A case of Kallmann syndrome: usefulness of the aging male's symptoms rating scale for assessment of subjective symptoms

We report a case of Kallmann syndrome in which the aging male's symptoms rating scale (AMS) was useful for assessment of subjective symptoms. A 30-year-old male was admitted to Tsukuba University Hospital with a complaint of delayed puberty in May 2003. He presented with hypogonadism, gynecomastia and anosmia. The plasma levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone were very low. However, the LH-releasing hormone test and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) loading test identified normal function of pituitary and Leydig cell. After 12 months of treatment with hCG and human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG), the amount of pubic hair and the volume of testes had increased as well as the level of serum testosterone. The total score of AMS after treatment has been improved from 39 to 20 as compared with that before treatment.     

Differentiation effect of acyclic retinoid on acute promyelocytic leukemia cells

 Acyclic retinoid (all-trans-3, 7, 11, 15-tetramethyl-2, 4, 6, 10, 14-hexadecapentaenoic acid) binds cellular retinoic acid-binding protein with an affinity similar to that of all-trans retinoic acid and induces differentiation of human hepatoma cell lines and a human acute myelogenous leukemia cell line (HL-60). We investigated the in vitro efficacy of acyclic retinoid to induce the differentiation of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cells using primary cultured cells obtained from 11 APL patients. Five days' incubation with acyclic retinoid effected a dose-dependent induction of differentiation. Cells from eight patients showed maximum differentiation at 10^–6 M acyclic retinoid. Cells from one patient required 10^–5 M for maximum differentiation, while those from two patients exhibited moderate differentiation at 10^–5 M. Five days' incubation with acyclic retinoid (10^–7∼10^–5 M) did not affect the viability or number of cells from any patient except one, whose cells showed a slight decrease in viability at 10^–5 M. Thus, we conclude that acyclic retinoid induced the differentiation of primary cultured APL cells at concentrations of 10^–6∼10^–5 M, a range at which it is not toxic. Received: 18 March 1996 / Accepted: 6 August 1996     

A survey of postoperative epidural and intravenous analgesia in Greece

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Epidural and intravenous analgesia are widely used for postoperative pain management. Efficacy and safety is enhanced with the establishment of acute pain services. We studied the terms of application of these techniques in Greek hospitals and compared practices between anaesthetic departments with or without acute pain services. METHODS: We performed a postal survey regarding departmental policy on the application of epidural and intravenous analgesia, patient monitoring, audit and educational activities, acute pain service teams and proposals for improvement. Pain services were classified according to predetermined quality criteria. Hospitals with or without acute pain services were compared. RESULTS: Response rate was 46.3% (51 of 110 departments). Epidural analgesia was used in 49 departments, equally applied as intermittent boluses or continuous infusion. Twenty-two of the 39 departments that were using continuous infusion, used exclusively a lumbar approach. Intravenous analgesia was used by 42 (82%) departments; 13 used exclusively continuous infusion. All eight departments that had an established acute pain service fulfilled the predefined quality criteria compared with only ten of the remaining 43 (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our study discloses important issues regarding the use of intravenous and epidural analgesia and postoperative patient monitoring in Greek hospitals. Implementation of acute pain services that are satisfying the quality criteria may help to improve patient care.     

Transient low pH treatment enhances infection of lentiviral vector pseudotypes with a targeting Sindbis envelope

Efficient transduction of primary hematopoietic cell types by oncoretroviral vectors and lentiviral vectors with a variety of different envelope pseudotypes has proven to be difficult. We recently developed a lentiviral vector based upon a modified Sindbis virus envelope that allows targeted transduction via antibody recognition to specific cells in unfractionated cell populations. However, similar to other envelope pseudotypes, the utility of this vector for some primary hematopoietic cells was limited by low transduction efficiencies. Here, we report that transient treatment of cells with low pH culture medium immediately following infection results in marked enhancements in transduction efficiency for primary hematopoietic cells. In combination with antibody directed targeting, this simple technique expands the utility of targeting transduction to specific cells in mixed populations of primary cells.     

A useful antibody panel for differential diagnosis between peritoneal mesothelioma and ovarian serous carcinoma in Japanese cases

Malignant mesothelioma is increasing in incidence worldwide, including in Japan. However, the accurate pathologic diagnosis of pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma (PM) is sometimes difficult if adequate histologic and immunohistochemical analyses are not undertaken. The aim of this study was to identify a useful antibody panel for distinguishing PM from ovarian serous papillary adenocarcinoma (SC). We obtained 29 PMs (23 epithelioid mesotheliomas and 6 biphasic mesotheliomas) and 20 SCs from our surgical pathology files. Immunohistochemical analysis was undertaken using 13 commercially available antibodies. No significant sex differences in antigen expression among the 29 PMs were observed. The results identified calretinin and thrombomodulin as positive markers and Ber-EP4, MOC-31, CA19-9, and estrogen receptor as negative markers with relatively high sensitivity and specificity for the differential diagnosis of PM and SC. The combination of these positive and negative markers may contribute to accurate diagnosis and adequate therapy for PM and ovarian SC.     

Drug Screening for ALS Using Patient-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a late-onset, fatal disorder in which the motor neurons degenerate. The discovery of new drugs for treating ALS has been hampered by a lack of access to motor neurons from ALS patients and appropriate disease models. We generate motor neurons from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from familial ALS patients, who carry mutations in Tar DNA binding protein-43 (TDP-43). ALS patient-specific iPSC-derived motor neurons formed cytosolic aggregates similar to those seen in postmortem tissue from ALS patients and exhibited shorter neurites as seen in a zebrafish model of ALS. The ALS motor neurons were characterized by increased mutant TDP-43 protein in a detergent-insoluble form bound to a spliceosomal factor SNRPB2. Expression array analyses detected small increases in the expression of genes involved in RNA metabolism and decreases in the expression of genes encoding cytoskeletal proteins. We examined four chemical compounds and found that a histone acetyltransferase inhibitor called anacardic acid rescued the abnormal ALS motor neuron phenotype. These findings suggest that motor neurons generated from ALS patient-derived iPSCs may provide a useful tool for elucidating ALS disease pathogenesis and for screening drug candidates.