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Purpose: We assessed the safety of general thoracic surgery in patients with prior coronary stents undergoing lung resection, based on differences in perioperative antiplatelet therapy management. Methods: We retrospectively examined 150 patients with coronary artery stents who underwent pulmonary resection between July 2009 and July 2018. The impact of the antiplatelet agent on thoracic surgery safety was assessed by comparing perioperative outcomes, including major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events, among the discontinued antiplatelet therapy (group D), heparin bridging (group H), and continuous antiplatelet therapy (group C) groups. Results: Groups D, H, and C included twenty-four, eighty-four, and forty-two patients, respectively. Second-generation drug-eluting stents were used in > 50% of the patients. No significant differences were found in the estimated blood loss, transfusion rate, or operative duration. Major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events occurred in four (2.7%) patients, which was comparable among the groups. In group H, postoperative heart failure and transient ischemic attack with stroke occurred in one patient each. Major bleeding occurred in two (4.7%) patients in group C. Conclusions: Pulmonary resection surgical outcomes in patients with coronary artery stents were feasible regardless of antiplatelet therapy continuation. However, discontinuing dual-antiplatelet or single-antiplatelet therapy in such patients may be reasonable because this generation of drug-eluting stents has a higher safety profile than bare-metal and first-generation drug-eluting stents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Subtypes of small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) are defined by the expression of ASCL1, NEUROD1, and POU2F3 markers. The aim of our study was to explore the extent to which the intratumoral heterogeneity of ASCL1, NEUROD1, and POU2F3 may lead to discrepancies in expression of these markers in surgical samples and their matched tissue microarray (TMA) and lymph node (LN) metastatic sites. Methods and results: The cohort included 77 patients with SCLC. Immunohistochemical examinations were performed on whole slides of the primary tumour, paired TMAs, and metastatic LN sites. Samples with H‐scores >50 were considered positive. Based on the ASCL1, NEUROD1, and POU2F3 staining pattern, we grouped the tumours as follows: ASCL1‐dominant (SCLC‐A), NEUROD1‐dominant (SCLC‐N), ASCL1/NEUROD1 double‐negative with POU2F3 expression (SCLC‐P), and negative for all three markers (SCLC‐I). In whole slides, 40 SCLC‐A (52%), 20 SCLC‐N (26%), 15 SCLC‐P (20%), and two SCLC‐I (3%) tumours were identified. Comparisons of TMAs or LN metastatic sites and corresponding surgical specimens showed that positivity for ASCL1, NEUROD1, and POU2F3 in TMAs (all P < 0.0001) or LN metastatic sites (ASCL1, P = 0.0047; NEUROD1, P = 0.0069; POU2F3, P < 0.0001) correlated significantly with that of corresponding surgical specimens. Conclusion: The positivity for these markers in TMAs and LN metastatic sites was significantly correlated with that of corresponding surgical specimens, indicating that biopsy specimens could be used to identify molecular subtypes of SCLC in patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermal stability factor (Ku V/kB T, where Ku, V, kB, and T are the magnetic anisotropy constant, particle volume, Boltzmann constant, and temperature, respectively), obtained from the dependence of remanence coercivity on time, is generally assumed to correlate with the signal decay rate. However, some data fail to explain the relation between the thermal stability factor and the signal decay rate, especially when Barium ferrite particles are used as magnetic particles in recording media. This study reveals that the distribution of the thermal stability factor is the key to explaining these phenomena. Cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of the thermal stability factor for various Barium ferrite particles were measured, and a good correlation between the signal decay rate and the value of the 10th percentile in the CDF of the thermal stability factor was confirmed for each particle ensemble. This indicates that the measureable signal decay rate in a practical time period usually depends solely on the lower range of values for the thermal stability factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusions: A final incidence of bilateral involvement was 20.7%. Episodic spells of vertigo were completely controlled in 23 of 29 patients, while 11 of 29 patients demonstrated over 70 dB hearing loss. Objective: To analyze the clinical course of 29 patients with Meniere's disease during follow-up of 10 years or more. Methods: The subjects were 29 patients with a mean follow-up of 18.3 years. The hearing level was measured by the pure tone average (PTA) of four frequencies at the initial and the final examination, and it was classified into four categories according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Society (AAO-HNS) criteria. The control of vertigo was evaluated by the modified AAO-HNS criteria. Results: At enrolment two patients had bilateral involvement. In the period of follow-up, bilateral involvement emerged in four more patients. The hearing levels at the final examinations were as follows: 3 patients, <25 dB; 6 patients, 26-40 dB; 9 patients, 41-70 