Crow-Fukase syndrome associated with high-output heart failure

金沢大学医薬保健研究域医学系A 64-year-old woman was admitted with systemic edema and exertional dyspnea. High-output heart failure was diagnosed by right heart catheterization and she was treated with diuretics. After 3 weeks, her symptoms disappeared but a high cardiac output state persisted. A diagnosis of Crow-Fukase syndrome was made based on the presence of polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M-protein, and skin changes. Her serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level was markedly elevated after recovery from heart failure. We suspect that an elevated VEGF level and a high cardiac output state may play a role in the pathogenesis of heart failure in Crow-Fukase syndrome

Real-Time Propagation Measurement System and Scattering Object Identification by 3D Visualization by Using VRML for ETC System

<p/> <p>In the early deployment of electric toll collecting (ETC) system, multipath interference has caused the malfunction of the system. Therefore, radio absorbers are installed in the toll gate to suppress the scattering effects. This paper presents a novel radio propagation measurement system using the beamforming with 8-elmenet antenna array to examine the power intensity distribution of the ETC gate in real time without closing the toll gates that are already open for traffic. In addition, an identification method of the individual scattering objects with 3D visualization by using virtual reality modeling language will be proposed and the validity is also demonstrated by applying to the measurement data.</p

Applying Pervasive Technologies to Create Economic Incentives that Alter Consumer Behavior

Economic incentives are a powerful way of shaping consumer behavior towards more commercially efficient and environmentally sustainable patterns. In this paper, we explore the idea of combining pervasive computing techniques with electronic payment systems to create activity-based microincentives. Users who consume additional resources by e.g., occupying an air-conditioned space instead of a normal space are levied additional micro-payments. In an alternative approach, consumers who choose to save resources are rewarded with micro-rebates off the price of a service. As a result, the cost of using a service corresponds more closely with the resources used, leading market mechanisms to allocate resources efficiently. A key challenge is designing incentive mechanisms that alter consumer behavior in the desired fashion. We introduce four incentive models, and present evaluation results suggesting that consumers make different decisions depending on which model is used

Involvement of oxidative stress in orofacial mechanical pain hypersensitivity following neonatal maternal separation in rats

Abstract Patients with persistent pain have sometimes history of physical abuse or neglect during infancy. However, the pathogenic mechanisms underlying orofacial pain hypersensitivity associated with early-life stress remain unclear. The present study focused on oxidative stress and investigated its role in pain hypersensitivity in adulthood following early-life stress. To establish an early-life stress model, neonatal pups were separated with their mother in isolated cages for 2 weeks. The mechanical head-withdrawal threshold (MHWT) in the whisker pad skin of rats received maternal separation (MS) was lower than that of non-MS rats at postnatal week 7. In MS rats, the expression of 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine, a marker of DNA oxidative damage, was enhanced, and plasma antioxidant capacity, but not mitochondrial complex I activity, decreased compared with that in non-MS rats. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) inactivation and ROS-sensitive transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) antagonism in the whisker pad skin at week 7 suppressed the decrease of MHWT. Corticosterone levels on day 14 increased in MS rats. Corticosterone receptor antagonism during MS periods suppressed the reduction in antioxidant capacity and MHWT. The findings suggest that early-life stress potentially induces orofacial mechanical pain hypersensitivity via peripheral nociceptor TRPA1 hyperactivation induced by oxidative stress in the orofacial region