Primary malignant melanoma of the stomach: report of a case.

We report a case of primary malignant melanoma (MM) of the stomach. The patient, a 73-year-old man, was referred to our hospital for investigation of an elevated lesion in the stomach, detected by gastroscopy. On admission, physical examinations and laboratory data were unremarkable.

An autopsy case of MM2-cortical + thalamic-type sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

A 59-year-old Japanese man presented with depressed mood, insomnia, abnormal behavior and dementia. Visual and gait disturbance with ataxia also developed. Diffusion-weighted MRI showed widespread regions of hyperintensity in the bilateral cerebral cortex.

[A patient with myelitis of varicella-zoster without skin lesions--diagnostic value of virus antibody index in CSF].

A previously healthy 55-year-old woman developed abnormal sensation on the right occipital region. It expanded for the following three weeks. On admission, examination revealed abnormal and decreased sensation in touch and pinprick at right C2 to C6 dermatome without skin lesion.

Locomotion outcome in hemiplegic patients with middle cerebral artery infarction: the difference between right- and left-sided lesions.

Objective: This study was performed to analyze the locomotion outcome of hemiplegic patients with stroke and to explore the factors influencing it.

Methods: A total of 247 patients (mean age 65.6 +/- 10.

Epidemiological survey of hyperuricemia as an adverse reaction to antituberculous therapy with pyrazinamide.

Purpose: Pyrazinamide is an antituberculous drug that is administered as a two-month course during treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Adverse reactions to pyrazinamide have been reported to include hyperuricemia. We performed a retrospective multicenter epidemiological survey to assess the relationship between various patient characteristics and the uric acid level, the changes of uric acid during pyrazinamide administration, and the use of medications for uric acid control as well as attacks of gout or arthralgia at the onset of hyperuricemia.

[Risk factors for side effects due to the use of antituberculous drugs in elderly patients].

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate incidence of clinical risk factors for side effects due to the use of antituberculous drugs.

Method: We retrospectively analyzed clinical records of 229 elderly patients with tuberculosis treated at our hospital.

Results: Temporary stop of antituberculous therapy proved to be needed because of side effects in 77 patients (33.

Pharmaceutical study of suppository formulations for improved in vivo kinetics of rifampicin.

Purpose: To study rifampicin (RFP) suppository formulations that were prepared by adding an absorption promoter and a holding agent to conventional rifampicin suppositories in order to achieve higher blood drug levels.

Subjects And Methods: The subjects were 3 healthy volunteers who gave consent to participate in this study. Suppository formulations were prepared by adding sodium caprinate (the absorption promoter) to 600 mg, 750 mg, or 900 mg of RFP at about 3% of the suppository weight and sodium alginate (the holding agent) at 25% of the RFP content.

Biochemical properties and primary structure of elastase inhibitor AFUEI from Aspergillus fumigatus.

An elastase inhibitor from Aspergillus fumigatus (AFUEI) was isolated, and its biochemical properties and primary structure examined. The inhibitor was purified by column chromatography using DE52 cellulose and Sephadex G-75, and was found to be homogeneous as indicated by a single band following discontinuous PAGE and SDS-PAGE. A molecular mass of 7525.

[Investigation on the changes in the hospitalization period after the induction of new discharge criteria for pulmonary tuberculosis--utility of assessment sheet for using clinical path].

Purpose And Methods: The new discharge criteria devised by the National Hospital Organization have three patterns (A, B and other). It was predicted that the hospitalization period would be markedly shortened by the pattern A. In order to judge whether these patterns were adequately applied, we used an assessment sheet.

[Clinical analysis of drug interaction between rifampicin and clarithromycin which are used for treating pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex infection].

Purpose: We reviewed the interaction between rifampicin (RFP) and clarithromycin (CAM) during treatment of pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex infection.

Subjects And Methods: The subjects were patients with pulmonary non-tuberculous acid-fast bacillus infection during the period from September 2004 to January 2006 who consented to this study. Drug blood concentrations were compared with the minimum inhibitory concentrations for M.

[Measurement of rifampicin and clarithromycin in serum by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection].

Rifampicin (RFP) induces hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes, making drug interactions a very important clinical problem. Clarithromycin (CAM) metabolism is reportedly enhanced by induction of hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes (CYP3A4) by RFP, so that the blood lend of CAM decreases when RFP is administered concurrently. We connected an electrochemical detector to a high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) for simple, rapid, easy measurement of blood concentrations of RFP and CAM.

[Autopsy findings in a case of dementia with Lewy bodies with marked autonomic failure and repetitive cardiopulmonary arrest].

We report herein a patient with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) who presented with severe autonomic failure, dementia and parkinsonism. At onset, the 70-year-old man exhibited dementia and gait disturbance. Over the next 3 years, he developed symptoms of autonomic dysfunction, such as sleep apnea, orthostatic hypotension and bladder and bowel dysfunction.

[Prognosis of patients with progressive supranuclear palsy].

Survival and prognosis were investigated in 45 patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (including 10 autopsy cases) from April, 1991 to March, 2003 in Higashi Nagoya National Hospital. The subjects were 28 males, and 17 females. Mean age at onset was 64.

Phase I evaluation of continuous 5-fluorouracil infusion followed by weekly paclitaxel in patients with advanced or recurrent gastric cancer.

