The exclusive reaction γp→K^{+}π^{-}Σ^{+} was measured for the first time using linearly polarized photons at beam energies from 1.85 to 2.96 GeV. Angular distributions in the rest frame of the K^{+}π^{-} system were fitted to extract spin-density matrix elements of the K^{*0} decay. The measured parity spin asymmetry shows that natural-parity exchange is dominant in this reaction. This result clearly indicates the need for t-channel exchange of the κ(800) scalar meson.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HT) are at a high risk of coronary artery disease. However, the mechanisms underlying this have not been well characterized. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the impacts of DM and HT on coronary atherosclerosis during statin therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The effects of 8-month statin therapy on coronary atherosclerosis were evaluated in the TRUTH study using virtual histology intravascular ultrasound. Analyzable intravascular ultrasound data were obtained from 119 patients who were divided into four subgroups, namely, group A: DM (+), HT (+); group B: DM (+), HT (-); group C: DM (-), HT (+); and group D: DM (-), HT (-). The pattern of arterial remodeling, extent of coronary atherosclerosis, and plaque composition were compared among the four subgroups. RESULTS: Atheroma volume decreased significantly in group D (-3.9%, P=0.01), whereas it tended to increase in group A (1.0%, P=0.77). A significant difference in the mean percent change of atheroma volume was observed between groups A and D (1.0 vs.-3.9%, P=0.03). Furthermore, the frequency of progression in atheroma volume was significantly higher in group A (60, 33, 45, and 24% in groups A, B, C, and D, respectively; P=0.03). No significant differences in the changes in the four plaque components among the four subgroups were observed. CONCLUSION: A combination of DM and HT attenuates the degree of regression of coronary atherosclerosis, but does not influence changes in plaque composition during statin therapy.

The 'evidence' in evidence-based medicine (EBM) is often limited to knowledge obtained from randomized controlled clinical trials (RCT). Most RCTs, however, have strict enrollment criteria which make patient background characteristics and clinical histories significantly different from those encountered in actual practice. Thus it is important to accumulate and analyze data obtained in daily practice to gain insight into a larger clinical picture. Recent developments in information technology and its lowered cost have enabled us to record clinical activity in much greater detail at a lower cost. These factors prompted us to design and develop a coronary angiography and intervention reporting system (CAIRS) to collect data and analyze outcomes of coronary intervention. The resulting advanced CAIRS can record detailed data on coronary angiographic and interventional procedures.To date, data on 10,025 cases of coronary angiography, of which 3,574 were interventional, have been collected over a 5.5 year period. There were 4,343 unique patients, 3,115 (71.7%) of which were male. The overall mean age was 67.0 ± 11.5. The mean age of males was 66.3 ± 11.4 and that of females was 69.0 ± 11.4. About one-third of the patients never underwent a PCI procedure at our institution. For patients that underwent at least one PCI procedure at our institution, the prescription rate of statin increased from 50.8% in 2005 to 80.3% in 2011, while those of nitrate and ticlopidine decreased from 36.7% and 90.8% in 2005 to 21.3% and 0.8% in 2011, respectively. We have also implemented the same system at another institution and compared the data on stent usage between the two institutions, which revealed vastly different stent usage profiles.In conclusion, we have successfully developed and implemented an advanced coronary angiography and intervention reporting system which we call CAIRS. Implementing the same system at multiple institutions and analyzing data collected from several institutions will provide detailed and timely insight into the 'real world' of coronary angiography and interventional procedures and their outcome.

Statin therapy produces regression of coronary artery plaques and reduces the incidence of coronary artery disease. However, not all patients show regression of coronary atherosclerosis after statin therapy. The purpose of the present study was to identify differences in clinical characteristics, serum lipid profiles, arterial remodeling, and plaque composition between patients with progression and those with regression of coronary atherosclerosis during statin therapy. The effects of 8-month statin therapy on coronary atherosclerosis were evaluated in the Treatment With Statin on Atheroma Regression Evaluated by Intravascular Ultrasound With Virtual Histology (TRUTH) study using intravascular ultrasound-virtual histology. One hundred nineteen patients were divided into 2 groups according to atheroma volume increase (progressors) or decrease (regressors) during an 8-month follow-up period. Fifty-one patients (43%) were categorized as progressors and the remaining 68 (57%) as regressors. External elastic membrane volume increased, although not significantly (0.8%, p = 0.34), and luminal volume decreased significantly (-5.3%, p = 0.0003) in progressors, while external elastic membrane volume decreased significantly (-3.2%, p <0.0001) and luminal volume increased (2.2%, p = 0.13) in regressors. The fibrous component increased significantly in progressors, while this component decreased in regressors. A strong positive correlation was observed between change in atheroma volume and change in fibrous volume (r = 0.812, p <0.0001). In conclusion, coronary arteries showed negative remodeling during statin-induced plaque regression. The difference in plaque composition between patients with progression and those with regression of coronary atherosclerosis during statin therapy arose from the difference in the change in fibrous component.

