Purpose: Most acute coronary syndromes are caused by plaque rupture or erosion. However, differences in the features between plaque rupture and erosion have not been fully evaluated. Methods: Between September 2011 and January 2013, 77 culprit lesions of acute coronary syndrome were evaluated by optical coherence tomography (OCT) before ballooning or stenting. These cases were divided into 2 groups according to visible (n=23) or invisible (n=54) of plaque rupture. Of these, 63 cases were performed thrombectomy, and materials were acquired in 34 cases. Furthermore, the materials were examined by pathology and the relationship with OCT images was also investigated. Results: See table. Table 1. OCT and pathology findings Conclusions: Atheroma was observed more frequently in material aspirated from lesions with plaque rupture and the occurence of slow or no flow phenomenon was more often in the lesions with plaque rupture.

Objectives: We assessed the risk of stent thrombosis after bare-metal stent (BMS) and drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation in our hospital. Method: We analyzed all the lesions undergoing stent implantation from December 1994 to Jan 2013. Definite stent thrombosis was defined by ARC criteria as well as rate of early (within 30 days), late (31 days to 1 year), very late (after 1 year). Result: A total of 11178 lesions in 8933 patients were enrolled in this study. There were 4789 lesions of BMS, and 793 lesions of DES (sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) 3832, paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) 347). Definite stent thrombosis occurred in 0.26% of all patients (BMS 0.22% vs. DES 0.31%, NS; BMS 0.24% vs. SES 0.45%, p<0.05, BMS 0.24% vs. PES 0.86%, p<0.05). Early definite stent thrombosis occurred in 0.10% (BMS 0.19% vs. DES 0.021%, p<0.05), late stent thrombosis occurred in 0.02% of only BMS group, and very late stent thrombosis occurred in 0.23% of only DES group (SES: 11 patients, PES: 3 patients). Conclusions: The risk for stent thrombosis was not significantly different between bare-metal stent and drug-eluting stent. Very late stent thrombosis was occurred in DES group, only after SES and PES implantation.

A 62-year-old man with recurrent paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia was referred to our hospital for ablation. A 12-lead electrocardiogram revealed sinus rhythm with no delta waves. A 12-lead electrocardiogram during the palpitations recorded a regular, narrow QRS tachycardia at the rate of 186/min. A coronary angiography was performed after the coronary sinus could not be cannulated. On levophase coronary angiography, there was dual venous drainage into the right and left atria and no coronary sinus ostium. A regular, narrow QRS tachycardia with a cycle length of 300 ms was induced by atrial extrastimulus pacing. A transseptal catheterization was performed using the standard Brockenbrough technique. Mapping of the mitral annulus was performed during ventricular pacing, using a 7-French deflectable ablation catheter and the 3-dimensional electroanatomical mapping system. The earliest retrograde atrial activation was recorded in the posterolateral region of the mitral annulus. Though the ventriculoatrial conduction time was prolonged after radiofrequency energy was delivered to this site, the ventriculoatrial conduction after transvenous adenosine triphosphate administration was maintained. After re-mapped, the earliest retrograde atrial activation site was shifted to the left anterior region radiofrequency energy eliminated this accessory pathway. Thirty minutes after effective radiofrequency discharge, there was persistent ventriculoatrial dissociation. Six months after the procedure, the patient has been free from any symptoms.

BACKGROUND:Although drug-eluting stents (DES) have considerably reduced the incidence of in-stent restenosis, late and very late stent thrombosis (ST) after DES implantation have emerged as major safety concerns. We morphologically investigated the age of DES thrombi aspirated during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) from patients with either late or very late ST that resulted in acute myocardial infarction (AMI).METHODS AND RESULTS:We obtained DES thrombi during PCI from 16 consecutive patients with ST (late and very late ST, n=4 and n=12, respectively), who presented with AMI within 24 h of the onset of anginal symptoms. Thrombi were morphologically classified as fresh, lytic, and organized. Fresh thrombus was identified in 5 (31%) of the 16 patients and lytic thrombus was found in 3 (19%). Organized thrombus was notably found in 8 (50%) patients, of whom 5 (31%) had only the organized type and 3 (19%) had both fresh and organized thrombi. The frequency of fresh thrombus tended to be higher in patients with stent failure such as stent malapposition and fracture, but the difference did not reach significance (p=0.06).CONCLUSIONS:Although the study group is small, about two-thirds of DES thrombi in late and very late ST were days or weeks old. These findings suggest an important discrepancy between the time of onset of the intra-stent thrombotic process and the occurrence of acute clinical symptoms, and provide further information about another potential mechanism of DES thrombosis.

In this paper we develop a controller for underwater vehicle-manipulator systems. The main feature is to take into account the dynamics of thrusters in the design of the controller. In order to struggle with the nonlinearities of thrusters, we propose a new error representation for thrusters, and then we develop the robust adaptive tracking controller.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the left ventricular (LV) diastolic function parameter calculated using three‐dimensional (3D) echocardiography. Method: Using 3D echocardiography and an analysis software program, the left ventricular volume through the cardiac cycle was measured automatically. We therefore calculated 25%, 50%, and 75% of the subtraction end‐systolic volume (ESV) from the end‐diastolic volume (EDV). The period that the left ventricular volume reached those volumes was calculated from the ESV. Those periods divided all diastolic periods and those calculated values were named D1/4, D1/2, and D3/4, respectively. The peak‐filling rate and 1/3 filling fraction (FF) were calculated. E/A, mitral annulus velocities (E′), E/E′, ejection fraction (EF), and left ventricular end‐diastolic pressure (LVEDP) were also measured. Results: E/A significantly correlated with D3/4. E/E′significantly correlated with the D1/4, D1/2, and 1/3 filling fraction. E′had a significantly negative correlation with the D1/4, D1/2, D3/4, and 1/3 FF. DT significantly correlated with D1/4, D1/2, D3/4, 1/3 FF, and the mean filling rate and it had a significant negative correlation with the 1/3 filling fraction. EF showed a significant positive correlation with the peak filling ratio. LVEDP demonstrated a significant correlation with D1/4 and D1/2. Conclusion: This study suggests that the LV diastolic indexes as determined by 3D echocardiography provide useful information in the clinical assessment of the diastolic LV function.

