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This paper reports the effects of thermal energy on reducing the overshoot of the current sweep cycle method to reduce the screening current-induced field (SCF) in a 2G high temperature superconducting (HTS) coil. A disadvantage of the current sweep cycle method is the necessity for large overshoot in the coil current. For a 2G HTS coil, excessive overshooting of the coil current is undesirable (Yanagisawa et al 2012 AIP Conf. Proc. 1434 1373–8). In an effort to circumvent this overshooting problem, the thermal energy effect was investigated in combination with the current sweep cycle method based on experiments in this study. The experimental results show that greater SCF reduction in the HTS coil was obtained upon increasing thermal energy by heater current.

Whether adverse effect of statins on glycemic indices is common to all statins remains controversial and as yet data for pitavastatin are limited. We sought to assess the impact of pitavastatin on new-onset diabetes (NODM) in non-diabetic acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. Among a total 12

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is known to be associated with poor outcomes and cardiac valve sclerosis (CVS) is reported to be associated with future cardiovascular events. We evaluated the association of CVS with the clinical outcomes in patients (pts) with PAD who underwent percutaneous

Although previous studies demonstrated the prognostic value of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), a study assessing long-term clinical outcomes after AMI according to LVEF status is limited and has not been evaluated in larger study populations. We

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) disease is nowadays considered feasible by a number of randomized clinical trials and previous studies advocated one stent technique in PCI for bifurcated ULMCA disease. However there are limited data

Background and objectives Cigarette smoking is a risk significant factor in coronary artery disease (CAD) and vasospastic angina (VSA). However, it is largely unknown whether smoking adds to any long-term clinical risk in VSA patients. Subjects and methods A total of 2797 patients without significant CAD underwent acetylcholine (Ach) provocation test between November 2004 and October 2010. Patients were divided into three groups, based on the presence of coronary artery spasm (CAS) and smoking habits (non-CAS group: n=1188, non-smoking CAS group: n=1214, smoking CAS group: n=395). All CAS patients were prescribed with anti-anginal medications for at least 6 months. The incidence of major clinical outcomes and recurrent angina of these groups were compared up to 3 years. Results There were considerable differences in the baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics among the three groups, but there was no difference in the endpoints among the three groups (including individual and composite hard endpoints) such as death, myocardial infarction, de novo percutaneous coronary intervention, cerebrovascular accident, and major adverse cardiac events. However, there was a higher incidence of recurrent angina in both the non-smoking CAS group and smoking CAS group, as compared to the non-CAS group. In multivariable adjusted Cox-proportional hazards regression analysis, smoking CAS group exhibited a higher incidence of recurrent angina compared with the non-CAS group (hazard ratio [HR]; 2.46, 95% confidence interval [CI]; 1.46-4.14, p=0.001) and non-smoking CAS group (HR; 1.76, 95% CI; 1.08-2.87, p=0.021). Conclusion Cigarette smoking CAS group exhibited higher incidence of recurrent angina during the 3-year clinical follow-up compared with both the non-CAS group and non-smoking CAS group. Quitting of smoking, paired with intensive medical therapy and close clinical follow-up, can help to prevent recurrent angina.

Metabolic Syndrome (MS) has been known to be an important cardiovascular risk factor. We investigated whether the presence of MS can impact on coronary artery spasm (CAS) as assessed with intracoronary acetylcholine (Ach) provocation test. A total 3490 consecutive patients (pts) who underwent

Force realization system and device We report the characterization of mechanical properties of a flux-quantum force device, which is designed and fabricated to trap superconducting flux quantums for generating pico-newton standard forces, at variable temperature. Using our scanning fiber imaging technique we micro-positioned an optic fiber onto the target position of the device and measured the device's vibration to obtain a resonance frequency of 1167 Hz at 4.5 K and a spring constant of 2×10−4 N/m at room temperature.

We have studied the planar-type single-layer second-order high-Tc SQUID gradiometer that detects the transverse field gradient, d2Bz/dx2. The gradiometer consists of three parallel-connected rectangular pickup loops that are directly coupled to a SQUID. The pickup loops are designed in such a way that the SQUID measures the difference in the differential screening currents of neighbouring pickup loops. The SQUID has either step-edge or bicrystal Josephson junctions. The gradiometer was made from a single layer of YBa2Cu3O7 film on a 1 cm × 1 cm chip. The response of the gradiometer was tested in various flux distributions generated by three identical multiturn film coils patterned on the same chip in parallel with each pickup loop. The balanced gradiometer responded sensitively only to the second-order field gradient. Reduction of the inductive coupling between loops improved the intrinsic balance.

