We report a patient with transient periduodenal panniculitis due to spontaneous rupture of a pancreatic pseudocyst into the duodenum. He developed sudden onset of severe epigastric and back pain with jaundice, mimicking the symptoms of acute pancreatitis. However, the serum and urinary amylase levels did not increase. CT scans showed disappearance of his pseudocyst and periduodenal panniculitis without any evidence of acute pancreatitis. The CT findings of periduodenal panniculitis and his symptoms both improved within 3 weeks. A duodenal fistula leading to the remnant pseudocyst and narrowing of the periduodenal portion of the common bile duct were demonstrated by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Transcatheter arterial infusion therapy in the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer: a feasibility study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of transcatheter arterial infusion (TAI) therapy in 18 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. METHODS: The drugs infused were epirubicin 60 mg, mitomycin C 20 mg, and 5-fluorouracil 500 mg. The efficacy of TAI was evaluated by a tumor marker (CA19-9), computed tomography (CT) findings, and postoperative histopathological specimens. RESULTS: In 10 of 15 cases, the tumor marker level was decreased after TAI therapy. In 6 of 14 cases, CT showed a decrease in the tumor size, and in 1 case, the tumor disappeared completely. In 6 cases the tumor could be resected. Necrosis, fibrosis, and degeneration of cancer cells were seen in 3 of 4 cases for whom a histopathological evaluation was done. The median survival was 11 months. In 17 patients back pain was the chief complaint, and was reduced to a self-controlled level in 10 patients following TAI therapy. No major complications were encountered. CONCLUSION: TAI appears to be an effective palliative treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Variations in effectiveness of antigen retrieval pretreatments for diagnostic immunohistochemistry.

Enzymatic and non-enzymatic pretreatments for antigen retrieval (AR) on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded, deparaffinised sections were compared and optimised by immunostaining of tissues infected with 13 different pathogens. Enzymatic pretreatment was achieved by incubating slides in 0.25 per cent trypsin (TR) and non-enzymatic pretreatments by heating them in a microwave oven (MWO) or an autoclave (AC). Three different buffers of different pH and molarity including phosphate buffer (PB), citrate buffer (CB) and acetate buffer (AB) were used as AR solutions. All of them were effective regardless of molarity, for the MWO with a processing time of 20 minutes, and the AC with a processing time of 15 minutes. The detectability of many viral antigens was significantly improved by MWO or TR pretreatment, but that of most bacterial antigens was not improved and that of some viral antigens was decreased by TR pretreatment. These results suggest that AR pretreatment is a prerequisite procedure for immunohistochemical detection of many infectious agents but the optimal pretreatment has to be individualised for each agent.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Echocardiographic clues and accuracy in the diagnosis of scimitar syndrome.

Scimitar syndrome was diagnosed in 27 patients seen between July 1974 and May 1993. All available echocardiograms taken before surgery or death were reviewed. Age at presentation ranged from 1 day to 14 years. Dextrocardia or mesocardia was noted in 70%, atrial septal defect in 70%, and increased right ventricular dimension in 70% of the patients. The ratio of the proximal and distal diameters of the right/left pulmonary arteries were reduced 0.68 +/- 0.17 and 0.66 +/- 0.17, respectively. "Blunting" of the right side of the left atrium was seen in all patients with total anomalous right pulmonary venous drainage and none with partial drainage. Anomalous right pulmonary venous drainage was characterized in 91% of echocardiograms with color flow mapping versus 14% without color flow mapping (p < 0.0002). Aortopulmonary collateral arteries were detected in all four cases in which color flow mapping was performed, but not detected otherwise.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of PKC inhibitors on suppression of thermotolerance development in tsAF8 cells.

