In vitro and in vivo anti-allergic activity of soy sauce

Soy sauce (Shoyu) is a traditional fermented seasoning of Japan and available throughout the world. Polysaccharides were obtained from dialysate of Shoyu, and these Shoyu polysaccharides (SPS) were examined for anti-allergic activity in vitro and in vivo. The SPS originated from partially-degraded polysaccharides of soybeans by mold enzymatic hydrolyses, and Shoyu contained about 1% (w/v) SPS. First, the inhibitory effects of SPS on hyaluronidase, which is known to be related to inflammation and allergic responses, were as potent as those of an anti-allergic medicine, disodium cromoglycate. Second, SPS significantly inhibited the release of histamine from rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells, which had been induced by the antigen. Third, orally administered SPS had a significant suppressive effect on passive cutaneous anaphylaxis induced in the ears of mice. These results suggest that SPS may have anti-allergic activities, and soy sauce is a potentially promising seasoning for the treatment of allergic diseases through food.     

Sex differences in the effect of uric acid on the survival of analbuminemic rats exposed to cold: effects of gonadal hormones and uric acid

When female analbuminemic rats were injected with 0.8 mg uric acid every 3 h, their survival time at 5 degrees C increased from 14 h to 28 h, but uric acid had no effect on analbuminemic male rats. When female rats were oophorectomized 1 week before cold exposure, the injection of uric acid had no effect on their survival. Furthermore, uric acid did not increase the survival of the female rats that were administered a pellet containing 5 mg testosterone 1 week before the cold exposure. When the male rats were castrated 1 week before cold exposure, their survival time decreased from 20 h to 14 h, and administrations of 5 mg estradiol pellet at the time of castration and 0.8 mg uric acid every 3 h during cold exposure increased their survival time to 23 h.     

Experimental production of pulmonary granulomas. IV. Eosinophilic granuloma.

Pulmonary granulomas induced in rabbits by the endobronchial instillation of mycobacterial chemical fractions were re-examined for eosinophilic infiltration. Delayed type hypersensitivity reactions either of tuberculin type or of wax D type did not induce but rather suppressed eosinophilic infiltration in the inflamed area, although some peptidoglycans which are antigenic for the induction of immediate hypersensitivity and fatty acid fractions were weak stimulators of eosinophilic infiltration. Bacterial endotoxin, LPS, was a potent stimulator. It was found that some long chain fatty acids can cause severe eosinophilic infiltration in the induced granulomas. Arachidonic acid was the most active of those examined, so the activity of its metabolites was tested and PGE2 was found to be most active. As the eosinophilic infiltration was markedly suppressed in animals treated with a cyclooxygenase inhibitor (aspirin), the stimulators of eosinophilic infiltration were not fatty acids themselves but their metabolites, PGE2 and some others. The site of permeation of eosinophils from the circulation was found to be arteriolar in the inflamed lung. The granulomatous lesion with eosinophilic infiltration in rabbits is discussed to shed light on the aetiology of eosinophilic granuloma in the human lung.     

Spinal projections to the cerebellar nuclei in the cat

Summary Projections from the spinal gray matter to the cerebellar nuclei in the cat have been studied using Nauta's silver technique. Following unilateral section of the ventrolateral cord at the cervical level, heavy degeneration is seen in the nucleus medialis on both sides. Scanty degeneration is present bilaterally in the nucleus interpositus. The degeneration is most intense on the contralateral side. Scanty degeneration is also present bilaterally in subnucleus medialis parvicellularis (SMP) (Flood and Jansen, 1961). No degeneration is seen in nucleus lateralis. Following unilateral section of the dorsolateral cord at the cervical level, scanty degeneration is present bilaterally in nucleus medialis and nucleus interpositus anterior. The degeneration is more pronounced ipsilaterally and is also seen in SMP on both sides. No degeneration is present in nucleus lateralis. Fibers from the ventral and dorsal spinocerebellar tracts (VSCT and DSCT) terminate bilaterally in nuclei medialis and interpositus, with the VSCT as the most important connection.     

Thermal degradation of isotactic and atactic poly(methyl vinyl ketones)

The stereoregularity of poly(methyl vinyl ketone) (PMVK) was determined by NMR spectra of the polymers. Isotactic and atactic PMVK's were thermally degraded, and thermogravimetric analysis, IR and visible and UV spectroscopy were applied to elucidate the mechanism of the degradation. It was found that the isotactic polymer begins to degrade at lower temperature than the atactic polymer, but its rate becomes lower than that of the atactic polymer at temperatures higher than 320°C. If the two types of polymers were treated at a constant temperature (200°C) for varying times under N₂ atmosphere, the isotactic polymer showed a higher degradation rate as determined by thermogravimetric analysis and IR spectroscopy. The isotactic polymer shows a higher tendency to form a monocyclic structure in the heat treatment than the atactic polymer. This is similar to poly(isopropenyl methyl ketone).     

