737–1 Heart Fatty Acid-binding Protein and Myoglobin can Accurately Detect Successful Reperfusion as Early as 15 Minutes After Reperfuslon

Human heart fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) is an abundant low molecular weight protein in cytoplasm of myocardial cell similar to myoglobin (Mb). To evaluate whether FABP can also detect successful reperfusion very early like Mb, we examined serum FABP and Mb levels in 45 patients (pts) undergoing PTCR or PTCA within 6 hours after the onset of acute myocardial infarction. Coronary angiography was performed every 5minutes (min) during reperfusion therapy to determine the exact time of reperfusion. In 30 pts with reperfusion (reperfused group: TIMI grade 3 [23 pts] and grade 2 [7 pts]), serum samples were taken just before and at 15, 30 and 60min after initial angiographic confirmation of reperfusion. In 15 pts without reperfusion (nonreperfused group), serum samples were taken just before and at 15, 30 and 60min after the initiation of therapy. FABP was measured by competitive enzyme immunoassay and Mb by latex agglutination turbidimetry. The FABP ratio (FABP after/FABP before) and Mb ratio (Mb after/Mb before) were calculated. FABP and Mb levels increased rapidly, peaked within 60min after reperfusion. The FABP and Mb ratios in the reperfused group significantly (p<0.01) exceeded those in the nonreperfused group at 15, 30 and 60 min. The sensitivity (Sen) and specificity (Spe) of these markers for reperfusion were as follows:Criteria15 min30 min60 minSenSpeSenSpeSenSpeFABP ratio>1.6*93%100%97%100%100%100%Mb ratio>2.4**90%100%93%100%100%100%*mean +2SD at 60 min in the nonreperfused group**published criteriaConclusionFABP, like Mb could accurately detect successful reperfusion as early as 15min after reperfusion and could provide a high level of accuracy within 60min after reperfusion

A Case of Inoperable Duodenal Cancer Achieving Long-Term Survival after Multidisciplinary Treatment

A 50-year-old female became aware of skin yellowing and consulted another hospital where she was diagnosed intraoperatively with duodenal cancer because of lymph node metastases around the aorta. Endoscopy revealed type IIa + IIc cancer distal to the duodenal papilla, and biopsy allowed a diagnosis of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. Computed tomography revealed a large number of lymph node metastases around the aorta and in the left supraclavicular cavity. The patient was given many regimens of chemotherapy, mainly containing S-1, and multidisciplinary treatment, and achieved long-term survival for 6 years and 1 month. This is a valuable case suggesting the usefulness of this therapeutic approach. In view of the fact that duodenal cancer is a relatively rare disease and the possibility that the incidence of this disease may increase in the future, it seems essential to collect additional data from multicenter prospective studies towards the goal of establishing a standard method of treatment for this disease

Spin-transfer switching and thermal stability in an FePt/Au/FePt nanopillar prepared by alternate monatomic layer deposition

We fabricated a current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR) nanopillar with a 1-nm-thick FePt free layer having perpendicular anisotropy using the alternate monatomic layer deposition method. Nanopillars consisting of [Fe (1 monolayer (ML))/Pt (1 ML)]n (n: the number of the alternation period) ferromagnetic layers and an Au spacer layer showed spin-transfer induced switching at room temperature.Comment: 11 page

Newly Diagnosed Infection After Admission for Acute Heart Failure: From the KCHF Registry

[Background] No studies have explored the association between newly diagnosed infections after admission and clinical outcomes in patients with acute heart failure. We aimed to explore the factors associated with newly diagnosed infection after admission for acute heart failure, and its association with in‐hospital and post‐discharge clinical outcomes. [Methods and Results] Among 4056 patients enrolled in the Kyoto Congestive Heart Failure registry, 2399 patients without any obvious infectious disease upon admission were analyzed. The major in‐hospital and post‐discharge outcome measures were all‐cause deaths. There were 215 patients (9.0%) with newly diagnosed infections during hospitalization, and 2184 patients (91.0%) without infection during hospitalization. The factors independently associated with a newly diagnosed infection were age ≥80 years, acute coronary syndrome, non‐ambulatory status, hyponatremia, anemia, intubation, and patients who were not on loop diuretics as outpatients. The newly diagnosed infection group was associated with a higher incidence of in‐hospital mortality (16.3% and 3.2%, P<0.001) and excess adjusted risk of in‐hospital mortality (odds ratio, 6.07 [95% CI, 3.61–10.19], P<0.001) compared with the non‐infection group. The newly diagnosed infection group was also associated with a higher 1‐year incidence of post‐discharge mortality (19.3% in the newly diagnosed infection group and 13.6% in the non‐infection group, P<0.001) and excess adjusted risk of post‐discharge mortality (hazard ratio, 1.49 [95% CI, 1.08–2.07], P=0.02) compared with the non‐infection group. [Conclusions] Elderly patients with multiple comorbidities were associated with the development of newly diagnosed infections after admission for acute heart failure. Newly diagnosed infections after admission were associated with higher in‐hospital and post‐discharge mortality in patients with acute heart failure

