Alteration of reactivity in isolated mesenteric artery from Zucker fatty diabetes mellitus rats.

Obesity and diabetes are major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Zucker fatty diabetes mellitus (ZFDM) rats are novel animal model of obesity and type 2 diabetes. We have recently reported that blood pressure in ZFDM-Lepr (Homo) rats was normal, while blood adrenaline level and heart rate were lower than those in control ZFDM-Lepr (Hetero) rats.

Cardiovascular Characteristics of Zucker Fatty Diabetes Mellitus Rats, an Animal Model for Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes.

Zucker fatty diabetes mellitus (ZFDM) rats harboring the missense mutation (fa) in a leptin receptor gene have been recently established as a novel animal model of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Here, we explored changes in cardiovascular dynamics including blood pressure and heart rate (HR) associated with the progression of obesity and T2D, as well as pathological changes in adipose tissue and kidney. There was no significant difference in systolic blood pressure (SBP) in ZFDM-Lepr (Homo) compared with ZFDM-Lepr (Hetero) rats, while HR and plasma adrenaline in Homo were significantly lower than Hetero.

A novel method to reduce noise in electroretinography using skin electrodes: a study of noise level, inter-session variability, and reproducibility.

To determine the feasibility of recording reproducible electroretinograms (ERGs) with skin electrodes using a new ERG system. Seventeen healthy volunteers were studied. The dark-adapted, bright-flash ERGs were recorded with a new ERG recording system (LE-4000, Tomey, Nagoya, Japan) in which the stimulus alternated between the eyes every 15 s, and each eye was stimulated eight times.

Pattern visual evoked potentials elicited by organic electroluminescence screen.

Purpose: To determine whether organic electroluminescence (OLED) screens can be used as visual stimulators to elicit pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (p-VEPs).

Method: Checkerboard patterns were generated on a conventional cathode-ray tube (S710, Compaq Computer Co., USA) screen and on an OLED (17 inches, 320 × 230 mm, PVM-1741, Sony, Tokyo, Japan) screen.

Comparisons of pattern visually evoked potentials elicited by different response time liquid crystal display screens.

Purpose: To evaluate the usefulness of a liquid crystal display (LCD) with higher driving frequency and shorter response time (2 ms) as a visual stimulator to elicit pattern reversal visually evoked potentials (p-VEPs).

Method: p-VEPs were recorded from 12 eyes of 12 healthy volunteers (28.3 ± 9 years).

Liquid crystal display screens as stimulators for visually evoked potentials: flash effect due to delay in luminance changes.

Purpose: The cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen has recently been replaced by liquid crystal display (LCD) screens as visual stimulators for pattern-reversal visually evoked potentials (p-VEPs). The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of LCD screen to elicit p-VEPs.

Methods: The waveforms of the p-VEPs elicited by a LCD panel were compared with those elicited by a conventional CRT screen.

Photomanipulation of antibiotic susceptibility and biofilm formation of Escherichia coli heterologously expressing photoactivated adenylyl cyclase.

A cyaA-deficient Escherichia coli strain was transformed by a plasmid carrying the gene for BsPAC, a photoactivated adenylyl cyclase identified from a Beggiatoa sp., and was subjected to an antibiotic susceptibility assay and biofilm formation assay under a light or dark condition. Cells expressing BsPAC that were incubated under blue light (470 nm) were more susceptible to fosfomycin, nalidixic acid and streptomycin than were cells incubated in the dark.

Infectious mononucleosis with atypical manifestations accompanied by transient IgM antibody response for cytomegalovirus.

Infectious mononucleosis (IM) is a clinical syndrome caused by primary infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) that is common in adolescents. In adults, particularly in elderly people, the clinical picture of IM tends to be atypical, often leading to a diagnostic challenge. Diagnosis is also complicated because infection with EBV can induce the synthesis of cross-reacting immunoglobulin M antibodies for other herpesviruses.

An infected pseudoaneurysm following a modified Blalock-Taussig shunt.

