Plasma pentraxin 3 (PTX3) level is associated with the disease activity of microscopic polyangiitis (MPA).

A 20-year-old woman, who was suffering from appetite loss, weight loss and livedo reticularis for one and half months, was referred to our hospital. On admission, laboratory studies demonstrated proteinuria (1.0 g/g Cr), hematuria (erythrocytes': 50 - 99/HPF), ,.

[Pneumonia in maintenance hemodialysis patients: detection rate of causative organisms in sputum varies with time of sampling and quality].

Purpose: Previous studies have demonstrated that almost half the deaths caused by infection in hemodialysis patients are due to pneumonia. Causative organisms in pneumonia are not defined. We assessed the positive rate of blood and sputum cultures in a cohort of dialysis patients admitted with pneumonia.

[A case of primary unknown cancer difficult to distinguish from lung cancer].

A 26-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with dyspnea, fever, and weight loss. A chest X-ray showed multiple tumor shadows, and a computed tomography (CT) scan showed swelling of the mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes, a mass in the retroperitoneum, and an embolus in the inferior vena cava. A biopsy from the left cervical lymph node revealeda poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma.

Ligation of the thoracic duct for the treatment of chylothorax in heart diseases.

In children, chylothorax occurs mainly after cardiac and thoracic surgeries. One of the recommended postsurgery treatments is ligation of the thoracic tract, when all other conservative treatments have failed. We report 4 cases of chylothorax in patients who were successfully treated with this approach, which resulted in a decrease in pleural drainage without recurrent chylothorax.

Endomyocardial fibrosis in infancy.

The patient was a 4-month-old infant, who underwent persistent ductus arteriosus interruption with titanium clips at the age of 13 days and, since the age of 2 months, had crises of hypoxia and hypertonicity. After clinical investigation, the presence of pulmonary hypertension was confirmed and left ventricular inflow tract obstruction was suspected. The patient underwent surgical treatment at the age of 4 months, during which right and left ventricular endocardial fibrosis was identified.