Variability of Rice Production in Monsoon Asia

Since ancient times, rice has been a staple food in monsoon Asia, an area in Asia which is strongly affected by monsoon activity and home to a dense population comprising many millions of individuals. Since rice is usually produced by a given country to feed its own population, production variability is commonly analysed on a country-by-country basis. However, recent globalisation and the frequency of disasters suggest that production variability, especially poor production, affects not only the producing country but also nations in the same region. In this research effort we analysed the variability in rice production in monsoon Asia and showed that large depletions in production derive primarily from production trends in India. Interestingly, India tended to undergo bumper years when China experienced lean years. If bumper years in India are associated with lean years in China, successful production in India can cushion the blow of poor production in China. We found no causal connection between rice production in India and rice production in China. Therefore, we would advocate more accurate analyses in the future that use approaches from disciplines such as climatology, hydrology and agronomy

Debranching thoracic endovascular aortic repair for distal aortic arch aneurysm in elderly patients aged over 75 years old

Background: We examined the outcome of debranching thoracic endovascular aortic repair (d-TEVAR) without sternotomy for distal aortic arch aneurysm in patients aged ≥75 years. Methods: Patients who underwent d-TEVAR or TAR for aortic arch aneurysm between 2008 and 2015 at our hospital and aged ≥75 years were included. Age, sex, left ventricular ejection fraction, preoperative creatinine level, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were matched using PS. Results: Among 74 patients (d-TEVAR: 51, TAR: 23), 17 patients in each group were matched. No difference in surgical outcome was detected between the d-TEVAR and TAR groups, including 30-day death (0% vs. 0%), hospital death (5.8% vs. 0%: p = 0.31) and incidence of cerebral infarction (5.8% vs. 7.6%: p = 0.27) as well as the long-term outcomes of 5-year survival (92.8% vs. 74.8%: p = 0.30) and 5-year aorta-related event-free rate (88.2% vs. 100%: p = 0.15). Average duration of ICU stay (1.3 ± 1.1 days vs. 5.6 ± 1.3 days: p = 0.025) and hospital stay (16.5 ± 5.2 days vs. 37.7 ± 19.6 days: p = 0.017) were significantly shorter in the d-TEVAR group. Conclusion: Our results indicated that d-TEVAR is less invasive without affecting long-term outcome up to 5 years. Although the number of the patients included in the study was small, debranching TEVAR could be one of the treatments of the choice in the elderly, especially with comorbidities

Broccoli consumption and chronic atrophic gastritis among Japanese males: an epidemiological investigation.

Previous in vitro and animal experiments have shown that sulforaphane, which is abundant in broccoli, inhibits Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and blocks gastric tumor formation. This suggests that broccoli consumption prevents chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) introduced by H. pylori infection and, therefore, gastric cancer. For an epidemiological investigation of the relationship between the broccoli consumption and CAG, a cross-sectional study of 438 male employees, aged 39 to 60 years, of a Japanese steel company was conducted. CAG was serologically determined with serum cut-off values set at pepsinogen I &#60; or = 70 ng/ml and a ratio of serum pepsinogen I/pepsinogen II &#60; or = 3.0. Broccoli consumption (weekly frequency) and diet were monitored by using a 31-item food frequency questionnaire. The prevalence of CAG among men who ate broccoli once or more weekly was twice as high as that among men who consumed a negligible amount (P &#60; 0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that broccoli consumption once or more weekly significantly increased the risk for CAG (odds ratio, 3.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-8.38; P &#60; 0.05), after controlling for age, education, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption. The present study failed to show an expected association between frequent broccoli consumption and a low prevalence of CAG.</p

MicroRNA-133 regulates the expression of GLUT4 by targeting KLF15 and is involved in metabolic control in cardiac myocytes

GLUT4 shows decreased levels in failing human adult hearts. We speculated that GLUT4 expression in cardiac muscle may be fine-tuned by microRNAs. Forced expression of miR-133 decreased GLUT4 expression and reduced insulin-mediated glucose uptake in cardiomyocytes. A computational miRNA target prediction algorithm showed that KLF15 is one of the targets of miR-133. It was confirmed that over-expression of miR-133 reduced the protein level of KLF15, which reduced the level of the downstream target GLUT4. Cardiac myocytes infected with lenti-decoy, in which the 3′UTR with tandem sequences complementary to miR-133 was linked to the luciferase reporter gene, had decreased miR-133 levels and increased levels of GLUT4. The expression levels of KLF15 and GLUT4 were decreased at the left ventricular hypertrophy and congestive heart failure stage in a rat model. The present results indicated that miR-133 regulates the expression of GLUT4 by targeting KLF15 and is involved in metabolic control in cardiomyocytes

