An Autopsy Case of Postpartum Acute Myocardial Infarction Associated with Postpartum Ergot Alkaloids Administration in Old-Aged Pregnant Women

Cases of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) that occur during pregnancy or postpartum are rarely reported. Ergot derivatives are known to induce the spasmodic contraction of coronary arteries. Administration of ergot derivatives can cause AMI, even in normal healthy people. In several reported cases, ergot derivatives triggered severe AMI during the postpartum period. Here, we report the case of a forty-year-old woman who was successfully impregnated by artificial fertilization and died after treatment with ergot derivatives. The autopsy revealed AMI with severe coronary atherosclerosis. This is the first case that reports aggravation of pre-existent severe coronary atherosclerosis after postpartum infusion of ergot derivtives

A functional regulatory variant of MYH3 influences muscle fiber-type composition and intramuscular fat content in pigs

Muscle development and lipid accumulation in muscle critically affect meat quality of livestock. However, the genetic factors underlying myofiber-type specification and intramuscular fat (IMF) accumulation remain to be elucidated. Using two independent intercrosses between Western commercial breeds and Korean native pigs (KNPs) and a joint linkage-linkage disequilibrium analysis, we identified a 488.1-kb region on porcine chromosome 12 that affects both reddish meat color (a*) and IMF. In this critical region, only the MYH3 gene, encoding myosin heavy chain 3, was found to be preferentially overexpressed in the skeletal muscle of KNPs. Subsequently, MYH3-transgenic mice demonstrated that this gene controls both myofiber-type specification and adipogenesis in skeletal muscle. We discovered a structural variant in the promotor/regulatory region of MYH3 for which Q allele carriers exhibited significantly higher values of a* and IMF than q allele carriers. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation and cotransfection assays showed that the structural variant in the 5′-flanking region of MYH3 abrogated the binding of the myogenic regulatory factors (MYF5, MYOD, MYOG, and MRF4). The allele distribution of MYH3 among pig populations worldwide indicated that the MYH3 Q allele is of Asian origin and likely predates domestication. In conclusion, we identified a functional regulatory sequence variant in porcine MYH3 that provides novel insights into the genetic basis of the regulation of myofiber type ratios and associated changes in IMF in pigs. The MYH3 variant can play an important role in improving pork quality in current breeding programs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reversibly controlled ternary polar states and ferroelectric bias promoted by boosting square???tensile???strain

Interaction between dipoles often emerges intriguing physical phenomena, such as exchange bias in the magnetic heterostructures and magnetoelectric effect in multiferroics, which lead to advances in multifunctional heterostructures. However, the defect-dipole tends to be considered the undesired to deteriorate the electronic functionality. Here, we report deterministic switching between the ferroelectric and the pinched states by exploiting a new substrate of cubic perovskite, BaZrO3, which boosts square-tensile-strain to BaTiO3 and promotes four-variants in-plane spontaneous polarization with oxygen vacancy creation. First-principles calculations propose a complex of an oxygen vacancy and two Ti3+ ions coins a charge-neutral defect-dipole. Cooperative control of the defect-dipole and the spontaneous polarization reveals ternary in-plane polar states characterized by biased/pinched hysteresis loops. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate that three electrically controlled polar-ordering states lead to switchable and non-volatile dielectric states for application of non-destructive electro-dielectric memory. This discovery opens a new route to develop functional materials via manipulating defect-dipoles and offers a novel platform to advance heteroepitaxy beyond the prevalent perovskite substrates

Centrifuge Modeling of Improved Design for Rocking Foundation Using Short Piles

Rocking foundations have emerged as an attractive design to reduce the seismic loads of structures during strong earthquakes. However, they cannot be applied in the field directly because of the permanent deformation caused by their rocking behavior. To reduce the permanent deformation induced by a rocking foundation, installation of an unconnected pile below the foundation has been suggested as an improved design. The region of significant plastic strains beneath the foundation caused by the rocking behavior is located at a shallow depth; thus, the length of the unconnected pile is reduced relative to the case of connected piles. In this study, to determine the optimized design for a rocking foundation, horizontal slow cyclic tests and dynamic centrifuge shake-table tests were performed for various types of foundation models incorporating short piles. The foundation-structure system was designed to exhibit rocking-dominant behavior. Based on the results of the horizontal slow cyclic tests and dynamic centrifuge tests, the rocking behaviors of the tested models were compared. A setup featuring unconnected short piles with a soil layer is proposed as an optimized rocking foundation design, focusing on the reduction of the permanent deformation of soil. ?? 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers