Severe Facet Joint Arthrosis Caused C7/T1 Myelopathy: A Case Report

Cervical myelopathy is caused by degenerative processes of the spine including intervertebral disc herniation and posterior spur usually developing at C3/4 to C5/6. C7/T1 single level myelopathy is very rare because of the anatomical characteristics. Facet joint arthrosis can be a cause of cervical myelopathy but only a few cases have been reported. The authors report an extremely rare case of C7/T1 myelopathy caused by facet joint arthrosis. A 58-year-old male presented with hand and gait clumsiness. The radiological examinations revealed severe C7/T1 facet joint arthrosis with bony spur extending into the spinal canal, which compressed the spinal cord laterally. The T1 spinous process indicated nonunion of a “clay-shoveler's” fracture, which suggested that his cervico-thoracic spine had been frequently moved, and thus severe arthrosis had occurred in the facet joints. A right hemilaminectomy of C7 and C7/T1 facetectomy with single level spinal fusion led to complete neurological improvement

パルス変調マイクロ波励起の水蒸気プラズマを用いた高速フォトレジスト膜除去法の開発

13301甲第5588号博士（工学）金沢大学博士論文要旨Abstract 要約Outline 公表予定あ

Heat Transportation by Acicular Micro-Textured Device with Semi-Regular Alignment

Heat transportation device was developed to improve the cooling capacity through the heat convection process and to make low-temperature radiation from the heat source to the objective body in vacuum. This device consisted of the metallic substrate and the acicular micro−/nano-textures in semi-regular alignment. The micro-cone unit cell size and pitch in these textures was controllable by tuning the total current and the current density in the electrochemical processing. Four devices with various unit cell sizes and pitches were prepared for geometric characterization by SEM (Scanning Electron Miscopy) and for spectroscopic analyses on the IR-emittance by FT-IR (Fourier Transform-InfraRed) spectroscopy. Heat radiation experiment was performed to describe the heat transportation in vacuum from the heat source at 323 K to the objective plate. The texture size effect on the low-temperature heat radiation was investigated to build up a physical model for this heat radiation device. Heat convection experiment was also performed to describe the cooling capacity of device under the forced air flow. The unit cell height effect on the cooling behavior was discussed to deduce the physical model for this heat convection device. These models were considered to be used in the computational fluid mechanics simulations

Initial Experience of Percutaneous Extraction of Infected Cardiac Implantable Electric Devices Using Excimer Laser

Article信州医学雑誌 63(2):103-108 (2015)journal articl

Impact of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation on cardiac disorders in patients with coexisting heart failure

AIMS: We sought to investigate the time course of cardiac disorders after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with coexisting heart failure (HF) during long-term follow-up. METHODS AND RESULTS: We analysed consecutive 280 patients undergoing first-time catheter ablation for AF who had coexisting HF, which was defined as prior HF hospitalization, estimated right ventricular systolic pressure ≥45 mmHg, or B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) ≥200 pg/dL before the procedure. The primary endpoints were improvements in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), E/e', BNP, left atrial dimension (LAD), and mitral regurgitation (MR) at 1 year. The secondary endpoints were serial changes of LVEF, E/e', BNP, LAD, and MR at 6 months, 1 year, and 5 years and cumulative incidence of HF hospitalization. During the mean follow-up of 5.1 ± 3.0 years, 70.7% of patients were free from recurrent AF. Among patients with LVEF < 50%, E/e' ≥ 15, BNP ≥ 200 pg/dL, LAD ≥ 40 mm, and moderate-to-severe MR, changes in those parameters from baseline to 1 year were 34.5 ± 9.9% to 43.2 ± 14.4% (P < 0.001), 19.7 ± 3.9 to 12.5 ± 6.6 (P < 0.001), 290 to 85 pg/dL (P < 0.001), and 100% to 37.8% (P < 0.001), respectively. The improvements in the cardiac disorders were maintained up to 5 years except for E/e'. In patients with LVEF < 40%, significant delayed improvement of LVEF beyond 1 year was observed (ΔLVEF = 10.5 ± 18.5, P = 0.001), but not in patients with LVEF of 40-49%. The cumulative incidence of HF hospitalization was 12.6% at 5 years. Baseline diastolic dysfunction was the only independent predictor for subsequent HF hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: In patients undergoing AF ablation with coexisting HF, all cardiac disorders significantly improved after the procedure, which was mostly maintained during 5 year follow-up

Rationale and design of assessment of lipophilic vs. hydrophilic statin therapy in acute myocardial infarction (the ALPS-AMI) study

SummaryBackgroundStatins reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Although all statins are equally effective in secondary prevention, there might be certain differences in the effects of lipophilic and hydrophilic statins. Therefore, our aim is to compare the effectiveness of lipophilic atorvastatin and hydrophilic pravastatin in secondary prevention after AMI.Methods and resultsThis study is a prospective, randomized, open-label, multicenter study of 500 patients with AMI. Patients that have undergone successful percutaneous coronary intervention will be randomly allocated to receive either atorvastatin or pravastatin with the treatment goal of lowering their low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level below 100mg/dl for 2 years. The primary endpoint will be death due to any cause, nonfatal MI, nonfatal stroke, unstable angina, or congestive heart failure requiring hospital admission, or any type of coronary revascularization.ConclusionThis is the first multicenter trial to compare the effects and safety of lipophilic and hydrophilic statin therapy in Japanese patients with AMI. It addresses an important issue and could influence the use of statin treatment in the secondary prevention of coronary artery disease

Magnetotelluric and temperature monitoring after the 2011 sub-Plinian eruptions of Shinmoe-dake volcano

Three sub-Plinian eruptions took place on 26–27 January 2011 at Shinmoe-dake volcano in the Kirishima volcanic group, Japan. During this event, GPS and tiltmeters detected syn-eruptive ground subsidence approximately 7 km to the WNW of the volcano. Starting in March 2011, we conducted broad-band magnetotelluric (MT) measurements at a site located 5 km NNW of the volcano, beneath which the Shinmoe-dake magma plumbing system may exist. In addition, temperature monitoring of fumaroles and hot-springs near the MT site was initiated in July 2011. Our MT data record changes in apparent resistivity of approximately ±5%, along with a ±1◦ phase change in the off-diagonal component of the impedance tensor (Zxy and Zyx ). Using 1-D inversion, we infer that these slight changes in resistivity took place at relatively shallow depths of only a few hundred meters, at the transition between a near-surface resistive layer and an underlying conductive layer. Resistivity changes observed since March 2012 are correlated with the observed temperature increases around the MT monitoring site. These observations suggest the existence beneath the MT site of pathways which enable volatile escape