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Low-rise buildings in Japan are predominantly made of wood. Furthermore, the government promotes the use of wood in mid- and high-rise buildings to tackle climate change. Therefore, the environmental impact of structural lumber should be assessed. In this study, we evaluated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and resource consumption associated with structural lumber production using life cycle assessment. Herein, we focused on Japanese Agricultural Standard certified structural lumber (artificially dried lumber and machine-grade structural lumber) made from Japanese roundwood. To ensure representativeness, 15 companies and 15 sawmills covering more than 50% of Japan's structural lumber production were selected and data on their production were collected. The results show that the GHG emissions and resource consumption of Japanese structural lumber are 7.99 × 10 kg-CO2e/m3 and 1.77 × 10–3 kg-Sb eq./m3, respectively. The major sources of GHG emissions are electricity and roundwood production. Roundwood and metal tools significantly affect resource consumption. The recycling of rare metals in tools is essential for reducing resource consumption. A significant amount of heat energy is utilized for drying, and this heat energy is supplied from both biomass and fossil fuels. GHG emissions and resource consumption are 5.3 and 1.6 times higher, respectively, if biomass fuel is replaced by fossil fuel. Policies supporting the introduction of biomass boilers have been highly effective. It is recommended to further promote measures such as replacing fossil fuel-based boilers with biomass boilers and effectively utilizing biomass boilers in multiple regional sawmills. In addition, switching from grid electricity to electricity generated by renewable energy sources is effective for further reducing environmental impacts. The long-term use of structural lumber is valid for combating global warming because it fixes carbon for decades. In this study, the CO2 emissions from biomasaluated in terms of carbon neutrality. Appropriate forest management is a prerequisite for carbon neutrality, and the promotion of sustainable forest management, such as reforestation after logging, is crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and utility of using motorized pullback of the pressure guidewire to provide a graphic assessment and prediction of the benefits of coronary intervention. Fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurements were performed with motorized pullback imaging in 20 patients who underwent successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of the left anterior descending artery. Physiological lesion length (PLL) was calculated using frame counts to determine stent length. FFR area was calculated by integrating the FFR values recorded during pullback tracing (FFRarea). The percentage increase in FFR area (%FFRarea) was defined as the ratio of the difference between the pre- and post-intervention FFRarea to the total frame count. The average FFR values were enhanced following PCI, from 0.64 to 0.82, and the median value of the difference between pre- and post-interventional FFR values (D-FFR) and %FFRarea were 0.13 and 10.6%, respectively. The %FFRarea demonstrated a significant positive correlation with D-FFR (R2, 0.61; p < 0.01). PLL tended to be longer and the %FFRarea was smaller in lesions with a gradual pressure-drop pattern than those with an abrupt pressure-drop pattern (35.37 vs. 20.40 mm, p = 0.07; 5.78 vs. 16.21%, p < 0.05, respectively). Motorized pullback tracing was able to identify the extent and location of stenosis and help in appropriate stent implantation, in addition to visualizing and quantifying the improvement in FFR following PCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Myocardial perfusion single-photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT) can predict cardiac events in patients with coronary artery disease with high accuracy; however, pseudo-negative cases sometimes occur. Heart Risk View, which is based on the prospective cohort study (J-ACCESS), is a software for evaluating cardiac event probability. Objectives: We examined whether Heart Risk View was useful to evaluate the cardiac risk in patients with normal myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS). Methods and Results: We studied 3461 consecutive patients who underwent MPS to detect myocardial ischemia and those who had normal MPS were enrolled in this study (n = 698). We calculated cardiac event probability by Heart Risk View and followed-up for 3.8 ± 2.4 years. The cardiac events were defined as cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and heart failure requiring hospitalization. During the follow-up period, 21 patients (3.0 %) had cardiac events. The event probability calculated by Heart Risk View was higher in the event group (5.5 ± 2.6 vs. 2.9 ± 2.6 %, p < 0.001). According to the receiver-operating characteristics curve, the cut-off point of the event probability for predicting cardiac events was 3.4 % (sensitivity 0.76, specificity 0.72, and AUC 0.85). Kaplan-Meier curves revealed that a higher event rate was observed in the high-event probability group by the log-rank test (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Although myocardial perfusion SPECT is useful for the prediction of cardiac events, risk estimation by Heart Risk View adds more prognostic information, especially in patients with normal MPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]