In order to understand the influence of spanwise loading distributions of mixed flow impellers on internal flow patterns of a pump, the pressure distributions on the pump casing wall were examined for four impellers. They had identical sectional blade shapes on every development surface, and their inlet and outlet angles were kept constant at the mean surface but were varied at the tip and hub surfaces to give spanwise loading distributions. The results of the pressure measurements were compared with oil flow patterns of the suction surface of the impeller blade, and the relationship between the flow conditions of pump internal flow and the pressure distributions was clarified. Three dimensional calculations by the finite-element method were also carried out.

Statin therapy has been known to be associated with a higher incidence of new-onset diabetes mellitus (NODM). However, it is not clear whether atorvastatin increase the incidence of NODM by increasing insulin resistance (IR) in Asian population. We evaluated the impact atorvastatin and other

L-transposition of the great arteries (L-TGA) is a rare congenital anomaly and could cause complete atrioventricular (AV) block at relatively younger age. We present a case of 43-year-old male who complained of dizziness due to complete AV block. We confirmed L-TGA using transthoracic echocardiography and cardiac computed tomography. Permanent pacemaker was inserted without complications. No invasive treatment including corrective surgery was performed because patient's cardiac function was almost normal and the symptom was completely resolved after pacemaker insertion.

In most spine surgeries, the physician directly performs the surgical operation with help of specially designed surgical tools along with off-line CT images and possibly with fluoroscopic images that provide the on-line status of current surgical operation for patient However, the surgical procedure generally requires accurate operational skills and intuition of the physician. Sometimes, trifling errors or misjudgments during surgical operation could result in unrecoverable damages to patients. To cope with these problems, robotic technology has been incorporated into the surgical operations in various levels. In this paper, a robotic system for percutaneous spine surgery, called SPlNEBOT, is developed. The expected roles of SPINEBOT are to provide the guide for the K-wire, to help the physician to locate and orient the position of surgery more accurately, and to compensate for respiration movement of the patient's body during operation. A preliminary experiment has been conducted with a mockup environment of surgical operation. The experimental results confirm that the SPINEBOT is not only able to guide by accurately pointing and orienting the specified location, but also successfully compensate the emulated respiratory movement of the patient.

Although statin therapy is beneficial for vascular diseases, the relationship between specific statin therapy and the incidence of new-onset diabetes mellitus (DM) remains uncertain. We evaluated the impact of Pitavastatin therapy on the development of new-onset DM from 3-year clinical follow up

Glycoprotein (Gp) IIbIIIa receptor inhibitors are known to reduce mortality, target vessel revascularization but not re-infarction in ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. We investigated the impact of Gp IIbIIIa receptor inhibitors on the post procedure TIMI flow and 1 month major

Coronary artery fistulas (CAFs) are one of the most rare cardiac anomalies. Some patients with CAF may suffer from ischemic chest pain that originates from combined significant coronary artery spasm (CAS). Spontaneous regression of CAF has been reported in a few cases, almost all of which were infants. We report an adult patient who presented with ischemic chest pain due to multiple coronary arteries to pulmonary artery fistulas and combined significant CAS induced by intracoronary acetylcholine provocation test. Spontaneous regression of one of the fistulas was observed at 2-year angiography follow-up.

Conclusion: Stent fracture was observed frequently in not only RCA but also other coronary artery at long term follow-up even in asymptomatic and event-free patients. The high prevalence of stent fracture in chronic phase was observed in our study, although aneurysmal change and ISR due to stent fracture were rare. MDCT in chronic phases after SES implantation can indicate whether the patient needs to continue dual antiplatelet therapy or not.

Limited coronary collateral flow is known to have an adverse effect on clinical outcomes of coronary artery diseases. The impact of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for chronic total occlusion (CTO) in pts with limited collaterals is not clear. We compared the 12-month clinical outcomes of

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is known to be a risk factor of significant coronary artery disease (CAD). However, there is no currently available data with larger study population regarding long-term clinical outcomes of DM with CAS in real world clinical practice, particularly in a series of Korean

Chronic total occlusion (CTO) intervention is still challenging because of the limited procedural success rate and high target failure. The impact of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for CTO in elder patients is not clear. We evaluated the 12-month clinical outcomes between intervention and

Coronary artery spasm (CAS) is a major cause of myocardial ischemia. However, the incidence and clinical prognosis of diffuse CAS has not been reported. We compared diffuse with focal CAS in patients (pts) with vasospastic angina based on 3-year clinical outcomes. A total of 2,797 consecutive pts