The patient, a 61-year-old man, had sustained injuries in a traffic accident at the age of 26, for which he received a blood transfusion. Since 1988 (age, 49 years), abnormal hepatic function had ...been detected, and, because of the presence of hepatitis C virus antibodies, he was diagnosed as having type C chronic hepatitis. Based on a liver biopsy that was conducted in July 1992 (age, 53), a histological diagnosis of chronic active hepatitis (F(1)/A(2)) was made. Over a period of 6 months, starting in 1992, the patient was treated with interferon (IFNalpha-2a; total dosage, 720 MU). At the end of this regimen, the alanine aminotransferase level was normalized and serum hepatitis C virus-ribonucleic acid was negative. This condition was maintained until August 1996 (age, 57), after which the patient stopped reporting to our hospital. In June 2000 (age, 61) when he was hospitalized for an adhesive ileus, a small hepatocellular carcinoma (a solitary lesion measuring 18 mm in diameter) at S(8) was found, and it was extirpated by a segmental excision in July. The case is introduced to call attention to the need for longterm follow-up observation, even after effective IFN therapy.
Neuroprotective mechanisms of hypothermia have not been clearly established especially in the immature brain. To investigate the effect of hypothermia on cell death and cell survival signal pathways, ...we studied caspase-3-like activity and activation of Akt in a rat model of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic (H-I) brain injury. Seven-day-old rats underwent a combination of left common carotid artery ligation and exposure to 8% O
2 for 1-h (
n=32). During recovery, the body temperature was reduced to 30°C for 24 h in 16 animals, but was kept at 37°C in 16 animals. Post-ischemic hypothermia was shown to diminish the caspase-3-like activity compared to normothermia at 6 and 24 h after H-I. Phospho-Akt was increased during the early reperfusion period after H-I in the normothermia group, but hypothermia rather decreased this enhanced phosphorylation of Akt following H-I. These results indicated that hypothermia may have some depressant effects on both cell death and cell survival signal pathways, and that Akt conceivably may not play a major role in the neuroprotective effect of hypothermia in the immature brain.
The aim of this study was to find factors which regulate m-leptin secretion during pregnancy. Mouse parametrial adipocytes from day 13 of pregnancy were cultured with or without mouse placental ...lactogen (mPL)-I, mPL-II, or mouse tumor necrosis factor-alpha (mTNF-alpha) and mouse-leptin (m-leptin) concentration in the medium was assessed by RIA. Up to four days of mPL-I or mPL-II treatment did not affect m-leptin secretion. However, mTNF-alpha, which is produced by adipocytes, significantly inhibited m-leptin secretion in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Antibody to mTNF-alpha completely blocked the inhibitory effect of mTNF-alpha on m-leptin secretion. mTNF-alpha significantly inhibited the expression of m-leptin messenger RNA. Agonistic polyclonal antibody directed against the mTNF-type-I receptor (mTNF-RI) significantly inhibited m-leptin secretion, but the anti-mTNF-RII antibody did not change m-leptin secretion. Moreover, human TNF-alpha (h-TNF-alpha) also inhibited human-leptin (h-leptin) secretion by cultured human adipocytes collected from the subcutaneous fat of pregnant women. These results suggest that TNF-alpha, which is secreted by adipocytes, inhibits m-leptin secretion through mTNF-RI and suggest the presence of an autocrine or paracrine regulation of leptin secretion in human and mouse adipose tissue in vivo.
Experimental brain damage was induced in 16 fetal sheep by umbilical cord occlusion, and the correlation of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) or S100B with the damage grade was investigated in seven ...fetuses. Significant correlations of damage degree with NSE (
p=0.016) and S100B (
p=0.018) in serum 2 h after insult were shown by Spearman's test. These findings suggest that they represent potentially useful markers for detecting brain damage at early stage after ischemic insult.
Background. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a high prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibody (anti‐HCV) has been reported, indicating that it may be an important etiologic factor in the ...pathogenesis of HCC. In this study, the authors investigated the prevalence of anti‐HCV in HCC patients, as well as the same prevalence in patients with cholangiocarcinoma (CC) and combined hepatocellular–cholangiocarcinoma (combined HCC‐CC), to study the clinicopathologic features of anti‐HCV–positive cases.
