Tendon transfers for claw hand

We have recently operated on 56 cases of claw hand and described the method of tendon transfer in Hansen's disease which occupied the majority of the cases, and several problems have been discussed from our experiences.</p

An exocyst component, Sec5, is essential for ascospore formation in Bipolaris maydis

In this study, we identified Sec5 in Bipolaris maydis, a homologue of Sec5 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a possible exocyst component of the fungus. To examine how Sec5 affects the life cycle of B. maydis, we generated null mutant strains of the gene (Δsec5). The Δsec5 strains showed a strong reduction in hyphal growth and a slight reduction in pathogenicity. In sexual reproduction, they possessed the ability to develop pseudothecia. However, all ascospores were aborted in any of the asci obtained from crosses between Δsec5 and the wild-type. Our cytological study revealed that the abortion was caused by impairments of the post-meiotic stages in ascospore development, where ascospore delimitation and young spore elongation occur

Polarized Raman spectroscopy on topological semimetal Co₃Sn₂S₂

We present polarized Raman spectroscopy of the topological semimetal Co3Sn2S2, which was recently shown to host a Weyl semimetal phase. Stokes Raman spectra were obtained with the incident light parallel to the c-axis of Co3Sn2S2. Two major phonon Raman peaks were observed at 289 and 386 cm(-1) over continuous background emission signals. The intensity of the low-wavenumber (289 cm(-1)) peak showed no polarization dependence. The high-wavenumber (386 cm(-1)) peak and the continuous background signal were strongly polarized in the incident light polarization direction. These responses were almost independent of the in-plane crystal orientation to the incident polarization, as is the manifestation of the D3d$${D}_{3d}$$ point group symmetry of the unit cell of Co3Sn2S2. According to the group theory and Raman tensor analyses, the low- and high-wavenumber Raman signals are attributed to Gamma point phonon modes with Eg$${E}_g$$ and A1g$${A}_{1g}$$ symmetries, respectively. Furthermore, line shape analyses revealed that the high-wavenumber A1g$${A}_{1g}$$ mode exhibited asymmetric peak feature well described by the Breit-Wigner-Fano function. These results suggest the Fano resonance between the A1g$${A}_{1g}$$ phonon scattering with the continuous electronic background associated with low energy excitations near the Fermi energy. The clarified phonon energies and symmetries, as well as the electronic contribution to the Raman scattering, will not only be useful as a fingerprint to readily verify the experimentally grown or theoretically calculated crystal structure but also suggest importance of Raman spectroscopy as an effective tool to study low energy excitations and their interactions in Co3Sn2S2

Bright and highly valley polarized trions in chemically doped monolayer MoS₂

We demonstrate the effect of p-type dopant F₄TCNQ molecular adsorption on the photoluminescence (PL) and valley polarization properties of trions in monolayer (1L) MoS₂ at 15 K using a spatial PL mapping method. Trion PL intensity considerably increased after the treatment, which was attributed to the extended trion nonradiative lifetime (~70 ps). Trion valley polarization as high as 0.75 showed a negligible decrease after the chemical treatment, as is the manifestation of a long trion valley lifetime of more than nanoseconds order. The results suggest that this method will be useful for future optovalleytronics applications of these materials

Effect of febuxostat on left ventricular diastolic function in patients with asymptomatic hyperuricemia : a sub analysis of the PRIZE Study

