Surgical treatment of glossopharyngeal neuralgia as vascular compression syndrome via transcondylar fossa (supracondylar transjugular tubercle) approach.

Objective: These are the first reported cases in whom the transcondylar fossa approach was applied for the treatment of glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN) as a vascular compression syndrome.

Cases Presentation: All three cases presented with severe paroxysmal pharyngeal pain which could not be controlled by medical treatment. The patients all underwent microvascular decompression surgery (MVD) via transcondylar fossa approach.

Transcerebellomedullary fissure approach with special reference to methods of dissecting the fissure.

Object: The purpose of the present study was to refine the transcerebellomedullary fissure approach to the fourth ventricle and to clarify the optimal method of dissecting the fissure to obtain an appropriate operative view without splitting the inferior vermis.

Methods: The authors studied the microsurgical anatomy by using formalin-fixed specimens to determine the most appropriate method of dissecting the cerebellomedullary fissure. While dissecting the spaces around the tonsils and making incisions in the ventricle roof, the procedures used to expose each ventricle wall were studied.

Purification, characterization and developmental expression of chick (Gallus domesticus) liver PSP protein.

We have isolated a perchloric acid-soluble protein designated as C-PSP from the post-mitochondria supernatant fraction of chick liver. It is soluble in 5% perchloric acid and purified by ammonium sulfate, fractionation and CM-Sephadex chromatography. The C-PSP showed approximately 70% homology with PSP isolated from rat liver (L-PSP1) with its partial amino acid sequences.

Effective methylprednisolone dose in experimental crescentic glomerulonephritis.

Pulse methylprednisolone (MP) therapy improves the prognosis of crescentic glomerulonephritis, but the optimal dose is uncertain. We reported previously that treatment with MP at a dose of 30 mg/kg reduces glomerular crescents and infiltrating mononuclear cells and ameliorates the clinical abnormalities in an animal model of crescentic glomerulonephritis. In the present study, we assessed MP dose requirement for these beneficial effects in correlation with the effect on gene expression of chemokines, potential molecules responsible for recruitment and activation of leukocytes.

Characterization of recombinant human adipocyte-derived leucine aminopeptidase expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells.

Adipocyte-derived leucine aminopeptidase (A-LAP) is a recently identified novel member of the M1 family of zinc-metallopeptidases. Transfection of the A-LAP cDNA into COS-7 cells resulted in the secretion of the enzyme. In this study, recombinant A-LAP was expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells, purified to homogeneity and its enzymatic properties were characterized.

Successful neuroendoscopic third ventriculostomy for hydrocephalus and syringomyelia associated with fourth ventricle outlet obstruction. Case report.

The authors report the use of neuroendoscopic third ventriculostomy to treat successfully both hydrocephalus and syringomyelia associated with fourth ventricle outlet obstruction. A 27-year-old woman presented with dizziness, headache, and nausea. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging demonstrated dilation of all ventricles, downward displacement of the third ventricular floor, obliteration of the retrocerebellar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) space, funnellike enlargement of the entrance of the central canal in the fourth ventricle, and syringomyelia involving mainly the cervical spinal cord.

Transient and sequential expression of chemokine mRNA in glomeruli in puromycin aminonucleoside nephrosis.

Chemokines are a large family of low-molecular-weight proinflammatory cytokines that stimulate recruitment of leukocytes. We previously reported that among six chemokines, the expression of mRNAs for MCP-1, MCP-3, TCA3, and MIP-1alpha, but not for MIP-1beta and RANTES, was markedly elevated in the renal cortex of rats with puromycin aminonucleoside induced nephrosis. In this study we have determined the glomerular expression of the chemokine mRNAs in this model using quantitative competitive reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

[Infratemporal fossa approach for mid-skull base lesion: its usefulness, surgical anatomy, and intraoperative device].

The usefulness of the infratemporal fossa type C approach is reported through a presentation of a case of clival chordoma, which was successfully treated by this approach. Although it is complicated and includes some demerits, this approach gives a shorter and wider access to mid-skull base pathology than other approaches. Among the demerits, deformity of the temporal region caused by extensive drilling of the bone could be minimized by cosmetic mastoidectomy, which was first applied during this approach by the authors.

Therapeutic effect of glucocorticoid on experimental crescentic glomerulonephritis.

Crescentic glomerulonephritis shows active and progressive glomerular changes with rapid deterioration in kidney function. A large dose of glucocorticoid (pulse therapy) is clinically used for the treatment, but its efficacy has not been fully estimated. In this study we assessed the therapeutic effect of a large dose of methyl-prednisolone (MP) on a rat model of crescentic glomerulonephritis that had been induced in WKY rats by an injection of anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody.

Gene expression of CC chemokines in experimental acute tubulointerstitial nephritis.

