Transvaginal sonography in the morphological and functional assessment of segmental dilation of the distal ureter.

Primary megaureter presents a spectrum of findings ranging from mild, clinically unimportant, stable ureterectasis to severe, progressive obstructive hydroureteronephrosis. We report a patient with a double uterus and ipsilateral renal dystrophy. A previous imaging study had revealed a double uterus and obstructed left hemivagina, into which a single vaginal ectopic ureter inserted. On follow-up intravenous urography 8 years later, the left kidney was non-functioning, and there was segmental dilation of the distal right ureter. Transvaginal sonography with real-time scanning and Doppler were useful in exploring the morphological and functional status of this dilated distal ureter.     

益气活血汤对老年肺心病心衰患者血液流变学的影响

目的探讨益气活血汤对老年肺心病心衰患者血液流变性的影响。方法将48例肺心病心衰患者随机分为两组,均采用常规西医治疗,治疗组加用益气活血汤;观察两组治疗前后血液流变学指标变化情况。结果治疗组治疗前后比较,各项血液流变学指标改变差异有显著性,对照组治疗前后比较无统计学意义;治疗组各项指标与对照组比较差异有显著性。结论益气活血汤对肺心病心衰有改善血液流变性的作用。     

High level of tumor necrosis factor alpha activity of plasma and serum from acute phase hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome]

The level of TNF-alpha activity of plasma and serum from HFRS acute phase patients was investigated. The level of TNF (tumor necrosis factor) activity of plasma and serum from acute phase patients was higher than that of plasma and serum from convalescent phase patients or from normal group. The higher TNF activity of plasma or serum from acute phase patients was due to TNF-alpha, because the TNF activity was almost completely inhibited by polyclonal mouse serum against rHuTNF-alpha. Also, the increase in TNF-alpha positive ratio of PBMC from acute phase HFRS patients was found as compared to convalescent phase patients or to normal group. All these results strongly suggest that high level of TNF-alpha activity of plasma and serum may be involved in the development of clinic symptoms and pathological lesions during the course of HFRS disease.     

Medical Cure of a Brainstem Abscess and Serial Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials

The brainstem abscess of a nine-year-old girl with tetralogy of Fallot was cured after six weeks of parenteral antibiotic therapy, without surgical intervention. Serial studies of brainstem auditory evoked potentials were undertaken until the patient was clinically normal. To the authors' knowledge, this is only the second medically cured case reported in the literature, and it is the first case studied with serial brainstem auditory evoked potentials. If the clinical status allows, medical treatment of a brainstem abscess with appropriate antibiotics could be tried before surgical intervention such as stereotactic aspiration for reducing the mass.     

Indomethacin promotes germinal matrix microvessel maturation in the newborn beagle pup.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Although indomethacin has been demonstrated to prevent germinal matrix and intraventricular hemorrhage in clinical and animal studies, the mechanism of action of this agent to prevent hemorrhage remains unclear. Previous studies have demonstrated both that the microvessels in the germinal matrix of newborn beagle pups undergo basement membrane maturation during the first 4 postnatal days and that indomethacin may promote laminin deposition in tumor cell culture systems. METHODS: We employed the newborn beagle pup model to test the hypothesis that indomethacin may stimulate laminin deposition in germinal matrix microvessels. Newborn pups were randomized to receive either 0.1 mg/kg/dose i.p. indomethacin or an equal volume of saline diluent. Pups received doses of study medication once a day for 1, 2, or 3 days and were studied on postnatal days 1, 2, 3, or 4. Pups were anesthetized and systemically perfused with buffered formalin; the brains were removed and prepared for immunohistochemical study. RESULTS: Sections stained with Bandeiraea lectin demonstrated that there was no difference in germinal matrix vessel density among the postnatal ages studied; similarly, there were no differences in vessel density between saline- and indomethacin-treated animals at any postnatal age. Quantification of germinal matrix stained intensity by confocal microscopy demonstrated significant increases in indomethacin-treated pups for both laminin staining at postnatal days 2 (p = 0.05) and 3 (p = 0.0009) and type V collagen staining at postnatal day 2 (p = 0.011). Although staining for beta 1 integrins increased across postnatal ages, there were no differences between saline- and indomethacin-treated animals. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that indomethacin may stimulate basement membrane deposition in the germinal matrix microvessels of newborn beagle pups to prevent germinal matrix and/or intraventricular hemorrhage.     

