Novel calmodulin mutations associated with congenital arrhythmia susceptibility.

BACKGROUND: Genetic predisposition to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias such as congenital long-QT syndrome (LQTS) and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) represent treatable causes of sudden cardiac death in young adults and children. Recently, mutations in calmodulin (CALM1, CALM2) have been associated with severe forms of LQTS and CPVT, with life-threatening arrhythmias occurring very early in life. Additional mutation-positive cases are needed to discern genotype-phenotype correlations associated with calmodulin mutations. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used conventional and next-generation sequencing approaches, including exome analysis, in genotype-negative LQTS probands. We identified 5 novel de novo missense mutations in CALM2 in 3 subjects with LQTS (p.N98S, p.N98I, p.D134H) and 2 subjects with clinical features of both LQTS and CPVT (p.D132E, p.Q136P). Age of onset of major symptoms (syncope or cardiac arrest) ranged from 1 to 9 years. Three of 5 probands had cardiac arrest and 1 of these subjects did not survive. The clinical severity among subjects in this series was generally less than that originally reported for CALM1 and CALM2 associated with recurrent cardiac arrest during infancy. Four of 5 probands responded to β-blocker therapy, whereas 1 subject with mutation p.Q136P died suddenly during exertion despite this treatment. Mutations affect conserved residues located within Ca(2+)-binding loops III (p.N98S, p.N98I) or IV (p.D132E, p.D134H, p.Q136P) and caused reduced Ca(2+)-binding affinity. CONCLUSIONS: CALM2 mutations can be associated with LQTS and with overlapping features of LQTS and CPVT

Application of time series analysis and modern control theory to the cement plant

Time series analysis, identification, control, cement plant process,

Diagnosing Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea using enzyme immunoassay: the clinical significance of toxin negativity in glutamate dehydrogenase-positive patients

Kazuhito Yuhashi,1 Yuka Yagihara,1 Yoshiki Misawa,1 Tomoaki Sato,1 Ryoichi Saito,2 Shu Okugawa,1 Kyoji Moriya1 1Department of Infection Control and Prevention, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 2Department of Microbiology and Immunity, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan Purpose: The enzyme immunoassay (EIA) has lower sensitivity for Clostridium difficile toxins A and B than the polymerase chain reaction in the diagnosis of C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD). Furthermore, toxin positivity with EIA performed on C. difficile isolates from stool cultures may be observed even in patients with EIA glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH)-positive and toxin-negative stool specimens. It is unclear whether such patients should be treated as having CDAD.Methods: The present study retrospectively compared patient characteristics, treatment, and diarrhea duration among three groups of patients who underwent stool EIA testing for CDAD diagnosis: a toxin-positive stool group (positive stool group; n=39); a toxin-negative stool/toxin-positive isolate group (discrepant negative/positive group, n=14); and a dual toxin-negative stool and isolate group (dual negative group, n=15). All cases included were confirmed to be GDH positive on EIA test.Results: Patients’ backgrounds and comorbidities were not significantly different among three groups. No difference was observed among the three groups with regard to antimicrobial drug use before diarrhea onset. Treatment was received by 82.1% of the positive stool group compared to 7.1% of the discrepant positive/negative group and 0% of the dual negative group, while mean diarrhea duration was 10.6 days compared to 7.9 days (P=0.6006) and 3.4 days (P=0.0312), respectively.Conclusion: Even without treatment, patients with toxin-negative stool specimens had shorter diarrhea duration than those with toxin-positive stool specimens even with toxin-positive isolates. These findings may suggest a limited need for CDAD treatment for GDH-positive patients and toxin-negative stool specimens. Keywords: Clostridium difficile toxin, diarrhea duration, treatmen

Acupuncture improves sleep in postmenopause in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Background Insomnia increases in frequency as women approach and pass through menopause. Studies have not shown acupuncture efficacy for insomnia in postmenopausal women.Objectives the aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy on sleep parameters, depression symptoms and quality of life in postmenopausal women with insomnia.Methods This study included 18 postmenopausal women aged 50-67 years old. Participants had a body mass index = 30 mIU/ml. Participants were not using antidepressants, hypnotics or hormonal therapy. This study was randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled. the sample was divided into two groups: acupuncture and 'sham' acupuncture. We performed ten sessions of acupuncture and 'sham' acupuncture during a period of 5 weeks. A polysomnography exam (PSG) and questionnaires (WHOQOL-BREF, Beck Depression Inventory and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) were completed by all patients before and after the treatment period.Results Anthropometric, polysomnographic, and questionnaire data were similar among the groups at baseline. Comparison of baseline and post-treatment data of the acupuncture group showed that treatment resulted in significantly lower scores on the Pittsburgh Questionnaire and an improvement in psychological WHOQOL. the acupuncture group had a higher percentage of the N3 + 4 stage than the sham group in PSG findings.Conclusion Acupuncture was effective in improving reported sleep quality and quality of life in postmenopausal women with insomnia.AFIP (Associacao Fundo de Incentivo a Pesquisa)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Universidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Psicobiol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Ginecol, São Paulo, BrazilCasa Saude Santa Marcelina, Dept Ginecol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Psicobiol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Ginecol, São Paulo, BrazilFAPESP: 98/143030-3Web of Scienc

Electronic structure and polar catastrophe at the surface of Lix CoO2 studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

We report an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) study of LixCoO2 single crystals which have a hole-doped CoO2 triangular lattice. Similar to NaxCoO2, the Co 3d a(1g) band crosses the Fermi level with strongly renormalized band dispersion while the Co 3d e '(g) bands are fully occupied in LixCoO2 (x = 0.46 and 0.71). At x = 0.46, the Fermi surface area is consistent with the bulk hole concentration indicating that the ARPES result represents the bulk electronic structure. On the other hand, at x = 0.71, the Fermi surface area is larger than the expectation which can be associated with the inhomogeneous distribution of Li reported in the previous scanning tunneling microscopy study by Iwaya et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 126104 (2013)]. However, the Co 3d peak is systematically shifted towards the Fermi level with hole doping excluding phase separation between hole rich and hole poor regions in the bulk. Therefore, the deviation of the Fermi surface area at x = 0.71 can be attributed to hole redistribution at the surface avoiding polar catastrophe. The bulk Fermi surface of Co 3d a(1g) is very robust around x = 0.5 even in the topmost CoO2 layer due to the absence of the polar catastrophe