Anti-influenza Activity of Povidone-Iodine-Integrated Materials.

Personal protective equipment (PPE), including medical masks, should be worn for preventing the transmission of respiratory pathogens via infective droplets and aerosols. In medical masks, the key layer is the filter layer, and the melt-blown nonwoven fabric (NWF) is the most used fabric. However, the NWF filter layer cannot kill or inactivate the pathogens spread via droplets and aerosols.

A Review of Cyclophosphamide-Induced Transplantation Tolerance in Mice and Its Relationship With the HLA-Haploidentical Bone Marrow Transplantation/Post-Transplantation Cyclophosphamide Platform.

The bone marrow transplantation (BMT) between haplo-identical combinations (haploBMT) could cause unacceptable bone marrow graft rejection and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). To cross such barriers, Johns Hopkins platform consisting of haploBMT followed by post-transplantation (PT) cyclophosphamide (Cy) has been used. Although the central mechanism of the Johns Hopkins regimen is Cy-induced tolerance with bone marrow cells (BMC) followed by Cy on days 3 and 4, the mechanisms of Cy-induced tolerance may not be well understood.

Histopathology of bone marrow reconstitution after umbilical cord blood transplantation for hematological diseases.

To study hematopoietic reconstitution in umbilical cord blood transplantation (CBT), bone marrow (BM) histology was investigated in 35 biopsies after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and in 40 biopsies after CBT. BM biopsies were obtained at different times after transplantation and were evaluated for cellularity, number of megakaryocytes and CD34-positive cells, and fibrosis. In biopsies up to 29 days after BMT, cellularity was increased and megakaryocytes were observed, but at 29 days after CBT, biopsies showed severe cellular depletion and almost no megakaryocytes.

Gap junction protein beta 1 (GJB1) mutations and central nervous system symptoms in X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Objectives: To clarify the clinical variability, including central nervous system (CNS) involvement, in X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMTX) patients.

Material And Methods: We clinically, pathologically and genetically studied six CMTX patients with distinct symptoms and four different GJB1 mutations.

Results: One patient with Val63Ile had deafness, low intelligence, saccadic eye movement, upper extremity distal dominant muscle weakness and normal sensation.

[Tracheopulmonary-subcutaneous fistula associated with anaerobic subcutaneous abscess on mechanical ventilator support in a patient with Duchenne muscular dystrophy].

A 29-year-old Japanese man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy was placed on a mechanical ventilator support at 23 years of age and admitted to our hospital at 25 years of age. He had severe neck contracture deviated to the left side which resulted in dysphagia and microaspiration. At 29 years of age, he developed left lobar pneumonia accompanied by slight fever, back pain and a foul odor from the patient's sputum.

Current techniques of hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion for malignant melanoma.

A retrospective study was conducted examining 25 patients with malignant melanoma who were treated by our new protocol for hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion. The characteristics of our techniques include: a lower priming volume of the extracorporeal circuit; a therapeutic temperature range of 40-41 degrees C with 60 min hyperthermic perfusion; a nominal perfusion flow rate of 500 ml/min in the lower limb and 200 ml/min in the upper limb; and combined carboplatin with interferon-beta as the adjuvant chemotherapy drug. In the lower extremity group, the arterial cannula size ranged from 8 to 14 F, while the venous cannula size ranged from 14 to 16 F.

Risk factors for posttransfusion graft versus host disease, mediastinitis, and late cardiac tamponade in heart surgery. Survey of 119 Japanese institutions.

Objective: Correlations and risk factors remain to be unclarified for post-heart-surgery posttransfusion graft-versus-host disease, mediastinitis, and late cardiac tamponade caused by deteriorated host-defense mechanisms due to cardiopulmonary bypass both with and without steroid usage.

Methods: We sent questionnaires to 298 Japanese cardiovascular institutions asking for institution profiles, including infection control, steroid use in cardiopulmonary bypass, and prevalence of mediastinitis, late cardiac tamponade, and posttransfusion graft-versus-host disease during 1994. The overall prevalence of posttransfusion graft-versus-host disease since the start of service (from establishment of institution to date) was also requested.

