A plaque-type solitary reticulohistiocytoma in a two-year-old boy.

Reticulohistiocytoma (RH) is a dermal histiocytic infiltration composed of large histiocytes with eosinophilic glassy cytoplasm. RH is classified into three clinical forms: solitary RH, diffuse cutaneous RH without systemic involvement and multicentric reticulohistiocytosis with systemic diseases. Solitary RH generally manifests as a nodular lesion in adults without accompanying systemic diseases.

Genotype-phenotype correlations in alternating hemiplegia of childhood.

Objective: Clinical severity of alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC) is extremely variable. To investigate genotype-phenotype correlations in AHC, we analyzed the clinical information and ATP1A3 mutations in patients with AHC.

Methods: Thirty-five Japanese patients who were clinically diagnosed with AHC participated in this study.

Oral-facial-digital syndrome type 1 with hypothalamic hamartoma and Dandy-Walker malformation.

We report a 1-year-old girl with oral-facial-digital syndrome type 1 with multiple malformations of the oral cavity, face, digits, and central nervous system, including agenesis of the corpus callosum, the presence of intracerebral cysts, and agenesis of the cerebellar vermis, which is associated with the subarachnoid space separating the medial sides of the cerebellar hemispheres. This child also had a hypothalamic hamartoma and a Dandy-Walker malformation, which have not been reported previously. The clinical features, including cerebral malformations, in several types of oral-facial-digital syndrome, overlap with each other.

Immediate evaluation of neovascularization in a grafted bilayered artificial dermis using laser Doppler imaging.

Background: A bilayered artificial dermis is widely applied for skin defects. Its collagen sponge is biodegraded and replaced with dermis-like tissue after application. There is no reliable method for quantitatively evaluating the blood flow of artificial dermis.

Group A streptococcal brain abscess: a case report and a review of the literature since 1988.

Brain abscesses caused by group A Streptococcus (GAS) are rare infectious diseases. In this report we present a case of brain abscess due to GAS infection occurring after milk tooth extraction in a healthy child. A literature review of previously reported cases is presented.

[A case of pseudo-Meigs' syndrome caused by metastatic ovarian tumors from gastric cancer].

A 54-year-old woman brought by ambulance had a lower abdominal mass and cough. Bilateral pleural effusion was revealed by X-ray and CT. An abdominal CT and MRI disclosed bilateral ovarian tumors which were considered to be metastatic tumors.

[Case report of inflammatory pseudotumor that occurred at the ureteropelvic junction].

A 60-year-old woman underwent detailed examinations for hepatic disorders and pancreatic tumor at the Department of Internal Medicine. A tumor mass in her left renal pelvis and a thickened wall in her left ureter were observed on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images. Retrograde ureteropyelography and drip infusion pyelography images showed a stenosis in 1 vertebral body from the left ureteropelvic junction.

[Laparoscopic examination of the nonpalpable testis].

We evaluated the results and advantages of laparoscopic examination in 28 patients with 32 nonpalpable testes. Between April 1991 and May 2006, 28 patients, 12 months to 12 years old, with 32 nonpalpable testes underwent diagnostic laparoscopy under general anesthesia before surgical management of the testes. If the blind end of the vas deferens and/or spermatic vessels was observed, the diagnosis of vanishing testis was made, and no further examination or treatment was performed.

[A case of severe hand-foot syndrome caused by capecitabine].

A 55-year-old woman underwent total mastectomy and axillary lymphnode dissection in 2001. Widespread lymphnode metastasis was found histologically (26/33). Neither PgR nor ER was positive.

Fish consumption and early atherosclerosis in middle-aged men.

To investigate the association between fish consumption and early atherosclerosis, we analyzed the relationship between fish consumption and average intima-media thickness (AveIMT) by carotid ultrasound in middle-aged Japanese men. Participants were 250 randomly selected, community-based Japanese men aged 40 to 49 years without a prior history of cardiovascular disease. AveIMT was calculated from the mean of 1-cm lengths of both the right and the left carotid arteries at 8 locations.

Severity scoring systems for prognosis and efficacy of polymyxin B-immobilized fiber treatment for colonic perforation.

Purpose: There is no established system for predicting prognosis and evaluating the efficacy of antiseptic treatments such as polymyxin B-immobilized fiber (PMX) according to the severity of peritonitis in patients with colonic perforation. We investigated the predictive value of various severity scoring systems for survival and for the efficacy of antiseptic treatments, to identify high-risk patients.

Methods: We reviewed 26 consecutive patients who underwent emergency operations between 1996 and 2003 for colorectal perforation not caused by trauma or iatrogenic disease.

[Method of levofolinate.5-FU administration by hepatic arterial infusion therapy for hepatic metastasis from colorectal cancer].

Hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy with levofolinate (l-leucovorin) and fluorouracil regimen was performed using an implanted port system on unresectable hepatic metastasis patients with colorectal cancer. A comparative study was performed on two groups in which the levofolinate was administered arterially or intravenously. Levofolinate 200-250 mg/m(2) was infused for two hours intra-arterially or intravenously, and 5-FU 400-600 mg/m(2) was administered as a bolus in midinfusion.

Prognostic factors and scoring system for survival in colonic perforation.

Background/aims: No ideal and generally accepted prognostic factors and scoring systems exist to determine the prognosis of peritonitis associated with colonic perforation. This study was designed to investigate prognostic factors and evaluate the various scoring systems to allow identification of high-risk patients.

Methodology: Between 1996 and 2003, excluding iatrogenic and trauma cases, 26 consecutive patients underwent emergency operations for colorectal perforation and were selected for this retrospective study.

[A case of advanced gastric cancer with pulmonary carcinomatous lymphangiosis responding remarkably to combination chemotherapy of docetaxel (TXT) and TS-1].

A 51-old-female patient was admitted because of dyspnea. This case was diagnosed inoperable advanced gastric cancer and pulmonary carcinomatous lymphangiosis. She was treated by combination of docetaxel (TXT) and TS-1.

The analysis of pyridylamino-dextran sulfate oligomers by high-performance liquid chromatography and a novel detection system for sulfated polysaccharides.

Dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) is a strong negatively charged heparin-like polysaccharide and has anti-immunodeficiency virus, anti-carcinogenesis, or occasionally tumor-promotion effects. The biological metabolism of DSS, however, remains unclear. In a previous study, we reported a novel method for the separation and quantification of DSS, using fluorometric labeling with 2-aminopyridine and a combination of size-exclusion and reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

Effect of an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker, valsartan, on neurohumoral factors in patients with hypertension: comparison with a long-acting calcium channel antagonist, amlodipine.

This study compared the effects of amlodipine and valsartan on the sympathetic nervous system, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, and brain natriuretic peptide, which are considered important parameters of the long-term prognosis. Seventy-three elderly patients, who had received antihypertensive treatment for more than 6 months with amlodipine, participated in this study. They were randomized to the V group (n = 36) and switched to valsartan from amlodipine, or to the A group (n = 37), which continued treatment with amlodipine.

Mast cells may not play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of experimental closed duodenal loop-induced pancreatitis in rats.

Introduction: Ws/Ws rats have a small deletion of the c-kit gene and are deficient in both mucosal-type mast cells and connective tissue-type mast cells.

Aim: To investigate the role of pancreatic mast cells in the development of experimental closed duodenal loop (CDL)-induced pancreatitis using Ws/Ws rats.

Methodology: Pancreatitis was induced by the CDL technique for 5 and 12 hours, and the subsequent ascites volume, wet pancreatic weight, pancreatic myeloperoxidase activities, and serum amylase levels were evaluated.

Germinated barley foodstuff exhibits different adsorption properties for hydrophilic versus hydrophobic bile acids.

Background/aims: Germinated barley foodstuff (GBF), a type of dietary fiber, exhibits therapeutic effects in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients. However, the precise mechanisms responsible for these effects are still under investigation. On the other hand, it has been suggested that bile salts in the gut lumen play an important role in the integrity of the intestinal mucosa.

Hydrophilic and hydrophobic bile acids exhibit different cytotoxicities through cytolysis, interleukin-8 synthesis and apoptosis in the intestinal epithelial cell lines. IEC-6 and Caco-2 cells.

Background: Bile acids have been shown to exhibit varying degrees of cytotoxicity, depending on their hydrophobic-hydrophilic balance. We have recently reported the strong cytotoxicity of hyodeoxycholic acid (HDCA), and the aim of the present study is to investigate the mechanisms underlying the cytotoxicity of HDCA.

Methods: The intestinal cell lines IEC-6 and Caco-2 cells were used.

Reconstruction of breast using a laser lithographic model: a case report.

A three-dimensional laser scanner enables the measurement of surface data from objects with no contact, both quickly and in three dimensions. A 40-year-old woman with a right breast cancer had undergone a simple mastectomy. The surface of the chest was then measured with the non-contact three-dimensional laser scanner.

Application of 2-aminopyridine fluorescence labeling in the analysis of in vivo and in vitro metabolism of dextran sulfate sodium by size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography.

The present study describes a size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the separation and quantification of sulfated polysaccharides, such as dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). Pyridylamination of DSS was achieved without difficulty using 2-aminopyridine as a fluorometric label. In addition, 0.

Alterations in intestinal microflora, faecal bile acids and short chain fatty acids in dextran sulphate sodium-induced experimental acute colitis in rats.

Background: The physiological effects on faecal bile acids and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) or intestinal microflora in dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis remain unknown and are an area of interest DESIGN ALTERATIONS: of these parameters in DSS-induced colitis in rats were evaluated.

Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 10) were given a 3% DSS aqueous solution orally for 7 days. The concentrations of bile acids and SCFAs in the faeces were measured using gas chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography.