A newly designed attachment device of multipurpose frame for neuronavigator

Summary A newly designed attachment device of the multipurpose head frame (Sugita) for Neuronavigator (Watanabe) is presented with an illustrative case of glioblastoma in an eloquent area. This has extended the usefulness of the neuronavigator for those who prefer and use the multipurpose head frame, while the requirements for keeping a stereotactic combination and the original concept of the multipurpose head frame, as well as that of the neuronavigator have been kept undisturbed.     

Rupture of an isolated internal iliac artery aneurysm into the rectum: Report of a case

Aneurysmal rupture into the intestinal tract is a rare but disastrous complication of an internal iliac artery aneurysm. We report herein the successful surgical repair of a fistula between a huge aneurysm of the right internal iliac artery and the rectum in an 81-year-old man. After a femoro-femoral cross-over bypass had been performed, the aneurysm was opened and its patent arterial branches were ligated with sutures. The fistula was then intra-aneurysmally sutured and covered with an omental flap. The diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to this severe complication are discussed with a review of the literature following the presentation of this case.     

Clinical usefulness of the frontal assessment battery (FAB) for elderly in memory clinic]

To investigate the usefulness of the frontal assessment battery (FAB) as a brief assessment for diagnosis in patients with dementia, we examined cognitive function using the FAB, Mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Kana-hiroi test, and Raven's colored progressive matrices (RCPM). Subjects were 82 senile patients having amnesia as a complaint including 28 Alzheimer's disease (AD), 14 frontotemporal dementia (FTD), 17 vascular dementia (VD), 13 mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 10 healthy persons. We discussed the difference of scores in different types of dementia. In the FAB, the scores of healthy persons and MCI were much higher compared with the scores of all types of dementia. There were high correlation between FAB and MMSE, Kana-hiroi test, and RCPM. Although some subjects showed normal score in MMSE and/or RCPM, they showed low score in FAB. Based on this, FAB is efficient for the differential diagnosis of dementia as brief screening tool.     

A case of aspergilloma detected after surgery for pneumothorax.

We report a case of aspergilloma in an 80-year-old male patient who had no identifiable underlying disease before surgery for pneumothorax. He was hospitalized for left pneumothorax. A chest CT revealed a large bulla in the left lung apex with a nodule (diameter; 1.5 cm) at the edge of the bulla. After thoracodocesis, air leakage persisted and a large bulla and nodule were resected. Aspergillus was detected histopathologically in the nodule. Treatment with itraconazole 200 mg a day followed, and 4 months later he had no recurrent pneumothorax or Aspergillus infection.     

Lobular carcinoma of the male breast--a case report]

Lobular carcinoma of the male breast is very rare, because lobules do not exist in the male mammary gland. Seven cases of lobular carcinoma of the male breast have been reported in Europe and U.S.A., although no case in Japan. We encountered a very rare case of the lobular carcinoma of 74-year-old male breast. Histopathological examinations of both primary tumor and recurrent tumors of the skin led to the diagnosis of lobular carcinoma.     

"Necklace olfactory glomeruli" form unique components of the rat primary olfactory system

A distinct subset of rat primary olfactory neurons was identified immunohistochemically by means of a polyclonal antibody against human placental antigen X-P2 (hPAX-P2), an incompletely characterized substance found in all estrogen-biosynthetic organs. The subset of olfactory receptor cells was distributed widely over the olfactory epithelium with some degree of concentration on the dorsocaudal walls of nasal subcavities. The subset formed unique "necklace olfactory glomeruli," which were composed of seven to nine solitary glomeruli located in the caudal end of the olfactory bulb. One of them was located in the "modified glomerular complex" reported to be involved in rat suckling behavior. The projectional patterns of the necklace olfactory system, albeit diffuse, indicated some degree of spatial correspondence between zones of olfactory epithelium and specific glomeruli. Axons emanating from neighboring cells can project to several glomerular loci. From the necklace olfactory system, an average of 150-200 receptor cells were estimated to converge onto a single necklace glomerulus.     

Effect of local blood circulation and absolute torque on muscle endurance at two different knee-joint angles in humans

The effects of the local blood circulation and absolute torque on muscle endurance at different knee-joint angles were determined. The rate of muscle deoxygenation (using near-infrared spectroscopy), and the rate of muscle fatigue (using the slope of integrated electromyography, iEMG) were evaluated concurrently. Nine healthy subjects performed submaximal (50% maximal voluntary contraction, MVC) static knee extension at 50° (extended position, EXT) and 90° (flexed position, FLEX) joint angles until the target torque could no longer be maintained: that time was measured as the endurance time. They exercised with the circulation occluded (OCCL), and without (FREE) to study the possible effects of the local circulation. Although MVC torque was independent of joint angle [mean (SD) FLEX 250.6 (51.7) N·m and EXT 246.5 (46.6) N·m], significantly shorter (P<0.01) endurance time in FLEX [FREE 71.1 (10) s and OCCL 63.1 (8.8) s] than at EXT [FREE 115.3 (30) s and OCCL 106.7 (29.1) s] were obtained in both circulatory conditions. The iEMG-time slope was significantly greater in FLEX at the proximal and distal portion (P<0.05) in both circulatory conditions. Muscle deoxygenation rate in OCCL was significantly greater (P<0.05) at FLEX [20.8 (8.0)%] than EXT [10.9 (4.0)%]. The results would suggest that different knee-joint angle affects muscle endurance even if the local circulation is controlled. Circulatory disturbance would further reduce muscle endurance in EXT, but not in FLEX. Because of the greater muscle internal force in FLEX, local blood flow might be already limited even with a free circulation. The greater muscle deoxygenation and muscle fatigability would be related to the shorter muscle endurance in FLEX. Electronic Publication     

Sesaminol from sesame seed induces apoptosis in human lymphoid leukemia Molt 4B cells

The exposure of human lymphoid leukemia Molt 4B cells to sesaminol, a component of sesame oil led to both growth inhibition and the induction of apoptosis. Morphological change showing apoptotic bodies was observed in the cells treated with sesaminol. The fragmentation of DNA by sesaminol to oligonucleosomal-sized fragments that are characteristics of apoptosis was observed to be concentration- and time-dependent. These findings suggest that growth inhibition of Molt 4B cells by sesaminol results from the induction of apoptosis in the cells.     

Identification of Vibrio parahaemolyticus pandemic group-specific DNA sequence by genomic subtraction

A genomic subtraction between a pandemic Vibrio parahaemolyticus and a nonpandemic strain that seemed to be clonally related was performed. A subtractive DNA fragment was identified to be a part of a 16-kbp insertion sequence which was present in almost all pandemic strains but not in nonpandemic strains tested.