Early endovascular stenting for extracranial carotid artery dissection with angiographic flow stasis: A series of four cases

Extracranial carotid artery dissection is a major cause of ischemic stroke in young patients. Progressive stroke or recurrent ischemic symptoms may occur despite adequate medical treatment. Our treatment policy for these conditions is based on the fact that immediate vascular reconstruction is necessary in the cases with angiographic flow stasis in the true lumen beyond the dissection site. We report our experiences with four consecutive extracranial carotid artery dissections successfully treated with early endovascular stenting and discuss the indication of this treatment with a special emphasis on the angiographic findings

Pulmonary intravascular large B-cell lymphoma successfully treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin and prednisolone immunochemotherapy: Report of a patient surviving for over 1 year

A 73-year-old man with a history of lethargy, fever and dyspnea was admitted to Tottori University Hospital. A computed tomography (CT) scan revealed splenomegaly and diffusely spreading ground‑glass opacities (GGOs) in both lungs. A video‑assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS)‑guided lung biopsy revealed intravascular proliferation of large atypical lymphoid cells in the arteries, veins and alveolar walls. The patient was diagnosed with intravascular large B‑cell lymphoma (IVLBCL); he received 6 cycles of rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisolone (R‑CHOP) immunochemotherapy and has remained in complete remission for >1 year. Although IVLBCL is a rare disease, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary diffuse lesions that present with GGOs on CT scans

Reconstruction-Dependent Recovery from Anorexia and Time-Related Recovery of Regulatory Ghrelin System in Gastrectomized Rats

Gastrectomy reduces food intake and body weight (BW) hampering recovery of physical conditions. It also reduces plasma levels of stomach-derived orexigenic ghrelin. This study explored changes in orexigenic ghrelin system in rats receiving total gastrectomy with Billroth II (B-II) or Roux-en-Y (R-Y) method. Feeding and BW were reduced by gastrectomy and subsequently recovered to a greater extent with R-Y than B-II while plasma ghrelin decreased similarly. At postoperative 12th week, ghrelin contents increased in the duodenum and pancreas, plasma ghrelin levels increased upon fasting, and ghrelin injection promoted feeding but not in earlier periods. In summary, gastrectomized rats partially recover feeding and BW, in a reconstruction-dependent manner. At 12th week, ghrelin is upregulated in extra-stomach tissues, plasma ghrelin levels are physiologically regulated, and orexigenic effect of exogenous ghrelin is restored. This time-related recovery of ghrelin system may provide a strategy for promoting feeding, BW, and thereby physical conditions in gastrectomized patients

Social surplus approach and heterodox economics

Given the emphasis on social provisioning in heterodox economics, two of its central theoretical organizing principles are the concepts of the total social product and the social surplus. This appears to link heterodox economics to the social surplus approach associated with the classical economists and currently with Sraffian economists. However, heterodox economics connects agency with the social surplus and the social product, which the Sraffians reject as they take the level and composition of the social product as given. Therefore the different theoretical approach regarding the social surplus taken in heterodox economics may generate a different but similar way of theorizing about a capitalist economy. To explore this difference is the aim of the paper. Thus the paper is divided into four parts and a conclusion. In the first section social provisioning and the social surplus is introduced. In the second section, the Sraffian social surplus approach is delineated while in the third section the heterodox social surplus approach is delineated. In the fourth section of the paper, some of the implications emerging from the differences between the two approaches are discussed. The paper is concluded in the final section

Environmental Complexity Control for Vision-Based Learning Mobile Robot

This paper discusses how a robot can develop its state vector according to the complexity of the interactions with its environment. A method for controlling the complexity is proposed for a vision-based mobile robot of which task is to shoot a ball into a goal avoiding collisions with a goal keeper. First, we provide the most difficult situation (the maximum speed of the goal keeper with chasing-a-ball behavior), and the robot estimates the full set of state vectors with the order of the major vector components by a method of system identification. The environmental complexity is defined in terms of the speed of the goal keeper while the complexity of the state vector is the number of the dimensions of the state vector. According to the increase of the speed of the goal keeper, the dimension of the state vector is increased by taking a trade-off between the size of the state space (the dimension) and the learning time. Simulations are shown, and other issues for the complexity control are discussed.