The infiltration of mononuclear leukocytes into glomeruli or the interstitium is a feature in most forms of glomerular diseases. CC chemokines, mostly chemoattractants for mononuclear leukocytes, are molecules that are potentially responsible for the recruitment of these cells in the kidney. We previously reported that the gene expression of six CC chemokines-MCP-1, MCP-3, MIP-1alpha, MIP-1beta, RANTES, and TCA3-was enhanced in a rat model of crescentic glomerulonephritis, the most severe form of glomerulonephritis.

Huge hamartoma with inverted papilloma in the nasal cavity.

We report clinical experience in managing a 46-year-old Japanese man with long-standing nasal obstruction resulting from a huge left nasal mass. Computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and biopsy were used to make a provisional diagnosis of inverted papilloma. The mass was resected via a frontal approach combined with rhinotomy.

An indirect revascularization method in the surgical treatment of moyamoya disease--various kinds of indirect procedures and a multiple combined indirect procedure.

The indirect non-anastomotic bypass procedures for moyamoya disease are herein reviewed, and our multiple combined indirect procedure, i.e. a fronto-parieto-temporal combined indirect bypass procedure, is also introduced.

Surgery of angiomas in the brainstem with a stress on the presence of telangiectasia.

This report deals with the surgery of angiomas other than arteriovenous malformation in the brainstem. The surgical cases were three cavernomas, two telangiectasias, and two venous malformations. We performed surgery when an angioma bled and the resulting hematoma was situated near the surface of the brainstem or the fourth ventricle.

Analysis of the fatty acid components in a perchloric acid-soluble protein.

We had previously found that a perchloric acid-soluble protein (PSP1) occurs in rat liver, and that this novel protein inhibits protein synthesis in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate system (T. Oka, H. Tsuji, C.

Production of functional rat liver PSP protein in Escherichia coli.

An efficient Escherichia coli expression system for the production of a perchloric acid-soluble protein (PSP) has been constructed. Complementary DNA encoding PSP was inserted into an inducible bacterial expression vector pGEX-4T-1. After the plasmid introduced into E.

A historical cohort mortality study of workers exposed to asbestos in a refitting shipyard.

To investigate the risks of developing asbestos-related diseases we conducted a historical cohort mortality study on 249 ship repair workers (90 laggers and 159 boiler repairers) in a single U.S. Navy shipyard in Japan.

[Clinical experience of image-guided neurosurgery with a frameless navigation system (StealthStation)].

We have applied the frameless navigation system (StealthStation) to various neurosurgical procedures to examine its usefulness. The system consists of a UNIX based workstation that creates triplanar and 3-dimensional images; an infrared optical digitizer with camera array; a reference-light-emitting diode (LED) array (e.g.

Induction of cytokines in a human colon epithelial cell line by Shiga toxin 1 (Stx1) and Stx2 but not by non-toxic mutant Stx1 which lacks N-glycosidase activity.

Stx1 and Stx2 produced by Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli are cytotoxic due to their N-glycosidase activity on 28S rRNA. In this study, we have shown that proinflammatory cytokine mRNAs, especially IL-8, were induced by Stx1 and Stx2 in Caco-2 cells. A non-toxic mutant of Stxl which lacks N-glycosidase activity did not induce cytokine mRNAs.

Expression of lymphotactin mRNA in experimental crescentic glomerulonephritis.

Lymphotactin (LTN) is the sole member of C chemokine, the third subfamily of chemokines. LTN has been shown to be a chemoattractant specific for CD8+ cells and/or natural killer (NK) cells, and to be produced by CD8+ T cells, NK cells, and mast cells. However, there have been no reports describing its expression in clinical or experimental models of diseases so far.

cDNA cloning, expression, and characterization of the human bifunctional ATP sulfurylase/adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate kinase enzyme.

A cDNA encoding the human bifunctional ATP sulfurylase/adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (APS) kinase was cloned and sequenced. The enzyme contains an APS kinase domain in its N-terminal portion and an ATP sulfurylase domain in its C-terminal portion. Recombinant full-length enzyme and its constituent APS kinase and ATP sulfurylase domains were individually expressed, purified, and shown to have their respective enzymatic activities.

A simple procedure for the isolation of rat kidney lysosomes.

Background: A procedure for the isolation of highly purified lysosomes from normal rat kidney is described.

Methods: The method depends on the swelling of mitochondria when the postnuclear supernatant fraction is incubated with 2 mM Ca2+. The lysosomes can then be separated from the swollen mitochondria by Percoll density gradient centrifugation.

Characterization of fibronectin-related substances in normal and passive Heymann nephritis rats.

The excretion mechanism of fibronectin (FN)-related substances into the urine of normal and passive Heymann nephritis (PHN) rats was studied using enzyme immunoassay and immunoblot analysis. In normal rats, a small amount (0.20+/-0.