Chronic pulmonary nocardiosis with eosinophilia in an immunocompetent host

A 75-year-old man who worked at a horse racing track, had an abnormal shadow on a chest radiography. He had a history of dilated cardiomyopathy and mitral regurgitation but had not had any respiratory or systemic symptoms for two years. Chest radiographs and CT scans showed slowly increasing consolidation with internal areas of low attenuation, and without cavity formation, at the left S8. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein level, WBC count, percentage of eosinophils, and IgE level were 35 mm/hr, negative, 8400, 17%, and 3628 IU/ml, respectively. Eosinophils were found in samples of sputum. His immunological status was normal. Transbronchial lung biopsy yielded necrotic tissue, along with gram-positive and irregular acid-fast branching filaments that grew in culture. The microorganism was identified as Nocardia asteroides. Occupational inhalation of soil may have caused his disease.     

Prolonged survival in a patient with sinonasal teratocarcinosarcoma with cranial extension. Case report

Sinonasal teratocarcinosarcoma is a rare malignant neoplasm characterized by the combined histological features of carcinosarcoma and teratoma. The primary symptoms of this tumor are usually nasal obstruction and epistaxis, and a nasal cavity mass is the most common clinical finding. The authors describe an exceptionally rare case in which the patient presented with massive intracranial extension and exhibited confusion as an initial symptom. He subsequently underwent combined radical surgery and radiation therapy and has remained free of disease for 31 months. The surgical approach to the lesion, histological features, and clinical course are detailed.     

Descriptive epidemiology of IDDM in Hokkaido, Japan: the Childhood IDDM Hokkaido Registry

OBJECTIVE: To identify the incidence of IDDM with regard to sex, age, family history of diabetes, season, and 5-year period of childhood IDDM among children ages 0-14 years from a population-based epidemiological study in Hokkaido, Japan, from 1973 to 1992. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Registration of all new IDDM cases in Hokkaido was conducted by the Childhood IDDM Hokkaido Registry Study Group from 1973 to 1992. The cases were selected from among 1) patients who were admitted to the member hospitals of the study group, 2) patients who answered a questionnaire distributed to hospitals and diabetic clinics throughout Hokkaido, and 3) patients whose cases were recorded in free-treatment medical records of urban and rural districts. The case ascertainment rate was estimated to be 100%. Differences in incidence with regard to sex, age, family history of diabetes, season, and year period were analyzed by the Poisson regression analysis by GENMOD. RESULTS: During the 20-year period studied, 396 cases (181 boys, 215 girls) of abrupt-onset IDDM were registered. Statistically significant differences in annual incidence were found according to sex (female), age (8-14 years), history (having no diabetes in family), season (spring), and 5-year period. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first population-based, long-term epidemiological study of childhood IDDM from Japan. We observed a significantly higher annual incidence (per 100,000/year) of IDDM in female subjects (1.81), older age-groups (2.25 for 8-14 years), subjects with no family history of diabetes (1.26), diabetes onset in the spring (2.20), and an increased trend over the 20 years. In addition, the heterogeneity of IDDM among Japanese children needs to be elucidated.     

Effect of whey hydrolysate formula on the transfer of beta-lactoglobulin into serum and milk in mice

This study was performed to elucidate the effect of whey hydrolysate formula on the transfer of an antigen into serum and milk. The concentrations of beta-lactoglobulin in serum and milk were positively correlated (p < 0.01). The concentration of beta-lactoglobulin in serum tended to become low in the mouse and to be accompanied with a high level of fecal anti-beta-lactoglobulin IgA concentration. The fecal anti-beta-lactoglobulin IgA of mice fed hydrolysate formula for 12 weeks was significantly higher than that of the control formula-fed mice (p < 0.05). These results suggest that a high level of intestinal IgA elicited by the feeding of hydrolysate formula may reduce the transfer of beta-lactoglobulin into serum and milk.     

Small turn-on delay time in 1.3 μm InAsP/InP strained doublequantum-well lasers with very-low threshold current

It is demonstrated for the first time that compressively strained InAsP/InP double quantum-well (DQW) lasers emitting at 1.3 μm performed a very small turn-on delay time by a significant reduction in threshold current. Lasers with 200 μm cavity length and high reflection coating achieved both very low threshold current of 1.8 mA and a small turn-on delay time (200 ps) even under a bias-less 30 mA pulse current. An additional power penalty was simulated, and it was shown that these small-delay and low-threshold performances are suitable for high-speed optical parallel data transmitters in computer networks     

Enantiomeric determination of amines by high-performance liquid chromatography using chiral fluorescent derivatization reagents