Fractionated dosing of cyclophosphamide for establishing long-lasting skin allograft survival, stable mixed chimerism, and intrathymic clonal deletion in mice primed with allogeneic spleen cells.

Background: Injection of allo-spleen cells (SC) followed by a single dose of cyclophosphamide (CP) can induce tolerance of tumor and/or skin allografts in mice. To minimize the damage caused by CP, fractionation of CP that can establish long-lasting skin graft survival, stable mixed chimerism, and intrathymic clonal deletion in the host was investigated in the present study.

Methods: Allo-SC (10(8)) were given intravenously on day 0.

Kinetics of immunological parameters in patients with malignant melanoma treated with hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion.

Kinetics of immunological parameters such as natural killer (NK) cell activity and tritium-thymidine uptake rate of T lymphocytes by phytohemagglutinin stimulation were investigated using peripheral leukocyte fractions of melanoma patients treated with hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion (HILP). Also, serum concentrations of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) were quantified during and after HILP. It was found that NK cell activity was augmented during HILP, and T lymphocyte function was stimulated 24 h and 1 week after HILP with statistical significance.

Synergistic immunosuppression caused by high-dose methylprednisolone and cardiopulmonary bypass.

Background: Steroid use during cardiac operations may reduce the risk of postperfusion lung syndrome, but both cardiopulmonary bypass and steroids are immunosuppressive. The synergistic effects of the bypass and steroids on patients' immunologic activities, hemodynamics, and metabolisms during and after heart operations have not been clarified systematically.

Methods: Twenty-four patients undergoing valve replacement were studied in a randomized, double-blind trial.

[Cyclophosphamide-induced immunological tolerance: an overview].

A cyclophosphamide (CP)-induced tolerance system in mice that primarily consists of donor cell injection followed by CP-treatment was found useful for inducing a long-lasting allo- or xeno-tolerance to various solid organs. In the cells-followed-by-CP system, the sequential mechanisms of the tolerance were clarified using the specific correlation between superantigens and certain T cell receptor (TCR) V beta segments. Those include the clonal destruction of antigen-stimulated mature T cells, the peripheral clonal deletion associated with peripheral chimerism, the intrathymic clonal deletion associated with intrathymic chimerism, and the clonal anergy.

Use of automatic mode change between DDD and AAI to facilitate native atrioventricular conduction in patients with sick sinus syndrome or transient atrioventricular block.

The benefits of the automatic DDD (DDD/AMC) mode in the Chorus II pacemaker (Chorus 6234; Ela Medical Inc.), which automatically switches the modes between DDD and AAI to respect spontaneous AV conduction as much as possible in AAI while preserving safety pacing in DDD during paroxysmal AV block (AVB) only, remain unproven. This study examined the functions of the DDD/AMC mode in 12 patients with sick sinus syndrome (SSS; n = 10) or paroxysmal complete AVB (n = 2).

Effectiveness and limitations of the fallback I algorithm for transient supraventricular tachyarrhythmias in DDD pacing.

To examine the function of the fallback I algorithm (Chorus I, Ela Medical Inc., Montrouge, France), which automatically changes the DDD mode to VDI during transient supraventricular tachyarrhythmias to prevent high-rate tracking of the venticule, a total of 45 patients who were preoperatively diagnosed with sick-sinus syndrome (SSS) (Group 1; n = 19) or with advanced or complete atrioventricular block (AVB) (Group 2; n = 26) were followed up and analyzed. Mean follow-up times (mean +/- SD) were 22.

Cyclophosphamide-induced immunological tolerance: an overview.

A cyclophosphamide (CP)-induced tolerance system in mice that primarily consists of donor cell injection followed by CP-treatment was found useful for inducing a long-lasting allo- or xeno-tolerance to various solid organs. In the cells-followed-by-CP system, the sequential mechanisms of tolerance were clarified using the specific correlation between superantigens and certain T cell receptor (TCR) V beta segments. Those include the clonal destruction of antigen-stimulated mature T cells, the peripheral clonal deletion associated with peripheral chimerism, the intrathymic clonal deletion associated with intrathymic chimerism, and the clonal anergy.