dB; and 11 patients, >70 dB. The control of vertigo according to the modified AAO-HNS guideline was class A in 23 patients, class B in 2 patients, and class C in 1 patient; the remaining 3 patients could not be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusions: A final incidence of bilateral involvement was 20.7%. Episodic spells of vertigo were completely controlled in 23 of 29 patients, while 11 of 29 patients demonstrated over 70 dB hearing loss. Objective: To analyze the clinical course of 29 patients with Meniere's disease during follow-up of 10 years or more. Methods: The subjects were 29 patients with a mean follow-up of 18.3 years. The hearing level was measured by the pure tone average (PTA) of four frequencies at the initial and the final examination, and it was classified into four categories according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Society (AAO-HNS) criteria. The control of vertigo was evaluated by the modified AAO-HNS criteria. Results: At enrolment two patients had bilateral involvement. In the period of follow-up, bilateral involvement emerged in four more patients. The hearing levels at the final examinations were as follows: 3 patients, <25 dB; 6 patients, 26-40 dB; 9 patients, 41-70 dB; and 11 patients, >70 dB. The control of vertigo according to the modified AAO-HNS guideline was class A in 23 patients, class B in 2 patients, and class C in 1 patient; the remaining 3 patients could not be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: The antiviral neuraminidase inhibitor oseltamivir (OSV) is used to treat influenza. The macrolide clarithromycin (CAM) is used to treat bacterial infections and has anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. This retrospective study investigated the immunomodulatory effects of CAM in children presenting with influenza A. Methods: The study recruited 40 children with acute influenza, and grouped them according to the treatment received: 5-day treatment with OSV ( n = 14), CAM ( n = 8), OSV + CAM ( n = 12) and untreated ( n = 6). The before and after treatment comparisons were made of the level of secretory IgA (sIgA) against influenza A virus (H3N2) and (H1N1), total sIgA, viral RNA copy numbers in nasopharyngeal aspirates and disease symptoms. Results: Infection induced anti-viral mucosal sIgA in the nasopharyngeal aspirates of most patients of all treatment groups. Particularly prominent increases in the levels were found in the CAM and OSV + CAM groups. Low induction of anti-viral sIgA was observed in the OSV group, but the addition of CAM to OSV augmented sIgA production and restored local mucosal sIgA levels. The frequency of residual cough in the OSV + CAM group was significantly lower than in the other groups including the group treated with OSV. Conclusions: CAM boosted the nasopharyngeal mucosal immune response in children presenting with influenza A, even in those treated with OSV who had low production of mucosal anti-viral sIgA, and alleviated the symptoms of influenza. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unit commitment problem consists of determining the schedules for power generating units and the generating level of each unit. The decisions concern which units to commit during each time period and at what level to generate power to meet the electricity demand. The problem is a typical scheduling problem in an electric power system. The electric power industry is undergoing restructuring and deregulation. This article developes a stochastic programming model which incorporates power trading. The uncertainty of electric power demand or electricity price are incorporated into the unit commitment problem. It is assumed that demand and price uncertainty can be represented by a scenario tree. A stochastic integer programming model is proposed in which the objective is to maximize expected profits. In this model, on/off decisions for each generator are made in the first stage. The approach to solving the problem is based on Lagrangian relaxation and dynamic programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the effects of heavy CP-even ( H) and CP-odd ( A) Higgs bosons on the production cross section of the process $\gamma\gamma$ $\rightarrow t\overline{t}$ at the energy around the mass poles of the Higgs bosons. It is found that interference between H and A with small mass gap, as well as the ones between Higgs bosons and continuum, contributes to the cross section, if the photon beams are polarized and if we observe the helicity of the top quarks. It is demonstrated in the framework of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model that the H and A contributions can be sizable at future $\gamma\gamma$ colliders for small values of $\tan\beta$. The methods to measure the CP-parity of the Higgs boson are also presented. The statistical significance of detecting the Higgs signals and measuring the Higgs CP-parity is evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary adenocarcinoma arising in the sublingual gland is extremely rara, accounting for six cases reported in extensive survey of the literature for the period of 1930 to 1981. A case of adenocarcinoma of the sublingual gland is documented, demonstrating a highly malignant nature of the disease. This neoplasm possesses particular therapeutic problems owing to the relative lack of symptoms and the delay of initial medical observation after the onset of symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]