during exercise in patients with AF by measuring forearm blood flow (FBF) in 10 patients at rest and immediately after 2 levels of rhythmic handgrip exercise, before and after inhibition of NO synthesis with N(G)-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA, 100 micromol). The measurements were repeated 1 day after restoration of sinus rhythm by cardioversion.

High plasma brain natriuretic polypeptide level as a marker of risk for thromboembolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.

Background And Purpose: Assessment of left atrial appendage (LAA) function with transesophageal echocardiography is useful for detecting patients at high risk for thromboembolism as a result of atrial fibrillation (AF). A recent study reported that the atrium is the main source of brain natriuretic polypeptide (BNP) in AF patients without overt heart failure. The purpose of this study was to assess a possible relationship between LAA function and plasma BNP levels in nonvalvular AF.

Nitric oxide-mediated vasodilatory effect of atrial natriuretic peptide in forearm vessels of healthy humans.

1. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the vasorelaxant effect of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is, in part, endothelium dependent in humans. 2.