Sirolimus- Versus Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents for the Treatment of Coronary Bifurcations Results From the COBIS (Coronary Bifurcation Stenting) Registry

ObjectivesWe aimed to compare the long-term clinical outcomes of patients treated with sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) or paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) for coronary bifurcation lesions.BackgroundThere are limited data regarding comparisons of SES and PES for the treatment of bifurcation lesions.MethodsPatients who received percutaneous coronary intervention for non-left main bifurcation lesions were enrolled from 16 centers in Korea between January 2004 and June 2006. We compared major adverse cardiac events (MACE [cardiac death, myocardial infarction, or target lesion revascularization]) between the SES and PES groups in patients overall and in 407 patient pairs generated by propensity-score matching.ResultsWe evaluated 1,033 patients with bifurcation lesions treated with SES and 562 patients treated with PES. The median follow-up duration was 22 months. Treatment with SES was associated with a lower incidence of MACE (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.53, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.32 to 0.89, p < 0.01) and target lesion revascularization (HR: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.31 to 0.97, p = 0.02), but not of cardiac death (HR: 2.77, 95% CI: 0.40 to 18.99, p = 0.62) and cardiac death or myocardial infarction (HR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.38 to 2.49, p = 0.94). After propensity-score matching, patients with SES still had fewer MACE and target lesion revascularization incidences than did patients with PES (HR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.30 to 0.91, p = 0.02, and HR: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.25 to 0.91, p = 0.02, respectively). There was no significant difference in the occurrences of stent thrombosis between the groups (0.7% vs. 0.7%, p = 0.94).ConclusionsIn patients with bifurcation lesions, the use of SES resulted in better long-term outcomes than did the use of PES, primarily by decreasing the rate of repeat revascularization. (Coronary Bifurcation Stenting Registry in South Korea [COBIS]; NCT00851526

Randomized Trial of Stents Versus Bypass Surgery for Left Main Coronary Artery Disease 5-Year Outcomes of the PRECOMBAT Study

AbstractBackgroundIn a previous randomized trial, we found that percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was not inferior to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for the treatment of unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis at 1 year.ObjectivesThis study sought to determine the 5-year outcomes of PCI compared with CABG for the treatment of unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis.MethodsWe randomly assigned 600 patients with unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis to undergo PCI with a sirolimus-eluting stent (n = 300) or CABG (n = 300). The primary endpoint was a major adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular event (MACCE: a composite of death from any cause, myocardial infarction, stroke, or ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization) and compared on an intention-to-treat basis.ResultsAt 5 years, MACCE occurred in 52 patients in the PCI group and 42 patients in the CABG group (cumulative event rates of 17.5% and 14.3%, respectively; hazard ratio [HR]: 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84 to 1.90; p = 0.26). The 2 groups did not differ significantly in terms of death from any cause, myocardial infarction, or stroke as well as their composite (8.4% and 9.6%; HR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.52 to 1.52; p = 0.66). Ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization occurred more frequently in the PCI group than in the CABG group (11.4% and 5.5%, respectively; HR: 2.11; 95% CI: 1.16 to 3.84; p = 0.012).ConclusionsDuring 5 years of follow-up, our study did not show significant difference regarding the rate of MACCE between patients who underwent PCI with a sirolimus-eluting stent and those who underwent CABG. However, considering the limited power of our study, our results should be interpreted with caution. (Bypass Surgery Versus Angioplasty Using Sirolimus-Eluting Stent in Patients With Left Main Coronary Artery Disease [PRECOMBAT]; NCT00422968

Detection of Infectious Hypodermal and Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHHNV, Decapod Penstylhamaparvovirus 1) in Commodity Red Claw Crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) Imported into South Korea

Freshwater crayfish, which are cultivated in aquaculture, are economically important for food and ornamental purposes. However, relatively few studies have focused on potentially pathogenic viruses in crayfish compared to in penaeid shrimp. Commodity red claw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus; 400 crayfish in 10 batches) and red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii; 40 crayfish in 2 batches) imported into South Korea from Indonesia and China were screened by PCR to detect infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV or Decapod penstylhamaparvovirus 1). IHHNV was detected in tissue samples pooled from nine out of ten batches of red claw crayfish imported from Indonesia. Phylogenetic analysis of PCR amplicons from representative pools clustered the IHHNV strain with infectious-type II sequences commonly detected in Southeast Asian countries rather than with type III strains detected previously in whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) cultured in South Korea. IHHNV DNA was detected most frequently in the muscle (eight batches, 66.7% samples), followed by in the hepatopancreas (five batches, 41.7% samples) and gills tissue (three batches, 25.0% samples). These data suggest that red claw crayfish could be a potential carrier of the virus and that quarantine procedures must be strengthened in South Korea to avoid importing infectious types of IHHNV in commodity crustaceans such as red claw crayfish. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.1

Enhanced optical response of hybridized VO2/graphene films

Application of graphene as transparent electrodes is an active research area due to its excellent electrical and optical properties. Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is an attractive material since it is a thermochromic material that undergoes a structural phase transition when heat is applied. The phase transition results in the change of electrical and optical characteristics. We report optical characteristics of hybrid materials of graphene and VO2. We observed a 12% improvement in infrared transmittance with VO2 films deposited on graphene sapphire substrates compared to that of bare sapphire substrates. We also found that the phase transition temperature decreases as the number of graphene layers on the substrates increases. In the case of VO2 films on the substrate that was coated with four layers of graphene, the mean phase transition temperature was lowered to similar to 56 degrees C.close4