A case of Graves' disease presenting with internal ophthalmoplegia during methylmercaptoimidazole treatment.

A 28-year-old Japanese woman positive for TSH receptor antibody and anti-nuclear antibody complained of difficulty seeing nearby objects, severe throbbing retro-orbital pain, diplopia, blepharoptosis and upward gaze palsy when she became hypothyroid during treatment with 30 mg methylmercaptoimidazole for Graves' hyperthyroidism. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed slightly swollen bilateral inferior rectus muscles, suggesting the external ophthalmoplegia due to the muscle pathology commonly encountered in Graves' disease. The retro-orbital pain was associated with marked accommodation failure and the pupillary abnormalities.

Simulating Liquids on Dynamically Warping Grids.

We introduce dynamically warping grids for adaptive liquid simulation. Our primary contributions are a strategy for dynamically deforming regular grids over the course of a simulation and a method for efficiently utilizing these deforming grids for liquid simulation. Prior work has shown that unstructured grids are very effective for adaptive fluid simulations.

A Reliable Wireless Control System for Tomato Hydroponics.

Agricultural systems using advanced information and communication (ICT) technology can produce high-quality crops in a stable environment while decreasing the need for manual labor. The system collects a wide variety of environmental data and provides the precise cultivation control needed to produce high value-added crops; however, there are the problems of packet transmission errors in wireless sensor networks or system failure due to having the equipment in a hot and humid environment. In this paper, we propose a reliable wireless control system for hydroponic tomato cultivation using the 400 MHz wireless band and the IEEE 802.

Estimation of premature mortality from oral cancer in Japan, 1995 and 2005.

Background: To better understand the picture of premature death from oral cancer, we estimated years of life lost (YLL) and average years of life lost (AYLL) of this cancer for the years 1995 and 2005 in Japan.

Methods: We obtained the mortality data for 5-year age groups from the Vital Statistics of Japan for the years 1995 and 2005, an interval of 10 years. Age-standardized rates (ASRs) per 100,000 persons were calculated for each subset of oral cancer.

Effects of oral health care on salivary flow rate in patients with type 2 diabetes: preliminary study.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of the authors' oral health care program on the stimulated whole salivary flow rate and buffer capacity before and after a 6-month intervention. The authors conducted the intervention study among 25 participants with diabetes. The salivary flow rate and buffer capacity were evaluated before and after this intervention.

Intervention study of exercise program for oral function in healthy elderly people.

In Japan, one of the duties of the long-term care insurance system is the prevention of oral function degradation. Although various exercise programs for oral function have been developed and practiced in Japan, to date, no study has reported their effects. In the present study, we examined the effects of an exercise program on oral functions in healthy elderly people.

[Effect of oral health care program on the oral function of the elderly].

In order to prepare a new prevention program under the long term care insurance from the fiscal year 2006, we have organized an oral health care program for the elderly in a town of Kagoshima prefecture. We conducted a series of oral health education, i.e.

[Functional improvement program of musculoskeletal system of the elderly in an isolated island of Kagoshima prefecture].

Under the coming amendment of long term care insurance (LTCI), the preventive activities will be more strengthened in order to ameliorate the quality of life (QOL) levels of the slightly frail elderly and then to rationalize the LTCI expenditures. The functional training of the musculoskeletal system is regarded as especially important. In order to validate its effectiveness and availability in a rural setting, we organized a physical fitness program for the slightly frail elderly in an isolated island of Kagoshima prefecture.

Portal-systemic shunting in a patient with normal portal vain pressures and histological evidence of idiopathic portal hypertension.

Although idiopathic portal hypertension (IPH) is clinically characterized by portal hypertension and marked splenomegaly, we have experienced a case of spontaneous portal-systemic shunt without splenomegaly in whom the liver histology resembled IPH but with normal portal pressure. We admitted a 64 year old man who had suffered from hepatic encephalopathy for 2 years. Laparoscopy revealed a dark grey liver with a sharp edge and a concave surface.

[A case of adrenal pheochromocytoma with normotention and normal levels of urinary excretion of catecholamines].

A 62-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for further examination of right adrenal mass accidentally pointed out by ultrasonogram. He had no symptoms and no physiological abnormalities. Endcrinological examinations revealed normal adrenocortical function, excluding the possibility of functioning adrenocortical adenoma.

Complete atrioventricular block during left heart catheterization.

A 75-year-old male underwent cardiac catheterization for frequent ventricular premature contractions and reduced left ventricular function. ECG on admission showed complete right bundle branch block (RBBB) and left anterior hemiblock. Right heart catheterization was performed uneventfully, but complete atrioventricular block (CAVB) occurred suddenly when a pig-tail catheter was inserted into the left ventricle.

Acromegaly with hyperprolactinemia developed after bilateral adrenalectomy in a patient with Cushing's syndrome due to adrenocortical nodular hyperplasia.

A 27-yr-old woman was referred for evaluation of acromegaly and hyperprolactinemia. She had undergone left adrenalectomy at 12 and right adrenalectomy at 17 for Cushing's syndrome due to adrenocortical nodular hyperplasia. At this time a pituitary tumor was found by brain computerized tomography, but plasma levels of growth hormone (GH), prolactin (PRL) and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) were normal.

Fatal abdominal thorotrast granuloma.

We report a case of fatal abdominal thorotrast granuloma seen in a 65-year-old man who had undergone a femoral angiography of thorotrast with some accidental extravasation 49 years previously. As the thorotrast granuloma gradually increased in size, it caused ureteral obstruction, venous thrombosis, and perforation of the urinary bladder and rectum. Symptomatic abdominal thorotrast granuloma is quite rare and this is the first reported case of the granuloma associated with perforation through the urinary bladder and rectum.