Neutrophil and endothelial cell activation in the vasa vasorum in vasculo-Behçet disease

AIM: The aim of this study was to analyse the immunopathological mechanisms of vasculo-Beh?et disease, which were also compared to cases of Takayasu's arteritis and inflammatory aneurysm to evaluate differences in inflammatory mechanisms. METHOD AND RESULTS: We reviewed six cases of vasculo-Beh?et disease, four of Takayasu's arteritis and seven inflammatory aneurysms which underwent surgical repair. Immunohistochemical studies were performed on paraffin-embedded tissue using a labelled streptavidin-biotin method, as was in-situ hybridization for Epstein-Barr virus. Microscopically, neutrophils and lymphocytes accumulated around the vasa vasorum. Neutrophils were prominent as compared to Takayasu's arteritis and inflammatory aneurysm. Elastic fibres were not severely destroyed. Endothelial cells (ECs) of most vasa vasorum expressed HLA-DR. The number of vasa vasorum around which inflammatory infiltrating cells were observed in vasculo-Beh?et disease was significantly greater than in inflammatory aneurysms and Takayasu's arteritis (P < 0.001). The cytokines IL-1alpha, TNF-beta and IFN-gamma were expressed in neutrophils and lymphocytes which were distributed around vasa vasorum, as well as neutrophils adherent to HLA-DR positive ECs. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that vasculo-Beh?et disease should be classified as a neutrophilic vasculitis targeting the vasa vasorum. Aneurysm formation may be related to degeneration of arterial wall caused by inflammation of the vasa vasorum.     

Dedifferentiated liposarcoma with chondroblastic osteosarcomatous dedifferentiation

We describe a rare case of dedifferentiated liposarcoma with features resembling chondroblastic osteosarcoma in the dedifferentiated component. The tumor was removed from the left thigh in a 78-year-old male. It consisted of a well-differentiated liposarcoma and an anaplastic component that contained numerous osteoid and cartilaginous tissues surrounded by high-grade spindle cell sarcoma. To our knowledge, only two cases similar to the divergent chondroblastic osteosarcomatous dedifferentiation of this disease have been reported in the literature.     

Management of foreign tourists' diseases at the American Hospital in Neuilly

More and more foreign tourists are being treated at the American Hospital of Paris. The main reasons for this are the presence of a 24 hour medical and dental emergency service, in addition to the availability of MRI, CT scan and comprehensive laboratory facilities. The hospital is multidisciplinary, where short stay hospitalizations are the rule. English is the second most commonly used language. There is a permanent Japanese language service for Japanese patients. Qualitative data is presented concerning the management of patients according to specialty and nationality. American and Japanese patients admitted to the hospital in 1997 are surveyed according to their mean age, reasons for admission and appropriate specialty as well as mean length of stay noted. The greatest number of hospitalizations in decreasing order and according to nationality are as follows: American, Japanese, Moroccan Egyptian and Saudi Arabian. The consultations and hospitalizations of Japanese patients between 1990 and 1997 are compared.     

Differences between T-cell reactivities to major myelin protein-derived peptides in opticospinal and conventional forms of multiple sclerosis and healthy controls

In Japanese, susceptibility to the conventional form of multiple sclerosis (C-MS) is associated with the HLA-DRB1*1501-DRB5*0101 haplotype while susceptibility to the opticospinal form of MS (OS-MS) is associated with HLA-DPA1*0202-DPB1*0501. To clarify the characteristics of T cells autoreactive to myelin proteins in each MS subtype, we established T-cell lines reactive to such myelin antigens as myelin basic protein (MBP), proteolipid protein (PLP) and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) from 5 of 10 OS-MS patients, 6 of 11 C-MS patients and 7 of 13 healthy controls (HCs), and T-cell epitopes and their restriction molecules were determined. We found that (a) intermolecular epitope spreading was found to be significantly more frequent in MS patients than in HCs (P=0.0128), (b) intramolecular epitope spreading also tended to occur more frequently in MS patients than in HCs (P=0.0584), (c) in OS-MS, HLA-DR-restricted and MOG-autoreactive T cells were more frequently established as compared with those reactive to MBP or PLP epitopes and (d) in C-MS, HLA-DQ-restricted and PLP-autoreactive T cells dominated those autoreactive to MBP or MOG epitopes. A DPB1*0501-restricted MBP-reactive T-cell clone from a patient with OS-MS provided evidence that the first HLA class II anchor amino acid of peptide bound to disease-susceptible DP5 molecule was distinct from that for the DR2 molecule. Taken together, these differences in specificities of myelin-autoreactive T cells between C-MS and OS-MS as well as the difference in the anchor motif of the binding peptides between each MS subtype-susceptible HLA class II molecule may contribute to the development of distinct clinical phenotypes.     

Tubular aggregates in the skeletal muscle of the senescence-accelerated mouse; SAM

We investigated the skeletal muscles of nine strains of senescence accelerated mouse (SAM), DDD, AKR/J, C57BL/6J, A/J and BALB/c mice. We found that male SAMP8, SAMP7, C57BL/6J, A/J and BALB/c mice expressed tubular aggregates (TAs) in their skeletal muscle. Among these strains, the SAMP8 strain, which exhibits a short life span and various age-associated neurodegenerative disorders plus mitochondrial dysfunction, showed TAs more markedly than the others. Thus, we compared SAMP8 mice against SAMR1 mice, an accelerated senescence-resistant strain. Light- and electron micrographs showed that male SAMP8 mice exhibited an age-dependent aggravation of TA accumulation. There were no significant differences in the serum lactate/pyruvate levels between the SAMP8 and SAMR1 mice. However, the serum creatine kinase (CK) levels of the 3 and 6-month-old SAMP8 mice were higher than that of the corresponding SAMR1 mice. Considering the serum CK levels and the mitochondrial dysfunction of SAMP8 mice, we conclude that the TAs may be involved in the homeostasis of energy metabolism that is not appropriately regulated in the SAMP8 mouse mitochondrion.