Endothelial Function as a Possible Significant Determinant of Cardiac Function during Exercise in Patients with Structural Heart Disease

This study was investigated the role that endothelial function and systemic vascular resistance (SVR) play in determining cardiac function reserve during exercise by a new ambulatory radionuclide monitoring system (VEST) in patients with heart disease. The study population consisted of 32 patients. The patients had cardiopulmonary stress testing using the treadmill Ramp protocol and the VEST. The anaerobic threshold (AT) was autodetermined using the V-slope method. The SVR was calculated by determining the mean blood pressure/cardiac output. Flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) was measured in the brachial artery to evaluate endotheilial function. FMD and the percent change f'rom rest to AT in SVR correlated with those from rest to AT in ejection fraction and peak ejection ratio by VEST, respectively. Our findings suggest that FMD in the brachial artery and the SVR determined by VEST in patients with heart disease can possibly reflect cardiac function reserve during aerobic exercise

Endothelial dysfunction, carotid artery plaque burden, and conventional exercise-induced myocardial ischemia as predictors of coronary artery disease prognosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While both flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) in the brachial artery (BA), which measures endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, and intima-media thickness (IMT) in the carotid artery are correlated with the prognosis of coronary artery disease (CAD), it is not clear which modality is a better predictor of CAD. Furthermore, it has not been fully determined whether either of these modalities is superior to conventional ST-segment depression on exercise stress electrocardiogram (ECG) as a predictor. Thus, the goal of the present study was to compare the predictive value of FMD, IMT, and stress ECG for CAD prognosis.</p> <p>Methods and Results</p> <p>A total of 103 consecutive patients (62 ± 9 years old, 79 men) with clinically suspected CAD had FMD and nitroglycerin-induced dilation (NTG-D) in the BA, carotid artery IMT measurement using high-resolution ultrasound, and exercise treadmill testing. The 73 CAD patients and 30 normal coronary patients were followed for 50 ± 15 months. Fifteen patients had coronary events during this period (1 cardiac death, 2 non-fatal myocardial infarctions, 3 acute heart failures, and 9 unstable anginas). On Kaplan-Meier analysis, only FMD and stress ECG were significant predictors for cardiac events.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Brachial endothelial function as reflected by FMD and conventional exercise stress testing has comparable prognostic value, whereas carotid artery plaque burden appears to be less powerful for predicting future cardiac events.</p

Optical Identification of the ASCA Large Sky Survey

We present results of optical identification of the X-ray sources detected in the ASCA Large Sky Survey. Optical spectroscopic observations were done for 34 X-ray sources which were detected with the SIS in the 2-7 keV band above 3.5 sigma. The sources are identified with 30 AGNs, 2 clusters of galaxies, and 1 galactic star. Only 1 source is still unidentified. The flux limit of the sample corresponds to 1 x 10^{-13} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2} in the 2-10 keV band. Based on the sample, the paper discusses optical and X-ray spectral properties of the AGNs, contribution of the sources to the Cosmic X-ray Background, and redshift and luminosity distributions of the AGNs. An interesting result is that the redshift distribution of the AGNs suggests a deficiency of high-redshift (0.5 10^{44} erg s^{-1}) absorbed narrow-line AGNs (so called type 2 QSOs).Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 57 pages with 13 figures, 9 JPG plates, 5 additional PS tables. Original EPS plates (gzipped format ~1Mbyte/plate) and TeX tables are available from ftp://ftp.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/pub/akiyama/0001289

フクシ キョウイク キャンプ ジッシュウ ゼンゴ ノ ガクセイ ノ キブン プロフィール ノ ヘンカ

本研究では、福祉教育キャンプ実習参加学生82名(男子学生51名、女子学生31名、平均年齢18.8 ± 0.2歳)を対象に、キャンプ実習体験が学生の気分・感情にどのような影響を及ぼすのかProfile of Mood States(POMS調査)を用いて検討した。実習前のPOMS得点は、男子学生および女子学生ともに陰性因子である「抑うつ」得点が一番高い値を示した。実習後の「活気」得点は実習前より高い値を示し有意差が認められた。実習前の5つの陰性気分の得点は、実習後有意に低下した。TMD得点は、男子学生および女子学生ともに実習前より実習後に低下し有意差が認められた。実習後のキャンプ効果得点は、男子学生および女子学生ともに「楽しさ」、「気分がよい」、「満足感」、「達成感」、「精神的疲労」、「睡眠」および「食事」の各得点が高い値を示した。これらの結果から、福祉教育キャンプ実習は、学生の陰性感情を低下させ陽性感情を高揚させる効果のあることが示唆された。The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of welfare education camp on the Profile of Mood States (POMS) in undergraduate students (51 males, 31 females, 18.8 ± 0.2 years of age). In the pre-camp practice, the depression-dejection score of the male and female students were the highest value. The vigor score in the post-camp practice was higher than that in the pre-camp practice. The other negative mood scores in the pre-camp practice were significantly low in the post-camp practice. The total mood disturbance score in the post-camp practice was significantly lower than that in the pre-camp practice. The camp scores of the post-camp practice indicated a high value in enjoyable, comfortable, satisfaction, sense of achievement, mental fatigue, sleeping and diet meal. These results suggest that welfare education camp effectively decreased negative mood score and increased positive mood score in the undergraduate students

Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags from the Fungus Aspergillus oryzae Cultured Under Different Conditions

We performed random sequencing of cDNAs from nine biologically or industrially important cultures of the industrially valuable fungus Aspergillus oryzae to obtain expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Consequently, 21 446 raw ESTs were accumulated and subsequently assembled to 7589 non-redundant consensus sequences (contigs). Among all contigs, 5491 (72.4%) were derived from only a particular culture. These included 4735 (62.4%) singletons, i.e. lone ESTs overlapping with no others. These data showed that consideration of culture grown under various conditions as cDNA sources enabled efficient collection of ESTs. BLAST searches against the public databases showed that 2953 (38.9%) of the EST contigs showed significant similarities to deposited sequences with known functions, 793 (10.5%) were similar to hypothetical proteins, and the remaining 3843 (50.6%) showed no significant similarity to sequences in the databases. Culture-specific contigs were extracted on the basis of the EST frequency normalized by the total number for each culture condition. In addition, contig sequences were compared with sequence sets in eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOGs), and classified into the KOG functional categories

フクシ キョウイク キャンプ ジッシュウ ゼンゴ ニ オケル ジョウタイ フアン STAI ノ ヘンカ ウラワ ダイガク タンキ ダイガクブ フクシカ ノ キャンプ ジッシュウ ヨリ

本研究は、浦和大学短期大学部福祉科で実施されるキャンプ実習(スポーツ実技B)に参加した学生60名(男子学生7名、女子学生53名)を対象に、キャンプ実習の体験学習が学生の心理的側面にどのような影響を及ぼすのかSTAI日本語版X-1(状態不安)調査用紙を用いてキャンプの効用を明らかにした。その結果、 1)キャンプ実習前のSTAIは、学生全体の60.0%が高い不安得点であった。 2)キャンプ実習後のSTAIは、高い不安得点は全体の21.7%へと減少した。 3)キャンプ実習前後の不安得点の平均値は、実習前の45.2±9.8点から、実習後に35.8±8.6点へと有意に低下していた。The purpose of this study was to evaluate of anxiety in college students undergoing a camp program by using a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) method. Sixty students (7 males and 53 females) undergoing the camp program in a series of four days included three nights were studied. We evaluated the change of students\u27 state anxiety pre-and post-camping with the STAI (Form X-1, Japanese Version) method, and investigated difference of students\u27 state anxiety pre and post camping by paired t-test. The results obtained were as follows: 1)In the pre-camp, 60% of the student body showed high state anxiety. 2)In the post-camp, the state anxiety significantly decreased (from 60% to 21.7%) compared with the pre-camp. 3)The anxiety score in the post-camp (35.8±8.6 points) was significantly lower than that in the pre-camp (45.2±9.8 points)

フクシ キョウイク キャンプ ニ オケル キャンプ デノ セイカツ タイケン ガクシュウ ガ キャンプ ノ イメージ ニ オヨボス エイキョウ

本研究では、浦和大学短期大学部学生(117名)を対象とした、福祉教育キャンプにおけるキャンプでの生活体験学習がキャンブのイメージに及ぼす影響について検討した。実習前と比較して、実習後の刺激語(キャンプ)に対する反応語数は有意に増加した。実習前後の一般的な反応語は、テント、山、川およびキャンプファイヤー等であった。反応語の分類では、実習後に感情型、要素型、環境型が減少傾向を示した。一方、社交型(例えば、友達、友情、協力、笑顔など)は実習後有意に増加した。A study was carried out to examine the effects of welfare education camp on the image of camping in Urawa University Junior College students (n=117). The number of reactive words to the stimulus word (camp) in the post-camp significantly increased compared with the pre-camp. In the pre- and post-camp, common reactive words were the tent, the mountain, the river, and the campfire, etc. In the classification reaction words, the feelings type, the element type and the environmental type showed the decreasing tendency after practicing camping. On the other hand, the sociality type (for example, friend and friendship, cooperation, and smile, etc.) significantly increased in the post-camp

Recent Results from LHD Experiment with Emphasis on Relation to Theory from Experimentalist’s View

he Large Helical Device (LHD) has been extending an operational regime of net-current free plasmas towardsthe fusion relevant condition with taking advantage of a net current-free heliotron concept and employing a superconducting coil system. Heating capability has exceeded 10 MW and the central ion and electron temperatureshave reached 7 and 10 keV, respectively. The maximum value of β and pulse length have been extended to 3.2% and 150 s, respectively. Many encouraging physical findings have been obtained. Topics from recent experiments, which should be emphasized from the aspect of theoretical approaches, are reviewed. Those are (1) Prominent features in the inward shifted configuration, i.e., mitigation of an ideal interchange mode in the configuration with magnetic hill, and confinement improvement due to suppression of both anomalous and neoclassical transport, (2) Demonstration ofbifurcation of radial electric field and associated formation of an internal transport barrier, and (3) Dynamics of magnetic islands and clarification of the role of separatrix