• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.98-103
• /
• 2013

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common complication in elderly patients with atrial septal defect (ASD). The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the maze procedure in these patients. Materials and Methods: Between February 2000 and May 2011, 46 patients underwent the maze procedure as a concomitant operation with ASD closure. Three patients who underwent a right-sided maze were excluded, and one patient was lost to follow-up. The mean follow-up duration was $3.2{\pm}2.5$ years. Electrocardiography was performed 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after surgery, and checked annually after that. Results: AF persisted in 4 patients after surgery. One year after surgery, among 38 patients, 55.3% remained in sinus rhythm without antiarrhythmic drugs. However, when including the patients who took antiarrhythmic drugs, 92.1% were in sinus rhythm. Freedom from AF recurrence at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years after surgery were $97.4{\pm}2.6$, $94.4{\pm}3.8$, $91.2{\pm}4.9$, $87.8{\pm}5.8$, $79.5{\pm}7.6$, and $68.2{\pm}12.4$, respectively. There was no early mortality after operation. Conclusion: Concomitant treatment with the maze procedure and ASD closure is safe and effective for restoring the sinus rhythm.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.32 no.10
• /
• pp.903-909
• /
• 1999

Background: The current study was undertaken to investigate the results of a modification in the conventional Maze III Procedure devised by the authors. The aim of the technical modification was in improving the left atrial contractility. Material and Method: Between July 1997 and December 1998, 34 patients with chronic atrial fibrillation for more than 1 year duration underwent a modified Maze III procedure. The assessment of the left atrial function was made by various echocardiographic measurements and SA nodal recovery was evaluated by HRV Holter monitoring. Result: All 34 patients were in sinus rhythm. On echocardiography, right atrial contraction was detected in 32 patients(94.1%) and left atrial contraction in 33 patients(97.1%). The echocardiographic A wave at 1, 6, and 12 months or more were 50.5$\pm$31.5, 62.1$\pm$25.1, 66$\pm$20.6 cm/sec, respectively, and the E wave measurements at the same time points were 152$\pm$31.1, 134.4$\pm$35.2, 133$\pm$27.5 cm/sec. The corresponding A/E ratios were 0.32$\pm$0.13, 0.48$\pm$0.18, 0.5$\pm$0.15, showing a rising trend. Treadmill evaluation at 6 months showed a mean 82% increase in heart rate after excising, and the SDNN and SDANN upon HRV Holter at 1 and 3 months postoperatively were 65.3$\pm$28.1/87.8$\pm$27.2 ms, and 60.0$\pm$24.1/83.4$\pm$25.7 ms, respectively, showing a predoinant autonomic recovery in the parasympathetic system(PSDNN = 0.01, PSDANN =0.015). Conclusion: The results of our data suggest that the current modification in the conventional Maze III Procedure was efective in enhancing the postoperative left atrial contractility.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.145-149
• /
• 1995

Validity of use of a Y-maze for determining a foraging strategy of cattle was investigated with the object of establishing a procedure of testing foraging strategies of large herbivores. Cattle were placed in a start box of a Y-maze, forced into either goal arm and allowed to consume half of the feed at the end of the arm. Then, cattle were returned to the start box and allowed to choose either arm in the second half of a trial. This time animals were allowed to deplete the feed in the goal arm they chose. A return to the previous arm was recorded a "stay" Choice of the other arm was recorded as a "shift". Shift strategy was not observed. Rather, their behavior appeared either random or stay. However, it might have been caused by inappropriateness of the application of the apparatus and/or the procedure used in the study of foraging behavior of rats. Although the existence of lateral preference was suggested, further study with an elaborated procedure will be necessary to investigate foraging strategies of cattle.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.39 no.9 s.266
• /
• pp.681-691
• /
• 2006