Hyperuricemia is related to an increased risk of cardiovascular events from a meta-analysis and antihyperuricemia agents may influence to cardiac function. We evaluated the effect of febuxostat on echocardiographic parameters of diastolic function in patients with asymptomatic hyperuricemia as a prespecified endpoint in the subanalysis of the PRIZE study. Patients in the PRIZE study were assigned randomly to either add-on febuxostat treatment group or control group with only appropriate lifestyle modification. Of the 514 patients in the overall study, 65 patients (31 in the febuxostat group and 34 in the control group) who had complete follow-up echocardiographic data of the ratio of peak early diastolic transmitral flow velocity (E) to peak early diastolic mitral annular velocity (e′) at baseline and after 12 and 24 months were included. The primary endpoint was a comparison of the changes in the E/e′ between the two groups from baseline to 24 months. Interestingly, e′ was slightly decreased in the control group compared with in the febuxostat group (treatment p = 0.068, time, p = 0.337, treatment × Time, p = 0.217). As a result, there were significant increases in E/e′ (treatment p = 0.045, time, p = 0.177, treatment × time, p = 0.137) after 24 months in the control group compared with the febuxostat group. There was no significant difference in the serum levels of N-terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide and high-sensitive troponin I between the two groups during the study period. In conclusions, additional febuxostat treatment in patients with asymptomatic hyperuricemia for 24 months might have a potential of preventable effects on the impaired diastolic dysfunction

Haki Yetu (It’s Our Right): Determinants of Post-Election Violence in Kenya

経済学 / EconomicsDuring the violence following the 2007 presidential election in Kenya, it has been reported that around 1,000 people were killed and over 500,000 people were displaced. In this paper, we investigate the root causes of the violence by using a panel survey of 295 rural households living Rift Valley and Nyanza Provinces, where the violence took place. Among our sample households, 11 percent of male members and 9 percent of female members were victims of the violence, 11 percent of households were displaced, and 23 percent of households hosted at least one internally displaced person. The results show that certain ethnic groups had higher probabilities of being victims of the violence. In addition, we find that members of households without land titles were victimized more than those with land titles, but they were less likely to leave their homes. They could be victimized because the mobs wanted to chase them away, but they hesitated to leave their homes, knowing that it would be difficult for them to retain their land without land titles. The land issue was clearly one of the root causes of the violence, and the issue should be solved or at least addressed to prevent similar conflicts in the future

Effects of canagliflozin on NT-proBNP stratified by left ventricular diastolic function in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic heart failure : a sub analysis of the CANDLE trial

Background: Identification of the effective subtypes of treatment for heart failure (HF) is an essential topic for optimizing treatment of the disorder. We hypothesized that the beneficial effect of SGLT2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) on the levels of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) might depend on baseline diastolic function. To elucidate the effects of SGLT2i in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and chronic HF we investigated, as a post-hoc sub-study of the CANDLE trial, the effects of canagliflozin on NT-proBNP levels from baseline to 24 weeks, with the data stratified by left ventricular (LV) diastolic function at baseline. Methods: Patients (n = 233) in the CANDLE trial were assigned randomly to either an add-on canagliflozin (n = 113) or glimepiride treatment groups (n = 120). The primary endpoint was a comparison between the two groups of the changes from baseline to 24 weeks in NT-pro BNP levels, stratified according to baseline ventricular diastolic function. Results: The change in the geometric mean of NT-proBNP level from baseline to 24 weeks was 0.98 (95% CI 0.89–1.08) in the canagliflozin group and 1.07 (95% CI 0.97–1.18) in the glimepiride group. The ratio of change with canagliflozin/glimepiride was 0.93 (95% CI 0.82–1.05). Responder analyses were used to investigate the response of an improvement in NT-proBNP levels. Although the subgroup analyses for septal annular velocity (SEP-e′) showed no marked heterogeneity in treatment effect, the subgroup with an SEP-e′ < 4.7 cm/s indicated there was an association with lower NT-proBNP levels in the canagliflozin group compared with that in the glimepiride group (ratio of change with canagliflozin/glimepiride (0.83, 95% CI 0.66–1.04). Conclusions: In the subgroup with a lower LV diastolic function, canagliflozin showed a trend of reduced NT-pro BNP levels compared to that observed with glimepiride. This study suggests that the beneficial effects of canagliflozin treatment may be different in subgroups classified by the severity of LV diastolic dysfunction

Effect of sitagliptin on the echocardiographic parameters of left ventricular diastolic function in patients with type 2 diabetes : a subgroup analysis of the PROLOGUE study