The relationship between functional class, pulmonary artery pressure and size in left atrial myxoma.

To examine the correlation between the size of left atrial myxoma, the degree of pulmonary hypertension and the patient's New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class, the records of 29 surgically treated patients with left atrial myxoma were reviewed. Of 29 patients, 23 were catheterized before surgery. As the preoperative NYHA functional class advanced, the preoperative mean pulmonary artery pressure (mmHg) was seen to increase.

Donor-specific prolongation of rat skin graft survival induced by rat-donor cells and cyclophosphamide under coadministration of monoclonal antibodies against T cell receptor alpha beta and natural killer cells in mice.

Because of the recent interest in human xenotransplantation, we investigated the possibility of inducing tolerance in a xenogeneic combination using cyclophosphamide (CP). Donor-specific prolongation of xenogeneic Fisher 344 (F344) rat skin graft survival for up to 60 days was induced in C57BL/6 (B6) mice by giving F344 bone marrow cells and spleen cells on day 0, CP on day 2, and monoclonal antibodies against murine TCR-alpha beta and NK1.1 on days--1 and 3.

Two cases of metastatic malignant melanoma of the lower limb treated with hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion and concomitant infusion of either carboplatin or beta-interferon.

Two cases of metastatic malignant melanoma of the lower limb who were treated successfully with hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion are reported. One patient was infused with cisdiammine (1.1-cyclobutanedicarboxylate) platinum (II) (carboplatin, Paraplatin, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, New Jersey, USA), and the other was infused with human natural beta-interferon (Feron, Toray, Tokyo, Japan), via the external iliac artery.

Left atrial myxoma associated with severe congestive heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, and multiple organ insufficiency.

We have experienced a case of left atrial (LA) myxoma with rapid progression of congestive heart failure and ensuing multiple organ insufficiency. After the tumor excision, the hemodynamic derangement was totally corrected and the patient dramatically recovered from kidney, liver, and lung insufficiency. Specifically, pulmonary artery pressure (PAP), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), and central venous pressure (CVP) significantly decreased in the intensive care unit.

Simplified Manouguian's aortic annular enlargement for aortic valve replacement.

A simplified Manouguian's aortic annular enlargement for aortic valve replacement with prosthetic valve was performed in a patient with severe aortic stenosis and mild regurgitation by preserving both the anterior mitral leaflet and the left atrial roof intact. This method minimized the operative risk by avoiding injury to the mitral valve, while inserting a possibly two-size-larger prosthetic valve. The inserted prosthetic valve was positioned parallel to the original aortic valve.

Left ventricular-coronary sinus shunt through a septal aneurysm after mitral valve re-replacement.

We describe a case in which a left ventricular-coronary sinus communication through a dissecting ventricular septal aneurysm developed after a redo mitral valve replacement. The outlet orifice of the communication was located in the side wall of the ostium of the coronary sinus. Both the communication and the aneurysm were successfully dealt with by performing a right atriotomy and by opening the aneurysm from its outlet orifice.

Hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion with intra-arterial administration of carboplatin and/or interferon-beta for the treatment of malignant melanoma of the leg.

Our experiences of hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion with administration of carboplatin, interferon-beta or a combination of both are reported. Administration of high doses of these reagents was well tolerated by patients with melanoma without severe complications after the treatment. A total of 8 patients underwent this therapeutic modality.

Drug infusion through a branch of the aortocoronary vein graft for refractory coronary spasm.

We describe two cases of coronary artery spasm that occurred during open heart operations and were treated by coronary artery bypass grafting. Vasodilators and calcium antagonists were infused directly into the right coronary artery via the side branch of the saphenous vein graft. Both patients were weaned successfully from cardiopulmonary bypass.