A case of non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma with a lymphoma nodule moving around within a lung bulla

A 53-year-old man was admitted to Nagoya City University Hospital with complaining of bloody sputum and an abnormal shadow on chest X-ray film. The chest X-ray film showed a giant bulla in the right upper and middle lung fields and a mass shadow inside the bulla. In addition he had the swelling of bilateral inguinal lymph nodes. He was suspected to having bleeding from the lung bulla, and received a right upper lobectomy. The resected specimen showed a lobular tumor in the parenchyma of lung and an oval lymphoma nodule moving around inside of lung bulla. Histologically, both the lung tumor and inguinal lymph-nodes were non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma, diffuse and plasmacytoid large cell type.     

Open heart surgery in a paraplegic patient.

We operated on a patient who had been paraplegic since sustaining a spinal cord injury 11 years ago. We made a reversed L-shaped sternum incision and cannulated all tubes for the cardiopulmonary bypass through a wound window. This provided an excellent surgical view without restricting the patient's upper limbs (needed for wheel chair operation), and recovery was good. Just after surgery, however, it was difficult to control blood pressure and the loss of serum albumin. We believe this is the first report of open-heart surgery undertaken in a paraplegic patient and that the reversed L-shaped incision and careful monitoring of hemodynamics each played an important role in the successful outcome. We hope that this report will help in the treatment of other paraplegic patients who need open-heart surgery.     

A Tissue-Engineered Artificial Bile Duct Grown to Resemble The Native Bile Duct

The aim of this study was to fabricate an artificial bile duct for the development of a new treatment for biliary diseases. Eighteen hybrid pigs were implanted with a bile duct organoid unit (BDOU) made of a bioabsorbable polymer. Twelve of the transplanted BDOUs had been seeded with autologous bone marrow cells (BMCs) in advance. Six animals, the controls, were grafted with the scaffold alone with no BMCs seeded. The common bile duct was cut, the hepatic cut end of the native common bile duct was anastomosed to the BDOU and the other end was anastomosed to the duodenum. The controls underwent a similar operation. The neo-bile duct was removed at pre-determined time points and investigated histologically. All 18 recipient pigs survived until their sacrifice at 6 weeks, 10 weeks or 6 months. Histological examination revealed incomplete epithelialization of the neo-bile duct at 6 weeks and 10 weeks after transplantation. At 6 months, the organoid exhibited a morphology almost identical to that of the native common bile duct. No differences were found between the controls and BMC-seeded pigs. These results show that the artificial bile duct thus fabricated can serve as a substitute for the native bile duct.     

Anaplastic ganglioglioma with sarcomatous component: An immunohistochemical study and molecular analysis of p53 tumor suppressor gene

The present case report describes a case of ganglioglioma with a distinct sarcomatous component in the left temporal lobe of a 59‐year‐old Japanese man. Neoplastic neuroglial tissue contained both benign and anaplastic glial components with a MIB‐1 labeling index of 0.1% and 12.0%, respectively. Sarcomatous tissue adjacent to the anaplastic glial tissue was dominated by pleomorphic fibroblastic cells with a MIB‐1 labeling index of 10.8%. They were immunoreactive for smooth muscle actin, type IV collagen, and alpha 1 antitrypsin, but not for desmin and CD34. Interestingly, some of the sarcomatous cells were double‐positive for smooth muscle actin and GFAP. The p53 protein had accumulated in the anaplastic astrocytes and sarcomatous cells, but direct DNA sequencing of PCR products failed to detect any mutation in the p53 gene (from exon 4 to exon 10).     

Structural changes and cell viability of cultured epithelium after freezing storage

Numerous clinical reports have shown the utility of cultured epithelial grafting in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Recently, freezing storage of the cultured epithelium has been tried and has successfully grafted after thawing. It is clinically convenient if it is possible for cultured epithelium to keep its normal structure and viability. However, few papers have described the structural changes in cultured epithelium after freezing storage. In the present study, the morphological changes and cell viability of cultured mucosal epithelial sheets after freezing were studied in comparison with cultured epidermal sheets. Furthermore, we discuss the effect of storage temperature and cryoprotectants.As a result, there were some structural changes such as vacuolar degeneration in the cultured mucosal sheets using dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) as a cryoprotectant. Such changes were more clearly observed at −80°C than at −196°C with DMSO. However, little morphological change was observed in both epithelial sheets cultured with glycerin. The cell viability analysed by flow cytometry showed that more than 62% of the cells kept their viability after freezing storage. These results suggest that the optimum conditions of freezing for cultured epithelium were −196°C storage by slow cooling methods with glycerin as a cryoprotectant.     