3-Deoxyglucosone (3DG) has been reported to be generated from Amadori compounds by non-oxidative reaction in vitro and in vivo . Several non-fluorescent imidazolone compounds were identified as arginine adducts of 3DG. Using a 3DG and N α -benzoylarginine amide (BzArgNH 2 ) reaction system, 2-( N α -benzoyl- N Δ -ornithylamide)-5-(2,3,4,-trihydroxybutyl)-2-imidazoline-4-one (S12), was identified as an intermediate product. A minor product formed from two molecules of 3DG and one molecule of BzArgNH 2 was identified as 2-( N α -benzoyl- N Δ -ornithylamide)-5,6a-di(2,3,4,-trihydroxybutyl)-5,6-dihydioxydehy-drofuro[2,3- d )imidazole (S11). We speculate that S11 is formed by the addition of 3DG to compound S12. S12 was also identified in a 3DG-insulin reaction system by ESI-MS. In further studies, a fluorescent product was purified from a N α -acetyllysine-3DG reaction system and identified as 6,8-di- N α -acetyllysyl-3,3a,8,8a-tetrahydro-3a-hydroxy-2-(1,2-dihydroxyethyl)-5-hydroxymethyl-2 H -furo[3′,2: 4,5]pyrrolo-[2,3- c ]-pyridinium ( N α -acetyllysyl-pyrropyridine) having fluorescence at Ex max : 376nm and Em max : 450nm. Quantification of lysyl-pyrropyridine in glycated lysozyme revealed a significant increase in a 3DG-lysozyme system (74.3mmol/mol lysozyme) when compared with a glucose-lysozyme system (6.3mmol/mol lysozyme) incubated at 50°C for 7 days.

著者らはマニピュレータ動特性を考慮した水中ロボットの分解加速度制御法を提案し, シミュレーションおよひ実験によりその有用性を確認している。ここでは, 実システムへの適用を考慮した, ディジタル制御系の一設計法を提案する。

著者らは転置一般化ヤコビ行列を用いた宇宙用マニピュレータのディジタル制御手法を提案している。本稿では, マニピュレータが特異姿勢である場合に対する提案手法の安定性および特性解析を行う。まず, 特異姿勢とは関係なくロボットの状態と制御入力の有界性が保証されることを示す。つぎに, 3次元6リンク宇宙用マニピュレータを対象とした計算機シミュレーションを利用して特性解析を行い, 特異姿勢を通過した場合でも提案手法が有用であることを示す。

著者らは, これまでにベースにアクチュエータを搭載した水平駆動式の浮遊型2リンク水中ロボットマニピュレータに対して, 動力学モデルの導出および制御系の構成を行い, 計算機シミュレーションによりそれら有効性を確認している。ここでは, ベースにスラスタを有する水平駆動式の浮遊型2リンク水中ロボットマニピュレータを試作し, 分解加速度制御系を構成して手先位置およびベース位置・姿勢の制御実験を行い, 構成した制御系の有効性を示す。

This paper deals with a digital adaptive control for a manipulator mounted on a space robot. Most control methods are based on the supposition that all physical parameters of the space robot are known, However, if the end-effector catches an unknown object, the physical parameters of the robot are changed. Furthermore, joint actuators of a manipulator generally have input constraints. Even though the end-effector does not catch any objects, if the inputs of the actuators become saturated, the control performance gets worse. In this paper, we propose a digital adaptive control method for a manipulator having input constraints. Experimental results from a Space Manipulator Robot Testbed demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

This paper deals with an adaptive resolved motion rate control (RMRC) method for a cooperative manipulation of a floating object by two free-based space robots with manipulators. Discussions as for the adaptive estimation are done on the divided generalized Jacobi matrices, which can be derived by system partition of the whole robot system. The method proposed here has an advantage that control algorithm of each robot is same even if a number of robots increases. The validity of the method was successfully confirmed by computer simulation.

This paper is concerned with an application of a digital adaptive control system to a servo mechanism. Mechanical systems in general include nonlinearities and additional uncertainties and which result from inertia and friction. So it is difficult to ensure robust performance and high accuracy for motion control. The digital adaptive control system presented here is considered to overcome the above stated problem. Experimental results from a feed drive system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

The authors consider the design of a discrete time model reference adaptive control system (MRACS) for motion control systems with unknown nonlinear friction. From a control system viewpoint, the static and Coulomb frictions are characterized by a nonlinear dead-zone element and constant value disturbance for the control input signal, respectively. The discrete MRACS is considered for a nonlinear system which is a cascade combination of an unknown dead-zone block and a linear dynamic block with disturbance. In order to verify the validity of the theory, the design method described is applied to a servo system influenced by friction. Experimental results show the high control performance of the constructed MRACS and the effectiveness of the proposed method.<>