[Effect of Reconstruction Technique for Metal Artifact Reduction in Computed Tomography by Changing Display Field of View].

We evaluated the effect of orthopedic-metal artifact reduction (O-MAR) for metal artifact in computed tomography with 73 simulated seeds for brachytherapy in different sizes of display field of view (DFOV) obtained by helical scan under the same clinical scan condition. The metal artifacts were analyzed with the Gumbel's method by changing DFOV sizes 80 mm, 160 mm, and 320 mm. Gumbel distribution, scale parameter (γ), and location parameter (β) of the metal artifacts with O-MAR were compared with that of the metal artifacts with filtered back projection (FBP).

[Increased body mass index in young adults is associated with metabolic syndrome].

Objectives: Specific Health Examinations and Guidance (Tokutei kenko shinsa/Tokutei hoken shido) are provided for people over 40 years of age to reduce the incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS). In the present study, we evaluated the importance of weight control in people below 40 years of age.

Methods: Male subjects (n = 877), aged 30 years, without MetS, were examined.

[Investigation of Region of Interest (ROI) for measurement of slice thickness in Computed Tomography (CT)].

We evaluated an appropriate region of interest (ROI) size for the measurement of full width at half maximum (FWHM) in the bead method (0.1 mm and 0.5 mm diameter; lead) and the microdisk method (0.

Aberrant splicing of the milk fat globule-EGF factor 8 (MFG-E8) gene in human systemic lupus erythematosus.

Milk fat globule-EGF factor 8 (MFG-E8) promotes the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells by serving as a bridging molecule between apoptotic cells and phagocytes. Many apoptotic cells are left unengulfed in the germinal centers of the spleen of MFG-E8(-/-) mice, which develop a human systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-like autoimmune disease. Here, we analyzed the MFG-E8 gene in human SLE patients, and found in two out of 322 female patients a heterozygous intronic mutation, which caused a cryptic exon from intron 6 to be included in the transcript.

Exercise-induced delayed onset of left ventricular early relaxation in association with coronary microcirculatory dysfunction in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Background: The initiation of ventricular diastole is an energy-dependent phase of cardiac cycle. Delayed onset of left ventricular (LV) relaxation has been proposed to identify myocardial ischemia. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is known to be associated with coronary microangiopathy, but its influence on LV early relaxation is not established.

Cardiac Raynaud's phenomenon induced by cold provocation as a predictor of long-term left ventricular dysfunction and remodelling in systemic sclerosis: 7-year follow-up study.

Aims: The clinical importance of cold-induced reversible myocardial ischaemia, known as cardiac Raynaud's phenomenon (C-Raynaud), has not been established in systemic sclerosis (SSc). This prospective study investigated the impact of C-Raynaud on long-term irreversible left ventricular (LV) functional and morphologic deterioration in SSc.

Methods And Results: Fifty-one SSc patients with no clinical evidence of cardiac involvement were prospectively followed up for 7.

Usefulness of initial histological features for stratifying Sjogren's syndrome responders to mizoribine therapy.

Objectives: To evaluate the response of patients with SS to mizoribine therapy in relation to histological features of minor salivary glands.

Methods: Forty patients definitely diagnosed as having SS were treated with mizoribine (150 mg/day). Thirty-four untreated patients matched for age, baseline salivary secretion, etc.

Multiple myeloma with a variant Burkitt-type translocation, t(2;8)(p12;q24), associated with hyperammonemia.

We report an 82-year-old Japanese woman with multiple myeloma (MM). She developed disorientation due to hyperammonemia after melphalan and prednisolone therapy and abruptly died with a rapid clinical course. Karyotypic analysis of bone marrow showed complex abnormalities including a variant Burkitt-type translocation, t(2;8)(p12;q24), but the patient had IgG-lambda type M-proteinemia.

Atrophic change of tongue papilla in 44 patients with Sjögren syndrome.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the atrophic change of tongue papilla in Sjögren syndrome (SjS) patients and the correlation with characteristic features of the disease.

Study Design: Atrophic change of tongue papilla, investigated by a digital microscope, was classified from score 0 (normal) to score 6 (severe) and compared among 44 SjS patients, 20 xerostomia patients, and 20 healthy subjects. In SjS patients, correlation of the atrophic score of tongue papilla with characteristic changes in sialometry, sialography, lip biopsy, and serologic tests was also investigated.

Interleukin 12, interleukin 18, and tumor necrosis factor alpha release by alveolar macrophages: acute and chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

Background: Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is characterized by a granulomatous inflammation and may show various forms of clinical presentation, such as the acute, subacute, and chronic forms. The TH1-associated cytokines interleukin (IL) 12 and IL-18 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) may be involved in the pathogenesis of both the acute and chronic forms of HP.

Objective: To compare the release of IL-12, IL-18, and TNF-alpha from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) macrophages in these 2 forms of HP.

Influence of living style and situation on the compliance of taking antihypertensive agents in patients with essential hypertension.

Background: As the reason for insufficient control of blood pressure (BP), poor compliance of taking antihypertensive agents is an important issue. In Japan, no prospective study on the compliance of antihypertensive agents has been done. In this study we prospectively investigated the details of the relationship between the compliance of taking antihypertensive agents and living style and situation in hypertensive patients.

