Host resistance to Listeria monocytogenes infection is enhanced but resistance to Staphylococcus aureus infection is reduced in acute graft-versus-host disease in mice

Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is characterized by the production of high levels of T helper 1 (Th1)-type cytokines. Bone marrow transplantation from allogeneic C57BL/6 cells to CBF(1) mice produced acute GVHD. Host resistance to Th1-driven Listeria monocytogenes was enhanced, whereas host resistance to Th2-driven Staphylococcus aureus was reduced during acute GVHD. These results suggest that opposite host responses are observed between Th1-driven and Th2-driven bacterial infections in acute GVHD.     

Pulmonary hypertension due to tumor emboli: A report of three autopsy cases with morphological correlations to radiological findings

Three cases of pulmonary hypertension caused by tumor emboli to the lungs are described. Two of the three cases had a clinical diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism until surgical embolectomy, and the other had a diagnosis of primary pulmonary hypertension. Autopsy disclosed chondrosarcoma, choriocarcinoma and gastric cancer as the primary tumors, respectively. Pulmonary vascular obstruction due to tumor embolism leading to pulmonary hypertension is a previously rare clinical entity, and obstructed pulmonary vessels are believed to tend to be small vessels. We compared the autopsy and radiological findings and concluded that pulmonary tumor embolism involved not only the small peripheral arteries but also the segmental and/or lobar arteries.     

Effects of rotation and distortion on perceptual priming

We conducted two experiments to specify the properties of the representation underlying perceptual priming. We transformed a particular property of stimuli between study and test. We used novel stimuli to eliminate contamination by semantic memory. They were rotated by 0 degree, 90 degrees, or 180 degrees in Experiment 1 and were distorted horizontally in Experiment 2. These transformations were chosen for topological structures of stimuli to be kept unchanged. In Experiment 1 the priming effect of the rotated stimuli was smaller than that of the identical ones. The rotational angles had no effect. More surprisingly, the horizontally distorted stimuli showed the same amount of priming as the identical ones in Experiment 2. In contrast, recognition performance of the rotated or horizontally distorted stimuli was lower than that of the identical ones. Statistical independence between priming and recognition was found in both experiments. Thus, recognition was statistically and functionally independent of priming. These results suggest that the priming representation encodes both orientation-independent and orientation-dependent information, and that the global topological structure is critical for priming.     

HLA class I genotyping including HLA-B*51 allele typing in the Iranian patients with Behçet's disease

It is well known that Beh?et's disease (BD) is strongly associated with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) B51 in many ethnic groups. However, there has been no published report as yet with respect to this association among the Iranian people. Furthermore, since it is now known that the B51 antigen can be encoded by 21 alleles, B*5101-B*5121, we performed HLA-B*51 allele typing as well as HLA class I genotyping of 48 Iranian patients with this disease. As a result, the frequency of the B*51 allele was significantly higher (62.1%) in the patient group as compared with the ethnically matched control group (31.8%) (Pc=0.067, R.R.=3.51). In the genotyping of B*51 alleles, 33 out of the 36 B*51-positive patients possessed B*5101 and the remaining 3 carried B*5108. This study revealed that Iranian patients with BD also had a strong association with HLA-B51. In addition, this significantly high incidence of HLA-B*51 was found to be caused by an increase in both the HLA-B*5101 and HLA-B*5108 alleles. However, there was no significant difference in the HLA-B*51 allelic distribution between the patient and control groups.     

Significant associations of HLA-B*5101 and B*5108, and lack of association of class II alleles with Behçet's disease in Italian patients

Beh?et's disease has been known to be strongly associated with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) B51, one of the split antigens of HLA-B5. An increased incidence of HLA-B51 in the patient group has also been reported in an Italian population. Since the B51 antigen has been recently identified to comprise nine alleles, B*5101-B*5109, we performed HLA-B51 allele genotyping by the polymerase chain reaction-sequencing based typing (PCR-SBT) method as well as serological HLA-A and -B typing among 21 Italian patients with Beh?et's disease in order to investigate whether there is any correlation of one particular B51-associated allele with Behcet's disease. In addition, HLA class II genotyping was performed by the PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. As a result, only the phenotype frequency of the B51 antigen was found to be significantly increased in the patient group as compared to the ethnically matched control group by the corrected P-value analysis (71.4% in patients vs. 17.9% in controls; chi2 = 14.26, Pc = 0.0042, R.R. = 11.5). In the B51 allele genotyping, 11 out of 15 B51-positive patients were B*5101 and the remaining four were B*5108, whereas all of 5 normal controls were B*5101, showing significant association of each allele with Beh?et's disease. No significant difference was observed between the patient and control groups in the HLA class II allelic distribution. This study revealed a strong association of Beh?et's disease in Italian with B*5108 as well as B*5101, providing important insight into the molecular mechanism underlying an HLA association with Beh?et's disease.     

