Treatment of a malignant esophageal fistula with a Gore-Tex-covered flexible nitinol stent

In order to treat fistulated esophageal cancer using a flexible stent, a covered flexible stent was constructed by wrapping a nitinol stent with a thin sheet of Gore-Tex, preserving the stents original advantages of flexibility and a low-profile introducer system. This stent was used to perform standard radiotherapy in a case of fistulated esophageal cancer.     

Morphological Analysis of the Early Development of the Chick Neural Tube Separated from the Floor Plate and Notochord

When the neural tube of avian embryos is separated from the notochord and floor plate, motoneurons in the spinal cord fail to develop. In order to investigate the factors involved in this phenomenon, cell proliferation activity and cell death were observed following paramedian incision of the neural tube at the level of the segmental plate using colchicine, BrdU, and TUNEL methods. If the notochord and/or floor plate produces a substance(s) that promotes cell division in the basal plate neuroepithelium or that supports the survival of the motoneuron's neuroblasts, mitotic figures should not be present in the neuroepithelium nor should substantial cell death be observed in the ventral aspect of the notochord- and floor plate-deprived neural tube. Surprisingly, however, neither result was observed in the present experiments, with the exception of a considerable amount of homogeneously distributed cell death. Neuroepithelial cells continued to proliferate and gave rise to neuroblasts. Nevertheless, motoneurons failed to develop, and the neural tube was enveloped by only the basement membrane of the alar plate (S. Hirano and H. Tanaka, 1994,Dev. Growth Differ.36, 481–488). These morphological results revealed that the cause of the development of the anterior horn lacking a neural tube in the notochord- and neural tube-eliminated embryos is not the elimination of the source of the surviving factor(s) of the motoneuron's neuroblasts, but rather the elimination of the signals to induce the motoneurons, derived from the notochord and/or floor plate. The larger amount of cell death in the neural tube on the experimental side suggests that a nonspecific survival factor(s), necessary for the survival of a variety of types of neuroblasts, is also produced by the notochord and/or floor plate.     

Isolation and characterization of motile Aeromonas from human, food and environmental specimens

From July 1985 to March 1987, the occurrence of motile Aeromonas sp. in stool, food and environmental specimens was investigated to assess their pathogenic significance and to determine sources and routes of infection. A total of 9366 stool specimens were examined; Aeromonas was isolated from 11.1% of diarrhoeal stools and 2.2% of normal stools (P less than 0.001). Aeromonas counts in food specimens, which included minced beef, pork and chicken, seafood and various vegetables and their products, were unexpectedly high suggesting that infection might be food-borne rather than water-borne. About 70% of the isolates from meat products were A. hydrophila and A. sobria, while A. caviae was the most common in sea-fish, vegetables and their products. Most A. hydrophila and A. sobria strains produced haemolysin, but haemagglutinin was found more frequently in A. sobria.     

New hepatic vein reconstruction in left liver graft.

The incidence of hepatic venous stenosis is higher in partial liver transplantation. New methods for hepatic venous reconstruction in left liver transplantation, which secure wide anastomosis, were devised and are reported here. In the graft, the right side of the middle hepatic vein or the left side of the left hepatic vein was cut longitudinally and a rectangular-shaped vein patch was attached for venoplasty. In the recipient, after the left and middle hepatic veins were joined, the right side of the middle hepatic vein was cut toward the closed right hepatic vein, making a horizontal cavotomy for anastomosis. Of 92 patients who underwent conventional hepatic vein reconstruction, 3 were complicated by hepatic venous stenosis (median follow-up 43 months). By contrast, there were no hepatic vein complications in the 20 patients who underwent the new technique (7 months). The current method appears to be technically feasible for outflow reconstruction in left liver graft transplantation.     

The effects of chymase on matrix metalloproteinase-2 activation in neointimal hyperplasia after balloon injury in dogs.

Chymase is known to generate angiotensin II in the vascular wall. In this study we investigated a novel role for chymase other than angiotensin II production in vascular proliferation after balloon injury. Chymase promoted the migration of vascular smooth muscle cells in the matrix-coated invasion chambers and activated promatrix metalloproteinase-2 obtained from the culture medium of vascular smooth muscle cells. Two weeks after balloon injury, significant neointimal formation was found in dog carotid arteries. After injury, active matrix metalloproteinase-2 was increased in parallel with the augmentation of chymase activity that was seen in the proliferating region of the vascular wall. The oral administration of NK3201 (1 mg/kg per day), a chymase inhibitor, prevented neointimal formation and significantly suppressed both active matrix metalloproteinase-2 and chymase activities 2 weeks after injury. These results suggest that chymase inhibitors can prevent the development of intimal hyperplasia via the inhibition of matrix metalloproteinase-2 activation in balloon-injured arteries.     

Metabolic syndrome, C-reactive protein and increased arterial stiffness in Japanese subjects.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the metabolic syndrome (MS) was associated with an elevated level of C-reactive protein (CRP) and increased arterial stiffness, and to clarify whether combined MS and CRP data had a stronger relation to arterial stiffness than did MS data alone. Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), CRP, and conventional risk factors were evaluated in 3,412 men and 854 women. Adjusted mean values of baPWV in men with 0, 1, 2, and > or = 3 components were 1,309, 1,372, 1,422, and 1,462 cm/s, respectively (p for trend <0.001). Adjusted mean values of baPWV in women with 0, 1, 2, and > or =3 components were 1,212, 1,292, 1,357, and 1,391 cm/s, respectively (p for trend <0.001). Adjusted geometric mean concentrations of CRP in men with 0, 1, 2, and > or = 3 components were 0.036, 0.049, 0.059, and 0.076 mg/dI, respectively (p for trend <0.001). Adjusted geometric mean concentrations of CRP in women with 0, 1, 2, and > or = 3 components were 0.023, 0.030, 0.057, and 0.077 mg/dI, respectively (p for trend <0.001). In analyses of adjusted mean values of baPWV according to the number of MS components and according to CRP levels within or without top quartile levels, the p value for the trend was significant (<0.001) in both men and women but, in post hoc analyses, comparing high and low CRP levels in each MS component-number group, no significant difference was found. These results suggest that, for prediction of increased arterial stiffness, combining MS and CRP data has little additive effect compared to the use of MS data alone.     

Study of recent yearly trend of increase in airborne pollen of Japanese cedar and cypress pollen]

BACKGROUND: Based on epidemiological studies of prevalence, sensitization as well as pollen survey, it is presumed that airborne Japanese cedar pollen (JCP) and cypress (JCyP) have increased progressively for past 40 years. However, because of their large yearly variations, accurate objective and scientific study is required to confirm if it is true or not. METHODS: We analyzed the time trends of JCP and JCy separately in 11 districts throughout Japan where have records of continuous past survey from 1986 to 2005, by regression analysis using net pollen count and their 3 and 5 running means. RESULTS: When significant slope of regression line (regression coefficient) is assumed as p < 0.05 and R2 (coefficient of determination) >0.4, significant increase in airborne pollen was revealed in the use of 5 point running mean (6 districts of total 11 in JCP and 5 in JCyP) but not net count or 3 point running mean because of correction of statistic error due to large yearly variations. This study suggested that our method used for analysis of a recent increase in airborne JCP and JCyP was useful and scientific.