Clinical significance of mucin staining in keratinizing-type squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix

Tumor tissue from 57 cases of keratinizing-type squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix that had been stored in the archives of Osaka City University Hospital between May 1986 and October 1994 were stained with periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) reagent following amylase and alcian blue to identify the presence of intracellular mucin and to assess the value and significance of demonstrating the presence of mucin. Nineteen specimens (33.3%) stained positive for mucin with alcian blue or PAS following diastase. The results of mucin staining were not significant in terms of survival by Kaplan-Meier's analysis.     

Quality of life in Japanese couples during the transition to parenthood

Objective: This study aimed to examine the quality of life (QOL) in Japanese couples during the transition to parenthood with their first child.

Background: Relevant literature suggests that the health status of women drop during pregnancy and the postpartum period. However, less is known about their partner’s well-being during the transition to parenthood and little research has addressed the relationship between couples’ QOL across multiple domains.

Method: Participants included 9216 married Japanese men and women, including 3729 couples, who were expecting or raising their first child under the age of three. They independently completed questionnaires on baseline demographics and on WHOQOL-BREF.

Results: Men showed higher scores for psychological QOL, while women had higher scores for social and environment QOL. A significant interaction between gender and stage of transition to parenthood was found. The moderating effect of age between the stage and QOL was found for men on the physical and psychological domains. Couples’ QOL scores were weakly to moderately correlated.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that both men and women had lower QOL, with the exception of women’s physical QOL, after childbirth, but they showed different trends during the transition to parenthood across different domains of QOL.     

Transient phrenic nerve palsy after cardiac operation in infants.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to prove the presence of transient phrenic nerve palsy in children after cardiac surgery by successive recordings of diaphragmatic action potentials (DAPs), and to decide the indication of diaphragmatic plication in infants with postoperative phrenic nerve palsy. METHODS: The DAPs were recorded from 11 infants (age 0-54 months) under artificial ventilation after cardiac surgery. The successive DAP recordings were performed within 3-4 days (0W), 1 week (1W) and 2 weeks (2W) after operation to make a final decision for diaphragmatic plication to wean artificial ventilation. RESULTS: The patients were divided into 3 groups according to the DAP changes in successive recordings, namely, patients with normal DAPs at 0W, patients with transient depression of DAPs at 0W followed by recovery to normal DAPs by 1W and/or 2W, and patients with persistent depression of DAPs of the affected side necessitating plication of hemidiaphragm. CONCLUSIONS: In infants with phrenic nerve palsy after cardiothoracic surgery, persistently abnormal DAPs in repeated electrophysiologic examinations for at least 2 weeks after surgery are a useful guidance to support clinical and radiological evidence for an indication of diaphragmatic plication.     

Duration of pneumothorax as a complication of CT‐guided lung biopsy

The purpose of this study was to determine management guidelines for biopsy‐induced pneumothorax with the assistance of manual aspiration, mainly based on the duration of complicated pneumothorax. Data from 388 consecutive percutaneous needle lung biopsies were examined. Patients with pneumothorax on postbiopsy chest CT images underwent percutaneous manual aspiration with an 18‐G i.v. catheter. Frequency and management of biopsy‐induced pneumothorax and period to its disappearance were reviewed. Postbiopsy pneumothorax occurred in 133 of 388 (34.3%) procedures. Manual aspiration in 72 of these 133 patients was carried out immediately after biopsy. The pneumothorax had resolved completely on follow‐up chest radiographs without chest tube placement in 121 of the 133 pneumothoraces (91.0%). In cases requiring chest tube, the mean period from biopsy until resolution of the pneumothorax was 6.0 ± 5.3 days, but was only 2.4 ± 2.9 days when chest tube placement was not needed. Specifically, time until recovery was short both in those not requiring manual aspiration (2.1 ± 3.4 days) and in those with a pneumothorax that disappeared completely or almost completely after manual aspiration (1.9 ± 2.0 days). The almost equally short recovery periods in patients not requiring manual aspiration and those requiring immediate manual aspiration indicates the value of rapid management.     

