[New laparoscopic surgical procedure using surgical mesh for patients with esophageal hernia].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Aoki.
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We report six cases of primary pulmonary lymphoma in which a gene-rearranged band was shown by Southern blot analysis of transbronchial or surgical biopsy specimens. The cases were 3 mens and 4 women with an average age of 59.6, who had abnormal pulmonary shadows on chest X-ray. Two cases had Sjögren's syndrome and one case had monoclonal gammopathy (IgM-lambda type). Histopathologic and immunologic examination revealed diffuse infiltration of small lymphocytes (B-cell type) in all cases, and histological features of lymphoepithelial lesion or lympho-cytic interstitial pneumonia (LIP) in three cases. CT revealed an ill-defined margin, air-space consolidation, and air-bronchogram in all cases. A CT-angiogram sign was apparent in 2 cases. In all cases, Southern blot analysis of the tissue obtained from transbronchial or surgical biopsy revealed a gene re-arranged band, supporting the diagnosis of primary pulmonary lymphoma. We infer that an ill-defined margin, air-bronchogram and air space consolidation on CT were associated with the histopathological features of primary pulmonary lymphoma.
A 60-year-old man was admitted to our hospital complaining of non-productive cough. He had worked in Africa and received a blood transfusion after a traffic accident in 1985. On admission, the patient had remarkable hypoxemia and a decreased CD4+ lymphocyte count. A serological test for human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV)-1 was positive. His chest radiographs showed diffuse reticular and linear opacities, and broncoalveolar lavage findings established a diagnosis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). A high-resolution CT of the chest revealed peripheral infiltrates and low attenuation areas (LAA) consistent with severe emphysematous alterations. We administered high-dose methylprednisolone and trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (TMP-SMX). Because of marked eosinophilia, TMP-SMX was discontinued, and the patient was given inhaled pentamidine isothiocyanate. Although there was a striking clinical improvement, the emphysema-like lesion on chest CT remained unaltered. LAA on CT had been modest in 1994, but had markedly enlarged during the three years thereafter, leading us to speculate that most of the LAA lesions recognized on admission might have developed in association with PCP. Pulmonary function tests showed an obstructive ventilatory defect and impaired diffusing capacity. Although PCP classically presents with diffuse ground-glass or fine granular opacities, thin-walled cavities or other atypical findings have recently been reported, especially in AIDS patients. There have been several reports about emphysema-like lesions associated with PCP. It was suggested that these lesions might be due to lung parenchyma destruction induced by HIV itself or increased elastase release from HIV-infected macrophages. This is the first report of PCP with pulmonary emphysematous lesions in Japan.
This study investigated the difference of [Ca2+]i movement in platelets in response to thrombin and TRAP. The involvement of alpha(IIb)beta3 in this signaling was also studied. Stimulation of platelets with thrombin at 0.03 U/ml caused platelet aggregation and a two-peak increase in [Ca2+]i. The second peak of [Ca2+]i, but not the first peak was abolished by the inhibition of platelet aggregation with alpha(IIb)beta3 antagonists or by scavenging endogenous ADP with apyrase. A cyclooxygenase inhibitor, aspirin, and a TXA2 receptor antagonist, BM 13505, also abolished the second peak of [Ca2+]i but not the first peak, although these regents did not inhibit aggregation. Under the same assay conditions, measurement of TXB2 demonstrated that alpha(IIb)beta3 antagonists and aspirin almost completely inhibited the production of TXB2. In contrast to thrombin-stimulation, TRAP caused only a single peak of [Ca2+]i even in the presence of platelet aggregation, and a high level of [Ca2+]i increase was needed for the induction of platelet aggregation. The inhibition of aggregation with alpha(IIb)beta3 antagonists had no effect on [Ca2+]i change and TXB2 production induced by TRAP. Inhibition studies using anti-GPIb antibodies suggested that GPIb may be involved in the thrombin response, but not in the TRAP. Our findings suggest that low dose thrombin causes a different [Ca2+]i response and TXA2 producing signal from TRAP. Endogenous ADP release and fibrinogen binding to alpha(IIb)beta3 are responsible for the synthesis of TXA2 which results in the induction of the second peak of [Ca2+]i in low thrombin- but not TRAP-stimulated platelets.
The relationship between the range of motion following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and the height of chairs when rising from a seated position was analyzed. Forty-six TKA subjects were evaluated; 16 had osteoarthritis, 30 had rheumatoid arthritis. Subjects were divided into two groups based on their degree of knee flexion (average: 96.0 degrees; range: 75 degrees to 135 degrees; group 1 contained 24 subjects with < 100 degrees of flexion and group 2 contained 22 subjects with > 100 degrees of flexion) in order to evaluate the acceptable knee flexion angle required for comfortably rising from a chair. To evaluate the flexion-extension angle of the knee and hip joints, three goniometers, a large reaction force plate, and a switch sensor on the chair surface to detect the initiation of rising were used. One chair had a height equal to the subjects' lower leg length, while the height of the second chair was 120% of the subjects' lower leg length. Analysis showed that TKA patients with less knee flexion (< 100 degrees) required a high angular velocity of the hip and excessive swing velocity to lift the trunk forward than did those with a larger degree of knee flexion (> 100 degrees). We concluded that a minimum of 100 degrees of postoperative flexion is desired and that a higher chair is more suitable for TKA patients.