BACKGROUND Systemic therapy with statin has been shown to lower the risk of coronary events; however, the in vivo effects of statin therapy on plaque volume and composition are less understood. METHODS We conducted a prospective, open-labeled, randomized, multicenter study in 11 centers in Japan. A total of 164 patients were randomized to receive either 4 mg/d of pitavastatin (intensive lipid-lowering therapy) or 20 mg/d of pravastatin (moderate lipid-lowering therapy). Analyzable intravascular ultrasound data were obtained for 119 patients at baseline and at 8-month follow-up. The primary end point was the difference of volume changes in each of the 4 main plaque components (fibrosis, fibrofatty, calcium, and necrosis), assessed by virtual histology intravascular ultrasound, between the 2 groups. RESULTS The mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level at follow-up was significantly lower in the pitavastatin than in the pravastatin group (74 vs 95 mg/dL, P <.0001). During the 8-month follow-up period, statin therapy reduced the absolute and relative amount of fibrofatty component (pitavastatin: from 1.09 to 0.81 mm(3)/mm, P =.001; pravastatin: from 1.05 to 0.83 mm(3)/mm, P =.0008) and increased in the amount of calcium (pitavastatin: from 0.42 to 0.55 mm(3)/mm, P <.0001; pravastatin: from 0.44 to 0.55 mm(3)/mm, P =.005), whereas volume changes in both plaque components were not statistically different between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS Both pitavastatin and pravastatin altered coronary artery plaque composition by significantly decreasing the fibrofatty plaque component and increasing the calcified plaque component.

Flow coefficients v_{n} for n=2, 3, 4, characterizing the anisotropic collective flow in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV, are measured relative to event planes Ψ_{n}, determined at large rapidity. We report v_{n} as a function of transverse momentum and collision centrality, and study the correlations among the event planes of different order n. The v_{n} are well described by hydrodynamic models which employ a Glauber Monte Carlo initial state geometry with fluctuations, providing additional constraining power on the interplay between initial conditions and the effects of viscosity as the system evolves. This new constraint can serve to improve the precision of the extracted shear viscosity to entropy density ratio η/s.

Back-to-back hadron pair yields in d+Au and p+p collisions at √s(NN)=200 GeV were measured with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Rapidity separated hadron pairs were detected with the trigger hadron at pseudorapidity |η|<0.35 and the associated hadron at forward rapidity (deuteron direction, 3.0<η<3.8). Pairs were also detected with both hadrons measured at forward rapidity; in this case, the yield of back-to-back hadron pairs in d+Au collisions with small impact parameters is observed to be suppressed by a factor of 10 relative to p+p collisions. The kinematics of these pairs is expected to probe partons in the Au nucleus with a low fraction x of the nucleon momenta, where the gluon densities rise sharply. The observed suppression as a function of nuclear thickness, p(T), and η points to cold nuclear matter effects arising at high parton densities.

We present measurements of J/ψ yields in d+Au collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=200  GeV recorded by the PHENIX experiment and compare them with yields in p+p collisions at the same energy per nucleon-nucleon collision. The measurements cover a large kinematic range in J/ψ rapidity (-2.2<y<2.4) with high statistical precision and are compared with two theoretical models: one with nuclear shadowing combined with final state breakup and one with coherent gluon saturation effects. In order to remove model dependent systematic uncertainties we also compare the data to a simple geometric model. The forward rapidity data are inconsistent with nuclear modifications that are linear or exponential in the density weighted longitudinal thickness, such as those from the final state breakup of the bound state.

The radiocarbon ((14)C) of total carbon (TC) in atmospheric fine particles was measured at 6 h or 12 h intervals at two sites, 50 and 100 km downwind from Tokyo, Japan (Kisai and Maebashi) in summer 2007. The percent modern carbon (pMC) showed clear diurnal variations with minimums in the daytime. The mean pMC values at Maebashi were 28 ± 7 in the daytime and 45 ± 16 at night (37 ± 15 for the overall period). Those at Kisai were 26 ± 9 in the daytime and 44 ± 8 at night (37 ± 12 for the overall period). This data indicates that fossil sources were major contributors to the daytime TC, while fossil and modern sources had comparable contributions to nighttime TC in the suburban areas. At both sites, the concentration of fossil carbon as well as O(3) and the estimated secondary organic carbon increased in the daytime. These results suggest that fossil sources around Tokyo contributed significantly to the high daytime concentration of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) at the two suburban sites. A comparison of pMC and the ratio of elemental carbon/TC from our particulate samples with those from three end-member sources corroborates the dominant role of fossil SOA in the daytime.