[Clinical effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus strain L-55-contained yogurt on symptoms of Japanese cedar pollen allergy].

Background: It has been reported that oral administration of Lactobacillus acidophilus strain L-55 (L-55) suppressed nasal symptom and antigen-specific IgE induced by antigen challenge in mice. We investigated clinical effects of L-55-contained yogurt on symptoms and IgE production in the patients with Japanese cedar pollinosis.

Method: The study was performed as a randomized double blind placebo-controlled trial.

Association of free fatty acids (FFA) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and insulin-resistant metabolic disorder.

The roles of free fatty acids (FFA), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and adiponectin in the development of the insulin-resistant metabolic disorder in several subjects have been studied. A total of 70 Japanese male subjects were selected according to the following three sets of criteria: subjects in group A had, (1) a fasting plasma glucose (FPG)>or=110 to <140 mg/dl, (2) a triglyceride (TG) level>or=150 mg/dl, (3) a systolic blood pressure (SBP)>or=140 and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP)>or=90 mmHg, and (4) a body mass index (BMI)>or=25 kg/m2 (age=53.4+/-8.

FSH-producing macroadenoma associated in a patient with Cushing's disease.

Objective And Importance: We encountered a Cushing's disease patient whose surgically removed pituitary macroadenoma was not an ACTH-producing, but rather a gonadotroph adenoma. Cure was obtained only after a tiny microadenoma, overlooked on preoperative studies, was removed by a 2nd operation from a compressed thin normal anterior pituitary gland.

Clinical Presentation: This 45-year-old woman with Cushing syndrome presented with diabetes mellitus and steroid psychosis.