Methods. The authors examined 141 patients with primary liver cancer who were pathologically diagnosed as having HCC (121 cases), CC (13 cases), or combined HCC‐CC (7 cases). Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti‐HCV were measured in these patients.
Results. Of 121 HCC cases, 85 (70.3%) were found to be anti‐HCV positive, 16 (13.2%) were HBsAg positive, and 5 (4.1%) were both anti‐HCV and HBsAg positive. In 13 cases with CC and in 7 with combined HCC‐CC examined, 4 (30.8%) and 5 (71.4%), respectively, were anti‐HCV positive.
Conclusions. The anti‐HCV–positive rate was high in combined HCC‐CC as well as in HCC. These three types of primary liver cancer, which were anti‐HCV positive, shared two common features: male dominance and high incidences of complication with liver cirrhosis.
CD31 on leukocytes is the adhesion molecule involved in the leukocyte extravasation in inflammatory conditions. During hemodialysis with cellulosic membranes, it is considered that activated ...leukocytes adhere to endothelium, but do not show extravasation. However, it is not elucidated why activated leukocytes do not show endothelial transmigration during hemodialysis with cellulosic membranes.
In the present study, changes in the expressions of Mac-1 and CD31 on granulocytes and monocytes were analyzed by flow cytometry during hemodialysis in 7 patients treated with regenerated-cellulose (RC) membranes and next with polysulfone (PS) membranes.
During dialysis with RC, Mac-1 expressions on granulocytes and monocytes both significantly increased as compared with predialysis values and across the dialyzer. During dialysis with RC, the CD31 expression on granulocytes and monocytes significantly decreased as compared with predialysis values. During dialysis with PS, changes in Mac-1 and CD31 expressions on granulocytes and monocytes were smaller than those during dialysis with RC.
Decreased CD31 expression on leukocytes may affect leukocyte function more in patients chronically hemodialyzed with RC than in those hemodialyzed with PS, since CD31 is important in leukocyte transendothelial migration in inflammatory conditions.
To study the influence of microglia on glutamatergic synaptic transmission in the acute phase of neuronal injury, we first examined the effects of primary cultured microglia transferred onto the ...organotypic cortical slice cultures. In these microglia-transferred cortical slice cultures, stimulation of the subcortical white matter induced fast excitatory postsynaptic potentials followed by
N-methyl-
d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated plateau-like potentials that were never observed in control slice cultures. A similar potentiation of NMDA receptor-mediated postsynaptic responses was also observed by an application of a microglial-conditioned medium (MCM, 10% v/v) in acute cortical slices. These effects of MCM disappeared after boiling or incubation with proteinase K. After fractionation of MCM by anion-exchange chromatography, the enhancing activity of each fraction was quantitated electrophysiologically. When each fraction was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the fraction 24 which showed the most potent enhancing activity on NMDA receptor-mediated responses contained a relatively strong protein band with a molecular mass of approximately 70 kDa. MCM also enhanced both glutamate- and NMDA-induced inward currents recorded from acutely isolated cortical neurons. It was also noted that glutamate and NMDA induced transient large inward currents during an application of MCM, which were never observed in the control condition. These observations strongly suggest that NMDA receptor-mediated responses can be potentiated by both heat- and protease-labile (presumably 70-kDa proteins) molecules released from microglia.
We report 2 cases of umbilical cord ulcer associated with fetal jejunal atresia. Both of them developed a severe intrauterine hemorrhage, followed by fetal heart rate decelerations, and underwent ...emergency cesarean section. Bloody amniotic fluid and umbilical cord ulcers were observed in both cases. Although both cases were successfully resuscitated, neurological impairment and renal failure developed in 1 case due to prolonged asphyxia. In a review of the literature, umbilical cord ulcer was associated only with congenital duodenal atresia or jejunal atresia, but not with ileal atresia. Although the prenatal diagnosis of duodenal or upper jejunal atresia has been established, the prenatal diagnosis of this complication has not been reported. In such cases, detailed examination of the umbilical cord by ultrasonography may be useful for the prenatal diagnosis of this disease.
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