Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) presents several advantages but, mainly due to the impaired diastolic filling of the right ventricle, the displacement of the heart can cause ...hemodynamic instability. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible role of the A-Med right heart support during OPCAB.
We report our early experience with the A-Med system (A-Med, West Sacramento, CA, USA) during OPCAB. The system consists of a coaxial cannula, a microcentrifugal pump and a control console. The coaxial cannula is passed through the right atrium with the tip of the cannula positioned in the main pulmonary artery. Thus the blood is actively removed from the right atrium and returned to the pulmonary artery.
We successfully used this right heart support in 2 patients undergoing elective OPCAB. In both cases the system was used during the exposure of the proximal portion of the obtuse marginal branch. A mean pump flow of 3.2 l/min guaranteed normal cardiac output and hemodynamic stability during the exposure of the posterior target area. No complication occurred and the patients were discharged shortly after surgery.
In our early experience the A-Med right heart support was safe and effective and allowed achievement of hemodynamic stability during exposure of the posterior areas of the left ventricle.
The aim of this report is to summarize our experience with the Tirone David I technique over a 4-year period.
Since 1997 15 patients were operated on using this surgical procedure. Of the patients, ...nine were male (60%) and six (40%) female. Ages ranged from 23 to 75 years (mean 62.1+/-17.2 years). The underlying disease was chronic aneurysm of the ascending aorta or root in 13 (86.6%) and chronic dissection in two (13.4%). Four patients (26.6%) had skeletal manifestations of Marfan's syndrome. Additional cardiac procedures were performed in two patients (13.4%). Mean follow-up time was 26.6+/-11.2 months (range 7-50 months).
There were no early deaths. Postoperative non-fatal complications occurred in two (13.3%) patients. There was no valve-related late death occurring 6 months after operation. Actuarial survival was 0.94+/-0.07 at 4 years; 4-year freedom from reoperation was 0.91+/-0.07. The probability of needing reoperation was 8+/-0.9%. There were no instances of infective endocarditis or thromboembolic complications. At the end of the follow-up period, trivial or no aortic regurgitation was demonstrated in 57.1%, mild in 42.9% and no patient had an insufficiency graded >/=moderate. Echocardiography showed early postoperative reduction in left ventricular end-systolic and end-diastolic dimensions, which was maintained at follow-up controls.
The Tirone David I procedure showed good early results, which encourage further use of this type of repair. However, further larger studies and long-term results are necessary for a definite judgment on this operative method.
Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity and 3Hquinuclidinylbenzilate binding were studied in the brain of scrapie-infected hamsters and sham inoculated controls. Although scrapie-infected hamsters ...showed no reduction of ChAT activity compared to the controls, they showed a decrease in the affinity and maximum number of post-synaptic muscarinic receptors. Scrapie virus thus alters the cholinergic system at the post-synaptic rather than at the pre-synaptic level.
A single pole 6 T s.c. wiggler with two racetracks NbTi superconducting coils, separated by a central plate and kept together by two iron yokes, has been designed and built in the Frascati INFN, LNF ...Laboratories in cooperation with the Ansaldo ABB Componenti, Genova, Italy. The s.c. magnet and two low field compensating warm poles, will be installed in the near future on the straight section no. 10 of the e{sup +}, e{sub {minus}} storage ring Adone, to be used as wave length shifter to produce a hard X-ray flux of 2.4 10{sup 12} photon/s/mrad in 0.1% bandwidth at a critical energy of 9 keV, six times higher than the one produced by the accelerator bending magnets. This article makes an analysis of the typical quench during the training.
Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus (SsGAPD) has been purified 232 fold with an overall recovery of about 25%. The enzyme is a homomeric tetramer with an ...M(r) of 41 kDa/subunit. It utilizes either NAD+ or NADP+ as coenzyme but its affinity for the latter is about 50 fold higher. SsGAPD activity is maximum at 87 degrees C. In the range 45-87 degrees C the Arrhenius plot is linear and the activation energy is 55 kJ/mol. The enzyme is thermostable, with a half-life of 45 min at 87 degrees C. The primary structure of SsGAPD shows 35% identity with that of other archaeal GAPDs. Its N-domain shows sequence motifs typical of the dinucleotide binding proteins while the catalytic C-terminal region contains a cysteine residue (C140), required for catalysis, that is conserved in all the archaeal, eukaryal and bacterial GAPDs. These remarks suggest that archaeal GAPDs show a convergent molecular evolution to the eukaryal and eubacterial enzymes in the catalytic region.
The linac booster (LIBO) project aims to build a 3 GHz proton linac to give the beam from 50-70 MeV cyclotrons, which exist in several laboratories and hospitals, a final energy of 200 MeV. This will ...allow the treatment of deep-seated tumours. A prototype of the first LIBO module was designed, constructed and RF tested by a collaboration of CERN, University and INFN of Milan, University and INFN of Naples, and the TERA Foundation. Low power RF measurements have shown good field uniformity and stability along the axis of the four tanks composing the LIBO module. In December 2000, full power RF measurements at a repetition rate of 100 Hz have been performed at CERN. After a very short conditioning period, an accelerating gradient approaching 30 MV/m has been easily achieved in the tanks, well above the nominal 15.8 MV/m. The particularities of the design and the reasons for the successful performance are discussed.
Despite many sensational and intimidating reports in the mass media, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (prion diseases) are not contagious in the usual sense. Successful transmission requires ...both specific material (an affected individual's tissue, from or adjacent to CNS) and specific modes (mainly penetrating contact with the recipient). Nevertheless, specific safety precautions are mandatory to avoid accidental transmission and to decontaminate any infectivity. The autopsy is essential for definite diagnosis of these disorders. Recommendations are given here for safe performance of the autopsy, for neuropathology service and appropriate decontamination; they are based on the current literature and on precautions taken in most laboratories experienced in handling tissue from transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. In essence, special care must be taken to avoid penetrating wounds, possible contamination should be kept to a minimum, and potentially infectious material must be adequately decontaminated by specific means. The full English text of this Consensus Report was published in Brain Pathology 5: 319-322 (1995).
DA Phi NE: the Frascati Phi-factory Amadei, P.; Aragona, A.; Bartalucci, S. ...
Conference Record of the 1991 IEEE Particle Accelerator Conference,
1991
Conference Proceeding
An overview of the Frascati Phi -factory and the salient project features are presented. The engineering design of vacuum and magnetic components, diagnostics, power supplies of the accumulator ring ...and of the main rings is in progress. The main concern, at this time, is how to handle the multibunch instability that is the most harmful problem in the design of high current storage rings and the most serious limitation for the luminosity. The parasitic high-order modes of the RF cavities are responsible for such an instability.< >
PDF
