Advanced age was a major risk factor for postoperative AF. Furthermore, inflammatory response induced by surgical trauma was also associated with the development of AF after off-pump CABG.

Persistent sciatic artery (PSA) is a rare congenital anomaly, but in many cases it is a clinically important condition. PSA is susceptible to atherosclerotic degeneration, resulting in aneurysmal dilatation, occlusive thrombosis, or thromboembolization. PSA aneurysm is associated with distal embolization, sciatic neuropathy, or rupture. We describe a case of a patient with a ruptured PSA aneurysm treated by exclusion of the aneurysm and bypass between the common iliac artery and the PSA distal to the aneurysm, and discuss treatment of PSA aneurysm.

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Haptic recognition of familiar objects by the early blind, the late blind, and the sighted was investigated with two-dimensional (2-0) and three-dimensional (3-0) stimuli produced by small tactor-pins. The 2-D stimulus was an outline of an object that was depicted by raising tactor-pins to 1.5 mm. The 3-D stimulus was a relief that was produced by raising the tactors up to 10 mm, corresponding to the height of the object. Mean recognition times for correct answers to the 3-D stimuli were faster than those for the 2-D stimuli, in all three subject groups. No statistically significant differences in percentage of correct responses between the 2-D and the 3-D stimuli were found for the late-blind and sighted groups, but the early-blind group demonstrated a significant difference. In addition, the haptic legibility for the quality of depiction of the object, without regard to whether or not the stimulus was understood, was measured. The haptic legibility of the 3-D stimuli was significantly higher than that of the 2-D stimuli for all the groups. These results suggest that 3-D presentation seems to promise a way to overcome the limitations of 2-D graphic display.As a result of recent advances in computer technology, it has become possible to translate written text into syn-