A risk analysis by a measles exportation model concerning the FIFA World Cup 2002

Risk of measles exportation from Japan is of concern regarding the FIFA World Cup 2002 (WC 2002), which will be held in Korea and Japan in June, 2002. During January 1999 through June 2001. the number of reported exportation cases from Japan was 7 to Australia and 22 to the United States. During the same time, a total of 2.13 million and 14.69 million people traveled between Japan-Australia and Japan-US, respectively. Based on an estimated number for travelers during the WC 2002 (420,000-432,000) announced by the Japanese Ministry of Transportation, we estimated the number of travelers for Japan-Australia and Japan-US would be 16,000 and 109,000 respectively. We analyzed the risk of measles exportation to Australia (PAU) and the United States (PUS) regarding travel for the WC2002 by assumption that measles exposure and transmission would be similar with the usual setting: P = 1 - [1 - (reported exported measles/number of travelers)]estimated number of travelers. The risk was estimated as PAU = 0.051 and PUS = 0.15, however, the results could be higher, because the peak of measles usually lies during May through June and exposure of the virus among young population during the soccer watch would be denser. Through immunization to one-year-old Japanese children is highly needed, as well as strengthening of international measles surveillance especially after the WC2002.     

Age-related change and its sex differences in histoarchitecture of the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus of F344/N rats

The present study examined the effects of aging and sex differences on the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of F344/N rats. In juveniles (1.6-1.9 months of age), adults (11.7-16.3 months of age), and old (29.2-34 months of age) rats, the volume, size of neuronal nucleus and neuronal cell number of the SCN were determined with cresyl fast violet-stained sections. In addition, immunohistochemical analysis was performed for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). There was no significant effect of aging and sex differences on the SCN volume. The number of neurons in the SCN gradually decreased from juvenile to old age in females. However, in males, the number was significantly decreased in adult and old age rats. The size of neuronal nuclei in the SCN was significantly decreased by increasing age in both sexes, except for the ventrolateral part of the SCN of males. In the dorsomedial part of the SCN of females, the density of GFAP-immunoreactive components was significantly higher in adult age rats than in rats of other ages. However, there was no significant increase in the density of the SCN in adult males. These results suggest that morphological changes in neuronal and astroglial cells occur in the SCN with aging in a sex-specific manner.     

Drug-induced pneumonitis associated with imatinib mesylate in a patient with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

A 74-year-old man with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) developed severe dyspnea on exertion after the readministration of imatinib mesylate for chronic myeloid leukemia. Chest X-ray and CT showed ground-glass opacities in both lungs in addition to preexisting honeycombing. Discontinuation of imatinib and methylprednisolone pulse therapy followed by administration of oral prednisolone resulted in improvement in both symptoms and radiographic findings. Imatinib-induced pneumonitis was diagnosed based on the clinical course and findings. Only five previous reports of imatinib-induced pneumonitis have been published in the literature, and this is the first case reported in a patient with IPF.     

Efficacy of a new formulation of lenograstim (recombinant glycosylated human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) containing gelatin for the treatment of neutropenia after consolidation chemotherapy in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

The efficacy and safety of a new formulation of lenograstim (recombinant glycosylated granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) prepared by switching the stabilizer from human serum albumin (HSA) to gelatin was investigated for the treatment of neutropenia after consolidation chemotherapy in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The results obtained in the study using the gelatin-containing formulation (gelatin-lenograstim) were retrospectively compared to those obtained from a placebo-controlled double-blind randomized study (AML-DBT) using the HSA-containing formulation (HSA-lenograstim). The median time of neutrophil recovery to > or = 1000/mm3 was significantly shorter in the gelatin-lenograstim group (14 days) than in the placebo group (21 days, P = .0001), and there was no significant difference between the gelatin-lenograstim group and the HSA-lenograstim group (14.5 days of AML-DBT, P = .5462). The incidences of febrile neutropenia were significantly reduced in the gelatin-lenograstim group (24/43, 55.8%) compared to the placebo group (58/64, 90.6%, P < .0001). The incidence of fever and antibiotic use was also significantly lower in the gelatin-lenograstim group (69.8% and 83.7%, respectively) than in the placebo group (92.2%, P = .0034, and 96.9%, P = .0285, respectively). However, between the 2 groups there were no differences in the number of patients who had infectious episodes. No serious adverse drug reactions ascribed to gelatin-lenograstim were encountered. These results demonstrate that gelatin-lenograstim exerted beneficial effects in the acceleration of neutrophil recovery and in the reduction of fever, febrile neutropenia, and antibiotic use, and its efficacy was equivalent to HSA-lenograstim. Therefore, we concluded that the gelatin-lenograstim formulation, which offers no risk of virus contamination and can be stored at room temperature, is more beneficial than the HSA-lenograstim formulation.