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the mid-term outcomes of our modifications to the maze procedure using cryoablation for treating atrial fibrillation associated with rheumatic mitral valve disease. Material and Method: Between March 2000 and February 2004, 177 consecutive patients underwent the modified maze procedure with the use of cryoablation concomitant with mitral valve surgery for atrial fibrillation associated with rheumatic mitral valve disease, and were divided into three groups: (1) modified Cox-maze III (CM group, n=88): (2) modified Kosakai-maze (KM group, n=63): and (3) left atrial maze procedure (LA group, n=26). The postoperative and follow-up results were analyzed and compared between the groups. Result: There were three hospital deaths (1.7%) and no significant differences in the incidence of postoperative complications between the three groups. The operative time, such as the cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic crossclamp time, were significantly longer in the CM group than in the KM and LA groups, respectively (p<0.0001). The mean follow-up was $22.4{\pm}15.1$ months ($1\sim52.6$ months) for all patients. One late death developed in the CM group (0.0%). At last follow-up, 139 patients exhibited sinus rhythm (79.9%), which was also regained in 67 patients (77.9%) in the CM group, 50 (80.7%) in the KM group and 22 (84.6%) in the LA group (p=0.743). The actuarial freedom from stroke at 4 years was $84.5{\pm}9.4%$ in the CM group, $95.0{\pm}4.9%$ in the KM group, and $92.9{\pm}6.9%$ in the LA group (p=0.916). Conclusion: The modified maze procedure using cryoablation is safe and effective in treating chronic atrial fibrillation associated with rheumatic mitral valve disease.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.56-62
• /
• 2021

MSRDS(Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio) provides the ability to simulate these technologies. SPL(Simple Programming Language) of MSRDS provides many functions for sensor programming to control autonomous robots. Sensor programming in SPL can be implemented in two types of schemes: procedure sensor notification and while-loop schemes. We considered the three programming schemes to control the robot movement after studying the advantages and disadvantages of the sensor notification procedure and the while-loop scheme. We also created simulation environments to evaluate the performance of the three considered schemes when applied to four different mazes. The simulation environment consisted of a maze and a robot with the most powerful sensor, i.e., the LRF(Laser Range Finder) sensor. We measured the required travel time and robot actions (number of turns and number of collisions) needed to escape the maze and compared the performance outcomes of the three considered schemes in the four different mazes.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.41 no.6
• /
• pp.710-717
• /
• 2008

Background: Atrial fibrillation is associated with several complications such as cerebro-vascular accidents and peripheral arterial embolism. Most of the patients who have this arrhythmia chronically feel their heart beating and so they are frightened; therefore, the quality of a patient's life is decreased. The purpose of this article is to determine the long term results of a modified Maze procedure and the factors that influence the success of the procedure. Material and Method: This study enrolled 88 patients who underwent the modified Maze with using cryoablation between June, 2001 and February, 2007. The 88 consecutive patients were divided into two groups ac cording to how the pulmonary veins were isolated, that is, with or without cryoablation. There were 58 patients who were isolated by cutting and sewing in the right pulmonary veins and by cyroablation in the left pulmonary veins in group 1 (group 1, n=58), and 30 patients who underwent isolation by cryoablation in the right & left pulmonary veins were placed in group 2 (group 2, n=30). The ECG was checked at discharge to determine the sinus conversion rate and we followed up the patients to determine whether or not the patients maintained sinus rhythm. We also checked the ECG at the last visit to determine the patients' heart rhythm. Result: The mean follow up time was $44.3{\pm}19.2$ months. At discharge, 72.4% of the patients in group 1 were in proper sinus rhythm and 66.7% of the patients in group 2 were in proper sinus rhythm. At the last follow up, 81% of the patients in group 1 were in normal sinus rhythm and 60% of the patients in group 2 were in normal sinus rhythm. When we analyzed the data via the Kaplan-Meier method, 86.5% of the patients were free from atrial fibrillation (% free from AF) at 1 year, 80% of the patients were free from atrial fibrillation at 5 year in group 1 and 70% of the patients were free from atrial fibrillation at 1 year and 51 % of the patients in group 2 were free from atrial fibrillation at 5 year. Conclusion: The modified Maze technique using cryoablation was a simple and effective procedure. But the success rate of the Maze technique using cryoblation is lower than that of the standard Maze III. The method using cryoablation shorten the operation time, but we must conduct more studies to get a better result of the modified Maze technique with using cryoablation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.37 no.7
• /
• pp.609-612
• /
• 2004

