Effects of the Prophylactic Use of Amiodarone Infusion to Prevent Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation after Cardiac Surgery

Postoperative atrial fibrillation（AF）is associated with significant morbidity after cardiac surgery. We examined the effects of a prophylactic postoperative amiodarone infusion to prevent postoperative AF. A prospective randomized study was performed in patients with a high risk of postoperative AF between March 2016 and March 2019. High risk of AF was defined as combined valve surgery, aortic valve replacement（age＞70）, or off-pump coronary bypass grafting（age＞65）. Forty-two patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive prophylactic amiodarone infusion（amiodarone group, n＝20）or saline infusion（control group, n＝22）. In the amiodarone group, amiodarone was infused intravenously for 48hr postoperatively（initially 125mg/10min, then 288mg/6hr, then maintenance of 1,040mg/42hr）. There were no significant differences between the two groups in age, sex, body height, body weight, surgical procedure, and perioperative use of beta blockers. The occurrence of sustained AF for＞1hr was significantly lower in the amiodarone group（30.0％）than in the control group（63.6％, p＝0.04）. The total duration of AF over one week was also significantly shorter in the amiodarone group（296.8±676.9min）than in the control group（921.4±1641.6min, p＝0.04）, as was the postoperative hospital stay（17.3±6.1 vs. 24.5±11.3 days, respectively, p＝0.01）. There were no major side effects with amiodarone infusion except for one case of bradycardia. These results show the prophylactic use of intravenous amiodarone infusion for the first 48hr of the postoperative period is a safe and effective treatment to prevent postoperative AF after cardiac surgery and to shorten the hospital stay

Immunohistochemistry for IRTA1 and MNDA helps differentiate gastric MALT lymphoma from chronic gastritis/reactive lymphocyte hyperplasia

It is difficult to histologically differentiate extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT lymphoma) from chronic gastritis (CG)/ reactive lymphoid hyperplasia (RLH). To determine whether immunohistochemistry for IRTA1 and MNDA can differentiate gastric MALT lymphoma from CG/RLH, we investigated 81 stomach biopsy specimens [Wotherspoon grade (WG) 1, 11 cases; WG 2, 9 cases; WG 3, 20 cases; WG 4, 31 cases; and WG 5, 10 cases]. According to a previously reported algorithm involving PCR for immunoglobulin heavy (IgH) chain locus rearrangement, all 81 cases were divided into three groups: CG/RLH (55 cases), MALT lymphoma (19 cases) groups, and IgH undetectable group (7 cases). We analyzed the CG/RLH and MALT lymphoma groups. The median percentage of IRTA1-positive cells was 0% (range 0%-90.6%) in the CG/RLH group and 43.5% (range 0%-97.6%) in the MALT lymphoma group (p < 0.0001). The median percentage of MNDA-positive cells was 32.4% (range 0%-97.6%) in the CG/RLH group and 55.1% (range 0%-97.6%) in the MALT lymphoma group (p = 0.0044). These results indicate that immunohistochemistry for IRTA1 and MNDA can help dif-ferentiate gastric MALT lymphoma from CG/RLH

Deployable Structures and Biological Morphology

IASS-IACM 2008 Session: Deployable Structures and Biological Morphology Session Organizers: Hiroshi FURUYA (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Hidetoshi KOBAYASHI (Osaka University) -- Plenary Lecture: Abstract, Slides and Video : "Folding and deployment of stored-energy composite structures" by Sergio PELLEGRINO (California Institute of Technology) -- Keynote Lecture: "Unfolding of potato flower as a deployable structure" by Hidetoshi KOBAYASHI, Keitaro HORIKAWA(Osaka University), Yoshinori MORITA (Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.) -- "Structural analysis for the multi-folding and deployable structures" by Masatoshi NAKAZAWA (Tohoku Gakuin University), Ichiro ARIO (Hiroshima University), Andrew WATSON (Loughborough University) -- "Deployment schemes for 2-D space apertures and mapping for bio-inspired design" by Christopher H. JENKINS, Jeffery J. LARSEN (Montana State University) -- "Microstructure of foldable membrane for gossamer spacecrafts" by Hiroshi FURUYA, Yasutaka SATOU, Yosuke INOUE, Tadashi MASUOKA (Tokyo Institute of Technology) -- "Natural twist buckling in shells: From the hawkmoth's bellows to the deployable Kresling-pattern and cylindrical Miura-ori" by Biruta KRESLING (Experimental Design and Bionics, Paris

Retrospective cohort study of rough-surface titanium implants with at least 25 years’ function

Abstract Background The longitudinal clinical outcomes over decades contribute to know potential factors leading to implant failure or complications and help in the decision of treatment alternatives. Methods The cases of all patients who received dental implants treated with titanium plasma-sprayed surfaces and whose prostheses were set in the period 1984–1990 at seven private practices were retrospectively analyzed. The cumulative survival rate, the cumulative incidence of peri-implantitis, and the complication-free prosthesis rate were calculated with Kaplan-Meier survival curves, and the factors’ influence on implant survival rate and the incidence of peri-implantitis were determined by a single factor in univariate analyses and multivariate analyses. Results A total of 223 implants and 106 prostheses were applied to 92 patients, and approx. 62% of the implants and patients dropped out over the 25 years following their treatment. The cumulative survival rates of the implants at 10, 15, and 25 years were 97.4, 95.4, and 89.8%, respectively. A significant difference was observed in the implant position. The cumulative incidences of peri-implantitis at 10, 15, and 25 years were 15.3, 21.0, and 27.9%, respectively. Significant differences were observed in the gender, implant type, and width of keratinized mucosa around the implant. The cumulative survival rates of mechanical complication-free prostheses at 10, 15, and 25 years were 74.9, 68.8, and 56.4%, respectively. The difference in the type of prosthesis resulted in significant differences. Conclusions The high rate of dropout during follow-up indicates the difficulty of determining long-term (> 25 years) prognoses. The gender, location, and width of keratinized mucosa affected the development of peri-implantitis, resulting in late failures. Implant-supported overdentures were frequently repaired. Tooth implant-supported prostheses are not recommended for long-term survival