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This study aimed to evaluate short- and mid-term outcomes of percutaneous transluminal renal artery angioplasty (PTRA) in patients with symptomatic renal artery stenosis caused by renal artery fibromuscular dysplasia (RAFMD). Retrospective analysis of 22 patients with RAFMD who were performed PTRA between 2006 and 2012. These patients underwent PTRA due to poorly controlled hypertension. Pre- and post-PTRA blood pressure (BP) measurements and renal function were evaluated. Freedom from events (restenosis, repeat intervention, renal failure, and recurrent hypertension) was investigated using life table analysis. Twenty-two patients (54.5% women, mean age 39.2 years) with 24 renal arteries underwent PTRA. The technical success rate was 100%. The mean systolic BP decreased from 155.9 ± 14.7 to 138.3 ± 9.41 mmHg (P = 0.00004), and the mean diastolic BP decreased from 99.0 ± 11.5 to 88.0 ± 7.19 mmHg (P = 0.0043). Rates of freedom from recurrent or worsening hypertension, defined by >140 mmHg systolic BP and >90 mmHg diastolic BP, were 89.4, 89.4, 81.3, and 71.1% at 1, 2, 3, and 4 years, respectively. Restenosis-free rates were 90.0, 83.6, 73.4, and 61.9%, respectively. No patient underwent repeat intervention and renal failure. PTRA is a durable modality for treating RAFMD with favorable short- and mid-term clinical outcomes.

A 73-year-old woman with breast cancer and metastasis under chemotherapy suffered from fever, pleural effusion and pericardial effusion. Despite the administration of treatment with cefozopran and prednisolone, the patient's fever relapsed. An electrocardiogram identified a new complete atrioventricular block and an echocardiogram revealed vegetation with an unusual pseudotumoral mass in the right atrium. Blood cultures grew Listeria monocytogenes. The patient was eventually diagnosed with right-sided infective endocarditis, which improved following the six-week administration of ampicillin and gentamicin. Homemade yoghurt was suspected to be the cause of infection in this case. Listeria endocarditis is rare; however, physicians should pay more attention to preventing this fatal disease in immunocompromised patients.

The electron affinities (EAs) for a series of methyl benzoates, acetophenones, benzaldehydes, and benzophenones were determined by measuring the electron-transfer equilibria in the gas phase. The effect of substituents (X) in the benzene ring on the EAs of this series as well as the nitrobenzene and benzonitrile series were correlated in terms of the Yukawa–Tsuno equation, It has been shown that the r− value, representing the degree of π-delocalization of the negative charge into the substituent (X) at position 4, increases linearly with decreasing EA of the unsubstituted member (X = H) of the respective series, i.e., 0.65 for nitrobenzene vs. 1.05 for benzaldehyde and 1.30 for benzonitrile. This tendency of the r− value leads to the conclusion that the negative charge of a less-stable radical anion is more significantly distributed in the benzene ring than in a stable radical anion, like that of nitrobenzene. Ab initio MO calculations show that when the EA of a Y-substituted benzene decreases, the total negative charge on the substituent (Y) in the radical anion also decreases, and that the bond lengths (C2C3/C5C6) shorten. These features are consistent with the conclusion derived from the experimentally obtained r− value.

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