Pulmonary infarction as the initial manifestation of Takayasu's arteritis

A 50-year-old woman reporting sudden-onset chest pain was diagnosed as having pulmonary infarction associated with Takayasus arteritis. She had experienced moderate malaise and cough for 3 months. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed wedge-shaped infiltrative shadows typical of pulmonary infarction in the right lung. Although pulmonary artery involvement in Takayasus arteritis is well documented, most patients show only signs of mild to moderate pulmonary hypertension. Few reports discuss patients with symptoms due to pulmonary infarction as the initial manifestation. Takayasus arteritis should therefore be considered a differential diagnosis in pulmonary infarction.     

Green tea extracts attenuate doxorubicin-induced spermatogenic disorders in conjunction with higher telomerase activity in mice

Purpose  

The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of green tea extracts against doxorubicin-induced damage in the mouse testes correlating with telomerase activity.     

Avoidant personality disorder and taijin kyoufu: Sociocultural implications of the WHO/ADAMHA International Study of Personality Disorders in Japan

Ono Y, Yoshimura K, Sueoka R, Yamauchi K, Mizushima H, Momose T, Nakamura K, Okonogi K, Asai M. Avoidant personality disorder and taijin kvoufu: Sociocultural implications of the WHO/ ADAMHA International Study of Personality Disorders in Japan. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1996: 93: 172–176. © Munksgaard 1996. This paper discusses the characteristics of avoidant personality disorder in a cultural context based on the Japanese concept of taijin kyoufu as well as that of DSM-III-R and DSM-IV Social phobia. Sixty-six patients were given the International Personality Disorder Examination and questionnaires including the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Among the 23 DSM-III-R personality disorder patients, 8 patients were diagnosed as having avoidant personality disorder. Six of them were suffering from taijin kyoufu symptoms. Among 27 ICD personality disorder patients, 22 patients were diagnosed as having ICD anxious personality disorder. All DSM avoidant patients were included in the ICD anxious group. These findings suggest that patients with avoidant personality disorder have had a long history of difficulties and share common personality problems with a milder form of taijin kyoufu, which is conceptually different from Social phobia.     

Cancer superimposed on adult T-cell leukemia

Forty-three patients with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), admitted to the hospital from 1982 to 1987, were studied. Five of those were found to have additional cancer; two of the five had two additional kinds of cancers besides ATL. During the same period, in contrast, the authors encountered only three patients with some superimposed cancer among 155 cases of hematologic malignancies which had no association with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). These facts strongly suggest that HTLV-I infection is not only associated with ATL, but it is likely to increase the incidence of other types of malignancy as well.     

Evaluation of Platelet Adhesion and Activation on Materials for an Implantable Centrifugal Blood Pump

A totally implantable centrifugal artificial heart has been developed in which a pivot bearing supported centrifugal pump is used as a blood pump. The following have been adopted as blood contacting materials in our pump: titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) for the housing and impeller, alumina ceramic (Al₂O₃) for the male pivots, and ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (PE) for the female pivots. Greater antithrombogenicity is required for an implantable blood pump. To examine the thrombogenicity of these materials, we evaluated in vitro platelet adhesion and activation, which may play key roles in thrombogenesis on foreign surfaces. Ti-6Al-4V, Al₂O₃, and PE were compared with polycarbonate (PC), silicone carbide (SiC), and pure titanium (pTi). Platelet adhesion was assessed using monoclonal antibody (CD61) directed against glycoprotein IIIa. Platelet activation was evaluated by measuring P-selectin (GMP-140) released from irreversibly activated platelets. Each material with a surface area of 16.6 cm² was incubated with 2.5 ml of plasma or 2.5 ml of heparinized fresh whole blood for 3 h at 37°C. The optical density (OD) at a wavelength of 450 nm for CD61 was 0.93 ± 0.35 in PC, 0.34 ± 0.13 in PE, 0.27 ± 0.13 in pTi, 0.26 ± 0.01 in Al₂O₃, 0.21 ± 0.04 in SiC, and 0.12 ± 0.12 in Ti-6Al-4V. The GMP-140 levels of the tested materials were not significantly different from the control value (45.9 ± 7.2 ng/ml). These results indicate that Al₂O₃, PE, and Ti-6Al-4V, which are incorporated into our implantable centrifugal pump, have satisfactory antithrombogenic properties in terms of platelet adhesion. However, platelet activation by any material was not observed under the static condition in this study.     

Applications of membrane technologies for therapeutic apheresis.

Membrane technologies have been applied for therapeutic apheresis. Membrane plasma separation and plasma fractionation are the most common, and hemodialysis and hemofiltration are also used for the combination methodologies of plasma exchange. This article describes the structure, performance, and application of membranes used for apheresis.