Background: Diabetes is associated closely with an increased risk of cardiovascular events, including diastolic dysfunction and heart failure that leads to a shortening of life expectancy. It is therefore extremely valuable to evaluate the impact of antidiabetic agents on cardiac function. However, the influence of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors on cardiac function is controversial and a major matter of clinical concern. We therefore evaluated the effect of sitagliptin on echocardiographic parameters of diastolic function in patients with type 2 diabetes as a sub-analysis of the PROLOGUE study. Methods: Patients in the PROLOGUE study were assigned randomly to either add-on sitagliptin treatment or conventional antidiabetic treatment. Of the 463 patients in the overall study, 115 patients (55 in the sitagliptin group and 60 in the conventional group) who had complete echocardiographic data of the ratio of peak early diastolic transmitral flow velocity (E) to peak early diastolic mitral annular velocity (e′) at baseline and after 12 and 24 months were included in this study. The primary endpoint of this post hoc sub-analysis was a comparison of the changes in the ratio of E to e′ (E/e′) between the two groups from baseline to 24 months. Results: The baseline-adjusted change in E/e′ during 24 months was significantly lower in the sitagliptin group than in the conventional group (−0.18 ± 0.55 vs. 1.91 ± 0.53, p = 0.008), irrespective of a higher E/e′ value at baseline in the sitagliptin group. In analysis of covariance, sitagliptin treatment was significantly associated with change in E/e′ over 24 months (β = −9.959, p = 0.001), independent of other clinical variables at baseline such as blood pressure, HbA1c, and medications for diabetes. Changes in other clinical variables including blood pressure and glycemic parameters, and echocardiographic parameters, such as cardiac structure and systolic function, were comparable between the two groups. There was also no significant difference in the serum levels of N-terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide and high-sensitive C-reactive protein between the two groups during the study period. Conclusions: Adding sitagliptin to conventional antidiabetic regimens in patients with T2DM for 24 months attenuated the annual exacerbation in the echocardiographic parameter of diastolic dysfunction (E/e′) independent of other clinical variables such as blood pressure and glycemic control

Different Patterns of Vascular Response Between Patients With or Without Diabetes Mellitus After Drug-Eluting Stent Implantation Optical Coherence Tomographic Analysis

ObjectivesWe performed this study to investigate with optical coherence tomography (OCT) the vascular response after sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) implantation between patients with and those without diabetes mellitus (DM).BackgroundThe difference in vascular response after SES implantation between patients with and those without DM has not been fully evaluated with OCT.MethodsOptical coherence tomography was performed to examine 74 nonrestenotic SES implanted in 63 patients (32 with DM and 31 without DM) at 9 months after SES implantation. For struts showing neointimal coverage, the neointimal thickness on the luminal side of each strut section was measured, and neointimal characteristics were classified into high, low, and layered signal pattern.ResultsBaseline patient characteristics and lesion and procedural characteristics data were similar between the 2 groups. In total, 11,422 struts were analyzed. High signal neointima was observed in 90.2 ± 13.9%, low signal neointima in 7.3 ± 10.0%, and layered neointima in 2.7 ± 5.8%/stents. There was higher incidence of low signal neointima (10.5 ± 10.3% vs. 4.5 ± 5.6%, p = 0.003), neointimal thickness was larger (median: 106.8 μm, interquartile range: 79.3 to 130.4 μm vs. median: 83.5 μm, interquartile range: 62.3 to 89.3 μm; p < 0.0001), and neointimal coverage of stent struts was higher (92.1 ± 6.2% vs. 87.2 ± 11.9%; p = 0.03) in DM patients.ConclusionsHigh signal neointimal pattern was predominantly observed, and low or layered signal pattern was observed in some cases. In DM patients, low signal neointima was observed with high frequency. Neointimal coverage and neointimal thickness was also higher in DM patients as compared with non-DM patients