Association of gastric epithelial apoptosis with the ability of Helicobacter pylori to induce a neutrophil oxidative burst

Both polymorphonuclear cell infiltration and increased epithelial apoptosis are seen in gastric mucosa in the presence of Helicobacter pylori infection. This study examined the association between bacterial ability to stimulate an oxidative burst in neutrophils and epithelial apoptosis. Biopsy specimens were obtained from 15 patients to detect apoptotic cells by the TUNEL method. H. pylori strains isolated from corresponding stomach biopsy samples were tested for the ability to stimulate an oxidative burst in human neutrophils. Neutrophils were isolated from healthy subjects without H. pylori infection and the oxidative burst was measured by flow cytometry with dichlorofluorescein diacetate. Stimulation with H. pylori increased both the percentage of activated cells and fluorescence intensity. There was a significant positive correlation between the number of epithelial apoptotic cells and fluorescence intensity. Increased neutrophil oxidative burst stimulated by H. pylori may play a role in enhanced gastric mucosal DNA damage and consequent atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer.     

NECROTIZING MYOPATHY AS A REMOTE EFFECT OF GASTRIC CANCER ACCOMPANIED WITH HASHIMOTO'S THYROIDITIS

An autopsy case of a 74-year-old male who had shown clinically hypothyroidism due to chronic atrophic thyroiditis (Hashimoto's thyroiditis), and pathologically necrotizing myopathy as a remote effect of gastric cancer was reported.
Morphological features of this necrotizing myopathy was those of carcinomatous myopathy rather than those of hypothyroid or diabetic myopathy.
As for the pathogenesis of the necrotizing myopathy (as a Group IV of polymyositis of Walton and Adams), the malignancy might have played an important role as a trigger of the secondary immunological abnormality upon a pre-exizting longstanding immune disorder of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Pseudomembranous colitis, which was thought to be related to antibiotics (Lincomycin), was also briefly discussed.     

Expression of matrix Gla protein and osteonectin mRNA by human aortic smooth muscle cells.

BACKGROUND: Recent data indicate that matrix proteins such as matrix Gla protein (MGP) and osteonectin (ON) influence not only mineralization of vasculature but smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation. METHODS: We examined whether MGP and ON are expressed by human aortic SMCs in vivo using Northern blotting, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: MGP and ON mRNAs were strongly expressed in the aorta without atherosclerosis from newborn and four young subjects up to 10 years old. In the aorta from 15 adult cases, MGP and ON mRNAs were decreased as atherosclerosis developed. We determined cell type and distribution of the MGP- and ON mRNA-expressing cells by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. In the aorta obtained from newborn and young subjects, SMCs in the media and thin intima expressed MGP mRNA and, to a lesser extent, ON mRNA. In the adult aorta with fibrous thickening, MGP mRNA was expressed by intimal SMCs and subpopulation of medial SMCs. Osteonectin mRNA was expressed mainly by intimal SMCs and few medial SMCs. Double immunohistochemical staining revealed that both MGP- and ON protein-expressing cells were positive for anti-alpha-smooth muscle actin antibody, aortic SMCs. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that MGP and ON expression by aortic SMCs might be regulated by the degree of atherosclerosis and SMC differentiation in human aorta.     

Cardiac tamponade due to rupture of a subepicardial aneurysm following myocardial infarction

A 71-year-old male died of cardiac tamponade due to cardiac rupture 22 days after onset of acute myocardial infarction. Autopsy revealed rupture of an unusual ventricular aneurysm characterized by abrupt interruption of the myocardium, a narrow neck, a thin fibrous outer wall partially showing myocardial fibers, and lack of adhesion between the epicardium and pericardium. A review of the literature revealed that 11 among 32 autopsy cases of false aneurysm showed a similar morphology to the present case, these being classifiable as subepicardial aneurysm.