Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are attracting much interest as fibrous materials for reinforcing metal matrix composites due to their remarkable properties such as very high strength, elastic modulus, flexibility and high aspect ratios. However, due to the intricate entanglements of long and fine CNTs and resulting aggregation, disentanglement and uniform dispersion of CNTs in aluminium (Al) matrices have been found quite difficult. In addition, the poor wetting property of carbon for Al has been a great obstacle to forming composites. On a totally new principle, we succeeded in producing nano-scale composites in which carbon nanotubes were uniformly dispersed in Al matrices. We named this method Nano-Scale Dispersion (NSD) method, which can also be employed to disperse various fillers such as whiskers, ceramic fibres, and powders in metal matrices as well as Al. The composites obtained were found to be highly reinforced and not to melt at a temperature far above the melting point of Al. Here we report the procedure of their fabrication and mechanical properties.
It was concluded that similar to previously reported canine experimental studies, the APD restitution of S3 is substantially different from that of S2 in the human intact ventricle (endocardium).
Endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) has been performed for intramucosal carcinomas with excellent results. To evaluate invasion depth of superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (SESCCs) accurately, it is important to elucidate vertical and horizontal growth features. Using 179 specimens of SESCC taken by EMR, various factors associated with vertical and horizontal growth were examined pathologically to determine which were correlated with invasion depth, classified for this purpose into four levels, m1, m2, m3, and sm. Maximum tumor diameter, including high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia, differed between m1 and m2 cases and for invasive lesions between m2 and m3. Maximum tumor thickness varied between m1 and m2, m2 and m3, and m3 and sm. Multivariate analysis showed tumor thickness and diameter of invasion to be correlated with submucosal invasion. Tumor thickness and depth of the depressed lesions were correlated in depressed/flat type cases. In elevated type cases the thickness of the tumor did not differentiate between m3 and sm. Shape of the elevated lesion also influenced the invasion depth. Frequency of infiltrating type tumors, composed of irregular and small invading nests, was higher with sm than m3. To differentiate m3 and sm tumor the classification of gross type, thickness, depth of depressed lesions, shape of elevated lesions, and invasion patterns should all be evaluated.
A 59-year-old male patient was followed up for congestive heart failure. Echo cardiogram showed no abnormal findings other than a remarkable dilatation of the bilateral atria. The coronary arteries and left ventricular contraction were normal. Left ventricular endomyocardial biopsy showed no significant abnormal findings. Further, we examined his siblings using dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and found that they all also had dilated bilateral atria. After several hospitalizations, the proband died from cardiogenic shock. Pathological findings showed nonspecific change in bilateral atria and ventricles. This is a very rare case of familial idiopathic dilatation of bilateral atria.
Purpose: In patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for breast cancer, the positive margin rate has reportedly reduced from 15%-50% to 6%-19% by the addition of intraoperative margin assessment (IMA). Previous reports have suggested that imprint cytology (IC) is superior to frozen section (FS) because the former can assess the entire circumference of surgical margins, although its precision is inferior to that of FS. In contrast, FS cannot evaluate the entire circumference of surgical margins and may result in sampling errors in the detection of positive margins. To date, reports on IMA have described only the single use of IC or FS. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to elucidate the effect of IC followed by FS for IMA in BCS by comparing the positive margin rate with that of permanent section (PS). Patients and Methods: We enrolled a total of 522 cases which underwent BCS without neoadjuvant therapy between January 2013 and April 2019. The entire circumference of surgical margins was subjected to IC. Upon obtaining negative IC results, no other procedure was added for IMA. FS was only added for the cases with “positive” or “suspicious” IC results. We performed additional intraoperative excision for FS-positive sites of lesions and did not add any procedure for IMA. All margins were evaluated by postoperative PS after excision. We defined “PS positive” as the exposure of cancer cell for invasive ductal carcinoma and close margin less than 2 mm for non-invasive ductal carcinoma (DCIS) based on the Society of Surgical Oncology and American Society of Radiation Oncology guidelines (2014/2016). Cases diagnosed as IC positive but not subjected to additional intraoperative excision based on FS-negative findings were defined as “IC false positive.” We then compared the results of PS with those of IC and FS. In addition, we evaluated the association between clinicopathological factors and PS-positive or IC-false-positive diagnosis by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Of 522 cases, 136 (26.1%) were IC positive and 386 (73.9%) were IC negative. Among the 386 cases not subjected to FS for IMA because of IC-negative diagnosis, 11 (2.8%) were PS positive. In 47 (34.6%) of 136 IC-positive cases, additional intraoperative excision was unnecessary due to FS-negative diagnosis. Postoperative PS revealed that all of these 47 cases were PS negative. Although we performed additional intraoperative excision, 5 cases remained PS positive. There was no association between PS-positive diagnosis and clinicopathological factors. In univariate analysis, premenopausal status and DCIS significantly increased the IC-false-positive diagnosis risk (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.014, respectively). Multivariable analysis revealed that premenopause was a significant risk factor for IC-false-positive diagnosis (OR: 0.27, 95% CI: 0.13-0.56; p< 0.001). The overall positive margin rate on final pathology based on PS was 3.1% (16/522 cases). Conclusion: The proposed method is the best method to compensate for the individual weak points of IC and FS. Because upon finding margin-positive lesions on IC, FS were added to the lesions. Our findings indicate that the proposed strategy should be an optimal method for taking advantages of both IC and FS. As a result, the positive margin rate using our strategy was extremely low compared with that reported in previous studies.
Citation Format: Tamaki Tamanuki, Maki Namura, Tomoyoshi Aoyagi, Tomoko Suwa, Shinichirou Shimizu, Hiroshi Matsuzaki. Effect of intraoperative imprint cytology followed by frozen section for margin assessment in breast-conserving surgery [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-13-03.
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