Priapism complicated by chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML); a case report

A-29-year-old man visited our hospital with the complaint of a continuous rigid and painful erection which began two days before. We diagnosed ischemic type of priapism by aspiration of penile cavernosal blood analysis; an acidotic and hypoxic blood. The leukocyte count was 263,000/p, and chronic myelogenous leukomia (CML) was suspected. After the failure of conservative treatment, glans-cavernosal shunt (Winter procedure) was performed. The postoperative course was uneventful and the intercourse was possible at five months after the operation. CML was treated by administration of imatinib mesylate and no evidence of recurrence was observed.     

Preprotachykinin A mRNA detected by in situ hybridization in guinea pig vestibular ganglion.

In situ hybridization histochemistry was conducted to examine the expression of mRNA encoding preprotachykinin A (PPTA), the precursor of the neuropeptide substance P (SP) and neurokinin A (NKA), in guinea pig vestibular ganglion. Signals for PPTA mRNA moderately accumulated on most ganglion cells. SP and NKA are thus confirmed to be present in vestibular ganglion cells of the guinea pig.     

Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid findings in rheumatoid arthritis]

Findings of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were compared among three groups of patients: rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with or without interstitial lung disease (ILD), and collagen disease other than RA accompanied by ILD. Regardless of the presence or absence of associated ILD, the RA groups showed higher numbers of neutrophils in BALF with a mean number about 10 times that of the collagen disease group. In contrast, the percentages of lymphocytes in the RA groups were lower than that in the collagen disease group. Classification of alveolitis on the basis of BALF findings revealed neutrophil type (N) in 55% of the RA patients and lymphocyte type (L) in 25%. In the collagen disease group, N was found in 15.4%, and L in 38.5%. Regarding the lymphocyte subsets, many patients with RA accompanied by ILD had a CD 4/8 ratio of 1 or great. These findings suggest that highly characteristic neutrophil alveolitis is present in the pulmonary interstitium from the initial stage of RA.     

Life expectancy among Japanese of different smoking status in Japan: NIPPON DATA80

BACKGROUND: The life expectancy is an important measure for describing health status among population. Several studies from the United States and Europe showed the harm of smoking by describing the life expectancies with different smoking status. No such study is examined in Japan, the country with the world's highest life expectancy irrespective of high smoking rate among men. METHODS: The abridged life table method was applied to calculate the life expectancies of men and women among different smoking status from age 40 until age 85. Age-specific mortality rates stratified by different smoking status were obtained from follow-up data from random sample in Japanese population (NIPPON DATA80). RESULTS: Proportion of current smokers was 62.9% in men and 8.8% in women at the baseline survey in 1980. The life expectancies of 40-year-old never smokers, ex-smokers and current smokers were 42.1, 40.4, and 38.6 years in men and 45.6, 45.9, and 43.4 years in women. The life expectancy of 40-year-old men who smoked less than one pack per day was 39.0 and was longer than that of those who smoked one or two packs (38.8) and more than two packs (38.1). CONCLUSION: Life expectancy decreased gradually as the grade of smoking increased in the Japanese population.     

Ampullary Adenoma Treated by Endoscopic Double-Snare Retracting Papillectomy

We report herein improved methods for the safe and successful completion of endoscopic papillectomy (EP). Between January 2008 and November 2011, 12 patients underwent double-snare retracting papillectomy for the treatment of lesions of the major duodenal papilla. The main outcomes were en bloc resection rates, pathological findings, and adverse events. All of the patients (mean age, 60.1 years; range, 38 to 80 years) were diagnosed with ampullary adenoma by endoscopic forceps biopsies prior to endoscopic snare papillectomy. En bloc resection by double-snare retracting papillectomy was successfully performed for all lesions (median size, 12.3 mm), comprising six tubular adenomas, one tubulovillous adenoma, three cases of epithelial atypia, one hamartomatous polyp, and one case of duodenitis with regenerative change. Significant hemorrhage and pancreatitis were observed in one case after EP. Adenoma recurrence occurred in three patients during follow-up (median, 28.5 months) at a mean interval of 2 months postoperatively (range, 1 to 3 months). No serious adverse events were observed. Double-snare retracting papillectomy is effective and feasible for treating lesions of the major duodenal papilla. Further treatment experience, including a single-arm phase II study, needs to be accumulated before conducting a randomized controlled study.     

Hemobilia due to biliary intraepithelial neoplasia associated with Zollinger–Ellison syndrome

A 58-year-old man was transferred to us from his local hospital because of failure to control his gastrointestinal bleeding by endoscopic hemostasis. Abdominal imaging suggested a hypervascular tumor of the pancreatic head (36?mm diameter), and laboratory testing showed an elevated serum gastrin level (17,800?pg/mL). Gastroduodenal endoscopy revealed multiple duodenal ulcers and active bleeding from the ampulla of Vater. The selective arterial secretagogue injection test suggested a gastrinoma in the pancreatic head, but no gastrinoma in the pancreatic tail. The patient was diagnosed with solitary pancreatic head gastrinoma complicated by hemosuccus pancreaticus, and pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed. Intraoperatively, the diagnosis was changed to primary peripancreatic lymph node gastrinoma without pancreatic involvement. The gastrointestinal bleeding stopped postoperatively and serum gastrin levels returned to normal. Histological examination of the surgical specimens revealed a small submucosal gastrinoma in the duodenum (7?mm diameter). The final diagnosis was microgastrinoma of the duodenum with peripancreatic lymph node metastasis. The cause of bleeding from the ampulla of Vater was initially obscure, but eventually a hemorrhagic erosion with moderate atypia was found in the common bile duct, indicating biliary intraepithelial neoplasia (BilIN). This is the first report of hemobilia due to BilIN with gastrinoma.     

