Comparison of quality of life after pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy and Whipple resection

BACKGROUND/AIMS: There have been many supportive data that the postoperative changes in nutritional status are more favorable after pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy than after Whipple resection; however, few reports are available on the postoperative changes in subjective quality of life after pancreatoduodenectomy. The aim of this study was to compare the postoperative change in quality of life after pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy and Whipple resection. METHODOLOGY: A total of 36 patients (31 with pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy and five with Whipple resection) were studied regarding quality of life before and at short term (within two months) and at long term (six months to one year) after surgery, using a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 13 physical and 10 psychosocial items. The medical records were also reviewed to evaluate their objective nutritional status. Postoperative changes in quality of life and nutritional status were compared between the pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy and Whipple groups. RESULTS: Overall and physical quality of life scores dropped at short term and then recovered at long term in the pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy group, but showed a persistently low value even at long term in the Whipple group. The change in physical quality of life showed almost parallel changes with the nutritional status in both groups. However, the scores of psychosocial quality of life, which reflected the patient's mental status, remained low even at long term in both pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy and Whipple groups. CONCLUSIONS: Quality of life is more favorable after pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy than after Whipple resection, but long-standing mental health care is necessary in patients with pyloruspreserving pancreatoduodenectomy and Whipple resection.     

Successful treatment of refractory acute GVHD with mycophenolate mofetil after peripheral blood stem cell transplantation from the patient's one locus-mismatched mother

A 35-year-old male with chronic myeloid leukemia in the accelerated phase received a peripheral blood stem cell transplant from his HLA-DR-mismatched mother. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis was with short-term methotrexate and tacrolimus. After transplantation, grade II skin acute GVHD occurred and was unsuccessfully treated with bolus methylprednisolone administration. The acute GVHD progressed to grade III of the skin, gut and liver, and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) was accordingly administered at a daily dose of 2 g. This treatment resulted in a dramatic improvement in the clinical features of the acute GVHD. The patient suffered from hemorrhagic cystitis and several episodes of cytomegalovirus antigenemia. MMF may be useful for steroid-resistant acute GVHD despite an increasing risk of viral infections.     

Diagnostic laparoscopy in infertility: a retrospective study

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of laparoscopy in the diagnosis and therapy of infertility. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: Academically affiliated reproductive endocrinology practice. PATIENTS: One hundred seventy patients. INTERVENTION: Diagnostic/therapeutic laparoscopy. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: One hundred seventy infertile patients underwent diagnostic laparoscopy between 1996 and 2000 in our clinic, and 109 of them were seen at follow-up more than 1 year after laparoscopy. Of the 109 patients, 77 (70.6%) were treated with assisted reproductive technology, such as in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer, and 32 (29.4%) were treated with conventional procedures. Of the 109 patients, 68 (62.4%), including 39 (50.6%) of the 77 treated with assisted reproductive technology and 29 (90.6%) of the 32 treated with conventional procedures, became pregnant. Of the 68 patients who became pregnant, 49 (72.1%) of them conceived within 1 year after laparoscopy. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopy is an important procedure in the treatment of infertility.     

Destruxins,cyclodepsipeptides, block the formation of actin rings and prominent clear zones and ruffled borders in osteoclasts

Bone-resorbing osteoclasts exhibit polarized morphological structures such as actin rings, clear zones, and ruffled borders. To gain insight into the mechanism of bone-resorbing activity of osteoclast and to discover new types of anti-resorptive agents, we have screened for natural compounds that inhibit the bone-resorbing activity of osteoclast-like multinucleated cells (OCLs). Destruxin B (DestB) and E (DestE), cyclodepsipeptides, were found to inhibit pit formation without affecting osteoclast differentiation and survival. Destruxins reversibly induced morphological changes in OCLs in a dose-dependent manner (DestB, 0.2-1 microM; DestE, 0.01-0.05 microM) and inhibited pit formation. Destruxin-induced morphological changes were accompanied by disruption of the actin rings in OCLs. The formation of actin rings in OCLs after adhesion was also inhibited by destruxins. Electron microscopical analysis revealed that destruxin-treated OCLs on dentine slices have no prominent clear zones and ruffled borders. The effective concentrations of destruxins on the morphological changes were almost the same as those that inhibited bone resorption in organ culture system. These results suggest that the anti-resorptive effects of destruxins result from induction of a disorder of the morphological structures in polarized OCLs.     