Even though the Cox-Maze III procedure is the gold standard in the therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF) and its outcome is excellent, the complexity of the operation, longer cardiopulmonary bypass time and the risk of bleeding have tended to dissuade cardiac surgeons from its application. The recent data of the pathogenesis of AF and the development of alternative energy sources have facilitated the development of the modified Cox-Maze procedure rapidly. We reported that atrial fibrillation was conversed to sinus rhythm by the epicardial microwave ablation without cardiopulmonary bypass and the normal sinus rhythm was observed during 33 months of follow-up period.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.43-64
• /
• 2004

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Jowiseungcheongtang compared with St. John's wort in the chronic mild stress(CMS) animal model of depression. Wistar rats were used for this study. The subjects were divided into 4 groups (Naive group: without CMS procedure, CMS-vehicle: water was administered during CMS procedure, CMS-Jowiseungcheongtang: Jowiseungcheongtang was administered after 5 weeks of CMS procedure, CMS-St. John's wort: St. John's wort was administered after 5 weeks of CMS procedure) During 9 weeks of CMS procedure, The change of the consumption of sucrose and the changes of weights were measured. After CMS procedure, Morris water maze test, open field test, elevated plus maze test and Western blotting were measured. The results were as follows. 1. The consumption of sucrose solution was significantly reversed in Jowiseungcheongtang group and relatively reversed in St. John's Wort group at 7 week. 2. In open field test, Neither Jowiseungcheongtang nor St. John's wort group showed statistically significant change of exploratory activity. In EPM test, St. John's Wort group showed significant decrease of total arm entry in comparison with Naive group. And Jowiseungcheongtang group was showed no significant change. 3. In Morris water maze test, St. John's Wort group showed significant increase in escape latency of the last Morris water maze trial. And in water maze probe test, there was no significant change. 4. St. John's Wort group showed relative increase in LP1 division of 5HT1A receptor compared with Naive group. Both St. John's Wort and Jowiseungcheongtang group showed relative increase in P2 division of GluRl compared with Naive group. These results suggest that Jowiseungcheongtang is as effective as St. John's Wort in the treatment of depression.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 1998

Atrial fibrillation is the most common of all cardiac arrhythmias. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and is frequently resistant to medical therapy. On the experimental and clinical study, the presence of macroreentrant circuits and the absence of either microreentrant circuits or evidence of atrial automaticity suggests that atrial fibrillation should be amenable to surgical ablation. The results of the maze III procedure are associated with a higher incidence of postoperative sinus rhythm, improved long-term sinus node function, fewer pacemaker requirements, less arrhythmia recurrence, and improved long-term atrial transport function. We had experienced 4 patients with chronic atrial fibrillation. For the first time, Hioki procedure had been performed in the first patient with ASD and atrial fibrillation, regular sinus rhythm showed on postoperative EKG, but junctional rhythm and bradycardia developed postoperative 3 years. The maze III procedure for the rest with mitral valvular disease and atrial fibrillation had been done, followed by regular sinus rhythm for 2 patients and atrial fibrillation for 1 patient, managed with amiodarone, on immediate postoperative state. Echocardiogram documented good contraction of right atrium and hardly contraction of left atrium for 2 patients with regular sinus rhythm postoperative 3 months.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.27-44
• /
• 2003

Objective : The aim of this study was to assess protective effects of Whangryonhaedoktang on the chronic mild stress (CMS) animal model of depression. Method : Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used for this study. The subjects were divided into 3 groups (CMS-drug group: Whangryonhaedoktang was administered during CMS procedure, CMS-vehicle: water was administered during CMS procedure, normal control group: without CMS procedure). After 4 weeks of CMS procedure, Morris water maze (MWM) test and open field test were executed and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) was measured in ventral tegmental area (VTA) and locus coeruleus (LC) of rat brain. Result : 1. CMS procedure induced defects of spatial learning in early period of MWM test. 2. CMS Whangryonhaedoktang group showed shorter escape latency in comparison with CMS control group in MWM test on the first day of the test. 3. CMS Whangryonhaedoktang group and CMS control group showed no significant difference of activities and emotional behaviors in comparison with normal control group in open field test. 4. CMS Whangryonhaedoktang group showed significant inhibition effects of TH expression in VTA and LC areas in comparison with CMS control group. Conclusion : These results suggest that Whangryonhaedoktang may have inhibition effects to early period defects of spatial learning and protective antidepressant effects in CMS model rats.