[Long-term treatment of acromegaly and gigantism with octreotide (SMS 201-995)].

Twenty-one patients with active acromegaly and two patients with pituitary gigantism were treated with the long-acting somatostatin analogue octreotide (100-600 micrograms/day, sc, two or three times daily or 300-1500 micrograms daily by intermittent sc infusion) for 9-63 months. There was rapid clinical improvement. The fasting plasma GH levels were significantly suppressed (less than 50% of the values before treatment) in 17 patients and were normalized (less than 5 ng/ml) in 6 patients (27.

Corticotropin-releasing hormone- and adrenocorticotropin-producing pituitary carcinoma with metastases to the liver and lung in a patient with Cushing's disease.

A 53-yr-old man with Cushing's disease was found to have a pituitary carcinoma with metastases to the liver and lung which produced both CRH and ACTH simultaneously. Despite removal of the pituitary tumor, his Cushing's disease worsened. Endocrinological examination then demonstrated elevated plasma CRH and markedly elevated plasma ACTH, beta-lipotropin, and cortisol concentrations, increased urinary 17-hydroxycorticosteroid and 17-ketosteroid excretion, and no suppression of serum cortisol after low or high dose dexamethasone administration.

Decreased VIP content in peripheral nerve from streptozocin-induced diabetic rats.

After induction of diabetes with streptozocin (STZ-D) in rats, we measured vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) content in sciatic nerve and spinal cord obtained from nondiabetic, untreated STZ-D, and insulin-treated STZ-D rats. Eight weeks after the onset of diabetes, caudal nerve conduction velocity (NCV) in the untreated STZ-D rats (n = 13) was slower than in the controls (n = 11; mean +/- SE 30.9 +/- 0.

Evidence for age-related change in plasma 19-hydroxyandrostenedione.

The steroid, 19-hydroxyandrost-4-ene-3, 17-dione (19-hydroxyandrostene-dione, 19-OH-A-dione) has been known to enhance the mineralocorticoid action of aldosterone. To investigate the age-related change in the plasma 19-OH-A-dione concentration, plasma 19-OH-A-dione, androst-4-ene-3, 17-dione (A-dione), aldosterone and cortisol of 38 non-hypertensive healthy subjects (18 young men and 20 aged men) measured by specific radioimmunoassays. The basal plasma 19-OH-A-dione and A-dione concentration in aged men was significantly lower than in young men (P less than 0.

Cardiovascular, renal and endocrine effects of alpha-human atrial natriuretic peptide in patients with Cushing's syndrome and primary aldosteronism.

The pharmacological effects of synthetic alpha-human atrial natriuretic peptide (alpha-hANP) in patients with Cushing's syndrome and primary aldosteronism were compared with those in normal volunteers. An infusion of synthetic alpha-hANP at 0.1 microgram/kg per min for 20 min produced a maximal plasma hANP level of 800-1200 pg/ml in patients with Cushing's syndrome and primary aldosteronism, and in normal subjects.

[A multicenter clinical trial of SMS 201-995 (octreotide acetate) in acromegaly and gigantism].

Sixty-four patients with active acromegaly and three patients with gigantism were treated with the long acting somatostatin analog SMS 201-995 (50-500 micrograms, sc, every 6-12 h or 150-880 micrograms daily by intermittent sc infusion, for up to 114 weeks). The fasting plasma GH levels were significantly suppressed (less than 50% of the values before treatment) in 49 patients and became normal in 18 patients. Suppression of GH secretion was associated with normalization of plasma somatomedin-C levels (14 out of 30 cases) and significant clinical improvement such as disappearance of headache and decrease of excessive sweating.

Production of GAWK (chromogranin-B 420-493)-like immunoreactivity by endocrine tumors and its possible diagnostic value.

GAWK (chromogranin-B 420-493) is a 74 amino acid peptide recently isolated from human pituitaries. Using two different antibodies (directed against GAWK [1-17] and [20-38] fragments) GAWK-LI was measured in tumors from 194 patients and in the plasma of 434 patients by RIA. The highest tissue concentrations of GAWK-LI were found in pheochromocytoma (GAWK [1-17]-LI, 18,173 +/- 3,915; GAWK [20-38]-LI, 17,852 +/- 2,763 [mean +/- SEM] pmol/g wet wt tissue; n = 9), which were at least ten times higher than any other tumors producing GAWK-LI.

[Familial scapuloperoneal-type myopathy associated with a marked elevation of serum creatine kinase and hepatomegaly].

The proband, a 17-year-old boy, was admitted to our department because of the difficulty in standing on heel. Physical examination revealed a marked weakness and atrophy of bilateral lower legs, especially anterior tibial muscles. Patellar and Achilles tendon reflexes were abolished.

Decrease in insulin binding to aortic endothelial cells cultured with high glucose concentration.

We studied the effects of glucose on specific insulin binding to cultured endothelial cells from the bovine aorta. We cultured the cells in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium, containing 100 or 300 mg/dl glucose or 100 mg/dl glucose plus 200 mg/dl mannitol. We added 125I-insulin to monolayers of these cells and counted the radioactivity resulting.

Alpha-human atrial natriuretic polypeptide inhibits 19-hydroxy-androstenedione secretion by human adrenal cells.

We investigated the effect of ACTH, angiotensin II (AII), and alpha-human atrial natriuretic polypeptide (alpha-hANP) which plays an important role of water-electrolytes balance, on 19-hydroxyandrostenedione (19-hydroxyandrost-4-ene-3,17-dione, 19-OH-A-dione) secretion by cultured human adrenal cells. 19-OH-A-dione in culture media was measured using a specific RIA. Basal 19-OH-A-dione secretion by adrenal cells was 0.