Utility of Lower Limb Positive Pressure Test for Diagnosis of Diastolic Heart Failure : A Case Report

A 70-year-old woman with dyspnea on exertion was admitted to our hospital. She had a history of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and repeated hospitalization for heart failure. Results of physical examination were normal except for leg edema. Echocardiography showed apical HCM with preserved LV systolic function (LVEF=70%). Although dyspnea on exertion and leg edema improved rapidly with the use of diuretics, her symptoms soon worsened when daily activity was started again. In order to examine the effect of preload on hemodynamics, we performed a lower limb positive pressure test by compressing both legs using a household air leg massager. Echocardiography showed increases in mitral E velocity, E/A ratio and pulmonary venous D flow as well as decrease in stroke volume during the lower limb positive pressure test. Simultaneously-recorded pressure study also showed elevated LVEDP and increased v wave of pulmonary capillary wedge pressure. These results suggested that even a small increase in preload led to elevation of LVEDP and symptomatic worsening due to severe diastolic heart failure in the present case. The lower limb positive pressure test may be useful for assessing the effect of preload on hemodynamics in patients with diastolic heart failure

Laminin-based cell adhesion anchors microtubule plus ends to the epithelial cell basal cortex through LL5α/β

A newly discovered interaction between LL5s, laminins, and integrins reveals how the extracellular matrix directs microtubule polarity in epithelial tissues

Healing of Fatigue Crack by High-Density Electropulsing in Austenitic Stainless Steel Treated with the Surface-Activated Pre-Coating

A technique to heal a fatigue crack in austenitic stainless steel SUS316 by applying a controlled, high-density pulsed current was developed. A surface-activated pre-coating (SAPC), which eliminates the oxide layer and coats a Ni film on the crack surface, was used to improve the adhesion between crack surfaces. Cracks were observed by scanning electron microscopy before and after the application of high-density electropulsing. To evaluate the healing effect of the SAPC during crack propagation, fatigue tests were conducted under a constant stress intensity factor. The fatigue crack treated with the SAPC was found to be effectively healed as a result of electropulsing, and also showed a slower rate of crack propagation

Effect of Sublimation Temperature on the Photovoltaic Properties of Amorphous Carbon Thin Films from Fullerene

This paper presents the effects of sublimation temperature of C60 fullerene on the photovoltaic properties of amorphous carbon (a-C) films synthesized by remote plasma cracking. Here, we show that the deposition rate increases rapidly,Raman peak intensity corresponding to disordered fullerene becomes strong and the optical band gap increases with increasing the sublimation temperature. The photovoltaic devices with structure of Al/C60/a-C/ITO glass are fabricated with different sublimation temperatures and therelationship between the photovoltaic properties and the material properties of a-C films are discussed. It is shown that the improvementof power conversion efficiency is explained by low component of disorderedC60in amorphous carbon at lower sublimation temperature

Validation of diffusive mini-samplers for aldehyde and VOC and its feasibility for measuring the exposure levels of elementary school children

Exposure to various chemicals can cause adverse effects to health, such as asthma and allergies, especially in children. Data on personal exposure levels in children are scarce, thus small lightweight diffusive mini-samplers for aldehydes and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were designed to measure the exposure level of children to these chemicals. The aim of the study was to validate and examine the applicability of these mini-samplers for measuring daily chemical exposure. The diffusive mini-samplers are 20 mm in length, 11 mm in diameter, and 1.67 g in weight. The devices are cylindrically shaped with polytetrafluoroethylene membrane filters placed at each end. To measure aldehydes and acetone, 20 mg of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine was used as an absorbent. To measure VOCs, a carbon molecular sieve was used. The sampling rate for each chemical was determined by parallel sampling with active samplers in a closed exposure bag. The blank levels of the chemicals and the storage stability of the device were tested. The mini-samplers were compared to commercially available diffusive samplers. To examine the applicability of the samplers, 65 elementary school children carried them for 24 h. The sampling rates for formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acetone were 20.9, 22.9, and 19.7 mL min-1, respectively. The limits of quantification (LOQ) for the 24-hour sampling by high-performance liquid chromatography/ultraviolet (HPLC/UV) analysis were 8.3, 7.6, and 8.8 μg m-3 for formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acetone, respectively. The sampling rates for the 11 VOCs were determined and ranged from 3.3 mL min-1 for styrene and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol to 11.7 mL min-1 for benzene. The LOQ for the 24-hour sampling by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis ranged from 5.9-105.2 μg m-3, 1.1-24.7 parts per billion. The storage stability after 5 days ranged from 94.8 to 118.2%. Formaldehyde, acetone, benzene, and toluene were detected above the LOQ in more than 90% of the children, and the median concentrations were 21.7, 20.9, 10.1, and 21.5 μg m-3, respectively. This study shows that the diffusive samplers developed were suitable for children to carry and were capable of measuring the children's daily chemical exposure

Electronic structure of Fe, Co, Ni nanowires on Cu(111)

We investigate the electronic structures of Fe, Co and Ni nanowires on Cu(1 1 1) within the density functional theory. Among these nanowires, we find that the Fe nanowires exhibit the largest magnetic moment. For the Fe nanowires, we also calculate the electron band structure and the corresponding wave functions in real space. We find some spin polarized electron states localized along Fe nanowires in real space whose energy bands exhibit one-dimensional properties. On the basis of the numerical results, we discuss the origin of these interesting properties and also the possibility of observing spin-dependent current through these Fe nanowires. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved