Acquired Dermal Melanocytosis on the Wrist

A 50-year-old Japanese man had a blue-black patch on the dorsum of his right wrist. Light and electron microscopic study of the lesion revealed dermal melanocytes containing mature melanosomes, predominantly in the upper dermis. This case was diagnosed as acquired dermal melanocytosis confined to the right wrist.     

Natural course of nonreducing disc displacement of the temporomandibular joint: changes in chewing movement and masticatory efficiency.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine changes of chewing movement and masticatory efficiency during the natural course of nonreducing disc displacement of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The subjects were 15 patients who had been diagnosed with nonreducing disc displacement of the TMJ but had received no treatment. Chewing movement and masticatory efficiency were examined at the initial visit and at a mean follow-up of 21.7 months, using mandibular kinesiography and adenosine triphosphate ebteric-coated granules. As a control, 23 persons who had no current or previous TMJ symptoms were studied. RESULTS: The patients' clinical signs and symptoms tended to be alleviated during the follow-up period. In normal controls, chewing movement showed lateral excursion to the chewing side on both the right and left sides. In patients, chewing movement at the initial visit showed lateral excursion to the chewing side during chewing on the TMJ affected side, but no such deviation was noted during chewing on the TMJ unaffected side in the horizontal plane. However, chewing movement at follow-up became similar to that of controls. In patients, masticatory efficiency became better during the natural course, although that at follow-up did not always reach the control's level. CONCLUSION: In untreated patients with nonreducing disc displacement of the TMJ, chewing movement and masticatory efficiency tend to improve spontaneously.     

Influences of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis on cancerous invasion in experimentally induced tongue carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Although it is clear that dissemination via the blood system involves angiogenesis, it is uncertain whether tumors also induce lymphangiogenesis or simply invade existing peritumoral vessels. The purpose of this study was to elucidate changes in tumor blood and lymph vessels in cases involving the invasion of squamous cell carcinoma in the oral cavity, and its significance. Blood and lymph vessels densities in tongue carcinomas induced in hamsters were investigated. METHODS: Tongue cancer was induced by abrading the right margin of the tongue of each hamster with an endodontic barbed broach and subsequently applying 1.0% 9,10-dimenthl-1,2-benzanthracene (DMBA) dissolved in acetone, three times a week, at the same site. Fresh frozen sections were prepared and blood vessels stained blue by perfusion with Coomassie Brilliant Blue and lymph vessels stained brown for 5'-nucleotidase. The effects on the blood vessels and lymph vessels were observed. RESULTS: The results showed that blood and lymph vessel densities were greater in the advanced carcinoma tissues than in normal tissue. These were compared in terms of the mode of cancer invasion. As tumor invasion progressed, the blood vessel density decreased but lymph vessel density tended to be higher in high-degree tumor invasion than in low-degree tumor invasion. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C was seen more frequently as tumor invasion progressed. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings indicated that angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis are affected by cancerous invasion.     

Chymase participates in chronic dermatitis by inducing eosinophil infiltration

An epicutaneous application of 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) to a mouse ear caused a transient skin swelling, and the repetition of the challenge enlarged the contact dermatitis. The repeated challenge with DNFB also induced eosinophil infiltration on the application site. Administration of a chymase inhibitor significantly inhibited the ear swelling as well as eosinophil accumulation. An intradermal injection of human chymase to the mouse ear also elicited transient skin swelling and eosinophil infiltration, both of which were augmented in proportion to the number of injections. Human serum albumin and heat-inactivated chymase failed to induce such skin reactions, suggesting the participation of proteolytic activity of the enzyme. In addition, chymase stimulated eosinophil migration in vitro in a concentration-dependent manner. Taken together, these observations suggest that mast cell chymase may contribute to development of the DNFB-induced dermatitis, probably by promoting eosinophil infiltration. It is therefore possible that chymase plays a role in pathogenesis of chronic dermatitis such as atopic dermatitis.     

Molecular design of biodegradable functional polymers, 3. Biodegradability and functionality of poly[(sodium acrylate)-co-(vinyl alcohol)]

As a design for a biodegradable functional polymer, compositionally homogeneous poly[(sodium acrylate)-co-(vinyl alcohol)] [P(SA-co-VA)], containing varying amounts of vinyl alcohol groups as biodegradable segments were prepared and their biodegradability and builder performance in detergent formulations were analyzed with respect to the successive vinyl alcohol length. It was found that the acrylate copolymers having more than 80 mol-% vinyl alcohol content showed biodegradability. That is, P(SA-co-VA) having a vinyl alcohol chain length of more than about 5–6 is cleaved by PVA-degrading microbes. This indicates that the vinyl alcohol blocks, which act as biodegradable segments, should be incorporated into the polymer chain in such a manner that they are accepted as substrates by the PVA-degrading enzymes.     

Reduced-intensity unrelated cord blood transplantation for patients with advanced malignant lymphoma.