Effects of microbubbles on ultrasound-mediated gene transfer in human prostate cancer PC3 cells: comparison among Levovist, YM454, and MRX-815H.

We compared the enhancement effects of three different echo contrast agents (ECAs); Levovist, YM454, and MRX-815H as artificial microbubbles on ultrasound mediated gene transfection (USMGT) with 1MHz ultrasound at 0.2MPa using a luciferase expression vector in PC3 cells and elucidated the mechanisms of differences of USMGT facilitation by these ECAs. At a concentration of each ECA that induced iso-survival, ECAs with lipid shell (YM454 and MRX-815H) facilitated USMGT higher than those without shell (Levovist), and the order of the ECAs facilitating free radical formation by sonication was; YM454>MRX-815H>Levovist.

Milk fat globule EGF factor 8 in the serum of human patients of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Mouse milk fat globule epidermal growth factor 8 (MFG-E8), which is secreted by a subset of activated macrophages, binds to apoptotic cells by recognizing phosphatidylserine and promotes their engulfment. Many apoptotic cells are left unengulfed in the germinal centers of the spleen in MFG-E8(-/-) mice, and these mice develop an autoimmune disease resembling human systemic lupus erythematosus (hSLE). Here, we report that hMFG-E8 bound to phosphatidylserine and an integrin alpha(v)beta(3) complex.

Effects of ultrasound on apoptosis induced by anti-CD20 antibody in CD20-positive B lymphoma cells.

Aim: The present study was conducted to examine the thermal and non-thermal effects of ultrasound on apoptosis induced by anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (rituximab).

Materials And Methods: SU-DHL-4 cells, a CD20-positive cell line derived from B cell lymphomas with a BCL2 gene rearrangement, were exposed to continuous 1 MHz ultrasound for therapeutic use under an air- or CO(2)-saturated condition to control cavitation. Early apoptosis (EA) and secondary necrosis (SN) were examined by flow cytometry.

Non-invasive quantitation of myocardial fibrosis using combined tissue harmonic imaging and integrated backscatter analysis in dilated cardiomyopathy.

Background: Echocardiographic modalities have challenged the myocardial tissue characterization, but this reliability has not reached to the clinical use. This study investigated whether combined tissue harmonic imaging (THI) and integrated backscatter analysis (IB) provide the reliable and quantitative information about myocardial fibrosis in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in comparison with myocardial biopsy findings.

Methods: We studied 56 patients with DCM.

Impact of metabolic syndrome on brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity in Japanese.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of metabolic syndrome on brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) by using the new guidelines for diagnosis of this syndrome in Japan. We examined 525 men and women without a history of cardiovascular disease or cancer, and an ankle-brachial index < 0.9.

Surfactant protein A detection in large cell carcinoma of the lung.

Large cell carcinomas of the lung are undifferentiated malignant epithelial tumors that lack cytologic features of small cell carcinoma, glandular cell carcinoma, or squamous cell differentiation. Lung surfactant protein A (SP-A) is produced by alveolar type II cells and Clara cells. Most bronchioloalveolar carcinomas of the lung react positively for SP-A.

Unusual gamma heavy chain disease protein in a patient with splenic marginal-zone lymphoma.

We conducted an electrophoretic analysis of monoclonal gamma-globulin found in the serum of a patient with splenic marginal-zone lymphoma. This monoclonal protein showed electrophoretic mobility to the gamma region and reacted with anti-immunoglobulin (IgG) antiserum but not with anti-kappa or anti-lambda light chain antisera. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blotting of the monoclonal protein-rich gamma-globulin fraction extracted from the sliced gel revealed the presence of two types of abnormal IgG molecule, low- and high-molecular-weight IgG, neither of which reacted with anti-kappa or anti-lambda light chain antisera.

Apoptotic myocardial cell death in the setting of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

Background: Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a primary heart muscle disease characterized by progressive atrophy of the right ventricular myocardium accompanied by fibro-fatty replacement. We examined whether the loss of myocardial cells in the setting of ARVC could result from cell death by apoptosis as demonstrated by the detection of DNA fragmentation and the expression of apoptosis regulatory proteins (e.g.

Prognostic implications of p21 (Waf1/Cip1) immunolocalization in multiple myeloma.

Protein p21 (Waf1/Cip1) plays a critical role in controlling the cell cycle especially as a check point of G1 and is intimately associated with important cellular activities including differentiation, senescence, tumorigenesis, and apoptosis. In the present study, we examined the expression of p21 in multiple myeloma (MM) cells for prognostic evaluation. The immunocytochemical localization of p21 could be categorized into nuclear and cytoplasmic types.

Surfactant protein A detection in primary pulmonary adenocarcinoma without bronchioloalveolar pattern.

Background: Immunohistochemical studies in human lung carcinoma reported positive staining of tumor cells for surfactant protein A (SP-A), especially in peripheral airway cell carcinoma, which include bronchioloalveolar carcinoma and in some reports also papillary subtypes.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the SP-A expression in tumor cells of lung adenocarcinoma without a bronchioloalveolar pattern, classified according to the WHO.

Methods: In total, 169 primary adenocarcinomas of the lung (109 acinar, 32 solid with mucin, 24 papillary and 4 mucinous) were examined by immunohistochemistry for SP-A expression.