Early post-operative thrombosis of the prosthetic mitral valve in patient with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is one of the most common immune-mediated adverse drug reactions, with frequencies as high as 2-3% for certain groups of post-cardiac surgery patients. We report on an 50-year-old woman with early post-operative thrombosis of the prosthetic mitral valve due to heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. Non-invasive imaging (two-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography; 2D-TEE) allowed the exact localisation of thrombotic masses and revealed the increase of the mean diastolic mitral gradient. The HIT diagnosis was proved by the clinical scoring system, and with the identification of heparin platelet factor 4-induced antibodies. After the withdrawal of LMWH therapy and the start of intravenous lepirudin treatment, the patient's medical condition improved continuously. Follow-up echocardiography showed a step-wise decrease in the severity of the mean diastolic mitral valve gradient and a complete resolution of thrombus formations. Perhaps we may remind ourselves that, whilst HIT is one of the most common immune-mediated adverse drug reactions for certain groups of post-cardiac surgery patients, it can be managed successfully. We would also stress the importance of serial 2D-TEE examinations in the early post-operative period

RELAXATION STUDY OF Ni-P-B METALLIC GLASSES

La relaxation structurale des alliages amorphes Ni81.5P18.5-xBx (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 18.5) obtenues par trempe rapide a été étudiée par les mesures de résistivité électrique et le module dynamique de Young par les méthodes de calorimétrie différentielle et la microscopie d'électrons. Nous avons établi des spectres d'énergie d'activation par les mesures de résistivité et aussi de module de Young. Pour ce système amorphe, la résistivité est uniquement sensible aux processus de relaxation de type chimique tandis que le module de Young est aussi sensible à d'autres mécanismes de relaxation.The structural relaxation of the melt-quenched Ni81.5P18.5-xBx (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 18.5) amorphous system was investigated by means of electrical resistivity and dynamical Young's modulus measurements, differential scanning calorimetry and electron microscopy. Activation energy spectra were determined from both resistivity and dynamical Young's modulus measurements which have revealed that in this amorphous alloy system the resistivity is sensitive only to chemical type relaxation processes whereas the Young's modulus is sensitive to other relaxation mechanisms as well

Room temperature electronic transport properties of

It turned out from room temperature electrical resistivity and magnetoresistance studies of electrodeposited \chem{Co} metal and \chem{Co(Ru)} dilute alloys that the incorporation of a small amount of \chem{Ru} into \chem{Co} significantly reduces the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR). The influence of \chem{Ru} on the AMR of \chem{Co} is explained by a drastic change of the asymmetry of d-band spin-up and spin-down electronic states at the Fermi level as revealed also by recent electronic band-structure calculations on \chem{Co}-rich \chem{Co}-\chem{Ru} alloys