Type 1 diabetes mellitus and isolated adrenocorticotropin deficiency manifested by parkinsonism: a case report and literature review.

A 67-year-old woman developed isolated adrenocorticotropin deficiency (IAD), which manifested as lethargy, a 20-kg body weight loss, hypoglycemia, and parkinsonism, and began corticosteroid replacement. Her symptoms resolved rapidly, and her weight returned to normal within six months. However, she then developed slowly progressive type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) with co-existing Hashimoto thyroiditis, and commenced insulin therapy.

Construction of collagen gel scaffolds for mechanical stress analysis.

We designed a cyclic compression system using readily available six-well culture plates to investigate the influence of mechanical stress on skin-like structures. The effects of cyclic mechanical stress on protein expression by cells were easily examined, and hence, this system should be useful for further analysis of skin responses to mechanical stress.

Hyaluronic acid secretion by synoviocytes alters under cyclic compressive load in contracted collagen gels.

Knee osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease of diarthrodial joints. Biomechanical factors are considered as risk factors for the disease, the knee joint being normally subject to pressure. Some studies have examined the biomechanical environment of the knee joint in vitro.

Effect of strain on human dermal fibroblasts in a three-dimensional collagen sponge.

Our aim was to design a simple compression system and investigate the influence of mechanical stress on skin-like structures. Many mechanical compression studies have employed intricate culture systems, so the relationship between extracellular matrix material and the response of skin cells to mechanical stress remains unknown. Our approach uses only glass vials, 6-well plates and standard laboratory equipment.

Carcinoid tumor of the Vater's papilla presenting with chronic pancreatitis--a case report--.

Carcinoid tumors are common in the duodenum except for in the Vater's papilla [1-9]. We report here a case of carcinoid tumor arising in the Vater's papilla with repeated episods of pancreatitis. The patient is a 28 year-old-woman who had repeated abdominal pain with elevated serum amylase and had been treated as chronic pancreatitis.

[A patient with middle bile duct cancer who showed rapid obstruction on contrast radiographs 1 week after insertion of a non-covered stent, but this case obtained a long-term stent opening and long survival after re-insertion of a covered stent].

A 73-year-old female with jaundice was referred to our department and admitted. Blood examination on admission showed an abnormal liver function and an increase in CA19-9. Ultrasonography of the abdomen revealed a well-delineated round mass in the middle bile duct.

A case of benign bile duct stricture causing difficulty in differential diagnosis from bile duct carcinoma.

We report a patient with benign bile duct stricture causing difficulty in differential diagnosis from bile duct carcinoma. A 66-year-old woman consulted a local physician because of general fatigue. Blood biochemical tests showed increased levels of biliary tract enzymes.

A case of pulmonary embolism after abdominal angiography.

The patient was a 72-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with cholecystolithiasis and had undergone laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Since the postoperative pathologic diagnosis was a gallbladder cancer with a depth of wall penetration of subserosa, she was admitted to Kurume University Hospital for a second-look operation. After admission, abdominal angiography was performed with a right femoral arterial puncture.

Evaluation of resection of the papilla of Vater for the treatment of cancer in the papilla of Vater.

We evaluated the resection of the papilla of Vater performed in patients with cancer in the papilla of Vater. The subjects were 6 patients who underwent resection of the papilla of Vater between January 1969 and December 2001. The patients aged 57-87 years consisted of 3 males and 3 females.

[Intra-arterial chemotherapy with gemcitabine (GEM) for unresectable pancreatic cancer].

Purpose: Most patients with pancreatic cancer are unresectable because of local invasion and liver metastasis at the time of diagnosis. To date, no treatment has had a significant impact on this disease. To deliver a high concentration of drug to the cancer, intra-arterial chemotherapy with GEM was performed in two patients with unresectable advanced cancer.

Two cases of acute cholecystitis in which percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder aspiration (PTGBA) was useful.

We report 2 patients with acute cholecystitis for which percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder aspiration (PTGBA) was useful. In Case 1, the patient was a 75-year-old woman who experienced a sudden onset of back pain and upper abdominal pain at night. Abdominal ultrasound (US) showed enlargement of the gallbladder with thickening of the wall, a sonolucent layer, and a stone in the neck of the gallbladder, which led to a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis.

A case of gallbladder cancer associated with pancreaticobiliary maljunction.

We report a case of gallbladder cancer associated with pancreaticobiliary maljunction. The patient was a 60-year-old woman who consulted a local doctor because of discomfort in the right hypochondriac region. Abdominal ultrasonography (US) showed a gallbladder abnormality, and she was referred to Kurume University Hospital, where she was hospitalized for further study and surgery.

Surgical treatment for chronic pancreatitis: results of pancreatic duct drainage operation and pancreatic resection.

Between 1978 and 1999, 86 patients with chronic pancreatitis were surgically treated at the Surgical Department of Kurume University Hospital. Of these patients, 30 were treated by pancreatic duct drainage operation (drainage operation), while 40 were treated by pancreatic resection, and the results were compared between the two groups. In patients who underwent drainage operation, pain disappeared in 85.