885 research outputs found
Response of angina and ischemia to long-term treatment in patients with chronic stable angina: A double-blind randomised individualized dosing trial of nifedipine, propranolol and their combination
AbstractSeventy-four patients with chronic stable mild angina, mild coronary artery disease (83% had one- or two-vessel disease) and normal left ventricular function were studied to measure the response of treadmill exercise performance and painful and silent ischemia in the ambulatory setting to randomly assigned treatment with nifedipine or propranolol and their combination; titration to maximal tolerated dosages was performed in doubleblind manner.At 3 months both nifedipine and propranolol reduced the weekly angina rate (p < 0.05); during treadmill exercise testing, increases (p < 0.05) were noted in time to angina and total exercise time and decreases in maximal ST depression at the end of exercise. There were no differences between the responses to nifedipine and propranolol and no significant additional changes were seen after another 3 months of therapy. The combination of nifedipine and propranolol reduced the number of patients with angina on exercise treadmill testing from 64% to 38% (p < 0.05).During ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring before treatment, there were 1.4 ± 2.4 (mean ± SD) episodes/24 h of painful ischemia and a very low silent ischemia frequency: mean 1.1 ± 2.7 episodes/24 h, mean duration 16 ± 25 min/24 h. Treatment with propranolol and nifedipine resulted in reduction of episodes and duration of painful and painless ischemia; approximately 77% of patients were free of all ischemic episodes.It is concluded that patients with chronic stable mild angina have a low incidence of silent ischemia. Nifedipine or propranolol alone, titrated to individualized maximally tolerated dosages, are equally effective in long-term control of painful and painless ischemia, anginal episodes and exercise-induced ischemia. Combination therapy further reduced only exercise-induced angina and maximal exercise-induced ST depression
Characterization and Compensation of the Residual Chirp in a Mach-Zehnder-Type Electro-Optical Intensity Modulator
We utilize various techniques to characterize the residual phase modulation
of a fiber-based Mach-Zehnder electro-optical intensity modulator. A heterodyne
technique is used to directly measure the phase change due to a given change in
intensity, thereby determining the chirp parameter of the device. This chirp
parameter is also measured by examining the ratio of sidebands for sinusoidal
amplitude modulation. Finally, the frequency chirp caused by an intensity pulse
on the nanosecond time scale is measured via the heterodyne signal. We show
that this chirp can be largely compensated with a separate phase modulator. The
various measurements of the chirp parameter are in reasonable agreement.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Chemical models important in understanding the ways in which chromate can damage DNA.
Chromate is an established human carcinogen. There have been many studies of the reactivity of chromate aimed at improving understanding of chromate toxicity. In the present paper a number of conclusions of these studies are reviewed and considered in the light of new results obtained in our laboratories. A number of hypotheses are considered; it is concluded, however, that it is impossible to reconcile the generation of strand breaks by chromate during its reduction by glutathione with any simple mechanism involving the generation of DNA lesions by free hydroxyl radicals. Kinetic, spin-trapping, and competition kinetic studies, based on a strand-breaking assay, are reported in support of this conclusion
Illness experiences of patients with ischemic heart disease during their transitional phase from hospitalization to discharge in Japan
The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of patients with
ischemic heart disease (IHD) during the transitional phase from hospitalization to discharge.
Twenty-four patients who experienced IHD for the first time comprised the sample
of the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted during the transitional phase.
The results of the qualitative inductive analysis showed two categories of illness experience
: (i) the connection of heart attack experience with the self, and (ii) the instability
of the self as a patient with heart disease. The participants were found to vacillate between
the self as patient with a heart disease and the typical self before the disease onset.
The transitional phase is the time when patients experience changes in their symptoms
and physical conditions rather than a condition of stability signifying recovery.
Patients are expected to manage the symptoms of their heart disease by themselves ;
however the participants showed signs and symptoms of confusion and anxiety about
facilitating their own care. These findings suggest the importance of outpatient nursing
practice focusing on the support and emphasis on nursing interventions for patient anxiety
and alleviation of confusion through the management of symptoms of heart disease
after discharge
Illness experiences of patients with ischemic heart disease during their transitional phase from hospitalization to discharge in Japan
The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of patients with
ischemic heart disease (IHD) during the transitional phase from hospitalization to discharge.
Twenty-four patients who experienced IHD for the first time comprised the sample
of the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted during the transitional phase.
The results of the qualitative inductive analysis showed two categories of illness experience
: (i) the connection of heart attack experience with the self, and (ii) the instability
of the self as a patient with heart disease. The participants were found to vacillate between
the self as patient with a heart disease and the typical self before the disease onset.
The transitional phase is the time when patients experience changes in their symptoms
and physical conditions rather than a condition of stability signifying recovery.
