The increase in bone mineral density by bisphosphonate with active vitamin D analog is associated with the serum calcium level within the reference interval in postmenopausal osteoporosis

Objectives: To examine the factors associated with increase in lumbar spine bone mineral density (LS-BMD) by bisphosphonates (BPs) with active vitamin D analog (aVD).

Methods: Two independent postmenopausal osteoporotic patients treated by BPs with aVD for 24 months (Study 1: n?=?93, Study 2: n?=?99) were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: In Study 1, LS-BMD of the patients significantly increased for 24 m (5.4%, p?r²: 0.088, p?=?.02). While average sCa of the patients was 9.2?mg/dL before treatment, it increased time-dependently to 9.6?mg/dL for 24 m by treatment. As each patient had their LS-BMD five times during the study, there were four instances of %LS-BMD in each patient, resulting in 372 instances of %LS-BMD in Study 1. The smallest Akaike’s information criterion value for the most appropriate cut-off levels of sCa for %LS-BMD by treatment every 6 m was 9.3?mg/dL. The %LS-BMD by treatment for 6 m during 24 m period in patients with sCa ≥9.3?mg/dL (1.5%) was significantly higher than that in patients with sCa <9.3?mg/dL (0.8%, p?=?.038). The results of Study 2 were similar to those of Study 1, confirming the phenomena observed.

Conclusion: sCa was associated with an increased LS-BMD by BPs with aVD.     

Idiopathic myointimal hyperplasia of mesenteric veins: Rare case of ischemic colitis mimicking inflammatory bowel disease

Idiopathic myointimal hyperplasia of mesenteric veins (IMHMV) is a rare and poorly understood ischemic colitis that occurs in the rectosigmoid colon of predominantly young, previously healthy, male patients. A 76‐year‐old Japanese man presented to our hospital with a 1‐year history of worsening diarrhea, lower abdominal pain, and weight loss (−6 kg). Laboratory evaluation revealed white blood cell count of 13 200/μL, C‐reactive protein level of 2.0 mg/dL (normal range, 0.0–0.3), and negative results for stool culture (including Clostridium difficile). Colonoscopy showed circumferential and edematous narrowing of the sigmoid colon with deep longitude ulceration. Biopsy was done and examination of the specimen demonstrated no specific ischemia. The patient was treated with bowel rest, antibiotics, and i.v. fluids; however, his symptoms worsened. Finally, sigmoidectomy was carried out. Histological examination demonstrated significant myointimal hyperplasia of mesenteric veins leading to thickening and stenosis of the venous lumen. Therefore, the final diagnosis was IMHMV. Three months following sigmoidectomy, he was asymptomatic.     

Intramuscular distribution of nerves supplying the soleus muscle in the chimpanzee

The human soleus muscle is considered a specialized muscle in terms of its origin, insertion and muscle fibre architecture (especially with regard to the existence of the bipenniform part). Its peculiarities have been understood as results of erect posture and bipedal walking (Frey, 1913). Sekiya (1991) pointed out that another feature of the human soleus muscle the nerve supply, i.e. the muscle received two kinds of nerves, the anterior branch (R. anterior) and the posterior branch (R. posterior); the former supplied the bipenniform part at the anterior surface of the muscle and communicated with the R. posterior within the muscle. In nonhuman primates, the soleus muscle has no bipenniform part and the nerve, identical with the R. anterior to the human soleus muscle, is unknown. The purpose of the present study is to clarify the pattern of the nerve supply to the soleus muscle in the chimpanzee, with special reference to the intramuscular distribution of the nerves and to discuss the origin of the R. anterior to the human soleus muscle from a comparative anatomical point of view. Six soleus muscles from three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were examined under a stereomicroscope to clarify the intramuscular distribution of nerves supplying these muscles. The nerves supplying the soleus muscle were classified into three types according to the sites of their entry into the muscle. The first group nerve was the thickest of all nerves innervating the muscle, entered the muscle at the posterior surface of the proximal third and was considered as homologous with the R. posterior in the human.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Day-Night Variation of Urine Volume in Parkinson's Disease

Abstract: Studies on the circadian rhythm of urine excretion in healthy men have demonstrated that the maximal urine flow occurs in the early afternoon and the minimal around midnight. In this study, an abnormality in the variation of urine volume was found in parkinsonian patients. Urine samples were collected during daytime (9:00–21:00) and nighttime (21:00–9:00). Fifteen healthy control subjects were examined and found to excrete 60% during the daytime and 40% during the nighttime of the total urine volume. Sixteen parkinsonian patients excreted 43% during the daytime and 57% during the nighttime. In contrast to the control subjects, the parkinsonian patients excreted a smaller volume of their urine during the daytime than during the nighttime. This finding might be related to the degeneration of dopaminergic and/or nondopaminergic neurons in the brain which control urinary excretion.     