Objective: We conducted a phase I trial of escalating doses of weekly paclitaxel (Taxol) in combination with a fixed systemic administration of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer.

Methods: Patients with advanced or recurrent gastric cancer were treated with escalating doses of weekly paclitaxel as a 60 min intravenous (i.v.

[A phase I study of TS-1 and weekly cisplatin in patients with advanced gastric cancer].

This is a phase I study to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and toxicity of a combination of TS-1 and weekly cisplatin (CDDP) in advanced gastric cancer patients. TS-1 was administered orally twice daily after meals, at a standard dose of 80 mg/m2. One course consisted of 21 days' consecutive administration followed by 14 days' rest.

[The clinical study on efficacy of clarithromycin, levofloxacin, and streptomycin for pulmonary Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex infection].

Objective: The purpose of this study was to elucidate retrospectively the clinical effects of using RFP, EB, CAM, LVFX, and SM for pulmonary Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex infection.

Materials And Methods: During 9-year (1995-2003) period, 72 patients diagnosed according to the criteria of the Japanese Society for Tuberculosis Guidelines and treated for at least 6 months were available for this study.

Results: The age averaged 68 (range, 32-92) years.

Does antiphospholipid antibody syndrome affect bioprosthetic heart valve? Midterm echocardiographic report.

Cardiovascular involvements in antiphospholipid antibody syndrome have been recognized as a major complication of this disease. Furthermore, some papers report bioprosthetic heart valve also seems to be affected. A 32-year-old female with aortic regurgitation presented to our hospital.

Esophageal cancer with colonic metastasis successfully treated by chemoradiotherapy followed by chemotherapy with S-1 and cisplatin.

A 51-year-old man was hospitalized for evaluation of dysphagia and bloody stool. Gastrointestinal endoscopy showed esophageal cancer invading the gastric fundus. A metastatic lesion was demonstrated in the sigmoid colon.

Combined signet ring cell and glassy cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix arising in a young Japanese woman: a case report with immunohistochemical and histochemical analyses.

Signet ring cell carcinoma and glassy cell carcinoma are both rare histological subtypes of uterine cervical cancer. This report is of a case of uterine cervical carcinoma arising in a 29-year-old woman who had major components of signet ring cell carcinoma and glassy cell carcinoma within the same tumor. Histochemical and immunohistochemical analyses, including high and low molecular weight cytokeratins, p63 and MUC5AC, additionally demonstrated the squamous and adenocarcinomatous differentiation in the neoplastic cells, which showed otherwise unclassifiable morphology on the haematoxylin-eosin sections.

The role of transcarinal needle aspiration in the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer: computed tomographic correlates of a positive result.

Background: Transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) is used most frequently to assess subcarinal nodes because of its technical ease.

Objectives: We conducted a prospective observational clinical study to define the indications for TBNA use for subcarinal nodes (transcarinal needle aspiration, TCNA) related to the nodal size by computed tomography (CT) of the chest.

Methods: One hundred and eight consecutive patients with lung cancer underwent TCNA at the time of initial diagnostic bronchoscopy within a 22-month period.

Widespread active inflammatory lesions in a case of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy lasting 29 years.

An autopsy case of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I)-associated myelopathy (HAM) of 29 years' duration is reported. The patient had no history of surgery or blood transfusion and likely contracted HTLV-I sexually while traveling in an endemic area. At age 45, the patient began to experience gait disturbance; he later developed spastic tetraparesis.

A Unique Immunofluorescence Method Promotes Accurate Diagnosis in MYH9 Disorders: A Case Report.

The identification of a mutation in the MYH9 gene in hereditary macrothrombocytopenia has established a distinct entity proposed as "MYH9 disorders," which previously have often been misdiagnosed as chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura. The authors describe clinical and laboratory characterization of a family with the disorder demonstrating giant platelets, thrombocytopenia, and leukocyte inclusion bodies. The authors emphasize the efficacy of a unique immunofluorescence method for the nonmuscle myosin heavy chain A in the diagnosis, because it is more sensitive than May-Grünwald-Giemsa staining and more practical than electron microscopy or direct sequencing.

[A case of advanced cervical and upper thoracic esophageal carcinoma completely responding to chemoradiotherapy with TS-1 and cisplatin].

A 52-year-old man was hospitalized for evaluation of dysphagia. Esophagography depicted an irregular narrowing extending 7 cm from the cervical esophagus to the upper thoracic esophagus. Esophagoscopy with biopsy showed cervical esophageal cancer narrowing the lumen.

Effects of antiarrhythmic agents on left ventricular function during exercise in patients with chronic left ventricular dysfunction.

This study was designed to determine the effects of antiarrhythmic agents on global left ventricular (LV) function during exercise in patients with chronic LV dysfunction. Thirty-five patients with LV dysfunction [LV ejection fraction (LVEF) < 45%] and ventricular arrhythmias were studied. They were randomly classified into 3 groups: patients who received a single oral dose of 6 mg/kg disopyramide phosphate (n = 12), those who received a single oral dose of 4 mg/kg mexiletine hydrochloride (n = 12), and those who received a single oral dose of 4 mg/kg pilsicainide hydrochloride (n = 11).