congenital esophageal atresia needs to be surgically corrected as soon as possible. some will present with post surgical stricture that needs to be dilated by a balloon dilator. this procedure is difficult in premature born due to infant esophageal size and availability of equipments. we herby report the first case in a premature infant with post surgical esophageal stricture of esophageal atre...

We compare four different risk-taking propensity measures on their ability to describe and to predict actual risky behavior in the domain of health. The risk-taking propensity measures we compare are: (1) a general measure of risk-taking propensity derived from a one-item survey question (Dohmen et al., 2011), (2) a risk aversion index calculated from a set of incentivized monetary gambles (Hol...

Objective: Beraprost sodium (BPS), a prostacyclin (PGI ) analogue, has been reported to exhibit beneficial effects on atherosclerosis 2 in both human and animal models. To clarify the underlying mechanism, we investigated the effects of BPS on neointimal formation after balloon injury in the canine coronary artery. Furthermore, we determined its anti-atherosclerotic effects in cultured smooth m...

BACKGROUND Patients treated with the Melody device (Medtronic) for percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation experience stent fractures in ≈25% of the cases. The aim of this study is to identify the risk factors associated with fracture using 3-dimensional (3D) analyses. METHODS AND RESULTS In situ 3D shape of the Melody stent was reconstructed from 42 patients using procedural biplane fluoro...

BACKGROUND Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has typically been performed using air insufflation. Recently, however, insufflation of CO2 has been increasingly used to avoid complications. This prospective study was designed to compare the CO2 concentration, intestinal volume, and acid-base balance using the duodenal balloon procedure. METHODS From June 2010 to February 2011, we enrolled ...

Mounting evidence of chemical disequilibria in the Venusian atmosphere has heightened interest search for life within planet’s cloud decks. Balloon systems are currently considered to be superior class aerial platform extended atmospheric sampling clouds, providing highest ratio science return risk. Balloon-based designs depend heavily on payload mass and target altitudes. We present options co...

Background and study aims Revision of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) may be necessary following previous biliary endoscopic sphincterotomy for recurrent biliary symptoms related to biliary stone recurrence, cholangitis or post-biliary endoscopic sphincterotomy (bEST) papillary stenosis and cholestasis. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the clinical outco...