Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma of the Digit.

We report a case of malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the middle finger in a 57-year-old male. The tumour arose from the perionychium of a digit, an extremely unusual occurrence.

[Cell transplantation therapy for Parkinson's disease].

We found that Parkinson's disease(PD) patients receiving autotransplants of the cervical sympathetic ganglia show a significant improvement in the parkinsonian symptoms with a consequent reduction in the daily intake of levodopa. The grafting procedure have recently been modified to further enhance the efficacy of the transplantation. Thus, in order to increase the amount of donor tissue we opted for the endoscopically excised thoracic sympathetic ganglia as a donor.

Thymidine phosphorylase expression correlates with tumor differentiation and Bcl-2 in invasive breast cancer.

Background: Angiogenesis plays an important role in the growth and metastasis of solid tumors. Several angiogenic factors have been identified, and thymidine phosphorylase (TP) is thought to be one such factor. To date, little information is available on the relationship between TP and other clinicopathological variables.

Paclitaxel-induced remission in docetaxel-refractory anthracycline-pretreated metastatic breast cancer.

Paclitaxel and docetaxel are excellent agents with a high antitumor effect for the treatment of previously anthracycline-exposed metastatic breast cancer. There has been no standard treatment for patients who undergo therapy of a taxan-resistant metastatic breast cancer. Paclitaxel has partial non-cross-resistance in vitro with docetaxel in inhibiting microtubule disaggregation.

A struma ovarii with increased serum basement membrane components: a case report.

We report a case of struma ovarii with hyperthyroidism and elevated serum concentrations of type IV collagen and laminin. Circulating levels of type IV collagen and laminin were measured using specific radioimmunoassays (RIAs) for 7S collagen and the P-1 fragment of laminin, and the basement membrane components in the tumor were investigated by immunohistochemical analysis. Strong immunohistochemical staining specific for type IV collagen and for laminin was observed to be localized in the follicular walls.

Cellular FLIP is expressed in cardiomyocytes and down-regulated in TUNEL-positive grafted cardiac tissues.

Objective: c-FLIP is a natural homologue of caspase 8, and may antagonize activation of death pathways mediated by FADD. c-FLIP is highly expressed in the heart, and a recent report suggests that c-FLIP may protect against certain types of myocyte death. The present study was designed to define the expression patterns of c-FLIP in the heart.

Interhemispheric neuroepithelial cyst associated with agenesis of the corpus callosum. A case report and review of the literature.

This report describes a neonatal case in whom a large interhemispheric cyst associated with agenesis of the corpus callosum was revealed by fetal ultrasonography and demonstrated by MRI to be multilobulated. Endoscopic fenestration of cysts was initially designed in view of the development of the patient's brain and surgical invasiveness. One year later, when motor paresis of the left arm and progressive enlargement of the cyst on MRI were revealed, open surgery was performed.

Long-term potentiation/depotentiation are accompanied by complex changes in spontaneous unit activity in the hippocampus.

Typically, long-term potentiation (LTP) has been assessed as long-lasting changes in field potentials or intracellularly recorded postsynaptic potentials evoked by activation of a set of afferents. In the present experiment, we determined changes in spontaneous unit activity in the dentate gyrus (DG) following high-frequency (HFS) or low-frequency stimulation (LFS) of the medial perforant pathway. Experiments were performed in anesthetized rats.

Treatment of Parkinson's disease in Japan.

In this paper, the course of therapy for Parkinson's disease is outlined. The rationale for the use of DA-receptor-agonist (DA agonist) monotherapy or early combination therapy using levodopa and a DA agonist is that these therapies are asociated with a lower incidence of motor complications. However, the disease progresses, the use of levodopa in combination with a DA agonist results in motor complications and development of levodopa dependency in parkinsonian patients, because the effect of levodopa on parkinsonism is very strong.

[Mini mid-line skin incision--a more cosmetic challenge for surgery of funnel chest: report of a case].