Effect of combined cardiovascular risk factors on individual and population medical expenditures: a 10-year cohort study of national health insurance in a Japanese population.

BACKGROUND: Although obesity is required for some criteria defining metabolic syndrome, clustering of other risk factors also indicates an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Whether the relationship between cardiovascular risk factor clustering and medical expenditures differs with body mass index (BMI) requires investigation, especially in a population with a low prevalence of obesity such as that in Japan. METHODS AND RESULTS: A 10-year cohort study of 4,478 Japanese National Health Insurance beneficiaries aged 40-69 years in a community between 1990 and 2001 was carried out in the present study. The clustering of cardiovascular risk factors showed a positive and graded relationship to personal medical expenditures in participants who are overweight (BMI > or =25.0) and normal weight (BMI <25.0). The individual medical expenditures per month were 1.7-fold higher for participants with 2 or 3 risk factors and overweight than for those without these factors (26,782 vs 15,377 Japanese yen). Differences in the geometric means were similarly significant after adjustment for other confounding factors. However, the excess medical expenditures by risk clustering of normal weight categories within the total medical expenditures were higher than those of overweight categories because more participants were of normal weight. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiovascular risk factor clustering and being overweight can be a useful predictor of medical expenditures in a Japanese population.     

Japanese individuals do not harbor the T594M mutation but do have the P592S mutation in the C-terminus of the beta-subunit of the epithelial sodium channel: the Ohasama study

OBJECTIVE: To assess the implications of polymorphisms of the amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channel in essential hypertension in the Japanese population by determining the incidence of the T594M mutation in the , subunit of the epithelial sodium channel, and by screening the C-terminus of the epithelial sodium channel. METHODS: Single-strand confirmational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis using two sets of primers which cover the last two-thirds of the last exon coding the B epithelial sodium channel and modification of a specific enzyme restriction site (NlaIII) for the T594M mutation were performed on 803 Japanese subjects. They were randomly selected from the study participants representative of a general population of Ohasama, Japan, who measured their home blood pressure. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products presenting a shift in SSCP gel, as well as controls, were directly sequenced by autoanalyser to identify the mutation. RESULTS: SSCP analysis identified altered migration in five subjects. Four SSCP variants found by sequencing were heterogeneous for the P592S (CCT to TCT) mutation conserving the PY motif, although it was not significantly associated with either home or casual blood pressure values. The resting polymorphism was at codon Thr 594, leading to no change in the amino acid sequence (ACG to ACA). None of the PCR products were modified by NlaIII, indicating the absence of the T594M mutation. CONCLUSIONS: The epithelial sodium channel variants at the C-terminus are not involved in the common form of essential hypertension in Japanese.     

Does the impact of smoking on coronary heart disease differ by low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level?: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study.

BACKGROUND: The association of smoking with coronary heart disease (CHD) occurrence has been reported to be weaker for populations with lower plasma cholesterol levels. Recent studies suggest that low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and smoking contribute to different stages of atherosclerosis, so the present study was designed to test the hypothesis that smoking is a stronger risk factor for CHD when LDL-C is high. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study group of 13,410 middle-aged adults who were initially free of stroke and CHD were followed and over 13.3 years there were 932 incident CHD events. Tests for multiplicative interaction were performed using proportional hazards models. Both smoking and increased LDL-C were risk factors for CHD incidence. The relative hazard (RH) of CHD in relation to smoking tended to be larger among higher LDL-C categories compared with lower LDL-C categories. For example, when the participants were dichotomized into 4 categories, using smoking >or=15 cigarettes per day and LDL-C >or=130 mg/dl as cutoffs, those with high LDL-C and heavier cigarette smoking showed a very high RH of CHD (RH =2.81) compared with that expected from the product of the RHs of high LDL-C (RH =1.15) only x heavy smoking only (RH =1.71) (p for interaction =0.04). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest positive multiplicative interactions between smoking and LDL-C for CHD incidence.     

Effect of combined BCG and UFT therapy of human maxillary cancer transplanted into nude mice

Twenty male 5-6 week-old nude mice transplanted with human maxillary cancer (MC-Ya) were divided into 4 groups. Group I was treated with oral administration of 0.2 ml of 0.9% saline solution daily for 10-30 days, and served as control. Group II was treated with oral administration of 1 mg/mouse of BCG once a week for 10-30 days. Group III was treated with oral administration of 15 mg/kg of UFT daily for 10-30 days. Group IV was treated with the combination therapy of BCG and UFT. In comparison of the treatment effects in 4 groups, following results were obtained: 1) Mouse immunosuppressive acidic protein in the sera of nude mouse elevated in all groups, especially in group III. 2) The inhibitory effect on the growth of tumor was observed in group III and IV, especially in group IV, but not in group II. 3) The reason why the growth-inhibitory effect was observed more remarkably in group IV than in group III, would be explainable as the immunosuppression by UFT was restored by the immunostimulating effect of BCG.