1. Domestic and foreign trends in the prevalence of heart failure and the necessity of next-generation artificial hearts: a survey by the Working Group on Establishment of Assessment Guidelines for Next-Generation Artificial Heart Systems

   • Eisuke Tatsumi
   • Takeshi Nakatani
   • Hikaru Matsuda

   REVIEW 20 December 2007 Pages: 187 - 194

2. Circulatory assistance in small infants and neonates with a hydraulically driven system: a viable option?

   • Nils Reiss
   • Reiner Körfer

   ORIGINAL ARTICLE 20 December 2007 Pages: 195 - 200

3. Development of an educational simulator system, ECCSIM-Lite, for the acquisition of basic perfusion techniques and evaluation

   • Shinji Ninomiya
   • Asako Tokumine
   • Yasuko Tomizawa

   ORIGINAL ARTICLE 20 December 2007 Pages: 201 - 205

4. Patient–prosthesis mismatch may be irrelevant after aortic valve replacement with the 19-mm Perimount pericardial bioprosthesis in patients aged 65 years or older

   • Yoshimasa Sakamoto
   • Kazuhiro Hashimoto
   • Katsuhisa Onoguchi

   ORIGINAL ARTICLE 20 December 2007 Pages: 206 - 211

5. Acceleration of bone formation with BMP2 in frame-reinforced carbonate apatite–collagen sponge scaffolds

   • Isao Hirata
   • Yuji Nomura
   • Masayuki Okazaki

   ORIGINAL ARTICLE 20 December 2007 Pages: 212 - 217

6. Clinical experience with Smart Care after off-pump coronary artery bypass for early extubation

   • Go Kataoka
   • Noriyuki Murai
   • Yasuo Takeuchi

   ORIGINAL ARTICLE 20 December 2007 Pages: 218 - 222

7. Biochemical evaluation of an artificial anal sphincter made from shape memory alloys

   • Hongjian Liu
   • Yun Luo
   • Tomoyuki Yambe

   ORIGINAL ARTICLE 20 December 2007 Pages: 223 - 227

8. Simple method of left ventricular assist system exchange from a BVS-5000 to a Toyobo: case report of a patient with fulminant myocarditis

   • Toshihiro Ohata
   • Masataka Mitsuno
   • Yuji Miyamoto

   CASE REPORT 20 December 2007 Pages: 228 - 230

9. Fundamental study to develop a fiber-optic gap sensor for a rotary undulation pump

   • Norihiko Mitsumune
   • Itsuro Saito
   • Tsuneo Chinzei

   BRIEF COMMUNICATION 20 December 2007 Pages: 231 - 235

10. Development of a compact portable driver for a pneumatic ventricular assist device

    • Tomohiro Nishinaka
    • Yoshiyuki Taenaka
    • Soichiro Kitamura

    BRIEF COMMUNICATION 20 December 2007 Pages: 236 - 239

11. Up to 151 days of continuous animal perfusion with trivial heparin infusion by the application of a long-term durable antithrombogenic coating to a combination of a seal-less centrifugal pump and a diffusion membrane oxygenator

    • Tomohiro Nishinaka
    • Eisuke Tatsumi
    • Yoshiyuki Taenaka

    BRIEF COMMUNICATION 20 December 2007 Pages: 240 - 244