Functional characterization of 50 CYP2D6 allelic variants by assessing primaquine 5-hydroxylation.

Cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) is responsible for the metabolic activation of primaquine, an antimalarial drug. CYP2D6 is genetically polymorphic, and these polymorphisms are associated with interindividual variations observed in the therapeutic efficacy of primaquine. To further understand this association, we performed in vitro enzymatic analyses of the wild-type CYP2D6.

Functional Characterization of 21 Allelic Variants of Dihydropyrimidine Dehydrogenase Identified in 1070 Japanese Individuals.

Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD, EC 1.3.1.

Functional characterization of 21 allelic variants of dihydropyrimidinase.

Dihydropyrimidinase (DHP, EC 3.5.2.

Genetic polymorphisms of dihydropyrimidinase in a Japanese patient with capecitabine-induced toxicity.

Dihydropyrimidinase (DHP) is the second enzyme in the catabolic pathway of uracil, thymine, and chemotherapeutic fluoropyrimidine agents such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Thus, DHP deficiency might be associated with 5-FU toxicity during fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy. We performed genetic analyses of the family of a patient with advanced colon cancer who underwent radical colectomy followed by treatment with 5-FU prodrug capecitabine and developed severe toxicity attributable to a lack of DHP.

Novel single nucleotide polymorphisms of the dihydropyrimidinase gene (DPYS) in Japanese individuals.

Genetic polymorphisms of the dihydropyrimidinase gene (DPYS) may be associated with the development of severe toxicity to 5-fluorouracil, a drug used to treat solid tumors. In this study, we analyzed the nine coding exons and exon-intron junctions of DPYS in 183 Japanese individuals. We detected two novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)-285C > T (Thr95Thr) and 349T > C (Trp117Arg)-in exon 2.

Immunohistochemical expression of osteopontin in gastric cancer.

Background/aims: Osteopontin (OPN) is significantly overexpressed in a variety of malignancies. However, little is known concerning the significance of OPN expression in human cancers. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the degree of OPN expression, the proliferative activity of cancer cells, and the clinicopathological findings for surgically resected gastric cancer.

A case of lymphomatoid granulomatosis followed for 14 months on the basis of clinical and histological findings.

Lymphomatoid granulomatosis (LYG) is a systemic granulomatous disease characterized by B-cell proliferation of uncertain malignant potential. It most frequently affects the lungs but also occasionally affects the central nervous system. Its pathophysiology is unclear in numerous respects, thus making it difficult to diagnose and treat.

Treatment outcomes and dose-volume histogram analysis of simultaneous integrated boost method for malignant gliomas using intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

Background: The aim of this article is to report the treatment outcomes, toxicities, and dosimetric feasibility of our simultaneous-boost intensity-modulated radiotherapy (SIB-IMRT) protocol.

Methods: Thirteen patients with malignant gliomas treated between December 2000 and September 2004 were enrolled in this study. Two planning target volumes (PTVs) were defined in the present study.

Early effects of boron neutron capture therapy on rat glioma models.

Early effects of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) on malignant glioma are characterized by reduction of the enhancement area and regression of the peritumoral edema radiologically. The aim of this study was to investigate the early histological changes of tumors and inflammatory cells after BNCT in the rat brain. Rats were treated with BNCT using boronophenylalanine (BPA) 7 days after implantation of C6 glioma cells.

Endovascular stent placement of cervical internal carotid artery dissection related to a seat-belt injury: a case report.

Object: The incidence of carotid artery dissection related to blunt injury is very low, but the mortality rate is high. Rapid diagnosis and proper treatments are discussed.

Clinical Presentation: A 48-year-old woman presented diplopia and pulsating tinnitus of the left ear.

Different signal intensities between intra- and extracranial components in jugular foramen meningioma: an enigma.

Background And Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate retrospectively differences in MR signal intensity and contrast enhancement between intra- and extracranial components of jugular foramen meningioma (JFM).

Methods: MR studies of eight patients who underwent surgery for histologically confirmed JFM were reviewed retrospectively. Signal intensity differences between intra- and extracranial components of all eight JFMs on axial T1-, T2-, and postcontrast T1-weighted images were evaluated visually.

Feasibility study of the simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) method for malignant gliomas using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).

Background: Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) using the simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) method was designed for treating malignant gliomas. The purpose of this study was to investigate feasibility of this treatment.

Methods: Between December 2000 and November 2002, six patients with malignant gliomas were enrolled in this study.

Symptomatic cavernous internal carotid artery aneurysms treated with detachable coils.

We reviewed the cranial nerve dysfunctions of eight patients with symptomatic cavernous internal carotid (CSIC) aneurysms treated by endovascular intraaneurysmal occlusion. Aneurysms were classified into three types according to their location and direction of growth. Anterior type aneurysms, which involved anterior bend of CSIC represented third nerve dysfunction.

