Impact of Heterogeneity of Human Peripheral Blood Monocyte Subsets on Myocardial Salvage in Patients With Primary Acute Myocardial Infarction

ObjectivesWe examined whether distinct monocyte subsets contribute in specific ways to myocardial salvage in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).BackgroundRecent studies have shown that monocytes in human peripheral blood are heterogeneous.MethodsWe studied 36 patients with primary AMI. Peripheral blood sampling was performed 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 12 days after AMI onset. Two monocyte subsets (CD14+CD16−and CD14+CD16+) were measured by flow cytometry. The extent of myocardial salvage 7 days after AMI was evaluated by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging as the difference between myocardium at risk (T2-weighted hyperintense lesion) and myocardial necrosis (delayed gadolinium enhancement). Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging was also performed 6 months after AMI.ResultsCirculating CD14+CD16−and CD14+CD16+monocytes increased in AMI patients, peaking on days 3 and 5 after onset, respectively. Importantly, the peak levels of CD14+CD16−monocytes, but not those of CD14+CD16+monocytes, were significantly negatively associated with the extent of myocardial salvage. We also found that the peak levels of CD14+CD16−monocytes, but not those of CD14+CD16+monocytes, were negatively correlated with recovery of left ventricular ejection fraction 6 months after infarction.ConclusionsThe peak levels of CD14+CD16−monocytes affect both the extent of myocardial salvage and the recovery of left ventricular function after AMI, indicating that the manipulation of monocyte heterogeneity could be a novel therapeutic target for salvaging ischemic damage

Empirical Study on Fair Allocation of Joint Project by Cooperative Game Theory -A Case of Local Bus Transportation Service in Japan- (Special Section for the GSIS Workshop on Game Theoretic Analyses of Social Institutions)

This study focused on real world conflicts over the allocation of costs in cases where several municipalities jointly maintain local bus transportation services. Traditionally, agreement over allocation of costs is reached through discussions between municipalities, which can be divided into two stages without any assistance from knowledge of game theory. Two points were analyzed during the study: the structure of the game and the concept of fairness behind each case. We described real situations using cooperative game theory and interpreted the games as consisting of two stages including the proposition of cost allocation methods followed by the seeking of acceptable allocations. The fair allocation concepts behind each case were identified and disruption nucleolus was shown to be among the most plausible concepts. These results were used to illustrate the procedure to allocate the costs, which was concluded as being useful to resolve conflicts over the allocation of costs of local bus transportation services jointly maintained by several municipalities

Air Service Development of Local Airports and its Influence on the Formation of Aviation Networks

This chapter focuses on strategic actions of local governments to enrich aviation services to their local airports, and analyzes the influence of these actions on the formation process of aviation networks. Air service development action gives an influence not only on the airport but also on other airports because of the existence of network externality. This study models such an interdependent and path-dependent situation as a repeated n-person non-cooperative game. Numerical analysis shows that competition between local governments using subsidies for petition flights forms a regional hub endogenously under certain conditions.