Use of Glycopeptidolipid Core Antigen for Serodiagnosis of Mycobacterium avium Complex Pulmonary Disease in Immunocompetent Patients

We report the development of a serodiagnostic method for Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) disease with an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) with the MAC-specific glycopeptidolipid (GPL) core as the antigen. In this study, we confirmed by EIA that the GPL core antibody was in the sera of immunocompetent patients with MAC disease. The EIA for quantifying the GPL core antibody was evaluated as a clinical tool for serodiagnosis of pulmonary MAC disease. A significant increase in GPL core antibodies (immunoglobulins G, A, and M) was detected in sera of patients with MAC pulmonary diseases when they were compared to patients who were colonized with MAC, patients with Mycobacterium kansasii disease or tuberculosis, and healthy subjects. The sensitivities and specificities of the GPL core-based EIA for diagnosis of MAC pulmonary disease were 72.6% and 92.2%, respectively, for IgG, 92.5% and 95.1%, respectively, for IgA, and 78.3% and 91.0%, respectively, for IgM. The best sensitivity and specificity were obtained by measuring immunoglobulin A antibodies against GPL core antigen. The level of GPL core antibodies reflected disease activity, since it decreased in cured MAC patients who had responded to chemotherapy. Measurement of serum antibodies against GPL core is useful for both diagnosis and assessment of disease activity in MAC disease of the lung.     

Human Tumor–infiltrating Lymphocytes Transfected with Tumor Necrosis Factor Gene Could Augment Cytotoxicity to Autologous Tumor Cells

Human tumor–infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) derived from pleural or ascitic fluid were incubated with recombinant interleukin 2 and transfected with human tumor necrosis factor (TNF) a gene by the lipofection procedure. The resulting TILs secreted significant amounts of TNF in the culture supernatant and exhibited cytotoxicity against established cell lines, such as K562 and Daudi, and autologous tumor cells. The TNF gene–transfected TILs exhibited an augmented killing of autologous tumor cells.     

Significance of the hepatic mitochondrial redox state in the development of posttraumatic jaundice

The effect of the hepatic energy status on the development of posttraumatic jaundice (PTJ) was studied to clarify the mechanism of PTJ. Fifty-four patients with severe torso injury who were expected to develop PTJ on admission with an average Injury Severity Score of 27 were selected for this study. They were retrospectively divided into three groups according to their maximum bilirubin concentration by day 10: group H, 12 patients with marked elevation of serum bilirubin (>8 g/dl); group L, 23 with mild bilirubinemia (2–8 g/dl); and group N, 19 with no bilirubinemia (<2 g/dl). Group H patients, in whom trauma-related shock was severe and prolonged, developed severe hyperbilirubinemia, and their arterial ketone body ratio (AKBR), which reflects the hepatic mitochondrial redox state and is closely correlated to its energy production, was significantly lower throughout the first week. In contrast, the AKBR increased to an above normal level, indicating enhanced energy production in groups N and L. The serum direct/total bilirubin was also higher in group H. The abnormal hepatic energy metabolism is considered to have reduced the excretion of conjugated bilirubin from the hepatocytes into the bile canaliculi, which is a process that has to proceed against the bilirubin concentration gradient. The subsequent diffusion of the accumulated water-soluble conjugated bilirubin in hepatocytes into the blood is thus considered to be one of the causes of PTJ.     

Effects of alpha-1-blocking agent in the treatment of detrusor sphincter dyssynergia

Effects of adrenergic alpha-1-blocking agent, prazosin, in the treatment of detrusor external-sphincter dyssynergia (DSD) were evaluated in both experimental and clinical aspects. Experimentally, in the urethral pressure profile in dogs, the maximum urethral closing pressure was depressed after intravenous injection of 1 mg prazosin. When experimental DSD was obtained in dogs by stimulating electrically the unilateral 2nd sacral root, intra-venous injection of 1 mg prazosin inhibited contraction of the external urethral sphincter. Clinically, 74 patients with DSD based on neurogenic bladder from cerebral vascular attack (CVA) (13 cases) and spinal cord injury (61 cases) were retrospectively surveyed in terms of therapeutical effects of prazosin for DSD. Spinal cord injury was subdivided to 4 groups for clinical evaluation; cervical cord injury (C) with complete paralysis, thoracic cord injury (Th) with complete paralysis, lumbar cord injury (L) with complete paralysis and spinal cord injury with incomplete paralysis. Patients with CVA and spinal cord injury with incomplete paralysis showed good response rates in subjective improvement, 69% and 60% respectively. However, those with spinal cord injury with complete paralysis showed a poor response (28% for C, 23% for Th and 14% for L). The amount of residual urine significantly decreased after treatment, in all the groups except that of lumbar cord injury with complete paralysis. In all the groups, however, even after the drug treatment the amount of residual urine ranged from 80 to 170 ml and the rates of needing clean intermittent catheterization unchanged.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Effect of solvents on the thermal isomerization of 1 alpha-hydroxyprevitamin D3 diacetate to 1 alpha-hydroxyvitamin D3 diacetate