BACKGROUND: Despite increased awareness of risk factors, wound complications continue to be a problem following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. A minimally invasive alternative was therefore developed to reduce the risk of complications while providing the same benefits as the standard open vein harvest procedure. METHODS: Video-assisted endoscopic technique for vein harvest was introduced in our medical center in October 1996. The procedure was evaluated and compared with the standard open vein harvest procedure. With the endoscopic technique, small incisions were made, each about 2-3 cm at the selected access sites (groin and above and below the knee). An endopath subcutaneous dissector was subsequently inserted along the anterior surface of the saphenous vein with the assistance of an endoscope and video monitor. The venous side branches were detected and positioned using a vessel dissector. A ligaclip was applied and the branches were divided using endopath-scissors. In some cases, the venous branches were divided directly using the endopath-scissors. Therefore, the distal and proximal ends of the saphenous vein were isolated, ligated and divided. The harvested veins were used for CABG. Each patient was evaluated for length of surgery, hospital stay and morbidity. RESULTS: From October 1996 through May 1997, we performed 50 procedures using video-assisted endoscopic vein harvest. The results were compared with those from 106 patients who underwent standard open vein harvest during the same period. The rate of complications was 2% in the endoscopic group compared with 13.2% in the open group (p < 0.05). The average hospital stay was 7.2 days in the endoscopic group and 11.5 days in the open group (p < 0.05). Twelve weeks after the operation, all of the incisions healed with good cosmetic results in the endoscopic group. However, long visible scars were found in the patients in the open group. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic saphenous vein harvest provides a minimally invasive alternative to open vein harvest. It provides good cosmetic results without a hypertrophic scar and enables the patient to regain early ambulation.     

A heat denaturation study of the 11S globulin in soybean seeds

When the 11S globulin, one of the major storage proteins in soybean seeds (Glycine max), was heated at 0·5 ionic strength, the denaturation temperature was biologically estimated to be about 10 degrees higher than that at 0·1 ionic strength. The results also coincided well with those obtained by differential scanning calorimetry. The heat denaturation temperatures of the protein obtained by differential scanning calorimetry were estimated to be 78·1°C and 89·6°C at 0·1 and 0·5 ionic strength respectively. The enthalpies of heat denaturation were 2·0 cal/g and 3·2cal/g at 0·1 and 0·5 ionic strength, respectively. Correlation was not observed between the heat stability at high ionic strength and the content of the ordered secondary structure or a dissociation-association reaction of the protein with change of ionic strength. However, increase of the hydrophobic region at high ionic strength indicated the possibility of stabilisation of the quaternary structure of the 11S globulin by hydrophobic bonding during heat denaturation.     

Magnetization measurement of 3He film adsorbed on sintered silver powder

The static magnetization of ³He film adsorbed on sintered silver powder has been measured for coverages from 0.10 to 0.54 atoms/»² in steps of 0.02 atoms/»² and at a coverage of 4.5 atoms/»². Below 0.20 atoms/»² the magnetization well obeys the Curie law, while above that coverage a ferromagnetic tendency appears. The coverage dependence of the magnetization greatly differs from that for graphite. At 0.23 atoms/»² the magnetization has apeak like that for graphite; however, the magnitude of the peak is not so large. Furthermore, a multipeak structure is found in the isotherm of the magnetization at 0.2 mK. It has two prominent peaks at 0.23 and 0.29 atoms/»², and two other peaks are found at 0.35 and 0.41 atoms/»². These appear periodically with an interval of 0.06 atoms/»², which is nearly equal to the coverage of one liquid layer.     

Synthetic peptide from the V3 loop consensus motif with a potent anti-HIV activity inhibits ristocetin-mediated vWF-GPIb interaction

The V3 loop consensus motif. Arg-Gly-Pro-Gly-Arg-Ala-Phe-Val-Thr-Ile (HIV-1 IIIB), inhibits an interaction of HIV with CD4-positive lymphocytes. Recently, both proline-rich peptides and peptides containing proline-glycine loops (beta-turns) form a complex with ristocetin dimers. These peptides interact with ristocetin-loaded platelet membrane glycoprotein (GP) Ib and act as inhibitors of von Willebrand factor (vWF)-GPIb interaction by preventing the subsequent formation of ristocetin dimer bridges. The Pro-Gly sequence is also present in the V3 loop consensus motif, Arg-Gly-Pro-Gly-Arg-Ala-Phe-Val-Thr-Ile (HIV-1 IIIB). In this report, we have evaluated the effect of the HIV-1 IIIB peptide on vWF binding to GPIb. This peptide only inhibited vWF binding to GPIb as well as platelet aggregation in the presence of ristocetin while it had no effect on botrocetin-mediated vWF interaction with platelets. The peptide inhibited a binding of anti-vWF monoclonal antibody (RG-46) to immobilized vWF. Furthermore, ristocetin inhibited the binding of HIV-1 IIIB peptide to immobilized CXC-chemokine receptor-4 (CXCR-4) peptide. These results indicate that ristocetin may prevent HIV infection and would be useful a tool to understand the mechanism of HIV tissue tropism and infection.