Toluene in blood as a marker of choice for low-level exposure to toluene

The validity of two new biological exposure markers of toluene in blood (TOL-B) and toluene in urine (TOL-U) was examined in comparison with that of the traditional marker of hippuric acid in urine (HA-U) in 294 male workers exposed to toluene in workroom air (TOL-A), mostly at low levels. The exposure was such that the geometric mean for toluene was 2.3 ppm with a maximum of 132 ppm; the workers were also exposed to other solvents such as hexane, ethyl acetate, styrene, and methanol, but at lower levels. The chance of cutaneous absorption was remote. Higher correlation with TOL-A and better sensitivity in separating the exposed workers from the nonexposed subjects were taken as selection criteria. When workers exposed to TOL-A at lower concentrations (< 50 ppm, < 10 ppm, < 2 ppm, etc.) were selected and correlation with TOL-A was examined, TOL-B showed the largest correlation coefficient which was significant even at TOL-A of < 1 ppm, whereas correlation of HA-U was no longer significant when TOL-A was < 10 ppm. TOL-U was between the two extremes. The sensitivities of TOL-B and TOL-U were comparable; HA-U showed the lowest sensitivity. Thus, it was concluded that TOL-B is the indicator of choice for detecting toluene exposure at low levels.     

Cell culture of clonal ginbuna crucian carp hematopoietic cells: differentiation of cultured cells into erythrocytes in vivo

We cultivated kidney hematopoietic cells from clonal triploid ginbuna crucian carp, Carassius auratus langsdorfii. Proliferating cells from hematopoietic cell cultures were harvested and injected into tetraploid hybrids (clonal triploid ginbuna and goldfish hybrid) which possess three sets of chromosomes from a triploid clone and a haploid set of chromosomes from goldfish (Carassius auratus). After injection of cultured triploid cells (donor cells), blood samples were obtained from tetraploid hybrids (recipients) every other week. Blood cells stained with acridine orange were measured by flow cytometry to trace the injected donor cells by means of differences in DNA content. Although erythrocytes were not produced in donor cell cultures, such cultures maintained precursor cells capable of differentiation into erythrocytes in vivo. After 4-12 weeks of transplantation, mature erythrocytes derived from the donors were observed in the blood circulation of the recipient fish. These results indicated that the ginbuna hematopoietic cell culture system is an in vivo situation suitable for the study of hematopoietic control mechanisms.     

Protective Role of Nitric Oxide in Staphylococcus aureus Infection in Mice

This study was carried out to determine the role of nitric oxide (NO) in Staphylococcus aureus infection in mice. NO production in spleen cell cultures was induced by heat-killed S. aureus. Expression of mRNA of the inducible isoform of NO synthase (iNOS) was induced in the spleens and kidneys of S. aureus-infected mice. When mice were treated with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) or gamma interferon (IFN-γ) before S. aureus infection, the induction of iNOS mRNA expression in the kidneys was inhibited. These MAbs also inhibited NO production in spleen cell cultures stimulated with heat-killed S. aureus. NO production in the spleen cell cultures and levels of urinary nitrate plus nitrite were suppressed by treatment with aminoguanidine (AG), a selective inhibitor of iNOS. The survival rates of AG-treated mice were significantly decreased by either lethal or sublethal S. aureus infections. However, an effect of AG administration on bacterial growth was not observed in the spleens and kidneys of mice during either type of infection. Production of TNF-α and IFN-γ was not affected by AG treatment in vitro and in vivo. These results suggest that NO plays an important role in protection from lethality by the infection, but the protective role of NO in host resistance against S. aureus infection was not proved. Moreover, our results show that TNF-α and IFN-γ regulate NO production while NO may not be involved in the regulation of the production of these cytokines during S. aureus infection.