The surgical risks associated with ischemic mitral regurgitation are thought to be greater than those for other forms of mitral regurgitation. We have performed mitral valve replacement using the St. ...Jude Medical bileaflet prostheses with preservation of both leaflets, along with all of the chordae tendineae and papillary muscles. The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate mitral valve replacement with preservation of both mitral valves with respect to long-term clinical results and left ventricular performance.
Between January 1, 1988 and February 29, 2000, 15 patients were operated on for ischemic mitral regurgitation. There were 7 males and 8 females, and the mean age was 69.7+/-8.1 years. The preoperative variables showed clinical deterioration of the state, such as emergency operation in 40% of the patients, more than NYHA functional III class in 93% of patients, cardiogenic shock in 47% of the patients, a mean left ventricular ejection fraction of 36.8%, and a mean left ventricular end-systolic volume index of 116.7 ml/m2.
There were 5 (33.3%) hospital deaths during the follow-up period including 1 early death and 1 (10%) late death during the follow-up period. Thus, the actuarial survival rate after 5 years for the whole was 60%. However, the left ventricular dimensions and left ventricular fractional shortening, even if in patients with profound depressed left ventricular function preoperatively, showed maintenance of the cardiac function.
These results suggested that mitral valve replacement using the St. Jude Medical prostheses with preservation of both leaflets and all chordae tendineae and papillary muscles might be a procedure of choice for ischemic mitral regurgitation.
Pomegranate juice (PJ) has higher polyphenol content and antioxidative activity than any other fruit juice. We used a pomegranate polyphenol concentrate (PPC) from pomegranate juice and investigated ...its inhibitory effects and mechanism of action using a contact hypersensitivity (CHS) test. The ear swelling induced by 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) was inhibited in the PPC-treated group compared to that in the control group. Antigen-specific IgG1 was lower in the PPC-treated group than in the control group; however, serum antigen-specific IgG2a was not different. More splenic IL-10-producing and IFN-γ-/IL-4-producing CD4+ T cells were observed in the PPC-treated group than in the control group. These results suggested that PPC afforded protection against CHS and IgG1 production by increasing IL-10-producing CD4+ T cell numbers.
This paper deals with simulations and experiments carried out on a circuit suitable for use on a multiple number of lag-type high-pressure mercury lamps. One common bypass circuit is provided and a ...resistance is connected to the power source side of each ballast winding. The properties of the proposed circuit include a nearly sinusoidal input current at unity power factor when one or more lamps are in operation. The self-inductance of each ballast winding is made slightly larger than the rated inductance. The tap position of the bypass circuit is placed closer to the power source side of each ballast winding in order to reduce the input current distortion. The value of resistance in series with the power source side of each ballast winding is designed to provide simultaneous ignition of all lamps. The following findings are obtained with four-lamp circuits with a rated lamp power of 200 W: (1) under steady state, the input current distortion factor is as low as 2%, and the power factor is nearly 100%; and (2) the total loss contributed by the ballast windings, L/sub b/ of the bypass circuit and resistance connected to each ballast winding on the power source side, is as low as 11.4% of the total power.
The standard entropy of formation at 298 K of SnMg2 has been determined from measuring the heat capacities (C1,) from near absolute zero (2 K) to 300 K by the relaxation method. The determined value ...of,6,1S;8 of SnMg, equals 14.24 - 1.02 J K-' mol-1. The electronic contribution to the heat capacity of SnMg2 was found to be very small, indicating that the density of states in the vicinity of the Fermi level is small. Also, its electric resistivity was high, consistent with such small density of states.
PDF
