Arrhythmia surgery for atrial fibrillation associated with atrial septal defect: Right-sided maze versus biatrial maze

BackgroundAlthough it has been inferred that a biatrial maze procedure for atrial fibrillation in left-sided heart lesions may lead to better outcomes compared with a limited left atrial lesion set, it remains controversial whether the biatrial maze procedure is superior to the right atrial maze procedure in right-sided heart lesions.MethodsA retrospective review was performed for 56 adults who underwent surgical closure of atrial septal defect and various maze procedures for atrial fibrillation between June 1998 and February 2011. The median age at operation was 59 years (range, 34-79 years). Clinical manifestations of atrial fibrillation were paroxysmal in 8 patients, persistent in 15 patients, and long-standing persistent in 33 patients. A right atrial maze procedure was performed in 23 patients (group 1), and a biatrial maze procedure was performed in 33 patients (group 2). Treatment failure was defined as atrial fibrillation recurrence, development of atrial flutter or other types of atrial tachyarrhythmia, or implantation of a permanent pacemaker. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify risk factors for decreased time to treatment failure.ResultsDuring the median follow-up period of 49 months (range, 5-149 months), there was no early death and 1 late noncardiac death. On Cox survival model, group 1 showed a significantly decreased time to treatment failure in comparison with group 2 (hazard ratio, 5.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.59-16.44; P = .006). Maintenance of normal sinus rhythm without any episode of atrial fibrillation recurrence at 2 and 5 years postoperatively was 57% and 45% in group 1, respectively, and 82% and 69% in group 2, respectively.ConclusionsLeft-sided ablation in addition to a right atrial maze procedure leads to better electrophysiologic outcome in atrial fibrillation associated with atrial septal defect

Effect of GCSB-5, a Herbal Formulation, on Monosodium Iodoacetate-Induced Osteoarthritis in Rats

Therapeutic effects of GCSB-5 on osteoarthritis were measured by the amount of glycosaminoglycan in rabbit articular cartilage explants in vitro, in experimental osteoarthritis induced by intra-articular injection of monoiodoacetate in rats in vivo. GCSB-5 was orally administered for 28 days. In vitro, GCSB-5 inhibited proteoglycan degradation. GCSB-5 significantly suppressed the histological changes in monoiodoacetate-induced osteoarthritis. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity, as well as, the levels of serum tumor necrosis factor-α, cyclooxygenase-2, inducible nitric oxide synthase protein, and mRNA expressions were attenuated by GCSB-5, whereas the level of interleukin-10 was potentiated. By GCSB-5, the level of nuclear factor-κB p65 protein expression was significantly attenuated but, on the other hand, the level of inhibitor of κB-α protein expression was increased. These results indicate that GCSB-5 is a potential therapeutic agent for the protection of articular cartilage against progression of osteoarthritis through inhibition of MMPs activity, inflammatory mediators, and NF-κB activation

A Survey on Resource Management in IoT Operating Systems

Recently, the Internet of Things (IoT) concept has attracted a lot of attention due to its capability to translate our physical world into a digital cyber world with meaningful information. The IoT devices are smaller in size, sheer in number, contain less memory, use less energy, and have more computational capabilities. These scarce resources for IoT devices are powered by small operating systems (OSs) that are specially designed to support the IoT devices' diverse applications and operational requirements. These IoT OSs are responsible for managing the constrained resources of IoT devices efficiently and in a timely manner. In this paper, discussions on IoT devices and OS resource management are provided. In detail, the resource management mechanisms of the state-of-the-art IoT OSs, such as Contiki, TinyOS, and FreeRTOS, are investigated. The different dimensions of their resource management approaches (including process management, memory management, energy management, communication management, and file management) are studied, and their advantages and limitations are highlighted

Hybrid cylinder dryer for the drying of sheet-form materials with hot air

[EN] In this paper, we introduce a novel energy-efficient dryer that uses hot air as a combined heating method of heat conduction and convection heat transfer. The dryer consisting of rotary cylinders and arched jackets is structurally different from conventional dryers. We designed and built a hybrid 4-cylinder dryer for sheet-form materials. The energy consumption to evaporate unit water is about 930 kcal/kg moisture from the experimental results of a hybrid 4-cylinder dryer. The hybrid 4-cylinders dryer has a compact structure with about 1/3 of the size of a conventional dryer for the drying of sheet-form materials.This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning(KETEP) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy(MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea (No. 20172010105940)Kim, SI.; Oh, SH.; Chun, WP.; Park, KH.; Yu, BH. (2018). Hybrid cylinder dryer for the drying of sheet-form materials with hot air. En IDS 2018. 21st International Drying Symposium Proceedings. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 443-448. https://doi.org/10.4995/IDS2018.2018.7682OCS44344

Liver transplantation for acute-on-chronic liver failure from erythropoietic protoporphyria

Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) is an inherited disorder of the heme metabolic pathway that is characterized by accumulation of protoporphyrin in the blood, erythrocytes, and tissues, and cutaneous manifestations of photosensitivity, all resulting from abnormalities in ferrochelatase (FECH) activity due to mutations in the FECH gene. Protoporphyrin is excreted by the liver, and excess protoporphyrin leads to cholelithiasis with obstructive episodes and chronic liver disease, finally progressing to liver cirrhosis. Patients with end-stage EPP-associated liver disease require liver transplantation. We describe here a 31-year-old male patient with EPP who experienced acute-on-chronic liver failure and underwent deceased-donor liver transplantation. Surgical and postoperative care included specific shielding from exposure to ultraviolet radiation to prevent photosensitivity-associated adverse effects. The patient recovered uneventfully and was doing well 24 months after transplantation. Future prevention and treatment of liver disease are discussed in detail