Patients are expected to manage the symptoms of their heart disease by themselves ;
however the participants showed signs and symptoms of confusion and anxiety about
facilitating their own care. These findings suggest the importance of outpatient nursing
practice focusing on the support and emphasis on nursing interventions for patient anxiety
and alleviation of confusion through the management of symptoms of heart disease
after discharge
Acinar pancreatic tumor with metastatic fat necrosis
This report deals with a pancreatic tumor associated with metastatic fat necrosis. Our patient displayed the full gamut of nodular panniculitis, polyarthritis, fever, eosinophilia, hyperlipasemia, lytic bones lesions, and marrow fat necrosis. The rheumatologic features are reviewed. Elevated serum lipase is a most helpful laboratory confirmation. The tumor in our patient presented a difficult problem in classification. Although the appearance under light microscopy was most compatible with islet cell carcinoma or islet cell carcinoid, the ultrastructural characteristics were those of acinar carcinoma.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44384/1/10620_2005_Article_BF01071911.pd
Effects of hydrophilic polymer-coated polysulfone membrane dialyzers on intradialytic hypotension in diabetic hemodialysis patients (ATHRITE BP Study) : a pilot study
Background: Intradialytic hypotension (IDH) is a common clinical manifestation associated with poor prognosis in hemodialysis (HD) patients. HD patients who suffer from diabetic nephropathy (DN) are increasing and diabetes is a major cause of IDH. Effective interventional treatments for IDH have yet to be fully evaluated. The aim of this multicenter prospective study is to clarify the effect of biocompatible hydrophilic polymer-coated polysulfone (PS) membrane, TORAYLIGHT® NV (NV) dialyzers on IDH.
Methods: This is a prospective stratified-randomized multicenter trial. Forty DN patients undergoing HD and receiving two or more times of treatments for IDH per month were enrolled in this study. They were stratified by the number of treatments for IDH and divided to two groups using NV or conventional PS/polyethersulfone (PES) dialyzers. The number of treatments for IDH and changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP) were monitored for 6 months. Patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics were also collected at enrollment and the last month of the observation period. In order to clarify the patient characteristics that induced preferable effects by using NV dialyzers, responders were defined as the patients whose average SBP falls in 1 month improved from over 30 mmHg to no more than 30 mmHg.
Results: The total number of treatments for IDH decreased significantly in NV group, even though pre-dialysis body weight and ultrafiltration volume were similar. In addition, patients using NV had significantly higher post-dialysis SBP and the lowest SBP during HD at sixth month compared as those in PS/PES group. NV responders had valuables suggesting malnutrition and microinflammation, and better lipid profiles than non-responders. However, the representative markers related to nutritional status, arteriosclerosis, and inflammation were not improved by NV treatment.
Conclusions: NV had preferable effects on IDH in DN HD patients. Our results suggest the usefulness of NV as a possible method to deal with IDH. Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanism of NV effects on hemodynamic status
A new application of reduced Rayleigh equations to electromagnetic wave scattering by two-dimensional randomly rough surfaces
The small perturbations method has been extensively used for waves scattering
by rough surfaces. The standard method developped by Rice is difficult to apply
when we consider second and third order of scattered fields as a function of
the surface height. Calculations can be greatly simplified with the use of
reduced Rayleigh equations, because one of the unknown fields can be
eliminated. We derive a new set of four reduced equations for the scattering
amplitudes, which are applied to the cases of a rough conducting surface, and
to a slab where one of the boundary is a rough surface. As in the
one-dimensional case, numerical simulations show the appearance of enhanced
backscattering for these structures.Comment: RevTeX 4 style, 38 pages, 16 figures, added references and comments
on the satellites peak
Immunogenic cell death pathway polymorphisms for predicting oxaliplatin efficacy in metastatic colorectal cancer
Background Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a tumor cell death involving both innate and adaptive immune responses. Given published findings that oxaliplatin, but not irinotecan, drives ICD, we investigated whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ICD pathway are associated with the efficacy of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Methods Two randomized clinical trials data were analyzed: discovery cohort, FOLFOX/bevacizumab arm (MAVERICC); validation cohort, FOLFOXIRI/bevacizumab arm (TRIBE); and two control cohorts, FOLFIRI/bevacizumab arms (both trials). Genomic DNA extracted from blood samples was genotyped. Ten SNPs in the ICD pathway were tested for associations with clinical outcomes. Results In total, 648 patients were included. In the discovery cohort, three SNPs were significantly associated with clinical outcomes in univariate analysis: CALR rs1010222 with progression-free survival (G/G vs any A, HR=0.61, 95% CI 0.43-0.88), ANXA1 rs1050305 with overall survival (OS) (A/A vs any G, HR=1.87, 95% CI 1.04-3.35), and LRP1 rs1799986 with OS (C/C vs any T, HR=1.69, 95% CI 1.07-2.70). Multivariate analysis confirmed the trend, but statistical significance was not reached. In the validation cohort, ANXA1 rs1050305, and LRP1 rs1799986 were validated to have the significant associations with clinical outcome. No significant associations of these SNPs were observed in the two control cohorts. Treatment-by-SNP interaction test confirmed the predictive values. Conclusions The predictive utility of ICD-related SNPs for the efficacy of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy was demonstrated, warranting further validation studies to be translated into personalized treatment strategies using conventional cytotoxic agents in mCRC
Optimum detection for extracting maximum information from symmetric qubit sets
We demonstrate a class of optimum detection strategies for extracting the
maximum information from sets of equiprobable real symmetric qubit states of a
single photon. These optimum strategies have been predicted by Sasaki et al.
[Phys. Rev. A{\bf 59}, 3325 (1999)]. The peculiar aspect is that the detections
with at least three outputs suffice for optimum extraction of information
regardless of the number of signal elements. The cases of ternary (or trine),
quinary, and septenary polarization signals are studied where a standard von
Neumann detection (a projection onto a binary orthogonal basis) fails to access
the maximum information. Our experiments demonstrate that it is possible with
present technologies to attain about 96% of the theoretical limit.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. A Converted to
REVTeX4 format, and a few other minor modifications according to the comments
from PRA referre
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