Natural course of neuroblastoma detected by mass screening: s 5-year prospective study at a single institution.

Purpose: To describe various favorable courses of neuroblastoma (NBL) detected by mass screening and to present our observation program as a temporary treatment option, to be used until a final decision is made regarding the mass screening program for 6-month-old infants.

Patients And Methods: Between October 1993 and November 1999, 26 of 51 patients with NBL detected by mass screening were enrolled in our observation program. The criteria for observation included urinary vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) levels less than 50 microg/mg creatinine, smaller tumor size (< 5.

Facilitation of neurotransmitter release at the spiny lobster neuromuscular junction.

Stimulation-induced facilitation of transmitter release was examined at spiny lobster (Palinurus japonicus) neuromuscular junctions by measuring excitatory junctional potentials (EJPs). We found three components of facilitation with the decay time constants about 16, 200 and 1000 ms, respectively. The decay time constants of the nerve terminal free Ca(2+) concentration after stimulation agreed well with the two slower time constants of facilitation.

Study of early pregnancy factor (EPF) in equine (Equus caballus).

Problem: Early pregnancy factor (EPF) is an immunosuppressive protein detected in the early pregnancy serum. We have already reported that we developed the rosette inhibition test for mare EPF and detected EPF in thoroughbreds. The aim of this study was to determine whether or not our method could be used clinically.

Measurement of early pregnancy factor activity for monitoring the viability of the equine embryo.

The viability of embryos before flushing from donor mares (n = 5) and after transfer to recipient mares (n = 7) was monitored in mare serum by detecting early pregnancy factor (EPF) using the rosette inhibition test (RIT). The EPF activity was measured in donor mares before and after natural mating at natural estrus; after ovulation on Days 2, 5 and 8; and after embryo flushing (Day 8) on Days 8, 9, 10 and 13 after ovulation. The collected embryos were transferred immediately after flushing.

A new sensitive and specific combination of CD81/CD56/CD45 monoclonal antibodies for detecting circulating neuroblastoma cells in peripheral blood using flow cytometry.

Purpose: Intensive chemoradiotherapy followed by peripheral blood stem cell transplantation has been introduced to treat children with advanced neuroblastoma (NBL). Detection of NBL cells in peripheral blood (PB) is important to prevent reinfusion of NBL cells. Several immunologic methods have been proposed for detecting NBL cells in hematologic samples.

Congenital primitive epithelial tumor of the liver showing focal rhabdoid features, placental involvement, and clinical features mimicking multifocal hemangioma or stage 4S neuroblastoma.

We describe an unusual case of congenital primitive epithelial tumor of the liver with focal rhabdoid features. The present case is unique and informative in the following aspects: (1) a first case of congenital epithelial tumor of the liver with no hepatocytic differentiation but focal rhabdoid features, (2) clinical similarities to multicentric hemangioma or stage 4S neuroblastoma, (3) diagnosis obtained from histological examination of the placenta immediately after birth.

CagA antibodies in Japanese children with nodular gastritis or peptic ulcer disease.

cagA(+) Helicobacter pylori strains have been linked to more severe gastric inflammation, peptic ulcer disease, and gastric cancer in adults, but there have been few studies of cagA in children. We examined the relationship between H. pylori cagA status and clinical status in Japanese children.

[Harvest techniques for cord blood after delivery of placenta].

We describe harvest techniques for cord blood after delivery of the placenta. The umbilical vein is punctured or catheterized, and then placental/cord blood is aspirated with syringes contained anticoagulants. Other method of collection, which has been undertaken in the Cord Blood Bank of the New York Blood Center, is to drain blood into a collection-bag by gravity.

Long-term follow-up study of serum immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin A antibodies after Helicobacter pylori eradication.

Objective: There have been few studies concerning serum titers of anti-Helicobacter pylori immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody >12 months after eradication of the original infection. Moreover, clinical usefulness of immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibody levels remains to be established. The purpose of this study was to investigate long-term responses of serum IgG-specific and IgA-specific antibodies to H pylori in children after eradication therapy.

Cooperative Ca2+ removal from presynaptic terminals of the spiny lobster neuromuscular junction.

Stimulation-induced changes in presynaptic free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) were examined by fluorescent imaging at the spiny lobster excitor motor nerve terminals. The Ca2+ removal process in the terminal was analyzed based on a single compartment model, under the assumption that the Ca2+ removal rate from the terminal cytoplasm is proportional to nth power of [Ca2+]i. During 100 nerve stimuli at 10-100 Hz, [Ca2+]i reached a plateau that increased in a less-than-linear way with stimulation frequency, and the power index, n, was about 2.

Safety and efficacy of one-week triple therapy for eradicating Helicobacter pylori in children.

Background: Proton pump inhibitor-based eradication therapy of Helicobacter pylori has been widely studied in adults, but there have been only a few reports about this therapy in children. The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of 1-week triple therapy for eradication of H. pylori and ulcer healing in children.