Triflavin, an Arg-Gly-Asp containing snake venom peptide, inhibits aggregation of human platelets induced by human hepatoma cell line

Triflavin, an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-containing peptide, purified from snake venom of Trimeresurus flavoviridis, inhibits human platelet aggregation through the blockade of fibrinogen binding to fibrinogen receptors associated with glycoprotein IIb/IIIa complex. In this report, we examined the effect of triflavin on tumor cells (human hepatoma J-5)-induced platelet aggregation (TCIPA) of heparinized platelet-rich plasma (PRP). ADP-scavenger agents, apyrase (10 U/ml) and creatine phosphate (5 mM)/creatine phosphokinase (5 U/ml) did not inhibit TCIPA while hirudin (5u/ml) completely inhibited it. J-5 cells initially induced platelet aggregation, then blood coagulation occurred. J-5 cells concentration-dependently shortened the recalcification time of normal as well as Factor VIII, IX-deficient human plasmas, while it was inactive at shortening the recalcification time of Factor VII-deficient plasma, suggesting J-5 cells induced platelet aggregation through activation of extrinsic pathway, leading to thrombin formation as evidenced by the amidolytic activity on S-2238 by expressing tissue factor-like activity. Triflavin inhibited TCIPA in a dose-dependent manner (IC₅₀, 0.02 μM). When compared on molar ratio, triflavin was approximately 30,000 times more potent than GRGDS (IC₅₀,0.58 mM). On the other hand, GRGES showed no significant effect on TCIPA, even its concentration was raised to 4 mM. Additionally, the monoclonal antibodies, raised against glycoprotein IIb/IIIa complex (i.e., 7E₃ and 10 E₅) inhibited J-5 TCIPA. In conclusion, we suggest the inhibitory effect of triflavin on J-5 TCIPA may be chiefly mediated by the binding of triflavin to the fibrinogen receptor associated with glycoprotein IIb/IIIa complex on platelet surface membrane.     

Protein insufficiency aggravates the enhanced lipid peroxidation and reduced activities of antioxidative enzymes in rats fed diets high in polyunsaturated fat.

To investigate the effects of dietary protein and polyunsaturated fat levels on tissue lipid peroxidation and antioxidative enzymes, Long-Evans male weanling rats were fed either an 8% lactalbumin diet containing 2% (L2), 5% (L5), 10% (L10), 15% (L15) or 20% (L20) soybean oil or a 20% lactalbumin diet containing 5% (N5) or 20% (N20) soybean oil for 8 weeks. The tissue thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) concentrations of the L2 group were similar to those of the N5 group except in plasma in which they were higher. The L5 group generally showed tissue TBARS concentrations comparable to the N20 group. Gradually increasing the dietary soybean oil level in the low protein diet further increased the tissue TBARS concentrations. The L20 group had significantly higher TBARS in RBC, liver, heart, kidney and muscle than the N20 group. The low protein-fed groups had lower activities of glutathione peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.9), superoxide dismutase (EC 1.15.1.1) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.49) in liver and catalase (EC 1.11.1.6) in RBC than the N5 group. Compared with the N5 group, the N20 group also showed higher TBARS concentrations and lower activities of certain antioxidative enzymes in some tissues. The antioxidative enzyme activities decreased more drastically with the increasing dietary soybean oil level in the low protein-fed groups than in those fed a normal level of protein. Supplementation of 150 mg/kg of all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate to the L15 diet slightly decreased the TBARS in plasma, heart and liver and restored the depressed activities of RBC superoxide dismutase and catalase. The results indicated that insufficiency of dietary protein aggravates the enhanced production of TBARS and the reduced activities of antioxidant enzyme in rats fed a high soybean oil diet.     

The use of microimplants in orthodontic anchorage.

PURPOSE: Various types of temporary implants have been introduced to serve as orthodontic anchorage. The hypothesis of this study is that microimplants of 1.2 mm diameter can be used as orthodontic anchors, and that their success is related to their length. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of anchor retention after orthodontic force application for moving teeth, and to determine the relationship of microimplant length to retention rate. METHODS: Fifty-nine microimplants (diameter: 1.2 mm) were placed in 29 patients as orthodontic anchorages. After 2 weeks of microimplant placement, a force of 100 to 200 g was loaded with an elastometric chain or NiTi coil spring. Risk factors were characterized as to why a microimplant may fail, and Fisher's exact test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Nine microimplants were removed and the overall success rate was 84.7%. Exploring the causes for failure, we found significant differences between the length of microimplants and success rate; 6 mm was 72.2% and 8 mm was 90.2%. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that microimplants are suited as an alternative orthodontic anchorage. We recommend that 8-mm microimplants are preferable to 6-mm.     

Acupuncture at otoacupoint heart for treatment of vascular hypertension.

The immediate, short-term and long-term depressor effects, the immediate effects on cardiac functions in grade II and grade III vascular hypertension, and the effects on angiotensin II in grade III vascular hypertension by acupuncture at otoacupoint Heart were studied in 30 cases of vascular hypertensive patients. The immediate depressor effect of acupuncture at otoacupoint Stomach was also recorded for comparison. It was found that acupuncture at otoacupoint Heart produced marked immediate depressor effect, and the short-term effective rate was 100%, the long-term effective rate was 63.3%, as well as evident immediate effects on cardiac functional activities in grade II and grade III hypertension and marked effects on angiotensin II in grade III hypertension. Acupuncture at otoacupoint Stomach produced no depressor effect on vascular hypertension.