Coincidence analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries using TAMA300 and LISM data

Japanese laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors, TAMA300 and LISM, performed a coincident observation during 2001. We perform a coincidence analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries. The length of data used for the coincidence analysis is 275 hours when both TAMA300 and LISM detectors are operated simultaneously. TAMA300 and LISM data are analyzed by matched filtering, and candidates for gravitational wave events are obtained. If there is a true gravitational wave signal, it should appear in both data of detectors with consistent waveforms characterized by masses of stars, amplitude of the signal, the coalescence time and so on. We introduce a set of coincidence conditions of the parameters, and search for coincident events. This procedure reduces the number of fake events considerably, by a factor $\sim 10^{-4}$ compared with the number of fake events in single detector analysis. We find that the number of events after imposing the coincidence conditions is consistent with the number of accidental coincidences produced purely by noise. We thus find no evidence of gravitational wave signals. We obtain an upper limit of 0.046 /hours (CL $= 90$) to the Galactic event rate within 1kpc from the Earth. The method used in this paper can be applied straightforwardly to the case of coincidence observations with more than two detectors with arbitrary arm directions.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, Replaced with the version to be published in Physical Review

Sex differences in patients with acute decompensated heart failure in Japan: observation from the KCHF registry

Aims: The association between sex and long‐term outcome in patients hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) has not been fully studied yet in Japanese population. The aim of this study was to determine differences in baseline characteristics and management of patients with ADHF between women and men and to compare 1‐year outcomes between the sexes in a large‐scale database representing the current real‐world clinical practice in Japan. Methods and results: Kyoto Congestive Heart Failure registry is a prospective cohort study enrolling consecutive patients hospitalized for ADHF in Japan among 19 centres. Baseline characteristics, clinical presentation, management, and 1‐year outcomes were compared between men and women. A total of 3728 patients who were alive at discharge constituted the current study population. There were 1671 women (44.8%) and 2057 men. Women were older than men [median (IQR): 83 (76–88) years vs. 77 (68–84) years, P < 0.0001]. Hypertensive and valvular heart diseases were more prevalent in women than in men (28.0% vs. 22.5%, P = 0.0001; and 26.9% vs. 14.0%, P < 0.0001, respectively), whereas ischaemic aetiology was less prevalent in women than in men (20.0% vs. 32.5%, P < 0.0001). Women less often had reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (<40%) than men (27.5% vs. 45.1%, P < 0.0001). The cumulative incidence of all‐cause death or hospitalization for heart failure was not significantly different between women and men (33.6% vs. 34.3%, P = 0.71), although women were substantially older than men. After multivariable adjustment, the risk of all‐cause death or hospitalization for heart failure was significantly lower among women (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.84, 95% confidence interval: 0.74–0.96, P = 0.01). Conclusions: Women with heart failure were older and more often presented with preserved EF with a non‐ischaemic aetiology and were associated with a reduced adjusted risk of 1‐year mortality compared with men in the Japanese population

Results of the search for inspiraling compact star binaries from TAMA300's observation in 2000-2004

We analyze the data of TAMA300 detector to search for gravitational waves from inspiraling compact star binaries with masses of the component stars in the range 1-3Msolar. In this analysis, 2705 hours of data, taken during the years 2000-2004, are used for the event search. We combine the results of different observation runs, and obtained a single upper limit on the rate of the coalescence of compact binaries in our Galaxy of 20 per year at a 90% confidence level. In this upper limit, the effect of various systematic errors such like the uncertainty of the background estimation and the calibration of the detector's sensitivity are included.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses revtex4.sty The author list was correcte