Carbohydrate metabolism in intact golden hamsters infected with plerocercoids of Spirometra erinacei (Cestoda: Diphyllobothriidae)

This study was performed to investigate the mechanism involved in a decrease in the serum glucose of golden hamsters infected with plerocercoids of Spirometra erinacei. The concentration of glucagon, the activity of glucose-6-phosphatase in the liver, and the in vivo incorporation of 2-deoxyd-[1,2-³H]glucose into various organs increased in plerocercoid-infected hamsters compared with controls. Furthermore, the serum from the plerocercoid-infected hamsters enhanced the in vitro incorporation of [U-¹⁴C]glucose into adipose tissues, compared with control serum. The serum levels of immunoreactive insulin and somatomedin associated with nonsuppressible insulin-like activity in experimental animals, however, were not significantly different from those in controls. Therefore, we conclude that the decrease in serum glucose associated with plerocercoid infection is not the result of a decrease in gluconeogenesis, but the result of an increased utilization of glucose in the peripheral tissues.     

Evidence of the growth factor in mouse serum infected withSpirometra erinacei plerocercoids

To investigate the action of the growth factor secreted bySpirometra erinacei plerocercoids, various organ weights, body weight and head-body length were measured in Snell normal and dwarf mice after injection with the serum from mice and rats. Serum from mice infected with the plerocercoids caused significant increases in the weights of the liver and spleen, in the same manner as mice infected with the plerocercoids. However, serum from rats infected with plerocercoids did not cause significant changes in these parameters. The growth factor in the serum of mice infected with plerocercoids was stable at –20°C for at least 6 months and easily passed through the peritoneum.     

Two antigens on zygotes and ookinetes of Plasmodium yoelii and Plasmodium berghei that are distinct targets of transmission-blocking immunity.

We have developed transmission-blocking monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against Plasmodium yoelii 21-kDa (Pys21) and 28-kDa (Pys25) ookinete surface proteins. These MAbs block infectivity of P. yoelii to Anopheles stephensi. One MAb, 14, cross-reacted by Western blotting with a 28-kDa surface protein (Pbs25) of P. berghei ookinetes and blocked oocyst development, as assayed by direct mosquito feeds on passively immunized P. berghei-infected mice. In total, we have identified two ookinete surface proteins in P. yoelii, one of which is also present in P. berghei. The transmission-blocking activity of the anti-Pys25 MAb 4 was complete and more potent than that of the anti-Pys21 MAb 2. Moreover, Fab fragments of MAb 4 had transmission-blocking activity in mice. In comparison, Fab fragments of MAb 2 did not have detectable transmission-blocking effect, although F(ab')2 did. Furthermore, MAb 2 and MAb 4 appeared to block the in vitro formation and development of zygotes as well.     

Studies on elementary reactions in the polymerization of 1,2-epoxycyclohexane with organozinc compounds as initiators

1,2-Epoxycyclohexane ( 1 ) was found to behave differently from propylene oxide (PO) in polymerization reactions with organozinc compounds as initiators. A chair-type complex, [Zn-MP]_2,2, is the only compound that shows high catalytic activity for both polymerization of 1 and PO, following an anionic coordination mechanism. On the other hand, the polymerization of 1 with ZnEt₂ or (EtZnOMe)₄ as initiator proceeds according to a cationic mechanism. Cationic polymerization of 1 with ZnEt₂ has two modes of termination reaction resulting in the formation of terminal units containing vinyl ether and allyl ether moieties. The initiation and propagation mechanism of 1 by [Zn-MP]_2;2 is similar to that of PO, but chain transfer reaction takes place in the polymerization of 1 owing to the low stability of the growing chain end. By using [Zn-MP]_2,2 as initiator, it was possible to prepare a block copolymer consisting of an isotactic sequence of monomeric units of PO and a syndiotactic sequence of monomeric units of 1 .