Search

A coronary artery aneurysm is an uncommon vascular disorder, and it can be a life-threatening disease when associated with rupture or an embolism. A 52-year-old man was found to have a 50-mm coronary artery aneurysm at the right coronary artery, and the aneurysm was completely occluded by a thrombus. He had no symptoms after arriving at our hospital, and his hemodynamics was stable. Therefore, initially, we administered anticoagulation therapy involving heparin. After therapy, the distal coronary artery was detected when the thrombus dissolved, and elective surgery was planned. Coronary artery bypass grafting, ligation of the inflow and outflow vessels, and resection of the aneurysm were performed. Early anticoagulation therapy and surgical aneurysm resection were effective for treating the completely occluded coronary artery aneurysm. We herein report this rare case of a giant coronary artery aneurysm occluded completely by a thrombus and treated successfully by anticoagulation therapy and surgical aneurysm resection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The support structure of the TF coils is designed to withstand the larger electromagnetic force on the basis of the stress analyses. The maximum displacement and the Tresca stress of the TF coil are evaluated in the cas4e of the plasma disruption at the end of plasma current flat-top.

Kinetic characteristics of thermal energy storage (TES) using tetrabutylammonium acrylate (TBAAc) hydrate were experimentally evaluated for practical use as PCMs. Mechanical agitation or ultrasonic vibration was added to detach the hydrate adhesion on the heat exchanger, which could be a thermal resistance. The effect of the external forces also was evaluated by changing their rotation rate and frequency. When the agitation rate was 600 rpm, the system achieved TES density of 140 MJ/m3 in 2.9 h. This value is comparable to the ideal performance of ice TES when its solid phase fraction is 45%. UA/V (U: thermal transfer coefficient, A: surface area of the heat exchange coil, V: volume of the TES medium) is known as an index of the ease of heat transfer in a heat exchanger. UA/V obtained in this study was comparable to that of other common heat exchangers, which means the equivalent performance would be available by setting the similar UA/V. In this study, we succeeded in obtaining practical data for heat storage by TBAAc hydrate. The data obtained in this study will be a great help for the practical application of hydrate heat storage in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rupture of the left ventricular posterior wall is a fatal complication during mitral valve replacement (MVR), and rupture mainly occurs intraoperatively and up to several days after MVR, but it rarely occurs in the late phase, such as several years postoperatively. Late rupture occasionally presents as left ventricular pseudoaneurysms (LVPAs). A 40-year-old man who had a three-time history of mitral valve surgery for infectious endocarditis was incidentally found to have a left ventricular aneurysm with no symptoms. He underwent closure of a LVPA with MVR. Although there are various surgical techniques to close LVPAs after mitral valve repair, it is still a challenging problem. Here, we report the case of a patient who successfully underwent LVPA repair with MVR and describe the technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a common vasculitis disorder of childhood. It can sometimes complicate coronary artery aneurysms, and treatment is required depending on the condition of stenosis. A 20-year-old man was referred for surgery with a coronary artery aneurysm and stenosis in the left coronary artery as sequelae of KD. He had a surgical history of left pneumothorax and bullae remaining on the right lung. We simultaneously performed off-pump coronary artery bypass for coronary artery stenosis and bullectomy. Coronary artery aneurysms with KD complicated by pneumothorax are rare, and we treated them using one-stage surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cor triatriatum is a rare congenital heart disease. A 57‐year‐old woman had cor triatriatum with severe mitral valve regurgitation (MR) and atrial fibrillation (AF). We performed mitral valve repair, left atrial appendage resection, and maze procedure by resection of the anomalous septum in the left atrium. As a result, MR was controllable and AF disappeared after the operation. Although there is no established maze procedure with cor triatriatum, removing the septum was effective to complete it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The beating of a pulmonary vein during cardiac catheterization is a rare phenomenon caused by the heart beating through the pericardial effusion when a cardiac tamponade occurs. This "beating pulmonary vein" sign is useful for early detection of a tamponade before circulatory collapse occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case of abdominal aortic aneurysm appeared to be compression of the antrum of the stomach and was suspected of causing a gastric obstruction. However, an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy to rule out an obstruction by a tumor revealed a gastric tumor, thus avoiding unnecessary intervention, such as open surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tangential chord CO[sub 2] laser interferometer for electron density measurement in the JT-60U tokamak is described. To compensate for a phase shift due to mirror vibrations, an