Descending Aorta Wall Volume and Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract

The study examined the association between aortic wall volume (AWV) detected by enhanced computed tomography and coronary artery atherosclerosis observed on angiography. In 180 cases, AWV was measured as the total wall volume of a 7-cm portion of the descending thoracic aorta distal from the tracheal bifurcation. Coronary artery atherosclerosis was angiographically quantified by both Gensini score, in terms of the severity of coronary artery stenosis, and Extent score, in terms of the severity of coronary artery involvement. Mean AWV values between the patients with significant coronary artery stenosis and those without significant stenosis were 9.83+/-4.04 cm3 and 8.09+/-2.39 cm3, respectively (p<0.001). AWV was a significantly independent variable for significant coronary artery disease (p=0.0097) and an Extent score > or = 60 (p=0.0092). Calcification of AWV, however, was not associated with coronary atherosclerosis. The quantification of aortic atherosclerosis was useful for diagnosing coronary artery disease.

Novel in-plane switching liquid crystal display with an extremely high transmittance using a well-designed bottlebrush as a zero-azimuth anchoring material

“…In addtion, the degree of swelling of the bottlebrush layer in contact with the same NLC was found to be around 1.6. This may suggest that the NLC was confined into the bottlebrush layer as a liquid phase, consistently with the conceptual diagram, previously proposed by Yamamoto and coworkers, 11) that the zero-azimuth anchoring could be achieved by an interfacial liquid layer shielding the substrate effect owing to its mobility. Further systematic investigation of the bottlebrush/ NLC composite systems will reveal the mechanism of the zero-azimuth anchoring properties in more detail, which will be the topic of a forthcoming paper.…”

“…However, if such anchoring does not occur between the LC molecules and the interface, the development of an innovative LCD that combines the advantages of ultralow voltage driving performance and excellent memory characteristics is likely attainable. [8][9][10][11] Substrates coated with polymers at sufficiently high temperatures have offered weak azimuthal anchoring surfaces. 10,[12][13][14][15] An external field applied to NLCs between two polymer-coated substrates during the heating and cooling processes can align the NLC director, and the resulting orientation can be memorized at low temperatures.…”

Correlation Between the Level od Atherosclerosis and Pathological Features of Coronary Artery Disease: A Study of 100 Autopsy Cases

“…Coronary atherosclerosis is generally less severe than aortic atherosclerosis but parallels the process in the aorta and explains the low incidence of coronary artery disease despite severe aortic atherosclerosis. Of all vessels, the aorta (both abdominal and thoracic) was the most affected by atherosclerotic plaques in relation with coronary artery disease (7)(8)(9)(10)(11). Complicated and calcified plaques were most clearly discovered on the intimal surfaces of the aorta at the sametime with fibrous plaques in other vessels (8).…”