Effect of potassium channel openers on hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction]

The ATP-sensitive potassium channel (K+ATP) has been suggested as an important mechanism for the reactivity of vascular smooth muscle. We investigated the effects of K+ channel openers (lemakalim, pinacidil) on hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) and angiotensin II (Ag II) induced vasoconstriction in isolated rat lungs (Sprague-Dawley rats: 300-450 g). Ventilation with hypoxic gas (2% O2, 5% CO2) was performed for 6 min after the injection of Ag II (0.1 microgram). Isolated lungs were perfused under constant flow (0.04 ml/g/min) using 20 ml of blood from donor rat. The perfusion pressure was used as the pulmonary artery pressure. Lemakalim or pinacidil was pre-administered through the reservoir. Pretreatment with pinacidil (10(-4) M) or lemakalim (10(-5) M) inhibited the pressor response to hypoxia, but did not inhibit the response to angiotensin II. Although the effect of lemakalim on HPV was reversed by administration of glibenclamide (10(-5) M) or tolbutamide (10(-3) M), the effect of pinacidil on HPV was not influenced by either drug. These results suggest that 1) K+ channel openers (lemakalim and pinacidil) inhibit the pressor response to hypoxia, and 2) lemakalim seems to act through K+ATP, whereas pinacidil may have other mechanisms of inhibition of vascular smooth muscle contraction. K+ATP may play an important role in the regulation of pulmonary vascular reactivity to hypoxia.     

A study of plasma atrial natriuretic peptide, antidiuretic hormone and aldosterone levels in a series of patients with intracranial disease and hyponatremia]

For intracranial diseases, plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), antidiuretic hormone (ADH) and aldosterone were determined and their effects on the development of hyponatremia with central origin were studied. The subjects were 71 cases of intracranial diseases which were admitted to our hospital during a period of 1 year from March, 1989 to March, 1990. The diseases were broken down to subarachnoid hemorrhage 26 cases, hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage 19 cases, head injury 12 cases, cerebral infarction 11 cases and 3 other cases. Serum-urine electrolytes, plasma ANP and ADH were determined in the acute stage on Day 1 to 4, in the hyponatremia stage on Day 5 to 14 and in the chronic stage on Day 15 downward. Hyponatremia was defined as the serum sodium level of 130 mEq/l or less. Cases evidently having other causes such as heart failure and renal insufficiency were excluded. In the normal control group of persons who were admitted to our hospital for a close checkup (n = 20), plasma ANP was 26.5 +/- 11.6 pg/ml (10-50); levels of 50 pg/ml or more were regarded as abnormally high. 1) Hyponatremia was found in 18 cases (25.4%), subarachnoid hemorrhage in 7 cases, hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage in 4 cases, head injury in 5 cases and others in 2 cases. 2) The time of onset of hyponatremia was on the 8.3 hospital day. The duration was 7.2 days. The minimum serum sodium level was 124.6 mEq/l. 3) There was no significant change in the plasma aldosterone level at each stage.2+ Predicting development of hyponatremia from plasma ADH and ANP levels in the acute stage is difficult. Inadequate secretion of ANP rather than ADH appeared to be an important factor for the development of hyponatremia, but the plasma ANP level was not always abnormally high, so involvement of other sodium diuretic factors should also be kept in mind.     

Amelioration of hippocampal neuronal damage after transient forebrain ischemia in cyclooxygenase-2-deficient mice.

Several studies have suggested that cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) plays a role in ischemic neuronal death. Genetic disruption of COX-2 has been shown to reduce susceptibility to focal ischemic injury and N-methyl-d-aspartate-mediated neurotoxicity. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of COX-2 deficiency on neuronal vulnerability after transient forebrain ischemia. Marked upregulation of COX-2 immunostaining in neurons was observed at the early stage and prominent COX-2 staining persisted in the CA1 medial sector and CA2 sector over 3 days after ischemia. The immunohistologic pattern of COX-2 staining in these sectors gradually condensed to a perinuclear location. The degree of hippocampal neuronal injury produced by global ischemia in COX-2-deficient mice was less than that in wild-type mice, coincident with attenuation of DNA fragmentation in the hippocampus. Also, treatment with a selective COX-2 inhibitor, nimesulide, after ischemia decreased hippocampal neuronal damages. These results of genetic disruption and chemical inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 show that inhibition of COX-2 ameliorates selective neuronal death after transient forebrain ischemia in mice.