Value Discount of Business Groups Surrounding the Asia Financial Crisis: Evidence from Korean Chaebols

Asian Financial Crisis, Business Group, Chaebol, Diversification, Firm Value

The effect of phenylephrine on the onset time of rocuronium

BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated that ephedrine shortens the onset time of muscle relaxants, and it does so probably by increasing the cardiac output. However, elevation of the systemic blood pressure through α adrenergic stimulation via ephedrine may affect the onset of muscle relaxants during the induction of anesthesia. We investigated the effect of phenylephrine, which is a selective α-1 agonist, on the onset time of rocuronium and the intubating conditions in adults after the administration of propofol. METHODS: Sixty-four patients were randomly assigned to two groups. Phenylephrine (0.9 µg/kg) (P group) or the same volume of saline (S group) was injected before rocuronium (0.6 mg/kg) administration. Anesthesia was induced with fentanyl 2 µg/kg and propofol 2 mg/kg. The onset time was defined as the time from the end of rocuronium injection to the time when a single twitch height gets to 0% or the minimum level. A well-trained anesthesiologist who was 'blinded' to the treatment groups evaluated the intubating conditions. The mean arterial pressure and heart rate were recorded before induction, before intubation, immediately after intubation and 1 minute and 2 minutes after intubation. RESULTS: The onset time was 84 ± 18 sec in the P-group and 72 ± 14 sec in the S-group. There was no difference of the intubating conditions, the mean arterial pressure and the heart rate between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: A small dose of phenylephrine, which has a limited effect on blood pressure, delayed the onset time of rocuronium after the administration of propofol, and the vasoconstriction effect of phenylephrine may affect the prolongation of the rocuronium onset time at the induction of anesthesia with using propofol.ope

Carotid Endarterectomy for Symptomatic Complete Occlusion of the Internal Carotid Artery

We described 9 consecutive patients who underwent operative carotid artery exploration with attempted carotid endarterectomy (CEA) for symptomatic internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion. Indications for this surgery based on vascular imaging included segmental occlusion of the proximal ICA and also extensive occlusion of the distal ICA in selected patients in whom color-flow duplex ultrasound showed a poorly echogenic or anechoic thrombus with a flow void, suggestive of an acute thrombus. CEA was performed successfully to restore blood flow in all 9 patients:CEA in 5 and CEA with Fogarty thrombectomy in 4. Postoperative magnetic resonance (MR) angiography confirmed that revascularization had been successful in all 9 patients, and MR imaging displayed improved perfusion in 4 patients. Despite the lack of a generalized efficacy of surgical revascularization for symptomatic ICA occlusion, our study demonstrated that preoperative vascular imaging allows the selection of patients who may benefit from CEA

Point Mutation of Hoxd12 in Mice

Purpose: Genes of the HoxD cluster play a major role in vertebrate limb development, and changes that modify the Hoxd12 locus affect other genes also, suggesting that HoxD function is coordinated by a control mechanism involving multiple genes during limb morphogenesis. In this study, mutant phenotypes were produced by treatment of mice with chemical mutagen, N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU). We analyzed mutant mice exhibiting the specific microdactyly phenotype and examined the genes affected. Materials and Methods: We focused on phenotype characteristics including size, bone formation, and digit morphology of ENU-induced microdactyly mice. The expressions of several molecules were analyzed by genome-wide screening and quantitative real-time PCR to define the affected genes. Results: We report on limb phenotypes of an ENU-induced A-to-C mutation in the Hoxd12 gene, resulting in alanine-to-serine conversion. Microdactyly mice exhibited growth defects in the zeugopod and autopod, shortening of digits, a missing tip of digit I, limb growth affected, and dramatic increases in the expressions of Fgf4 and Lmx1b. However, the expression level of Shh was not changed Hoxd12 point mutated mice. Conclusion: These results suggest that point mutation rather than the entire deletion of Hoxd12, such as in knockout and transgenic mice, causes the abnormal limb phenotype in microdactyly mice. The precise nature of the spectrum of differences requires further investigation.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Thermoelectric properties of graphene incorporated thermoelectric materials

Thermoelectric materials, which can change the waste heat into the usable electricity, are interested in various field of applications such as vehicle, ship, power plane, and so on. To enhance the thermoelectric properties, high electrical conductivity, high Seebeck coefficient, and low thermal conductivity should be conducted, however, the trade-off relation between electronic property and thermal property in terms of carrier concentration could be the bottle-neck on the enhancement of thermoelectric properties of the materials. In this presentation, we discuss with the graphene incorporation in the conventional thermoelectric materials, which could lead to independently control electric and thermal properties