Is the "perfect Fontan" operation routinely achievable in the modern era?
Using a standardized operative procedure, combining a bidirectional cavopulmonary connection with a polytetraflouroethylene tube placed from the inferior caval vein to the pulmonary arteries for nearly all patients with functionally univentricular hearts, early and late survival within the "perfect" outcome as predicted by the initial equations of Fontan and Kirklin is routinely achievable in the current era. The need for late revision or replacement of the tube is rare.
In this study we have demonstrated that haloarchaea are really thriving in the soil of Japanese-style salt field. The haloarchaeal cells, particularly the fragile strains are suggested to survive in the micropores of smaller size silt fraction, one of the components of soil. The inside of the silt particles is filled with concentrated salt solution and kept intact even upon suspension in rainwater. Possible origins of the haloarchaea isolated in this study are discussed.