We report the results of reduced-intensity unrelated cord blood transplantation (RI-UCBT) in patients with advanced malignant lymphoma. Twenty patients (median age, 46.5 years; range, 27-66 years) underwent RI-UCBT with a preparative regimen consisting of fludarabine 125 mg/m2 , melphalan 80 mg/m 2 , and 4 Gy of total body irradiation. The median infused total cell dose was 2.75 x 10(7)/kg (range, 2.3-3.4 x 10(7)/kg). Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis was composed of cyclosporine or tacrolimus alone. Fifteen patients achieved primary neutrophil engraftment after a median of 20 days. Eight patients developed grade II to IV acute GVHD, and 2 developed chronic GVHD. Of the 16 patients with evaluable disease, 10 achieved a complete response. Primary disease recurred in 1 patient, and transplant-related mortality within 100 days occurred in 8 of 20 patients. The estimated 1-year probability of progression-free survival was 50%. These data suggest that RI-UCBT is a feasible option for patients with refractory lymphoma who lack an HLA-matched donor.     

Enterostatin increases extracellular serotonin and dopamine in the lateral hypothalamic area in rats measured by in vivo microdialysis

The effect of enterostatin injection into the rat lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) on serotonin and dopamine releases in extracellular space was investigated by in vivo microdialysis technique. The primary focus being to understand whether a small amount of enterostatin crossing the blood-brain barrier correlates with activity changes in serotonergic and dopaminergic nervous systems or not. We found a significant elevation in serotonin release in the LHA. The enterostatin perfusion also induced a smaller but significant increase in dopamine level than serotonin one. This result suggests that enterostatin plays some sort of role in the control of feeding of fat through the control serotonergic and dopaminergic satiety mechanism.     

Morphometric analysis of the immunohistochemical expression of Clara cell 10-kDa protein and surfactant apoproteins A and B in the developing bronchi and bronchioles of human fetuses and neonates

 Morphometric analyses of the immunohistochemical expression of the Clara cell secretory 10-kDa protein (CC10) and surfactant apoproteins A and B (SP-A and -B) were carried out on the developing bronchi and bronchioles of human fetuses and neonates. We analysed the ratio of the number of CC10-positive cells per subepithelial length of the bronchial or bronchiolar basement membrane and found that both the bronchial and the bronchiolar population of CC10-positive cells was significantly higher than that of either SP-A or SP-B. In addition, CC10 was found to be distributed mainly in the bronchiole. CC10-positive cells began to be recognized in the late pseudoglandular phase (15 weeks of gestation) and thereafter gradually increased in the canalicular and terminal sac phases, which correspond to the active development period of the acini or peripheral airways. The earliest expression of SP-A was also noted at 15 weeks of gestation, but its positive epithelial cells were present mainly in the larger bronchi. Double immunohistochemical staining for CC10 and SP-A revealed that the CC10-positive cells lining both the bronchi and bronchioles were different from the SP-A-positive cells. This finding suggests that CC10-positive cells are functionally and developmentally heterogeneous in both fetal and neonatal lungs in humans Received: 22 May 1997 / Accepted: 21 July 1997     

Invasive fungal infection following reduced-intensity cord blood transplantation for adult patients with hematologic diseases.

Invasive fungal infection (IFI) is a significant complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT); however, we have little information on its clinical features after reduced intensity cord blood transplantation (RICBT) for adults. We reviewed medical records of 128 patients who underwent RICBT at Toranomon Hospital between March 2002 and November 2005. Most of the patients received purine-analogbased preparative regimens. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis was a continuous infusion of either tacrolimus 0.03 mg/kg or cyclosporine 3 mg/kg. IFI was diagnosed according to the established EORTC/NIH-MSG criteria. IFI was diagnosed in 14 patients. Thirteen of the 14 had probable invasive pulmonary aspergillosis and the other had fungemia resulting from Trichosporon spp. Median onset of IFI was day 20 (range: 1-82), and no patients developed IFI after day 100. Three-year cumulative incidence of IA was 10.2%. Four of the 13 patients with invasive aspergillosis (IA) developed grade II-IV acute GVHD, and their IA was diagnosed before the onset of acute GVHD. The mortality rate of IFI was 86%. Multivariate analysis revealed that the use of prednisolone >0.2 mg/kg (relative risk 7.97, 95% confidence interval 2.24-28.4, P = .0014) was a significant risk factor for IA. This study suggests that IFI is an important cause of deaths after RICBT, and effective strategies are warranted to prevent IFI.     

Lamivudine and IFN-beta sequential therapy in HBe antigen-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B virus genotype C infection.

Sequential treatment with lamivudine and interferon (IFN) has induced sustained biochemical and virologic responses in the majority of patients with chronic hepatitis B in France. However, the efficacy of sequential treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype C infection has not been evaluated. Twenty-four HBe antigen-positive patients were treated with 100 mg lamivudine alone for 16-32 weeks, then with both 6 MU IFN-beta and lamivudine for 4 weeks, and lastly with IFN-beta alone for 20 weeks. Sustained response was achieved in 7 (29%) patients 24 weeks after the end of therapy. No lamivudine-resistant variants emerged in any patient. Hepatitis flare occurred in 3 patients after the withdrawal of lamivudine, but none had decompensation. The patients with sustained response were significantly younger at baseline (p = 0.033) and had a significantly lower HBV DNA level at the start of IFN (p = 0.020) than those without sustained response. In conclusion, the rate of response to sequential therapy with lamivudine and IFN in HBe antigen-positive patients with HBV genotype C infection was lower than the rate reported previously. Patients who were young or who had a favorable virologic response to lamivudine were more likely to have a sustained response.