To investigate the prognosis of pathological proven T3N0-1M0 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), 73 patients who underwent pulmonary resection between 1975 and 1993 were reviewed. The 5-year survival rate for all patients was 46.3%. The subject included chest wall invasion in 34 (parietal pleura 17, intercostal muscle or ribs 17), invasion to another lobe in 30, main bronchus involvement less than 2 cm distal to the carina in 12, invasion to pericardium in 6 and invasion to diaphragm in 3. The 5-year survival rates was as follows: chest wall invasion 46.7%, invasion to another lobe 51.7%, main bronchus involvement 41.7%, invasion to pericardium and diaphragm 33.3% respectively. The 5-year survival rate was 58.8% when invasion was limited within parietal pleura, whereas 35.3% when invasion extended outside intercostal muscle. Patients invaded within parietal pleura had better prognosis than that of outside intercostal muscle. In conclusion, good outcome would be expected in patients with T3N0-1M0 non-small cell lung cancer when the invasion limited within parietal pleura.
A total of 35 pT3 patients of lung cancer underwent pulmonary resection from 1983 to 1997 in our department. The overall five-year survival rate of the 35 cases was 35.8%. There was no significant difference between the five-year survival rate of squamous cell carcinoma and that of adenocarcinoma. A superior outcome was observed for cases of curative resection compared with that of non-curative resection. Five-year survival rates of 19 patients with N0 disease, 16 patients with N1 or N2 disease were 46.6% and 22.2% respectively (p < 0.05). There was no significant differences among the survival rates according to the site of tumor invasion. We concluded that the long-term survival of patients with pathologic T3 disease critically depended on the lymph node state and completeness of resection.
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Hydroxyapatite blocks (HAB) can be used to administer antibiotics or anticancer drugs because its porous structure allows the gradual administration of the pharmacologic agents. A novel drug delivery system using hydroxyapatite blocks was developed for osteomyelitis and postoperative infections occurring after joint replacement. To load the antibiotics, hydroxyapatite blocks were mixed with an antibiotic solution and centrifuged at 1500 rpm for 15 minutes or decompressed in vacuum container at 5 to 10 in. Hg for 20 minutes. Fifteen patients with osteomyelitis including one with tuberculosis and four with infections subsequent to joint replacement were treated with antibiotic-loaded hydroxyapatite blocks in combination with intravenous injection. Except in one case, all of the foci had completely healed at follow-up (range: 13 to 71 months; average: 39.7 months). These new methods are simple and can safely treat osteomyelitis in a one-stage operation.
A 46-year-old woman complained four times of chest pains due to repeated right pneumothorax. This was improved by the right thoracic drainage each time. She was diagnosed as having catamenial pneumothorax from the fact that each episode of pneumothorax began with the first day of her menstrual cycle. She was admitted to our hospital in Jan. 1996 and operated on by the obliteration of pleuro-peritoneal fistulas on right diaphragm under video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). No other abnormal lesions were found in the right pleural cavity and right lung. In this case, the pathophysiological mechanisms of pneumothorax might have been caused by the air influx from the peritoneal cavity to the right pleural cavity through the fistulas on the right diaphragm. VATS is minimally invasive surgery and very useful for the treatment of pleuro-peritoneal fistulas on the diaphragm. It should be emphasized that hormonal therapy is necessary after VATS of catamenial pneumothorax.
A mailing survey was carried out to assess the current practice of sedative premedication in anesthesia. Questionnaires were sent by mail to 77 university hospitals. We especially evaluated use of opioids for premedication. Sixty-one percent (n = 47) of the hospitals answered these questionnaires and 31 percent (n = 15) of them were using opioids for the preanesthetic medication. Pethidine was used most frequently for premedication of all opioids, and morphine was often used for the premedication before cardiac surgery. All opioids were administrated intramusculary both in adults and children.
In adult cases with Crohn's disease, treatment of both the disease and patients' social lives is required for therapeutic regimens. Therefore, we assessed the safety and effectiveness of home enteral nutrition using PEG in patients with adult Crohn's disease. Five patients who were diagnosed with Crohn's disease undergoing a domiciliary treatment with enteral nutrition using PEG in The Jikei University School of Medicine and related institutions from May, 1994, to July, 1998, were the subjects of this study. All patients were relieved of symptoms and returned to work, one of whom relapsed two years later to undergo reoperation. Improvements of nutritional status and almost complete disappearance of inflammatory response were found in all patients. As for PEG-related complications, there was one case complicated with wound infection at an early time, and late complications, included two cases with abnormal granulation and one case with pain in ambient PEG. However, neither major complications nor complications that hindered everyday living were observed. Results of a questionnaire relating to this regimen showed almost complete well-being, though there were complaints about limited of oral intake and the cumbersome procedure of enteral nutrition. In conclusion, home enteral nutrition using PEG is effective in maintaining relief of symptoms, both the time required for feeding and patient pain are less, patients can be readily socially rehabilitated, and complications related to PEG have been few. These suggest that it may become a beneficial measure for patients with adult Crohn's disease.