A two-month-old male infant with tetralogy of Fallot underwent a right-sided modified Blalock-Taussig shunt using a 4 mm expanded polytetrafluoroethylene graft through a right thoracotomy. Five months later, the patient developed otitis media, followed by repeated relapses of pneumonia and fever of unknown origin. Multidetector-row computed tomography and angiography, performed at 12 months of age, revealed a pseudoaneurysm of the subclavian artery at the insertion of the modified Blalock-Taussig shunt.

[A case of malignant lymphoma diagnosed by thoracoscopy with local anesthesia].

A 67-year-old woman was hospitalized with right pleural effusion on chest radiography. Chest CT showed a thickened parietal pleura and pleural effusion in the right thorax. Cytological examination of pleural effusion showed atypical plasma cells.

[Generalized tetanus with intractable autonomic cardiovascular instability in an aged woman].

Tetanus is characterized by tetanic convulsions related to the actions of tetanospasmin produced by Clostridium tetani. Another important characteristic of tetanus is the instability of the cardiovascular system related to sympathetic hyperactivity in the autonomic nervous system, and it may be an important prognostic factor. We report a patient with tetanus in whose unstable circulatory kinetics made circulation management difficult.

[The epidemiology of SIRS.sepsis in Japan].

We outline the epidemiology of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), sepsis and severe sepsis among intensive care unit (ICU) patients in Japan. One survey conducted in the ICU of a university hospital suggested that the prevalence of SIRS reached 84% among all ICU patients, and that about 8% of patients with SIRS progressed to severe sepsis. Gram-positive cocci were the most common isolates (58%) from ICU patients with sepsis.

Landing preference of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) on human skin among ABO blood groups, secretors or nonsecretors, and ABH antigens.

We demonstrated in this study that blood group O subjects attracted more Aedes albopictus than other blood groups (B, AB, and A) but were only significantly more attractive than blood group A subjects in 64 human landing tests. We collected saliva from the subjects and tested it for agglutination inhibition, categorized the subjects into secretors or nonsecretors, and studied mosquitoes' landing preferences for those groups. The mean relative percent landing on blood group O secretors (83.

The radiotoxicity of 131I therapy of thyroid cancer: assessment by micronucleus assay of B lymphocytes.

Unlabelled: We investigated cytologic radiation damage in thyroid cancer after (131)I therapy using micronucleus assay (MNA) of B lymphocytes exclusively, as opposed to our previous study in which MNA of all lymphocyte subsets was used.

Methods: We studied 22 thyroid cancer patients treated with 3.7 GBq of (131)I.

An idiopathic skin eruption resembling a butterfly rash in a septic patient with disseminated intravascular coagulation following bone marrow transplantation.

A 31-year-old man who underwent chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation to treat acute myeloblastic leukemia was admitted to our department complaining of high fever and hypotension. His physical examination revealed warm shock state, eruptions resembling that seen in systemic lupus erythematosus on his face and cyanosis in his fingers. We diagnosed septic shock and idiopathic skin eruption on his face.

Landing sites on the human body preferred by Aedes albopictus.

The landing sites on the human body preferred by Aedes albopictus were examined. Five male volunteers wearing only shorts stood in a mosquito net enclosure containing 120 proboscis-amputated Ae. albopitus.

[Two-step tuberculin testing and BCG vaccination in the personnel of a medical and pharmaceutical university].

In an attempt to cope with recent nosocomial spread of tuberculosis, the tuberculin test with a 0.05 microgram of 0.1 ml intradermal dose of purified protein derivative was performed by a two-step procedure on the personnel of a medical and pharmaceutical university, followed by BCG vaccination for non-reactors in the second test.

Comparative sequences of two type 1 dengue virus strains possessing different growth characteristics in vitro.

The complete genome sequences of two dengue-1 virus strains having different growth characteristics (Mochizuki and A88) were compared with other published strains. The sequence analysis indicated several unique amino acid changes throughout the coding region of Mochizuki strain, mostly in envelope (E) protein. A unique amino acid, Ile-69 for Mochizuki strain at E protein resulted in the loss of an Asn-67-linked glycosylation site.