An Autopsy Case of Peritoneal Malignant Mesothelioma in a Radiation Technologist

A case of peritoneal maligant mesothelioma in a radiation technologist, who had worked in this field for 34 years, is reported. Histopathologically, a biopsy specimen from the retroperitoneal tumor revealed a biphasic type of malignant mesothelioma. Electron microscopy disclosed that the tumor cells contained prominent microvilli, basal laminae adjacent to the stroma, junctional complexes, desmosomes, tonofilaments, clusters of glycogen granules, welt developed rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER), confronting cisternae showing direct continuity with the RER and membrane-bound granules suggestive of secretory activity. No increased amount of asbestos was detected in autopsied lung material or the peritoneal mesothelioma. The estimated cumulative dose of occupational irradiation was calculated to be about 40 to 50 rad at most. Irradiation was discussed in relation to the etiology of the peritoneal mosothelioma. Acta Pathol Jpn 40: 57–62, 1990.     

Momentary changes in the cardiovascular autonomic system during mental loading in patients with panic disorder: a new physiological index "rho(max)"

BACKGROUND: Although panic disorder (PD) is suggestive of autonomic nervous system dysfunction, especially in the cardiovascular autonomic system (CAS), the results in many previous studies are still controversial. Using a new physiological index which could well reflect emotional reaction to visual stimuli (Yoshizawa, M., Sugita, N., Tanaka, A., Abe, K., Yambe, T., Nitta, S., 2001. Quantiatative Physioligical Evaluation of Three Dimensional Images. The Seventh International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multumedia, 25-27.), we studied momentary changes in the CAS in patients with PD during audiovisual stimulation (AS) as mental loading. METHODS: During AS, exposed to a video of imaginary experiences such as driving a motor vehicle or diving into the sea, blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were measured in 12 remitted patients with PD and 19 age- and sex-matched normal controls (NC). We used the maximum cross-correlation coefficient (rho(max)) from the BP to the HR, whose frequency components were limited to around 0.1 Hz. RESULTS: The rho(max) was an available index which could detect the momentary changes in the CAS during AS in both groups. The two-way ANOVA disclosed significant group and time effects on the rho(max). The momentary response to emotional stimuli in the PD patients was slower than that in the NC subjects. LIMITATIONS: Antidepressants have a potential impact on the autonomic variables in this study. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that there may be a dysfunction of the CAS in remitted PD patients and that the dysfunction may be one of the trait markers of PD. To confirm these findings, however, further studies with a large sample size are required.     

A clinicopathological review of 12 autopsied cases of adult T-cell leukemia

Twelve autopsied cases with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) were reviewed clinicopathologically. The prognosis of three cases who had suffered from severe cutaneous lesions was much better than that of the other nine cases with no or negligible cutaneous lesions. The surface marker of leukemic cells from six cases was ordinary inducer/helper phenotype (OKT4+ and 8-), but in one case leukemic cells showed OKT4+ and 8+. In another case, a significant amount of leukemic cell infiltration was found in the thymic cortex. Calcium content in the bone of ATL cases was lower than that of the patients without ATL (control group), and six cases with ATL (50%) were complicated by severe hypercalcemia. Neither adenoma nor hyperplasia of the parathyroid glands was found in any case. In most severely hypercalcemic patients, bone trabeculae were actively absorbed by numerous osteoclasts and partly replaced by fibrous tissues. In two normocalcemic patients, skeletal calcium content was also markedly reduced by osteoporosis, but the activation of osteoclasts was inconspicuous. It was speculated that the manner of bone resorption in ATL cases was diverse and there were some clinicopathological subtypes in ATL from the viewpoints of cutaneous lesions, hypercalcemia, and bone lesions.     

Gastric motility in patients with recurrent gastric ulcers.

The existence of abnormal gastric motility in gastric ulcer disease remains controversial. The aim of this study was to characterize gastric motility in patients with recurrent gastric ulcers. Studies were performed in 10 control subjects and in 24 patients with recurrent active gastric ulcer disease as diagnosed by gastrointestinal endoscopy. Gastric motility was evaluated by cutaneous electrogastrography (EGG) and by gastric semi-liquid meal emptying. The EGG was recorded before and after ingestion of a test meal containing 20 mg/kg of acetaminophen. Patients with a dominant EGG frequency of greater than 0.06 Hz were defined as tachygastria, while those with a frequency of less than 0.04 Hz were defined as bradygastria. A transient frequency decrease, called postprandial dip (PD), was identified visually. The degree of gastric emptying was determined from the serum acetaminophen concentration 45 minutes after the meal. Control subjects showed no irregularity in their dominant EGG frequency in tither fasting or postprandial states. PD was observed in 8 control subjects. In patients presenting with active gastric ulcers, abnormal patterns in the dominant EGG frequency (either as tachygastria or bradygastria) were observed in 14 of the 24 patients when fasting and in 15 of them in the postprandial state. After successful treatment, the number of patients with abnormal patterns in their dominant EGG frequency remained unchanged, while PD was observed in 11 patients. No significant difference was observed in the EGG power ratio as a result of successful treatment. Gastric emptying was significantly delayed compared with controls in both the active and healed stages. These findings suggest that abnormal gastric motility, including gastric electrical abnormalities and delayed gastric emptying, plays an important role in the pathophysiology of recurrent gastric ulcers.     