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Transferrin complementary DNAs were cloned from the livers of seven species in three genera of salmonids (kokanee salmon Oncorhynchus nerka, amago salmon Oncorhynchus masou ishikawa, masu salmon Oncorhynchus masou masou, Japanese char Salvelinus pluvius, brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis, lake trout Salvelinus namaycush, and brown trout Salmo trutta) subsequent to polymerase chain reaction amplification with primers derived from conserved regions of transferrin cDNA sequences. The transferrin cDNAs of the seven species of salmonids had sizes of 2.2 to 2.4 kb and encoded an open reading frame consisting of 691 amino acids with a putative signal peptide of 18 amino acids. The alignment of salmonid transferrin cDNAs showed a duplicated structure and conserved anion-binding residues, iron-binding residues, and cysteine residues for disulfide bridges. The deduced amino acid sequences of the seven salmonid transferrin cDNAs share 85% to 99% homology. A phylogenetic tree of amino acid sequences of transferrin cDNAs from salmonids showed that the relationship among the three genera of salmonids (Oncorhynchus, Salvelinus, and Salmo) is well correlated with that derived from classic morphologic and genetic analyses.
A 48-year-old man was admitted because of persistent dry cough for six months. He had been a smoker for 25 years, averaging a pack a day, and demonstrated clubbing of the fingers. Basilar fine crackles were observed in both lung fields. Chest X-ray films on admission showed diffuse reticulonodular shadows. Chest computed tomograms showed low-attenuation areas mainly in the center of the upper lung field, and ground-glass opacity, air bronchiolograms, and perivascular interstitial thickening of the peripheral vessels mostly in the lower field. A Gascintigram disclosed mild accumulation in both lungs. A transbronchial lung biopsy specimen did not reveal special features. However, a biopsy specimen obtained by thoracoscopy showed evidence of respiratory bronchiolitis, with a mononuclear inflammatory process involving respiratory bronchioles and adjacent air space, associated with mild fibrous thickening of the peribronchiolar interstitium and surrounding alveoli septa. These findings suggested that the patient had respiratory bronchiolitis-associated interstitial lung disease, the second case to be reported in Japan.
Using the signal sequence trap method, we have cloned a novel 12-membrane-spanning transporter-like protein, termed renal-specific transporter (RST), from the mouse kidney. RST is a 553-amino-acid protein highly homologous to recently cloned organic cation transporters, e.g. it is 30% identical to rat organic cation transporter I at the amino acid level. Northern blot analysis has revealed that the RST gene is expressed abundantly and specifically in the kidney. In situ hybridization analysis has shown that RST gene expression is restricted to the renal proximal tubule, where various organic cations such as endogenous catecholamines and choline or clinically used cationic drugs are known to be actively excreted.
The alpha- and beta-globin gene variants are believed to have diverged from a single ancestral globin gene, and the divergence was primed by the duplication of the ancestral globin gene. To understand the process of gene duplication, we investigated the alpha- and beta-globin gene arrangement of a bony fish (carp). From a Southern analysis of seven previously prepared lambda phage clones (lambdaCG1-7) using radio-labelled alpha- or beta-globin gene probes, it was found that the clones included both the alpha- and beta-globin genes, and that they were located within a distance of 1 kb. Additionally, the linkage of two alpha-globin genes and two beta-globin genes in the clone lambdaCG1, 5 and 7 (e.g., alpha-beta-alpha-beta in lambdaCG5) revealed an arrangement that is different from the arrangement in higher vertebrates in which the alpha-globin and beta-globin genes generally occur at different loci. The distances between the detached alpha- to beta-globin genes were approximately 5 to 10 kb. DNA sequencing of the adjacently linked alpha- and beta-globin genes in lambdaCG3 showed that they were arranged in a head-to-head orientation. PCR amplification using primers for the internal region between the carp alpha- and beta-globin genes gave approximately 0.9-kb products from each of the clones lambdaCG1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, and from the chromosomal DNA of German mirror carp, Saku carp, Suwa carp, and Yamato carp. This demonstrates the alternative arrangement of carp alpha- and beta-genes in the globin gene locus (i.e., 3'alpha5'-5'beta3'-3'alpha5'-5'beta3' in lambdaCG5), and the widespread distribution of head-to-head-linked alpha- and beta-globin genes in carp. Based on the above results, we hypothesize that the duplication of the ancestral globin gene (prior to the divergence of the a and beta forms) occurred in a head-to-head direction.