Gas-Liquid Interfacial Area, Bubble Size and Liquid-Phase Mass Transfer Coefficient in a Three-Phase External Loop Airlift Bubble Column

The interfacial area a was measured by the sulfite oxidation method in a three-phase external loop airlift bubble column suspending completely the different concentrations of ion exchange resin particles in aqueous carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solutions with a wide range of viscosity. The column had been previously studied for the circulating liquid velocity UL, gas holdup G and volumetric gas-liquid oxygen transfer coefficient kLa in the two- and three-phase systems. The average bubble size dB and oxygen transfer coefficient kL were obtained as dB = 6 G/a and kL = (the previous kLa)/a, respectively. The similar studies were carried out in the internal loop airlift and normal bubble columns for comparison. The a values in the external loop airlift were found to be little affected by the column height and particles concentrations, and to decrease with increasing viscosity. All the three columns showed a linear dependence of a on G. A simple correlation of a, dB or kL was proposed as a function of G and viscosity for the external loop airlift as well as both internal loop airlift and normal columns. A well-known relationship between kL and dB was confirmed to hold independent of column types and operating conditions for a given two or three phase system

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

A rare case of lumbar disc herniation mimicking lumbar discal cyst after percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy

We describe a 15-year-old girl who developed lumbar disc herniation (LDH) that mimicked discal cyst on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD). She firstly underwent PELD at another hospital for right leg pain caused by L5-S1 level LDH. Her leg pain temporarily relieved, however, the leg pain recurred soon after the surgery. Postoperative T2-weighted MRI showed that the right S1 nerve root was compressed by a round lesion that had an iso-intense wall and highly intense watery content. At that point, postoperative discal cyst was diagnosed, and she underwent PELD again 3 months after the initial surgery. However, the pain persisted after the second surgery, and she came to our hospital. MRI showed that the lesion had remained the same size as compared to the last surgery. Since two times endoscopic surgery was failed, we performed microscopic posterior decompression and found that the lesion actually contained not a cyst but a wet nucleus pulposus, which was different from what we had expected to find. The pain was alleviated immediately after the surgery. As signal intensity on MRI differs depending on the amount of moisture in the LDH, it should be noted that the LDH sometimes looks like a discal cyst on MRI

Vertebral Endplate Cyst Formation in Relation to Properties of Interbody Cages

Objective This retrospective study aimed to compare vertebral endplate cyst formation (VECF), an early predictor for pseudoarthrosis, in different types of interbody cages. Methods We reviewed 84 cases treated with single-level posterior/transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. We utilized a polyetheretherketone cage in 20 cases (group P), a titanium cage in 16 cases (group Ti), a titanium-coating polyetheretherketone cage in 13 cases (group TiP) and a porous tantalum cage in 35 cases (group Tn). VECF was evaluated comparing the computed tomography scans taken at day 0 and 6-month postoperation. We defined VECF (+) as enlargement of a pre-existing cyst or de novo formation of a cyst with the diameter over 2 mm. We calculated the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) as an indicator of association between different types of cages and VECF using a logistic regression model. Results VECF was observed in 13 (65%), 7 (44%), 9 (69%), and 8 (23%) cases in groups P, Ti, TiP and Tn, respectively. VECF correlated with the type of cage (p = 0.04). In comparison with group P, the proportion of VECF (+) cases was lower in group Tn (OR, 0.16; 95% CI, 0.04–0.60) but not different in group Ti (OR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.10–2.20) and group TiP (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.21–5.28). No patient underwent additional surgery for the fused spinal level during the follow-up periods (average, 37.9 months; range, 6–76 months). Conclusion VECF was the least in the porous Tn cage, suggesting its potential superiority for initial stability

The long-term immunosuppressive effects of disulfide-linked HLA-G dimer in mice with collagen-induced arthritis

HLA-G, a natural immunosuppressant present in the human placenta during pregnancy, prevents fetal destruction by the maternal immune system. The immunosuppressive effect of HLA-G is mediated by the immune cell inhibitory receptors, LILRB1 and LILRB2. HLA-G forms disulfide-linked dimers by natural oxidation, and the dimer associates with LILRB1/B2 much more strongly than the monomer. Furthermore, the dimer formation remarkably enhanced the LILRB-mediated signaling. In this report, we studied the in vivo immunosuppressive effect of the HLA-G dimer, using the collagen-induced arthritis model mouse. Mice were treated with the HLA-G monomer or dimer intracutaneously at the left foot joint, once or for 5 days, and the clinical severity was evaluated daily in a double-blind study. The HLA-G monomer and dimer both produced excellent anti-inflammatory effects with a single, local administration. Notably, as compared to the monomer, the dimer exhibited significant immunosuppressive effects at lower concentrations, which persisted for about two months. In accordance with this result, a binding study revealed that the HLA-G dimer binds PIR-B, the mouse homolog of the LILRBs, with higher affinity and avidity than the monomer. The HLA-G dimer is expected to be quite useful as an anti-rheumatoid arthritis agent, in small amounts with minimal side effects. (C) 2012 American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved