A phase 2 study of cisplatin in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Candida meningitis is a growing problem today. We report a 21-day-old male baby who was a victim of Candida albicans meningitis with the initial presentations of fever, mild stiff neck, poor feeding and activity. He had been treated with intravenous antibiotics and ventilator therapy prior to admission Initially, he was treated as a case of bacterial sepsis after admission with intravenous antibiotics. Due to positive cultures of cerebrospinal fluid for Candida albicans twice, intravenous amphotericin B was started from the 13th hospital day and was continued for 38 days. The successive three sets of CSF fungus culture yielded negative results and the patient was doing well without fever. Meanwhile, the brain sonogram revealed normal findings and he was discharged in a stable condition. We report this case and review some literature in an attempt to know more about this unusual disease, which is becoming more frequent as progress in intensive care grows.     

Growth inhibition of CD20-positive B lymphoma cell lines by IDEC-C2B8 anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody

Treatment with IDEC-C2B8 (C2B8), the chimeric anti-CD20 antibody, was shown in a phase I-II study to be very effective for the treatment of low-grade B-cell lymphoma, in contrast to the results of most previous immunotherapies with monoclonal antibodies. In a study designed to elucidate the reason for this efficacy, two cell lines derived from lymphomas with BCL2 gene rearrangement (SU-DHL-4 and SU-DHL-6) showed remarkable growth inhibition and cell-death, and two other cell lines derived from a diffuse lymphoma (RC-K8) and a mantle cell lymphoma (SP-49) showed moderate growth inhibition, but neither a CD20 weakly positive cell line (NALL-1) nor a negative cell line (MOLT-4) showed any growth inhibition. An examination of the intensity of cell-surface CD20 expression showed no correlation between intensity and degree of growth inhibition among the four cell lines showing growth inhibition. Morphological examination revealed condensed and fragmented nuclei and budding of the plasma membrane, both characteristic of apoptosis, with some cells in these cell lines showing growth inhibition by C2B8. Such apoptosis was also confirmed by flow cytometric analysis, suggesting that, at least in part, apoptosis plays a role in this growth inhibition. This growth-inhibitory mechanism may thus account for the effectiveness of C2B8 antibody therapy.     

Intracranial lipoma of the quadrigeminal region associated with complex partial seizures

A 7-year-old Japanese boy with an intracranial lipoma of the quadrigeminal region and complex partial seizures is reported. Among 28 published patients with lipoma originating in the quadrigeminal plate and ambient cistern, 6 suffered from seizures and 3 were mentally retarded. Our patient's seizures were controlled with carbamazepine.     

Oral reconstruction using the peroneal flap

1. Recent studies have indicated that nitric oxide (NO) production in the kidney contributes to the regulation of renal haemodynamics and excretory function. Inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) reduces renal blood flow by approximately 25% and markedly reduces sodium excretion without reductions in filtered load. In particular, inhibition of NO synthesis markedly suppresses the slope of the arterial pressure-mediated response in sodium excretion. 2. Further studies have shown that constant intrarenal infusion of a NO donor in dogs treated with a NOS inhibitor produced diuretic and natriuretic responses but failed to restore the slope of the pressure-induced natriuretic response. These data indicate that an alteration in intrarenal NO activity, rather than the simple presence of NO during changes in arterial pressure is required for full expression of pressure natriuretic responses. 3. In support of the hypothesis that NO is involved in the mediation of pressure natriuresis, we also recently demonstrated a direct relationship between changes in arterial pressure and urinary excretion rate of sodium as well as nitrate and nitrite (a marker for endogenous NO activity) in the presence of efficient autoregulation of cortical and medullary blood flow. 4. The direct inhibitory actions of NO on tubular sodium reabsorption have also been observed in cultured tubular cells as well as isolated, perfused cortical collecting duct segments. 5. Thus, the collective data suggest that acute changes in arterial pressure induce changes in intrarenal NO production, which may directly alter tubular reabsorptive function to manifest the phenomenon of pressure natriuresis.     

A case of advanced primary ureteral squamous cell carcinoma responding to combination chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil

A 63-year-old female with left ureteral tumor metastasizing to the left iliac lymph node was treated with left total nephroureterectomy. The histopathological diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma of the ureter, G1 INF beta, pT2, pR0, pV1 and pL0. Three cycles of chemotherapy were performed postoperatively with cis platin and 5-fluorouracil. A major response was obtained (tumor regression rate, 57%). She received 60 Gy radiotherapy to the left iliac region postchemotherapy (postradiotherapy tumor regression rate, 74%). No evidence of the tumor relapse was found 7 months after irradiation.     

Molecular cloning and functional expression of a water-soluble chlorophyll protein, a putative carrier of chlorophyll molecules in cauliflower

A cDNA for a water-soluble chlorophyll (Chl) protein (WSCP) from cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var botrys) was cloned and sequenced. The cDNA contained an open reading frame encoding 19 residues for a signal peptide and 199 residues for the mature form of WSCP. The sequence showed extensive homology to drought-stress-related, 22-kDa proteins in some Brassicaceae plants. Functional WSCP was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with a maltose-binding protein (MBP). When the recombinant MBP-WSCP was incubated with thylakoid membranes, the MBP-WSCP removed Chls from these membranes. During this process, the monomer of the apo-MBP-WSCP successfully bound Chls and was converted into tetrameric holo-MBP-WSCP. The reconstituted MBP-WSCP exhibited absorption and fluorescent spectra identical to those of the native WSCP purified from cauliflower leaves. The Chl a/b ratio in native WSCP indicates a high content of Chl a, which was mainly due to the higher affinity of MBP-WSCP for Chl a. WSCP is the first example of a hydrophilic protein that can transfer Chls from thylakoid hydrophobic proteins. Possible functions of WSCP are discussed.     

Homozygosity mapping of a gene responsible for gelatinous drop-like corneal dystrophy to chromosome 1p

Gelatinous drop-like corneal dystrophy (GDLD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized clinically by grayish corneal deposits of amyloid and by severely impaired visual acuity. Most patients require corneal transplantation. To localize a gene responsible for GDLD, we performed linkage analysis of 10 consanguineous Japanese families with a total of 13 affected members. Homozygosity mapping provided a maximum LOD score of 9.80 at the D1S2741 marker locus on the short arm of chromosome 1. Haplotype analysis further defined the disease locus within a region of approximately 2.6 cM between D1S2890 and D1S2801.     

Perfusion and blood-pool scintigraphy in the evaluation of head and neck hemangiomas

We investigated the sensitivity and specificity of perfusion and blood-pool scintigraphy in the detection of head and neck hemangiomas and evaluated their histopathologic types. METHODS: Perfusion and blood-pool scintigraphy with 99mTc-red blood cells (RBCs) or 99mTc-human serum albumin combined with DTPA (HSA-D) were used to evaluate 51 head and neck lesions clinically suspected of being hemangiomas in 48 patients. Thirty-three of the 51 lesions were subsequently histologically confirmed to be hemangiomas, whereas the remaining 18 were histologically diagnosed as other lesions. RESULTS: Perfusion and blood-pool scintigraphy correctly diagnosed 30 of 33 hemangiomas as being hemangiomas but could not detect the remaining 3 hemangiomas. Perfusion and blood-pool scintigraphy correctly diagnosed 12 of 18 lesions as nonhemangiomas, but the remaining 6 lesions were misdiagnosed as hemangiomas. Thus, the sensitivity for detecting hemangiomas was 91%, with a specificity and accuracy of 67% and 82%, respectively. Twenty-five (89%) of 28 cavernous or venous hemangiomas demonstrated normal activity on the perfusion images and increased activity on the delayed blood-pool images, whereas the remaining 3 (11%) showed normal activity on both perfusion and blood-pool images. Finally, 5 of 5 (100%) capillary or recemose hemangiomas showed increased activity on the perfusion and blood-pool images. CONCLUSION: Perfusion and blood-pool scintigraphy demonstrated sufficiently high sensitivity but relatively low specificity for detecting head and neck hemangiomas. Additionally, perfusion and blood-pool scintigraphy can clearly differentiate between cavernous and venous hemangiomas and capillary and recemose hemangiomas and are extremely useful for the detection and evaluation of head and neck hemangiomas.     

Electroluminescence from surface layer of insulating polymer underac voltage application

Electroluminescence from a surface layer of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) has been investigated using a photomultiplier tube and an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera under ac or half rectified ac (HRAC) electric fields tangential to the polymer surface. The electroluminescence (EL) characteristics from the polymer surface layer showed a similarity to those from PTFE and other polymer films subjected to ac or HRAC electric fields in the normal direction to the surface. ICCD imaging of EL indicated a large area of EL activity where the EL intensity was maximum at the electrode edge and EL was still observable 2 mm from the electrode. The injection and transport of electrons and holes via surface states in the surface layer and the subsequent electron-hole recombination give rise to EL, strongly depending on the spatial distribution of the surface states. The injection length of charges can be estimated to be at least 2 mm from the electrode in the tangential direction to the surface