Involvement of vacuolar H+ -ATPase in incorporation of risedronate into osteoclasts

Although osteoclasts incorporate bisphosphonates during bone resorption, the mechanism of this incorporation by osteoclasts is not known. We previously reported that bisphosphonates disrupt the actin rings (clear zones) formed in normal osteoclasts, but did not disrupt actin rings in osteoclasts derived from osteosclerotic oc/oc mice, which have a defect in the gene encoding vacuolar H(+)-ATPase (V-ATPase). The present study showed that V-ATPase is directly involved in the incorporation of risedronate, a nitrogen containing bisphosphonate, into osteoclasts. Treatment of osteoclasts with risedronate disrupted actin rings and inhibited pit formation by osteoclasts on dentine slices. Bafilomycin A(1), a V-ATPase inhibitor, inhibited the pit-forming activity of osteoclasts but did not disrupt actin rings. Risedronate failed to disrupt actin rings in the presence of bafilomycin A(1). E-64, a lysosomal cysteine proteinase inhibitor, showed no inhibitory effect on the demineralization of dentine by osteoclasts but inhibited the digestion of dentine matrix proteins without disrupting actin rings. Risedronate disrupted actin rings even in the presence of E-64. Treatment of osteoclasts placed on plastic plates with risedronate also disrupted actin rings. Bafilomycin A(1) but not E64 prevented the disruption of actin rings in osteoclasts treated with risedronate on plastic plates. Inhibition of V-ATPase with bafilomycin A(1) also prevented disruption of actin rings by etidronate, a non-nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate. These results suggest that V-ATPase induced acidification beneath the ruffled borders of osteoclasts and subsequent bone demineralization triggers the incorporation of both nitrogen-containing and non-nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates into osteoclasts.     

Total parenteral nutrition entrains the central and peripheral circadian clocks

The administration schedule of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) ignores the human physiological food-intake rhythm. This study examined the effects of TPN on the central and peripheral circadian clocks. Male Wistar rats were divided into a control group, a nocturnal-TPN group, and a diurnal-TPN group. On the seventh day after TPN administration, expression of rat period2 (rPer2) and D-site binding protein (rDBP) mRNA were measured in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and liver. While rPer2 and rDBP mRNA expression of the nocturnal-TPN rats showed similar oscillation patterns to those in the free-fed control rats both in the SCN and liver, they were shifted significantly in the diurnal-TPN rats. This phase shift occurred as early as day 1. TPN, which ignores physiological food-intake rhythms, alters the rhythm of the central and peripheral clocks.     

Relation of age and sex to atrial electrophysiological properties in patients with no history of atrial fibrillation

Although atrial fibrillation is a common arrhythmia, especially in elderly men, little is known about age related changes in atrial electrophysiological properties or gender differences. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of aging on vulnerability to atrial fibrillation and assessed gender differences in those age related changes. An electrophysiological study was performed on 73 patients with no history of atrial fibrillation, structural heart disease, or conditions with potential effects on cardiac hemodynamic or electrophysiological function, including 25 women (mean age 49 +/- 18 years; range 12-84 years). The following atrial excitability parameters were assessed: spontaneous or paced (A1) and extrastimulated (A2) atrial electrogram widths, percent maximum atrial fragmentation (A2/A1 x 100), effective refractory period, wavelength index (effective refractory period/A2), and inducibility of atrial fibrillation. There were no significant differences in percent maximum atrial fragmentation (143 +/- 28 vs 142 +/- 35%), effective refractory period (241 +/- 39 vs 238 +/- 50 ms), wavelength index (2.9 +/- 0.8 vs 3.1 +/- 0.9), induction of atrial fibrillation (10 [21%] vs 7 [28%]), or age (50 +/- 17 vs 49 +/- 20 years) between men and women. Age was not statistically different between those patients with and without induction of atrial fibrillation in men (48 +/- 14 vs 50 +/- 18 years) and women (48 +/- 18 vs 49 +/- 21 years). Percent maximum atrial fragmentation and effective refractory period were directly correlated with age in men (r = 0.35, P = 0.01; r = 0.46, P < 0.001, respectively) and women (r = 0.42, P = 0.04; r = 0.45, P = 0.02, respectively), though wavelength index did not correlate with age in men (r = -0.04) or women (r = -0.04) with no history of atrial fibrillation. Considering these findings, the authors conclude that the mechanism triggering atrial fibrillation may be different between older and younger patients with atrial fibrillation, because younger patients who have no marked substrate for atrial fibrillation may need many trigger beats to induce atrial fibrillation.     

Mastoid obliteration by BMP-2/collagen composites: an experimental study using tissue engineering

PURPOSE: Several materials have been used in the application of mastoid cavity obliteration during surgery for cholesteatoma; however, nothing has won universal acceptance. Through the advancement of tissue engineering, bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2)/collagen composites have been elucidated as inducers of heterogenic bone formation. This study was performed to investigate whether these composites are potentially obliteration materials for use in the mastoid cavity by using an animal experimental study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The composites were implanted in the rat mastoid to investigate whether new bone would be tissue engineered in the mastoid and, if so, whether the newly formed bone was stable. The composites were examined histologically over a 24-week period. RESULTS: The composites implanted in the rat mastoid were able to tissue engineer new bone, and the newly formed bone was stable as assessed histologically, with almost normal bone structure, that was not resorbed during the 24-week period. Adverse immunological reactions were not found during our observation. CONCLUSIONS: Bone that was tissue engineered by the BMP-2/collagen composites was stable as assessed by histological examination and persisted in the rat mastoid. The present study shows that the composites have the potential to become real materials for use in mastoid obliteration.