Effects of protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors (H7, staurosporine, calphostin C) on thermotolerance development were investigated in temperature sensitive tsAF8 cells derived from Syrian hamster BHK21 cells. Cells were pre-heated at 45 degrees C for 20 min, incubated at 34 degrees C with PKC inhibitors for varying lengths of time, i.e. 1.25-10.0 h, and then heated at 45 degrees C for 30 min. Increasing survival fractions after the second heat treatment was inhibited by the treatment with H7 (40-160 microM), with staurosporine (0.05-1.0 microM), and with calphostin C (0.8, 1.2 microM) in a concentration dependent manner. When the concentrations of these PKC inhibitors were low, the restraint of increasing survival fractions was temporary, since survival fractions increased 3-7.5 h after pre-heating. However, the survival fractions were almost constant by the treatment with 160 microM H7 and 1.0 microM staurosporine. Induction of HSP72 after heat stress was investigated in tsAF8 and BHK21 cells. Cells were heated at 45 degrees C for 20 min and incubated at 34 or 39.7 degrees C (tsAF8), at 37 degrees C (BHK21). Intensity of intracellular fluorescence from HSP72 was measured by flow cytometry. HSP72 was induced in BHK21 cells, but there was no definite induction of HSP72 in tsAF8 cells at either 39.7 or 34 degrees C. These results suggest that PKC is related with the thermotolerance development in tsAF8 cells; however, HSP72 is not involved in the thermotolerance development in tsAF8 cells.

1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-Methylpiperazine↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Inhibition of thermotolerance observed on tsAF8 cells.

The characteristic development of thermotolerance was examined in tsAF8 cells, which were temperature sensitive cell line derived from BHK21. tsAF8 cells lose RNA polymerase II activity and arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle at the nonpermissive temperature of 39.5-40.6 degrees C. tsAF8 cells were pre-heated at 45 degrees C for 20 min, incubated at 34 or 39.7 degrees C for different durations, and then heated again at 45 degrees C for 30 min. The cells were trypsinized immediately after the second heating to evaluate cell survival. As a result, thermotolerance was developed rapidly in the cells incubated at 34 degrees C. However, the survival rate of the cells incubated at 39.7 degrees C was almost constant. Thermotolerance of BHK21 cells, which were wild-type cells of tsAF8 cells, developed at 39.7 degrees C. These results suggest that thermotolerance may be inhibited in tsAF8 cells incubated at 39.7 degrees C, and that some metabolism which is inhibited in tsAF8 cells at 39.7 degrees C may be related to thermotolerance development.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Experimental disseminated trichosporonosis in mice: tissue distribution and therapy with antifungal agents.

Mice treated with cyclophosphamide were infected intravenously with titrated doses of Trichosporon asahii TIMM3140 or TIMM3144. Mortality and survival time correlated with inoculum size and fungal growth was found in the lung, heart, liver, spleen, kidney and brain. Fluconazole and amphotericin B prolonged survival time and reduced the CFU in the kidney, with fluconazole being superior to amphotericin B. The serum level of (1-->3)-beta-D-glucan was reduced by antifungal therapy and correlated well with the CFU/organ in kidney, but not CFU/ml in blood.

Amphotericin B↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Enhancement of lipid phagocytosis by cloned cells derived from rat malignant fibrous histiocytoma under hyperlipemic conditions.

The histogenesis of malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) was studied by observing the influence of hyperlipemic (HL) conditions on the behavior of cloned MT-8 cells with an undifferentiated mesenchymal character and MT-9 cells with histiocytic and fibroblastic features, both derived from a spontaneous rat MFH. The cells were grown in medium containing 10% normal rat serum (CSM) or 10% HL rat serum (HSM) for 1, 3, 8 and 24 h. The cells grown in HSM showed a time-dependent, significant increase in numbers of cytoplasmic lipid droplets per cell and cells positive for acid phosphatase (ACP) and non-specific esterase (NSE) compared with cells grown in CSM. The number of cells positive for two different anti-rat monocyte/macrophage monoclonal antibodies (ED-1 and ED-2) also increased significantly in HSM. This histiocytic nature was confirmed by electron microscopy. Tumors were induced by inoculating MT-8 and MT-9 cells into rats on a standard diet and rats on a HL diet. MT-8 and MT-9 tumor cells in HL rats phagocytized lipid droplets and showed stronger positive reactions for ACP and NSE compared with tumors in control rats. These results imply that xanthomatous cells in MFH may be a phenotype of MFH cells expressing an enhanced histiocytic nature. MFH cells seem to alter their behavior depending on cultural or microenvironmental conditions.

Animals↗