Phosphorylcholine antibodies in pulmonary infection

Phosphorylcholine (PC) antibodies in serum from patients with pulmonary infection, and from normal individuals, were studied. Anti-PC antibodies were detectable in the serum from normal individuals at mean concentrations of 320 g/ ml for the IgG class and 110 g/ml for the IgM class. Concentrations of anti-PC antibodies which were higher than normal for both the IgG and IgM classes were observed in the serum in pulmonary infection (1,440 g/ml and 210 g/ml, respectively). Despite the significant difference in the concentration of anti-PC antibodies, the PC-specific B cell precursor frequency in the peripheral blood lymphocytes showed no difference between normal individuals and the patients with pulmonary infection, or between the acute phase and the chronic phase in a single patient with chronic pulmonary infection. Serologically, the purified IgG anti-PC antibody did not share the cross-reactive idiotype of TEPC 15, which is the most common idiotype of the murine anti-PC antibodies. However, the purified IgM anti-PC antibody expressed a very weak cross-reactive idiotype of TEPC 15. It appears from these studies that human anti-PC antibodies may play an important biological role in pulmonary infection by microorganisms which possess a PC determinant.     

Radiation-induced reactive oxygen species formation prior to oxidative DNA damage in human peripheral T cells

Previously, we demonstrated that human peripheral T lymphocytes revealed early apoptotic changes (annexin V-positive) and late apoptotic changes (propidium iodide-positive), at 13 and 24 h, respectively, after irradiation of 5 Gy. Changes in mitochondrial membrane potential were observed at 10 h after irradiation of 5 Gy. Subsequently, mitochondrial cytochrome c-release was confirmed. In order to elucidate the mechanism which acts prior to the mitochondrial membrane potential changes, we examined in the previous study the radiation dose and the timing of oxidative DNA damage induced in human peripheral T lymphocytes following 10 MV X-ray irradiation. As a result, the production of 8-oxoguanine, i.e., the product of oxidative DNA damage, was clearly identified starting at 10, 6, and 3 h, after 2, 5, and 20 Gy of irradiation, respectively. Therefore, we examined in the present study reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation in T lymphocytes following 5 Gy of irradiation. Using a CCD camera system, we monitored fluorescence in T lymphocytes loaded with the succinimidyl ester of dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA), which is non-fluorescent until oxidized by ROS. We found that ROS formation occurred immediately after irradiation, continued for several hours, and resulted in oxidative DNA damage. Therefore, the origin of hyper-radiosensitivity of T lymphocytes seemed to be the high production of ROS in the mitochondrial DNA following irradiation.     

PLASMA CELL GRANULOMA OF THE LUNG WITH EXTRAPULMONAL EXTENSION

A rare case of plasma cell granuloma of the lung in a 5-year-old girl showing extrapulmonal extension to the adjoining thoracic wall was reported. Intrapulmonal and thoracic wall granulomas revealed the same histopathologic features; proliferation of plasma cells and fibrous connective tissue. Although slightly atypical plasma cells were observed among many mature ones, immunohistochemical examination revealed polyclonal proliferation, confirming their inflammatory nature. Cellular components of fibrous connective tissue were identified as fibroblastic cells and myofibroblasts by electron microscopy. The present case and literature suggested the importance of the fact that "infiltrative" plasma cell granuloma had a tendency to occur in children. ACTA PATHOL. JPN. 35: 933–944, 1985.     

High expression of the CD30 molecule in human decidual cells.

CD30 is a receptor-type membrane protein that belongs to the nerve growth receptor superfamily. It is expressed on Hodgkin's cells and activated lymphocytes, as well as in some human malignancies including malignant lymphomas, embryonal carcinomas, and other mesenchymal tumors. However, whether it is expressed in normal tissues remains unclear. To study the expression and biological function of CD30, we first examined various human tissues by immunohistochemistry. The monoclonal antibody Ber-H2 intensely stained the membranes of decidual and endometrial cells with decidual change in frozen sections. Western blots of these tissues with Ber-H2 revealed bands of 120, 105, and 90 kd as found on CD30-expressing cells. Northern blots of these tissues using a CD30 cDNA probe detected mRNAs of the same molecular mass and variety as those in the positive control cell line HUT 102. These results indicated that CD30 is expressed in human endometrial tissue with decidual change and imply that CD30 expression in endometrial tissue is induced by hormonal control.