Novel Self-Periodic Motion due to Induced Charge Electrokinetic Phenomena in Porous Materials

A nonlinear oscillator has attracted much attention as a representative nonequilibrium dynamics. We here report a novel self-periodic motion in a porous material. That is, by using a nonlinear electrokinetic phenomenon in the porous material, we demonstrate that porous material in water performs self-periodic motion between electrodes in the presence of an alternating electric field. Moreover, by proposing a simple phenomenological model that considers a self-propelled motion due to a spontaneous breaking symmetry of the surrounding space charge due to the motion itself in an induced charge electrokinetic phenomenon, we succeed in explaining the new self-periodic motion of the porous material qualitatively. We believe that our findings provide new insight into nonlinear oscillators and new microfluidic devices such as drug delivery systems, actuators, microfluidic self-swimmers, etc.J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 90, 124402 (2021)journal articl

Positive flow-spines and contact 3-manifolds

We say that a contact structure on a closed, connected, oriented, smooth 3-manifold is supported by a flow-spine if it has a contact form whose Reeb flow is a flow of the flow-spine. We then define a map from the set of positive flow-spines to the set of contact 3-manifolds up to contactomorphism by sending a positive flow-spine to the supported contact 3-manifold and show that this map is well-defined and surjective. We also determine the contact 3-manifolds supported by positive flow-spines with up to 3 vertices. As an application, we introduce the complexity for contact 3-manifolds and determine the contact 3-manifolds with complexity up to 3.Comment: 73 pages, 78 figures. The last subsection was remove

Positive flow-spines and contact 3-manifolds, II

This paper corresponds to Section 8 of arXiv:1912.05774v3 [math.GT]. The contents until Section 7 are published in Annali di Matematica Pura ed Applicata as a separate paper. In that paper, it is proved that for any positive flow-spine P of a closed, oriented 3-manifold M, there exists a unique contact structure supported by P up to isotopy. In particular, this defines a map from the set of isotopy classes of positive flow-spines of M to the set of isotopy classes of contact structures on M. In this paper, we show that this map is surjective. As a corollary, we show that any flow-spine can be deformed to a positive flow-spine by applying first and second regular moves successively.Comment: 17 pages and 22 figures. This paper covers Section 8 of the preprint arXiv:1912.05774v3 [math.GT]. The part until Section 7 is covered in arXiv:1912.05774v4 [math.GT] as a separate pape

Efficacy of mizoribine pulse therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who show a reduced or insufficient response to infliximab

The efficacy of infliximab, a chimeric antibody against tumor necrosis factor-α used to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), tends to decrease as patients develop human antichimeric antibody against infliximab (HACA). The clinical study reported here was designed to evaluate the efficacy of mizoribine (MZR) pulse therapy in patients who show a reduced or insufficient response to infliximab. Ten RA patients who had active arthritis despite infliximab therapy were treated with MZR pulse therapy at a dose of 100 mg MZR and methotrexate (MTX) and the disease activity assessed at baseline and at weeks 4–8, 12–16, and 20–24. The dose was increased to 150 mg in those patients who showed an insufficient response to MZR. The mean 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28) at weeks 12–16 and 20–24 of therapy was significantly lower than that at baseline. A moderate or good European League against Rheumatism (EULAR) response was achieved in seven patients (70%) at weeks 12–16 and in five patients (50%) at weeks 20–24. The dose of 150 mg MZR was effective in one of the three patients who showed an insufficient response to pulse therapy with 100 mg MZR. Based on these results, we propose that MZR pulse therapy should be attempted before the patient is switched to other biologics

Long-term observation of fibrillation cycle length in patients under angiotensin II receptor blocker therapy for chronic atrial fibrillation

AbstractIntroductionThe long-term effect of angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) on atrial fibrillation (AF) is unclear. In this study, we evaluated the change in the fibrillation cycle length (FCL) in patients under long-term ARB therapy for chronic AF.Methods and resultsThe study population consisted of 25 chronic AF patients who were prescribed the same medication for more than 6 years and in whom specific ECG recording for FCL evaluation could be performed before and after the 6-year observation period. The patients were divided into 2 groups: those with and without ARB (ARB group and non-ARB group and n=15 and 10, respectively). FCL was calculated by the spectral analysis of the fibrillation waves in the surface ECG. There was no significant difference in the clinical characteristics between the 2 groups. In the ARB group, the mean FCL was prolonged from 154±20ms to 187±37ms (p=0.005), whereas it remained unchanged in the non-ARB group (150±12ms vs. 149±10ms). In the comparison between patients with and those without FCL prolongation (>30ms; n=6 and 19, respectively), a significant difference was observed only in those prescribed ARBs.ConclusionIn cases of chronic AF, FCL might be prolonged under long-term ARB treatment

Evaluation of the impact of atrial fibrillation on rehospitalization events in heart failure patients in recent years

SummaryBackgroundAlthough we have previously reported that the presence of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) is an independent risk factor for rehospitalization in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) in a population from 1996 to 2002, the impact of AF configuration as a risk factor in a more recent population remains to be clarified.Methods and results319 patients with CHF admitted to our institute in 2006–2007 were retrospectively evaluated. The patients were divided into 3 groups in accordance with their basic cardiac rhythm, i.e. sinus rhythm (n=210), chronic AF (n=68), and paroxysmal AF (n=41). During the follow-up period of 19±17months, there was no significant difference in mortality or rehospitalization events among the 3 groups (p=0.542). In the multivariate analysis, no administration of β-blockers was the only independent risk factor for rehospitalization due to CHF exacerbation.ConclusionsThe clinical impact of AF configuration as a risk factor of rehospitalization due to CHF exacerbation was considered to be decreased in recent years