Efficacy of DynaCT digital angiography in the detection of the fistulous point of dural arteriovenous fistulas.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Identifying the precise hemodynamic features, including the fistulous point, is essential for treatments of dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs). This study illustrates the efficacy of DynaCT digital angiograms obtained from a 3D C-arm CT to directly visualize the location of the fistulous points in DAVFs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study observed 14 consecutive patients with DAVFs, which included 7 cavernous sinuses, 4 transverse-sigmoid sinuses, 2 convexity-superior sagittal sinuses, and 1 tentorial sinus. In the assessment of the practical applicability for the diagnosis of DAVFs, images obtained from 2D digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and DynaCT were comparatively evaluated. RESULTS: In all patients, DynaCT digital angiography could clearly demonstrate the feeding arteries, the fistulous points, and the draining veins. Significant anatomic landmarks for the fistulous points with relationships to osseous structures were also provided. Compared with 2D DSA, DynaCT digital angiograms demonstrated 12 additional findings in 8 patients (57%), including the detection of the fistulous points (n = 7), the feeders (n = 1), the retrograde leptomeningeal drainage (n = 1), the draining veins (n = 1), and the venous anomaly (n = 2). CONCLUSIONS: In comparison with 2D DSA, DynaCT may provide more detailed information to evaluate DAVFs. DynaCT digital angiograms have a high contrast and isotropic spatial resolution, allowing a reliable visualization of small vessels and fine osseous structures. Such detailed information, especially for the location of the fistulous points, could be very useful for either the endovascular or the surgical treatments of DAVFs

Long-term follow-up of endovascular coil embolization for cerebral aneurysms using three-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography.

OBJECTIVES: As endovascular treatment becomes more prevalent, aneurysm recurrence from neck remnants, recanalization, incomplete obliteration and bleeding remain major concerns. In the current analysis, we attempted to identify factors related to disease progression and clinical outcome in patients treated with coil embolization. METHODS: This study included 58 patients who underwent endovascular coil embolization for treatment of intracranial aneurysm. The result of embolization was evaluated with three-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (TOF MRA) and classified as a complete occlusion, a residual neck (minor, central and marginal types), a residual dome (central and marginal types). Patients were followed up clinically and radiologically. Statistical analyses were performed to establish factors that influenced the occurrence of adverse events such as recurrence of aneurysm. RESULTS: Overall, the complete occlusion rate was 18.8%, the occurrence of a residual neck was 67.2%, and the residual dome rate was 14.1%. The mean clinical follow-up was 31.2 months. Recurrences were found in 18 aneurysms, and major recurrences were retreated with coiling or surgery. The post-treatment study revealed that the marginal-type aneurysm filling has a significant impact on outcome. Thus, perianeurysmal edema was correlated with recurrence of the aneurysm. CONCLUSIONS: Three-dimensional TOF MRA was a sensitive tool for visualizing residual filling of embolized aneurysm and is useful for long-term follow-up of patients

Recurrence of the cavernous sinus dural arteriovenous fistula at adjacent sinuses following repeated transvenous embolizations: case report and literature review.

We present a unique case of a cavernous sinus (CS) dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF), which recurred at adjacent sinuses following repeated transvenous embolizations (TVEs). A 68-year-old woman presented with progressive left conjunctival chemosis and diplopia. Cerebral angiography revealed a left CS DAVF, which was completely obliterated by TVE via the left inferior petrosal sinus (IPS). Two years later, the DAVF recurred in the left IPS, and again in the left sigmoid sinus (SS) 3 years after the initial treatment in spite of a second TVE. Moreover, the left SS and the left internal jugular vein, which had been previously stenotic, had been occluded. The third TVE resulted in the complete obliteration of the SS DAVF. CS DAVFs may recur at adjacent sinuses even after complete obliteration by TVE. Careful follow-up is necessary to check for the recurrence of DAVFs, especially in cases with venous flow changes, such as sinus occlusion, following endovascular treatment.The original publication is available at www.springerlink.co

Non-missense variants of KCNH2 show better outcomes in type 2 long QT syndrome

AIMS: More than one-third of type 2 long QT syndrome (LQT2) patients carry KCNH2 non-missense variants that can result in haploinsufficiency (HI), leading to mechanistic loss-of-function. However, their clinical phenotypes have not been fully investigated. The remaining two-thirds of patients harbour missense variants, and past studies uncovered that most of these variants cause trafficking deficiency, resulting in different functional changes: either HI or dominant-negative (DN) effects. In this study, we examined the impact of altered molecular mechanisms on clinical outcomes in LQT2 patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 429 LQT2 patients (234 probands) carrying a rare KCNH2 variant from our patient cohort undergoing genetic testing. Non-missense variants showed shorter corrected QT (QTc) and less arrhythmic events (AEs) than missense variants. We found that 40% of missense variants in this study were previously reported as HI or DN. Non-missense and HI-groups had similar phenotypes, while both exhibited shorter QTc and less AEs than the DN-group. Based on previous work, we predicted the functional change of the unreported variants-whether they cause HI or DN via altered functional domains-and stratified them as predicted HI (pHI)- or pDN-group. The pHI-group including non-missense variants exhibited milder phenotypes compared to the pDN-group. Multivariable Cox model showed that the functional change was an independent risk of AEs (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Stratification based on molecular biological studies enables us to better predict clinical outcomes in the patients with LQT2