A Novel Nonradioactive Method for Measuring Aromatase Activity Using a Human Ovarian Granulosa-Like Tumor Cell Line and an Estrone ELISA

The following sentences should have read: Results, Reproducibility     

Obstruction of St Jude Medical valves in the aortic position: significance of a combination of cineradiography and echocardiography

BACKGROUND: Obstruction of the St Jude Medical valve (St Jude Medical, Inc, St Paul, Minn) is a rare but serious complication. METHODS: Cineradiographic and echocardiographic evaluations of aortic St Jude Medical valves were simultaneously performed on 54 patients, with no signs of prosthetic valve dysfunction late after surgery. RESULTS: Although closing angles of the leaflets corresponded closely with the manufacturer data, restricted opening of the leaflets (opening angle >/= 20 degrees ) was found in 16 (group D) of the 54 patients by means of cineradiography. The opening angles were equal to or less than 14 degrees in the other 23 patients (group N) and between 15 degrees and 19 degrees in the remaining 15 (group M). Doppler-derived transprosthetic pressure gradients were significantly higher (P =.03) and the velocity index was significantly lower (P =.003) in group D than in group N. However, no significant differences were found in those values between group N and group M. Replacement of the aortic St Jude Medical valves was performed in 5 of the 16 patients, and the remaining 11 have been followed up because of relatively low pressure gradients. The cause of restricted leaflet movement was pannus formation without thrombosis in 4 patients and valve thrombosis with pannus formation in one. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced valve orifice area and restricted opening of the leaflets resulting from excess growth of pannus probably led to obstruction of the aortic St Jude Medical valves. A combination of cineradiography and echocardiography makes it possible to provide an accurate and detailed diagnosis of obstruction of the valve.     

Musical Alexia for Rhythm Notation: A Discrepancy Between Pitch and Rhythm

In the process of reading music, the reading of rhythm and pitch might be differentiated, although there is no evidence of this to date. There have been cases of disorders restricted to the reading of pitch, but none in which the disorder has been restricted to the reading of rhythm. We present a case of musical alexia and agraphia with Wernicke’s aphasia. An in-depth assessment of the subject’s musical reading ability showed that her musical alexia was restricted to unfamiliar melodies. When a melody was divided into rhythm elements and pitch elements, pitch reading was preserved, but rhythm reading was severely disturbed. This is the first case reported of a disorder restricted to rhythm reading, and suggests the independence of rhythm reading and pitch reading.     

Characterization of pancreatic islet cell tumors and renal tumors induced by a combined treatment of streptozotocin and nicotinamide in male SD rats

We herein investigated the histopathological features, including proliferative activity and immunoexpression, of pancreatic islet cell tumors (ICTs) in male SD rats induced by streptozotocin (STZ) and nicotinamide (NA), and discussed their relevance to biological behaviors and prognoses. A total of 70 and 43% of rats developed ICTs 37–45 weeks after the treatment with STZ (50 or 75 mg/kg, i.v.) and NA (350 mg/kg, twice, p.o.), respectively. Among the islet tumors observed in the STZ/NA-treated groups, 75% were adenomas, while 25% were carcinomas. Most STZ/NA-induced carcinomas were characterized by well-differentiated tumor cells with/without local invasion into the surrounding tissues, and weak proliferative activity. No outcome such as distance metastasis and death was noted. All of the ICTs strongly expressed insulin, part of which had hormone productivity; however there were no hypoglycemia-related clinical signs such as convulsion in these rats 36 weeks after the treatment. These results suggested that rat ICTs induced STZ/NA have small impact on biological activity or prognosis. STZ/NA treatment significantly increased of focal proliferative lesions in the kidney, liver and adrenal glands other than pancreatic islets. Of the STZ/NA-induced kidney tumors, more than 60% were renal cell adenomas, and many of them were basophilic type. The incidence of eosinophilic or clear cell type of tumors was less than 10%, respectively. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed that many of the STZ/NA-induced basophilic type of renal tumors were derived from proximal tubules, whereas the clear cell and eosinophilic types were derived from collecting tubules.     

Japanese orthopaedic association cervical myelopathy evaluation questionnaire (JOACMEQ): Part 5. Determination of responsiveness

Background

In 1999, the Japanese Orthopaedic Association decided to develop a new Cervical Myelopathy Evaluation Questionnaire (JOACMEQ). The final version of the JOACMEQ, comprising 24 questions and five domains (cervical spine function (CF); upper extremity function (UF); lower extremity function (LF); bladder function (BF); and quality of life (QOL)), was established after three nationwide investigations. The fourth investigation, reported in this paper, was performed to confirm the responsiveness of the questionnaire.