Bilateral isolated coronary ostial stenosis in a middle-aged premenopausal woman with vasospastic angina: a case report.

Background: Vasospastic angina (VSA) is uncommon in premenopausal women who have less chronic endothelial injury causing vascular remodelling, considered to play a primary role in the pathogenesis for coronary vasospasms. Furthermore, vasospasms rarely occur in the bilateral coronary ostia. Isolated coronary ostial stenosis (ICOS), which often causes severe effort angina and requires surgical intervention, is more commonly reported in middle-aged women, with causes including fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) and large-vessel vasculitis.

Controlled Secretion of the Anticancer Protein MDA-7 from Engineered Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been explored as a "live" carrier of cytokines for targeted cancer therapy, but, in earlier reports in the literature, the secretion process of therapeutic cytokines was not regulated. The purpose of this study was to generate MSCs to conditionally secrete the melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7 (MDA-7) tumor-suppressor protein. To control the secretion of MDA-7 from MSCs, a well-established tetracycline-controlled transcriptional activation system was incorporated into MDA-7 plasmid.

Endocan as a prognostic biomarker of triple-negative breast cancer.

Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has aggressive characteristics and fewer treatment options than other subtypes. The purpose of this study was to explore prognostic biomarkers for TNBC that can be easily detected from the blood samples.

Methods: MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-231BR, a brain metastatic variant of the human TNBC cell line MDA-MB-231, were used as less and more aggressive models of TNBC, respectively.

Severe hypoglycemia associated with insulin-like growth factor II-producing liver metastasis from gastric carcinoma treated with overnight total parenteral nutrition via a central vein catheter reserve port.

Hypoglycemia caused by insulin-like growth factor II is difficult to control. A 77-year-old woman was diagnosed with gastric cancer and multiple liver metastases in September 2006 and underwent chemotherapy; however, at that time there were no symptoms of hypoglycemia. From January 2007 onwards, hypoglycemic comas and symptoms of hypoglycemia began to appear frequently.

Evaluation of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography using perfluorobutane (Sonazoid(®)) in patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison with dynamic computed tomography.

This study aimed to elucidate the efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) with perfluorobutane (Sonazoid(®)) in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs), particularly small HCCs, by comparing the results with dynamic computed tomography (Dy-CT). Seventy-nine nodules in 69 patients with chronic liver disease, suspected as HCCs were studied. The nodules were selected based on the results of B-mode ultrasonography and/or Dy-CT conducted between January and August 2007.

Primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the pancreas.

The primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) of the pancreas, a member of Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors, is extremely rare. We treated a 37-year-old Japanese man who had a solitary pancreatic tumor 40 mm in diameter and multiple hepatic tumors with surgical resection. The PNET was positive for CD99 on immunohistochemical staining.

Brain metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma treated with a cyber-knife.

A 70-year-old right-handed Japanese man who had undergone surgical resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) 2 years earlier was diagnosed with lung metastasis 3 months before consulting our hospital with a headache and visual field disturbance. Head computed tomography revealed a brain tumor with an intracerebral hemorrhage. Using (99m)Tc-PMT (pyridoxal-5-methly-triptophan) scintigraphy, we determined that the brain tumor was metastasis from the HCC and utilized the cyber-knife for treatment.

Metabolic syndrome amplifies the LDL-cholesterol associated increases in carotid atherosclerosis.

Objective: Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) is a useful surrogate marker of cardiovascular disease. In addition to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), metabolic syndrome has been linked to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The present study investigated whether the clustering of multiple components of metabolic syndrome has a greater impact on vascular parameters than individual components of metabolic syndrome, and assessed the association between carotid IMT and LDL-C and metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome as a predictor of ischemic stroke in elderly persons.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence and risk of ischemic stroke associated with metabolic syndrome.

Methods And Patients: In 197 stroke patients (80 cases of atherothrombotic infarction, 97 lacunar infarction, 16 cardioembolic infarction, 4 others) and 356 age- and sex-matched control subjects aged 65 years and older in Seiyo Municipal Nomura Hospital, we investigated the association between metabolic syndrome and risk factor-dependent augmentation of ischemic stroke in subjects with several risk factors for atherosclerosis. The diagnosis of cerebral infarction in each patient was confirmed by CT findings of the brain and metabolic syndrome was defined as at least 3 of the 5 following conditions: visceral obesity, hypertension (HT), hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL-cholesterol and diabetes mellitus (DM).

Association between uric acid and carotid atherosclerosis in elderly persons.

Objective: Several cohort studies have shown a link between serum uric acid (SUA) and subsequent cardiovascular disease. However, such an association did not remain significant after adjusting for concomitant risk factors for atherosclerosis in some studies. Thus, the role of SUA as an independent risk factor remains controversial.

Non-HDL cholesterol as a predictor of carotid atherosclerosis in the elderly.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate sclerotic lesions of the common carotid artery by ultrasonography in 921 in-patients aged 65 years and older (77 +/- 7 years) and investigate whether lipid levels were associated with carotid atherosclerosis. In men, an increased risk for carotid atherosclerosis was associated with increased levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C). Compared to men with the lowest tertile of LDL-C levels (< 83.

Association between abdominal wall fat index on ultrasonography and carotid atherosclerosis in non-obese men.

We tried to investigate whether accumulation of visceral fat, assessed by a simple but widely used ultrasonographic method, was associated with common carotid atherosclerosis in non-obese men ranging from 16 to 79 years old. The subjects were consecutive 297 male in-patients whose body mass index ranged from 18.5 kg/m(2) to 25 kg/m(2).