Coronary spasm or acute coronary occlusion can be serious complications of transluminal coronary laser angioplasty. It was postulated that alterations in arachidonic acid metabolism might contribute to these complications. Six mongrel dogs were anesthetized and mechanically ventilated. The hearts were exposed and an angiocatheter, 14 gauge in size, was inserted into the left anterior descending arteries. Then bare ended probe (BEP) and metal tip probe (MTP) of 1.5 mm in diameter were inserted into the coronary arteries through the angiocatheter, and Argon laser ablations were carried out with the heart beating. Coronary arterial plasma thromboxane and prostacyclin(by standard radioimmunoassay of the metabolites TXB2 and 6-keto PGF1α ) were monitored before and after laser ablations. Plasma 6-keto PGF1α levels were unchanged or slightly increased in all cases. Plasma TXB2 levels were not remarkably increased in case of uncomplicated laser ablations. However, these were markedly increased in case with laser complications, such as perforation and thermal vascular injury. These results suggest that uncomplicated laser ablations in the coronary arteries may not contribute to coronary spasm and coronary occlusion from the aspect of arachidonate metabolism.
To examine patients who had intraocular lens (IOL) exchange for large postoperative refractive errors and determine the factors that contributed to the error in IOL power calculation.Thirteen affiliated hospitals in Japan.This study comprised 34 cases that required IOL exchange because of large refractive errors after primary lens implantation. Patients with intraoperative complications were excluded from the study. The potential contribution of axial length, corneal refractive power, IOL manufacturer, and IOL fixation to errors in the predicted power was examined retrospectively. Axial length was calculated by the SRK/T and Holladay formulas using refraction after primary IOL implantation.There was no statistical difference between the corneal refractive power before and after cataract surgery. The axial lengths calculated using the SRK/T and Holladay formulas were longer than the ultrasonic axial lengths in 24 and 23 cases, respectively. Using IOLs from the same manufacturer for both primary implantation and exchange reduced the error in predicted refraction.Axial length and IOL manufacturer were important factors in predicting refraction power in eyes requiring IOL exchange.
Torsion of the gallbladder in children is a very rare condition. Only 23 children have been reported in the Japanese literature. Because of its rarity, the correct diagnosis is very difficult to make preoperatively. Only four cases were accurately diagnosed in the series of 23 cases. We experienced such a case in a 3-year-old girl who was diagnosed as having acute perforative appendicitis before surgery. On laparotomy, the enlarged and necrotic gallbladder was revealed. It was a floating gallbladder, which twisted clockwise by 180° around the cystic duct. Cholcystectomy was performed and the patient was discharged from the hospital in a well improved condition on the 9th hospital day.
Abstract Wood has various mechanical properties, so stiffness evaluation is critical for quality management. Using conventional strain gauges constantly is high cost, also challenging to measure precious wood materials due to the use of strong adhesive. This study demonstrates the correlation between light scattering changes inside the wood cell walls and tensile strain. A multifiber-based visible-near-infrared (Vis–NIR) spatially resolved spectroscopy (SRS) system was designed to rapidly and conventiently acquire such light scattering changes. For the preliminary experiment, samples with different thicknesses were measured to evaluate the influence of thickness. The differences in Vis–NIR SRS spectral data diminish with an increase in sample thickness, which suggests that the SRS method can successfully measure the whole strain (i.e., surface and inside) of wood samples. Then, for the primary experiment, 18 wood samples with the same thickness (2 mm) were tested to construct a strain calibration model. The prediction accuracy was characterized by a determination coefficient (R2) of 0.86 with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 297.89 με for five-fold cross-validation; for test validation, The prediction accuracy was characterized by an R2 of 0.82 and an RMSE of 345.44 με.
Abstract Large-diameter keyaki ( Zelkova serrata Makino) logs have long been used in Japan as high-quality material especially for traditional construction and furniture. However, unlike other major wood species in Japan, keyaki has been practically considered as a wood species of high difficulty when processing. Keyaki frequently shows processing defects due to sawing, such as warping, cracking, and so forth, which often reduces the production yield of logs. Furthermore, there are drastic differences in those behaviors between individual logs, so causing unexpected processing defects. A scientific approach is required to improve this situation, but data on the material characteristics of keyaki were scarce. This study aimed to characterize the radial pattern of the residual stress as one of the processing-related characteristics. The measurement method was also examined. This study used diametral planks obtained from large-diameter keyaki logs to measure released strain of residual stress from pith to the bark sides. The results showed the distribution of released strain often showed peculiar zig-zag patterns characterized with localized residual stress, unlike the smooth bell curve pattern seen in typical logs of other species. Because of the unique characteristics, some practical points related to the measuring methodology were investigated. The extent of influence of this residual stress in the longitudinal direction was limited to within 30 cm from the site of measurement of the strain. In addition, the length of log necessary to measure the released strain without being affected by crosscutting was more than four times the log diameter—greater than the diameter ratio theorized by previous studies.