Unrelated umbilical cord-blood stem cell transplantation: a report from Kanagawa Cord Blood Bank, Japan.

Umbilical cord-blood (CB) has been used as a source of hematopoietic stem cells in pediatric patients with sibling donors. As a result of the success with CB transplantation from sibling donors, pilot programs for the banking of unrelated donor CB were initiated in the organization of Kanagawa Cord Blood Bank, Japan in 1995. As of December 1997, unrelated donor CB was used to reconstitute hematopoiesis in seven patients aged 0.

Fatal obstructive lung disease after haploidentical sibling cord blood transplantation.

We report the case of a patient with fatal obstructive lung disease after an HLA-haploidentical sibling cord blood transplant (CBT), with severe acute GVHD. A 2-year-old girl developed expiratory air trapping gradually with acute and chronic GVHD after CBT for the treatment of ALL. Anti-CMV and immunosuppressive therapy were ineffective, and the patient died of progressive respiratory acidosis.

Simultaneous or delayed administration of hepatocyte growth factor equally represses the fibrotic changes in murine lung injury induced by bleomycin. A morphologic study.

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a humoral mediator of epithelial-mesenchymal interactions, acting on a variety of epithelial cells as mitogen, motogen, and morphogen. Exogenous HGF acts as a hepatotrophic factor and a renotrophic factor during experimental injury. To investigate whether HGF has a pulmotrophic function, human recombinant HGF was administered to C57BL/6 mice with severe lung injury by bleomycin (BLM).

Aggressive natural killer (NK) cell lymphoma: report of a pediatric case and review of the literature.

We report a rare pediatric case of aggressive natural killer (NK) cell lymphoma, characterized by acute onset hepatosplenomegaly and respiratory distress, and infiltration by large granular lymphocytes with the phenotype of CD3-CD16-CD56+. The patient has remained in complete remission after short-pulse intensive chemotherapy, and myeloablative therapy followed by allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. We compare our case with 7 other children with NK cell leukemia reported from other institutions.

[Present state of cord-blood stem cell transplantation].

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) can cure some hematologic and solid malignancies, but its success depends on the prompt identification of a suitable donor and the avoidance of severe graft-versus-host (GVH) disease. Transplantation using hematopoietic stem cells from umbilical cord blood may overcome these problems. Over the past several years, cord blood transplantation (CBST) from siblings and unrelated donors has been performed in more than 300 patients.

Successful engraftment of sibling cord-blood stem cell transplantation in a child with acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Cord blood stem cell transplantation (CBSCT) was performed on a patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia. The patient was a boy 3 years and 8 months old, who had shown complete remission following treatment with intensive chemotherapy. However, after the final course of consolidation chemotherapy, chromosome analysis of his bone marrow aspirates revealed 46XY, t(15,17)(q22;q21), and a PML-RAR alpha fusion gene was detected by the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test.

[Detection of early cardiac dysfunction in patients with transfusion-dependent aplastic anemia and chronic iron overload in childhood. Stress-velocity relation as a sensitive index by echocardiography].

In order to detect early-stage left ventricular dysfunction, we examined a load-independent index, that is, the stress-velocity relation, by echocardiography in 13 patients with aplastic anemia including pure red cell anemia. Even when left ventricular contractility and pump function were within the normal range, its afterload had a tendency to increase in transfusion-dependent patients. The patients who had impairment of cardiac pump function died of congestive heart failure within one year after abnormal findings in stress-velocity relation were detected.

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) carrier with clinical manifestations characteristic of diffuse panbronchiolitis.

A 45-year-old male was referred due to prolonged productive cough. Despite the fact that bronchoalveolar lavage fluid suggested lymphocytic and neutrophilic alveolitis, the histologic diagnosis of his biopsied lung was diffuse panbronchiolitis-like lesion with infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells into respiratory bronchioles but few foamy cells. Serologic examination revealed that he was a carrier of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I).

Color rainbow hologram and color reproduction.

A new method that uses color separation and an achromatic holographic stereogram to reconstruct a natural color image is proposed and described. Three primaries for tone reproduction are decided by the relative spectral distribution of a reconstructed image from a bleached hologram illuminated by a halogen lamp. The effect of slit width and noise of a bleached hologram on tone reproduction is found by experiment and simulation.

[Clinical examination of S 6472 (sustained release preparations of cefaclor on chronic respiratory tract infection].

Clinical evaluation of S 6472 (sustained release preparations of cefaclor), a granule form of cefaclor, was performed in 20 patients with chronic respiratory tract infections. The patients subjected to the study consisted of 11 males and 9 females with ages between 44 and 76 years. S 6472 was given orally to each patient in a daily dose of 750 mg in 2 divided portions.

[A clinical observation of cefuroxime in pediatric field (author's transl)].

Cefuroxime, a new synthetic cephalosporin, was administered to 10 pediatric patients (6 with respiratory tract infection, 2 with urinary tract infection, 1 with sepsis of E. coli and 1 with enterocolitis). The clinical result was good and excellent in all the 10 cases.