[A case report of tuberculous meningitis: limits of detection using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and treatments].

A 40-year-old man with intractable meningitis was transferred to our hospital 6 weeks after onset. On admission, he showed consciousness disturbance, meningeal signs and right oculomotor nerve palsy. MRI demonstrated prominent cisternal enhancement and hydrocephalus.

[Dissecting aneurysm of the anterior cerebral artery with later development of collateral circulation: a case report].

Intracranial dissecting aneurysm (DA) is much less frequent than berry aneurysm. Such dissection involves mostly the vertebral and basilar arteries, followed by the internal carotid and middle cerebral arteries. DA of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA) is relatively rare and little is known about its natural Development.

Initial and long-term results and peri-procedural complication in 35 extracranial stentings.

We undertook stent-supported angioplasty for 35 lesions of extracranial stenosis in 31 patients from May 1996 to October 1998. We succeeded in the stenting at the predetermined sites of all lesions and excellent initial results were obtained. The mean % stenosis decreased from 81% to 7.

[A case of neurofibromatosis type 1 associated with arteriovenous fistula caused by re-bleeding of a vertebral dissecting aneurysm].

We described a dissecting aneurysm of the vertebral artery (VA), which was associated with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). A 41-year-old man was referred to our hospital because of abrupt, severe headache. A CT scan revealed diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) predominantly in the prepontine cistern.

[A case of peduncular hallucination after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage].

We reported a case of peduncular hallucination after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The patient underwent endovascular embolization of an intracranial aneurysm using the Guglielmi detachable coils (GDCs) 9 days after SAH. On the 11th day, she reported visual hallucination: a maggot was on the ceiling, or a soldier who wore green clothes was standing by a locker.

[Four cases of abducens palsy caused by a vascular lesion of the vertebrobasilar system].

Several pathological conditions are responsible for abducens palsy, but a lesion of the vertebral artery (VA) has rarely been recognized as one of the causes. It has been reported that a high percentage of cases of abducens palsy are involved with ruptured dissecting aneurysms of the VA. We investigate the vertebrobasilar anatomy in 4 patients, suffering with abducens palsy.

Stenting of the extracranial carotid artery in a high-risk population.

The results of nine patients with carotid stenosis in a high-risk surgical population that were treated by stent supported angioplasty are reported. There were eight males and one female between the ages of 53 to 74. A balloon expandable stent was deployed by a transfemoral approach.

Single stranded DNA as an immunocytochemical marker for apoptotic change of ischemia in the gerbil hippocampus.

The light and electron microscopic localizations of single stranded DNA (SSD) protein, a marker of apoptosis and programmed cell death, in the gerbil hippocampus were examined by immunocytochemistry after transient brain ischemia. SSD-immunoreactive (IR) cells appeared from post-operative day 1 (PO 1) to PO 7 after 5- or 10-min ischemia. Immunoreaction was recognized in the nucleus of the CA1 pyramidal neurons without remarkable morphological changes on PO 1.

Stenting for extracranial stenotic lesions of carotid and vertebral arteries.

We evaluated the feasibility of stenting in four patients. Two cases were vertebral osteal stenosis and the others were carotid stenosis at high position with ulcers. We placed balloon expandable coronary stents by a bared stent technique.

Neuronal integrity and astrocytic reaction in cold injury: an immunohistochemical investigation.

The relationship between extravasation of serum albumin and damage to the neuronal elements as well as the astrocytic reaction was investigated following cold injury, using immunohistochemistry for albumin, microtubule-associated protein I and II (MAPs) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). After 30 min, spreading of albumin to the neuropil and uptake into nerve cell bodies and dendrites were clearly observed in the area surrounding the cold lesion. Extravasation of albumin was maximal at 24 h and extended to the ipsilateral hippocampus and thalamus as well as to the paramedian part of the contralateral cerebral hemisphere.

[A case of olfactory neuroblastoma with intracranial, intraorbital extension and multiple metastases].

A 51-year-old man presented with headache, vomiting and exophthalmus. Neurological examination revealed anosmia, papilledema, decrease in visual acuity, and disability in ocular movement. MRI showed a huge mass which occupied the whole nasal cavity and compressed the frontal lobe upwards and the eyes laterally.

Asymptomatic hypothalamic hamartoma associated with an arachnoid cyst--case report.

A 42-year-old male presented with the complaint of mild left facial numbness. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a solid tumor in the interpeduncular cistern and a huge arachnoid cyst in the left middle cranial fossa. The tumor appeared isointense to the surrounding cerebral gray matter on T1-weighted images and hyperintense to that on T2-weighted images.