Small cell carcinoma of the gall-bladder with intestinal metaplastic epithelium

A case of small cell carcinoma of the gall-bladder Is described. lmmunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for chromogranin A, synaptophysin and neuronspecific enolase, which suggests that they derived from neuroendocrine cells. The overlying and surroundlng epithelium of the tumor showed intestinal metaplasia including goblet cells, pseudopyloric glands, Paneth's cells, and chromogranin A and synaptophysin-positive endocrine cells. Definite adenocarcinoma was absent. The endocrine cells in the epithellum were more numerous In the vicinity of the tumor. The present case supports the supposition that endocrine cell tumor (including small cell carcinoma) of the gall-bladder may develop from endocrine cells of the intestinal metaplastic lesion.     

Association between working overtime and psychological stress reactions in elementary and junior high school teachers in Japan: a large-scale cross-sectional study

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between working overtime and psychological stress reactions among school teachers. It also evaluated the interaction of overtime work types (on weekdays, on holidays, and bringing work home) and task content (educational, peripheral and both). This cross-sectional study was conducted on Japanese elementary and junior high school teachers. Primary outcome was psychological stress reactions measured with the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire. Participants were asked how long they work overtime on weekdays, holidays, and at home. Participants were also asked whether they engaged in educational tasks and/or peripheral tasks during that overtime work. Multiple linear regression analyses were applied and 6,135 participants were included in the analyses after imputing missing data. Working hours of all three types were significantly correlated with higher psychological stress reactions. Moreover, engaging in both educational and peripheral tasks showed higher psychological stress reactions than in only educational tasks when working overtime on weekdays and holidays. In conclusion, reducing overtime work regardless of work types is crucial for mitigating psychological stress reactions for teachers. It might also be possible to manage the psychological stress reactions by splitting the role of task contents, when working overtime on weekdays and holidays at school.     

A study of verbal and spatial information processing using event-related potentials and positron emission tomography

Abstract  The activated cerebral regions and the timing of information processing in the hemispheres was investigated using event-related potentials (ERP) and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) as the neurophysiological indicators. Seven men and one woman (age 19–27 years) were asked to categorize two-syllable Japanese nouns (verbal condition) and to judge the difference between pairs of rectangles (spatial condition), both tests presented on a monochrome display. In the electroencephalogram (EEG) session, EEG were recorded from 16 electrode sites, with linked earlobe electrodes as reference. In the positron emission tomography (PET) session, rCBF were measured by the ¹⁵O-labeled H₂O bolus injection method. Regions of interest were the frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital and central lobes, and the entire cerebral hemispheres. When the subtracted voltages of the ERP in homologous scalp sites were compared for the verbal and spatial conditions, the significant differences were at F7-F8 and T5-T6 (the 10–20 system). The latencies of the differences at T5–T6 were around 200, 250 and 320 ms. A significant difference in rCBF between the verbal and spatial conditions was found only in the temporal region. It was concluded that early processing of information, that is, registration and simple recognition, may be performed mainly in the left temporal lobe for verbal information and in the right for spatial information.     

Improvement of food-sensitive atopic dermatitis accompanied by reduced lymphocyte responses to food antigen following natural measles virus infection

Five patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) who were sensitive to hen's egg were observed before and after natural measles virus infection. Within 4 weeks of natural measles virus infection, the eczematous lesions clearly improved in four of the five patients in whom neither offending foods were eliminated, nor anti-allergic drugs, systemic steroids and steroid ointment administered. This was accompanied by reduced proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to ovalbumin (OA). Another patient showed a transient improvement of AD symptoms, from severe to mild, and thereafter returned to severe accompanied by increased proliferative responses of PBMCs to OA. Radioallergosorbent test (RAST) scores for hen's egg in all five patients did not change in each level in each patient, except the transiently decreased RAST scores for hen's egg in one patient, after the infection. Thus, in patients with AD who are sensitive to food, the improvement of AD symptoms that appeared within 4 weeks of natural measles virus infection was related to reduced proliferative responses of PBMCs to the food antigen following the infection.