Relationship of IE and oral conditions

Objectives Infective endocarditis (IE) is a life-threatening infectious disease, but the pathogenesis of the disease remains uncertain. The objective of this study was to examine whether oral infectious conditions are associated with the occurrence of IE in valvular heart disease (VHD) patients. Materials and Methods A total of 119 periodontitis (P) patients with or without VHD were enrolled, and cross-sectional analyses were performed. Patients were classified as follows: 1) mild-to-moderate P without VHD, 2) mild-to-moderate P with VHD, 3) severe P without VHD, or 4) severe P with VHD. A total of 78 VHD patients were classified as 1) VHD without IE or 2) VHD with IE. Conditional logistic regression analysis was performed to compute the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results No significant differences were observed between patients with or without VHD in oral conditions. A significant increase in the percentage of alveolar bone loss in VHD patients with IE was observed compared with that of patients without IE. The ratio of both Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) IgG titer>1.68 and Pg fimA type II genotype in patients with IE was significantly higher than in patients without IE. There was a significant correlation between the occurrence of IE and clinical oral findings (number of remaining teeth: OR, 0.17; rate of alveolar bone loss>40%: OR, 11.8). Conclusions VHD patients with IE might have severe periodontitis compared with patients without IE, although further investigation will be needed because this is based on only 7 VHD patients with IE. Clinical relevance The patients with IE had fewer remaining teeth, more advanced bone resorption compared with those of patients without IE. These findings suggest a possible association between the occurrence of IE and periodontal infection

Real-time observation of X-ray-induced intramolecular and interatomic electronic decay in CH2I2

The increasing availability of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) has catalyzed the development of single-object structural determination and of structural dynamics tracking in realtime. Disentangling the molecular-level reactions triggered by the interaction with an XFEL pulse is a fundamental step towards developing such applications. Here we report real-time observations of XFEL-induced electronic decay via short-lived transient electronic states in the diiodomethane molecule, using a femtosecond near-infrared probe laser. We determine the lifetimes of the transient states populated during the XFEL-induced Auger cascades and find that multiply charged iodine ions are issued from short-lived (similar to 20 fs) transient states, whereas the singly charged ones originate from significantly longer-lived states (similar to 100 fs). We identify the mechanisms behind these different time scales: contrary to the short-lived transient states which relax by molecular Auger decay, the long-lived ones decay by an interatomic Coulombic decay between two iodine atoms, during the molecular fragmentation

Effect of 24 weeks of KAATSU resistance training on femoral muscle size and safety in a 84-year-old woman.

[Objective] It is well known that KAATSU resistance training can produce muscle hypertrophy without deteriorating cardiovascular system in older adults. However, it is unclear whether KAATSU resistance training exceeding 12 weeks were a highly safe and effective training method for improvement of skeletal muscle mass in older adults. We examined effect of 24 weeks of KAATSU resistance training on femoral muscle size and its safety for older adult.[Methods] The subject was an 84-year-old woman (standing height 153 cm and body weight 46 kg). The KAATSU resistance training was provided for a total of 48 sessions over 24 weeks. Training intensity and volume were set at 20% or 30% of one-repetition maximum (1-RM) and 75 repetitions for knee extension and leg press exercises, respectively. Mid-thigh muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) was measured by MRI scan before, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks after the training. The maximal strength, chair-stand test, hemodynamic parameters, arterial stiffness, coagulation system and muscle damage were also measured.[Results] Quadriceps muscle CSA, 1-RM strength and chair-stand test increased throughout 24-week training period. On the other hand, there were no changes in body weight, hemodynamic parameters (except for systolic blood pressure), arterial compliance coagulation system and muscle damage throughout the training period.[Conclusion] The 24 weeks of KAATSU resistance training may be a highly safe and effective training method for improvement of skeletal muscle mass in older adults

Evaluation of stress distribution due to shearing in non-oriented electrical steel by using synchrotron radiation

The influence of the shearing process on the iron loss of non-oriented electrical steels with grain sizes of 10 μm-150 μm was investigated. The deterioration ratio of iron loss was clearly smaller in sample with small grain sizes. The droop height, reflecting the amount of plastic deformation, displayed a good relationship with the deterioration of iron loss under the effect of the material grain size. To clarify the strain distribution around the sheared edge, the elastic strain in a sheet sample with the thickness of 0.30 mm and grain size of 10 μm was evaluated by using synchrotron radiation. The width of the region of elastic strain due to shearing was two or three times of the material thickness. The results of the plastic strain distribution obtained by the measurements were then used to estimate the iron loss deterioration rate in 5 mm width sheared samples. The estimated loss deteriotation coincided with the actual measured iron loss

Unexpectedly large aortoesophageal fistula inconsistent with CT imaging due to the thrombus working as the tamponade

SummaryA 69-year-old woman with a history of graft replacement of descending aortic aneurysm was referred to our hospital due to massive hematemesis with shock status. Additionally, the deterioration of respiratory status made us start the management under mechanical ventilation. The emergent gastrointestinal endoscopy by a general practitioner showed ulcer-like lesion of the upper esophagus and arterial bleeding. A contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed thoracic aortic aneurysm surrounded by low density mass and contrast medium protruding from the aneurysm. The findings suggested that thoracic aortic aneurysm perforated into esophagus and made an aortoesophageal fistula. Hemodynamic deterioration rapidly progressed and she passed away 4 days after her hospitalization.Autopsy showed that a new thoracic aortic aneurysm arose from the proximal site of the graft. The aneurysm ruptured to esophagus with 6.0cm×5.0cm sized fistula. The fistula was filled with a large thrombus. The large thrombus filling with the fistula worked as the tamponade and prevented her from the fatal exsanguinations and sudden death. The mechanism of the sentinel bleeding and the fatal exsanguinations known as Chiari's triad was revealed in our report