IR-HeNe laser interferometer is introduced. Probe beams of the CO[sub 2] and the IR-HeNe lasers travel in a similar form for a distance of 100 m by utilizing relay optics. The effective phase resolution of the system is estimated to be 1/68 fringe, which corresponds to a line integrated density of 3.1 × 10[sup 18] m[sup -2]. An ultra-accurate phase comparator which has a 1/10[sup 4] fringe resolution is proposed to improve the capability of present and future interferometers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surgical outcomes for acute Type A aortic dissection (AAD) have dramatically improved in recent years due to prompt diagnosis, improved surgical technique and perioperative management. A single needle hole can become a new entry point in AAD cases with such a fragile wall, so a mixed technique using minimal surgical stitches and glue is required for a good outcome. The 'Millefeuille' technique involves multiple layers with a prosthetic graft, intimal layer, additionally inserted surplus intimal layer with BioGlue, adventitial layer, and felt. This technique may help to prevent needle hole re-entry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) plans to construct a tokamak fusion device called JT-60SC in which superconducting magnet systems will be used. The purpose in this paper is to qualify type 316LN stainless steel (SS316LN) for use as the conduit material of the Nb3Sn cable-in-conduit conductor for the central solenoid (CS) of JT-60SC. Tensile properties, fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth rates of the as-welded metal and the aged (923 K × 240 h) one of SS316LN were evaluated at 4 K. The tensile properties and fatigue crack growth rates were adequate to ensure the design requirements for JT-60SC. However, fracture toughness of the aged weld metal could not be validated due to unstable crack growth. It was concluded that improvement of fracture toughness after aging was required to ensure the structural integrity of the CS conduit. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The modification of JT-60 was programmed to be a superconducting tokamak (JT-60SC) that has superconducting toroidal field (TF) and poloidal field coils. The Nb3Al superconductor was developed in order to apply to the TF coil system in JT-60SC. The TF coil conductor was designed with a cable-in-conduit (CIC) type. This conductor was Nb3Al cable jacketed into stainless steel (SS) conduit. As the first step of SS conduit production, the 10 m long round-in-square type tubes were successfully fabricated within eccentricity tolerance of the tube hole (<10%). A 30 m SS conduit was made of three units of 10 m long tubes, which were butt-welded in series. After the welding process, penetrating beads were observed by CCD camera, and it was visually clear that the penetrating beads were successfully controlled by adjustment of back-shielding gas pressure. Therefore, regarding the production of SS conduit, the procedures of fabrication and inspection were established. Then, the inserting of cable into this conduit and compaction were also carried out. Consequently, the 30 m Nb3Al CIC conductor was successfully fabricated, so that a feasibility of mass-producing CIC conductor applied to the real machine was obtained. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Acute aortic dissection type A during cardiac catheterization has been reported as a rare but fatal complication. We present a case of acute aortic dissection type A occurring during catheter manipulation in the ascending aorta during mapping of ventricular premature contraction via the retrograde approach. In the present case, transthoracic echocardiography showed no pericardial effusion and no flap of the aorta, but intracardiac echo clearly showed the flap. Enhanced computed tomography revealed the aortic dissection, which extended from the ascending aorta to the bilateral common iliac artery, and the false lumen was thrombosed completely. Emergent surgery was performed and the postoperative course was uneventful, and he was discharged with no complications. Aortic dissection is a rare complication of cardiac catheterization, and early detection could prevent a fatal outcome. It is important to detect the signs and symptoms as quickly as possible and perform various diagnostic examinations., Competing Interests: We have no conflict of interest to declare., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Competing Interests: None.

As a base for human transcriptome and functional genomics, we created the "full-length long Japan" (FLJ) collection of sequenced human cDNAs. We determined the entire sequence of 21,243 selected clones and found that 14,490 cDNAs (10,897 clusters) were unique to the FLJ collection. About half of them (5,416) seemed to be protein-coding. Of those, 1,999 clusters had not been predicted by computational methods. The distribution of GC content of nonpredicted cDNAs had a peak at approximately 58% compared with a peak at approximately 42%for predicted cDNAs. Thus, there seems to be a slight bias against GC-rich transcripts in current gene prediction procedures. The rest of the cDNAs unique to the FLJ collection (5,481) contained no obvious open reading frames (ORFs) and thus are candidate noncoding RNAs. About one-fourth of them (1,378) showed a clear pattern of splicing. The distribution of GC content of noncoding cDNAs was narrow and had a peak at approximately 42%, relatively low compared with that of protein-coding cDNAs.