We performed a operation using a mini mid-line skin incision for ten-year-old male with funnel chest. The skin incision was made from the level of nipple to the lower end of the xiphoid process. He had sternal elevation as corrective surgery.

Fetal striatal transplants reinstate the electrophysiological response of pallidal neurons to systemic apomorphine challenge in rats with excitotoxic striatal lesions.

Previous studies with single-unit recording and 2-[14C]deoxyglucose quantitative autoradiography have shown that systemic administration of apomorphine increases the functional activity of pallidal neurons, and that the enhancement in the globus pallidus (GP) activity is abolished by striatal lesions. The present study employing electrophysiological techniques tested whether embryonic striatal tissue implanted in the excitotoxically damaged striatum of rats may affect the lesion-induced alteration in the neuronal response of GP to apomorphine. Systemically administered apomorphine significantly increased spontaneously firing rates of GP cells.

Postnatal differentiation of local networks in the nucleus of the tractus solitarius.

Whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings from rat brain slice preparation were used to investigate a possible developmental change in the patterns of synaptic interactions among the nucleus tractus solitarii neurons by analysing spontaneous postsynaptic current activity. Three types of patterns of spontaneous postsynaptic current activity were distinguished in the nucleus tractus solitarii neurons which showed high activities in terms of current frequency and amplitude. The first type was characterized by the presence in an individual cell of high frequencies and large amplitudes of both spontaneous glutamatergic and GABAergic postsynaptic currents, and observed exclusively in postnatal day 0-7 rats.

Reconstruction of the achilles tendon and overlying skin defect with a medical plantar flap and tensor fasciae latae graft.

The authors report a case of Achilles tendon and skin defect treated with an island medial plantar flap and fascia lata graft with very satisfactory results.

Electrophysiological and morphological characteristics of nucleus tractus solitarii neurons projecting to the ventrolateral medulla.

Electrophysiological and morphological properties of a direct projection from the nucleus of the tractus solitarius (NTS) to the ventrolateral medulla (VLM) were investigated. NTS neurons projecting to the VLM exhibit a monosynaptic excitatory response followed by an inhibitory one after the tractus solitarius stimulation. These neurons show spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents, and have medium to large soma (14-26 microm in diameter).

Nitric oxide improves membrane fluidity of erythrocytes in essential hypertension: An electron paramagnetic resonance investigation.

It has been shown that rheological abnormality might be an etiological factor in hypertension. Recent studies have revealed that human erythrocytes possess a nitric oxide (NO) synthase and that this activation might be involved in the regulation of rheological properties of erythrocytes. The present study was undertaken to investigate the role of NO in the regulation of membrane functions of erythrocytes in patients with essential hypertension by means of an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and spin-labeling method.

Helicobacter pylori infection reduces intraluminal nitric oxide.

Background: Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in gastrointestinal mucosal protection. We have previously shown that Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with a lower concentration of NO in the human stomach. The aim of this study is to explore the pathogenesis of this finding using an animal model.

Relationship between formation of a filtering bleb and an intrascleral aqueous drainage route after trabeculectomy: evaluation using ultrasound biomicroscopy.

We evaluated the relationship between the development of filtering bleb and the thickness of the aqueous drainage route beneath the scleral flap in patients who had undergone trabeculectomy. The relationship between the postoperative intraocular pressure and the size of the filtering bleb was also studied. We studied 29 eyes of 21 patients who had been followed for at least 1 (mean 9.

Expression of Bcl-2 but not Bax or p53 correlates with in vitro resistance to a series of anticancer drugs in breast carcinoma.

Programmed cell death is an important determinant of the response to chemotherapy. Among the factors controlling this process, a significant role is played by bcl-2, bax and p53. The in vitro chemosensitivity of the 177 breast carcinomas was assessed by the histoculture drug response assay (HDRA) using mitomycin C (MMC), 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu), adriamycin (ADM), cisplatin (CDDP), and cyclophosphamide (CPA).