The thermal conversion of 1 alpha-hydroxyprevitamin D3 (1 alpha-OH-previtamin D3) diacetate to 1 alpha-hydroxyvitamin D3 (1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3) diacetate was investigated in five solvents. The fraction of 1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3 diacetate was calculated from the HPLC peak areas (UV detection) of 1 alpha-OH-previtamin D3 diacetate and 1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3 diacetate. When 1 alpha-OH-previtamin D3 diacetate was dissolved in ethanol, benzene, toluene, isopropyl ether, or n-hexane, and heated at 60 degrees C, the yield of 1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3 diacetate increased during the first 4 h, and reached an equilibrium level after 8.5 h. Differences in the ratio of 1 alpha-OH-previtamin D3 diacetate to 1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3 diacetate at thermal equilibrium, and in the rate of the thermal isomerization were observed among these five solvents. Molecular mechanics (MM) calculations were performed in order to estimate solvent effects on conformation for 1 alpha-OH-previtamin D3 diacetate and 1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3 diacetate. The solvent effect was treated by specifying a dielectric constant representative of each of the three solvents: ethanol (polar), n-hexane (nonpolar), and benzene (aromatic). The dielectric constants used were 24.3 for ethanol, 1.5 for n-hexane, and 2.3 for benzene. It is suggested that the conformation of 1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3 diacetate is stabilized in polar solvent. However, the order of conformational stability when solvent effects are included in the calculations is: ethanol greater than benzene greater than n-hexane. This order does not follow the experimental results. The proton NMR chemical shifts of 1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3 diacetate are different in deuterated n-hexane, ethanol, and benzene. The downfield shift of the C-6 vinyl proton of 1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3 diacetate, when compared to the chemical shift in benzene, is 0.15 and 0.11 ppm relative to the chemical shift in n-hexane and ethanol, respectively, and that of the C-7 proton was 0.30 and 0.33 ppm, respectively. No significant proton shift of 1 alpha-OH-previtamin D3 diacetate is recorded in these three solvents. To account for the increased ratio of 1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3 diacetate to 1 alpha-OH-previtamin D3 diacetate ratio in benzene, we suggest that 1 alpha-OH-vitamin D3 diacetate may be stabilized via specific solute-solvent interactions in benzene.     

Formation of Neurons in the Sexually Dimorphic Anteroventral Periventricular Nucleus of the Preoptic Area of the Rat: Effects of Prenatal Treatment with Testosterone Propionate

An examination was made of neurogenesis in the anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPv) of the preoptic area of the rat using bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), a thymidine analog, and a BrdU-specific antibody. Cells in the AVPv of adult rats were labeled with the antibody when BrdU was injected into pregnant rats once during day 13 to 18 of gestation, but not during day 10 to 12 nor 19 to 20 of gestation nor on postnatal day 1, indicating that neurogenesis of the AVPv occurs during a limited period from day 13 to 18 of gestation. Next, to examine the effects of androgen on neurogenesis, BrdU was injected once on day 15 into pregnant rats that also received injections of testosterone propionate (TP). The number of BrdU-labeled cells in the AVPv was similar in control female and male fetuses and female fetuses from pregnant rats that received daily injections of TP during days 14 to 16, when fetuses were examined on day 17 of gestation. These results suggest that the neurogenesis that was recognized by labeling with BrdU was not affected by the treatment with TP. On day 21 of gestation, BrdU-labeled cells in the AVPv of control male fetuses and female fetuses that received TP during days 14 to 18 were fewer in number than those in female fetuses of the control group, whereas treatments with TP during days 14 to 16 and during days 17 to 18 did not cause any significant decrease in number of BrdU-labeled cells. These findings support the hypothesis that elimination of a population of cells, for example, by cell death as described previously, is enhanced in male fetuses and in female fetuses treated with TP repetitively.     

“Chain-link” combined tissue transfer for the reconstruction of the mandible

We describe a procedure for “chain-link” combined tissue transfer connecting the vascular pedicle of a deep circumflex iliac flap with that of a forearm flap after wide resection of the mandible. Combination of these flaps facilitated the reconstruction of the defect in both intra- and extraoral soft tissue and the mandibular bone. This method is useful when cervical recipient blood vessels are limited due to the wide resection of the primary tumor and radical neck dissection.