Kim Ts

Prognostic factors of postoperative visual outcomes in tuberculum sellae meningioma

Tuberculum sellae meningiomas usually present optic pathway related symptoms, such as decreased visual acuity and/or visual field defect. In this report, the authors retrospectively analysed 27 patients with tuberculum sellae meningioma who underwent surgical treatment and then sought to identify prognostic factors of the postoperative visual outcomes. From April 1998 to June 2006, the authors treated 27 patients diagnosed with tuberculum sellae meningioma. Age, gender, duration of symptoms, tumour size, tumour consistency on intraoperative and T2WI findings, and resectability were analysed as potential prognostic factors of postoperative visual outcomes. Pre- and postoperative ophthalmological examinations were performed in all patients. Of the 27 patients who presented with visual dysfunction before operation, 12 were improved (44.4%), nine were unchanged (33.3%) and six worsened (22.2%). Those patients with a symptom duration of less than 1 year had a greater likelihood of visual improvement than those with a symptom duration of more than 1 year and those with a soft tumour had a greater likelihood of visual improvement than those with a hard tumour, though this was without statistical significance. Moreover, patients with high signal intensity lesion on T2-weighted images had a greater likelihood of visual improvement than those with an iso or low signal intensity with statistical significance. An excellent correlation was found between tumour consistency and appearance on T2-weighted images (p = 0.001). The results of this study indicate that MRI-T2WI can be used to estimate tumour hardness preoperatively and that this is an important prognostic factor of the visual impairments caused by intrasellar meningioma.

Hydroquinone, a reactive metabolite of benzene, enhances interleukin-4 production in CD4+ T cells and increases immunoglobulin E levels in antigen-primed mice

Exposure to cigarette smoke is known to increase the risk of the development of allergic disease. The mechanism is not well understood. In this study, we determined the effect of hydroquinone (HQ), a major metabolite of benzene present in large quantities in cigarette tar, on interleukin‐4 (IL‐4) production by CD4+ T cells. HQ significantly enhanced IL‐4 production by keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH)‐primed CD4+ T cells in a dose‐dependent manner. The enhancing effect of HQ on IL‐4 production was maximal at a concentration of 50u2003µm. It increased the level of IL‐4 production approximately 10‐fold. HQ enhanced IL‐4 mRNA expression and also IL‐4 gene promoter activity, suggesting that the enhancing effect of HQ on IL‐4 production may occur at the transcriptional level. Furthermore, the injection of KLH‐primed mice with HQ resulted in a significant increase in the levels of IL‐4 and immunoglobulin E. These findings provide evidence that HQ, a major component of cigarette tar, may enhance allergic immune responses by inducing the production of IL‐4 in CD4+ T cells.

Induction of in vivo resistance to Mycobacterium avium infection by intramuscular injection with DNA encoding interleukin‐18

Interferon‐gamma (IFN‐γ) is closely associated with the generation of cell‐mediated immunity and resistance to intracellular parasites. Interleukin‐18 (IL‐18) was known to strongly induce IFN‐γ production by T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. In order to determine whether injection with DNA encoding IL‐18 can stimulate the resistance to Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection, the mature IL‐18 cDNA with κ leader sequence was cloned under control of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter (TcCMVIL‐18) and its effect on MAC infection was investigated in genetically susceptible BALB/c mice. Injection with the TcCMVIL‐18 DNA during intranasal infection with MAC resulted in a significant decrease in bacterial load of lung during the entire 8‐week observation period, while injection with the TcCMV control DNA did not. Lung cells in mice injected with the TcCMVIL‐18 DNA showed persistent production of IFN‐γ throughout the 8‐week period. Furthermore, immunization with the TcCMVIL‐18 DNA induced and maintained significantly higher levels of cytotoxic activity and nitric oxide production by lung cells than immunization with the TcCMV control vector. This work suggests that IL‐18 DNA vaccination may be useful in the immunotherapeutic or immunoprotection approaches of infections by intracellular parasites such as mycobacteria.

Induction of interleukin-8 production via nuclear factor-κB activation in human intestinal epithelial cells infected with Vibrio vulnificus

Vibrio vulnificus, a Gram‐negative estuarine bacterium, is a causative agent of food‐borne diseases, such as life‐threatening septicaemia and wound infection disease. V. vulnificus penetrating into the epithelial barrier stimulates an inflammatory response in the adjacent mucosa. Therefore, interaction between V. vulnificus and epithelial cells is important for understanding of both the immunology of mucosal surfaces and V. vulnificus. In this study, we investigated the effect and action mechanism of V. vulnificus infection on production of interleukin (IL)‐8, a proinflammatory cytokine, in human intestinal epithelial INT‐407 cells. V. vulnificus infection significantly induced IL‐8 production in a time‐ and multiplicity of infection (MOI)‐dependent manner, as determined by human IL‐8 enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In addition, V. vulnificus infection significantly increased IL‐8 mRNA levels in INT‐407 cells, indicating that the increased IL‐8 production by V. vulnificus occurred at the transcriptional level. V. vulnificus infection also enhanced IL‐8 gene promoter activity in INT‐407 cells transiently transfected with IL‐8 promoter constructs, but this effect was impaired in INT‐407 cells transfected with IL‐8 promoter constructs deleted or mutated of a κB site. V. vulnificus infection increased the nuclear factor‐kappaB (NF‐κB) binding activity to a κB site and the degradation of IκB‐α protein in a time‐ and a MOI‐dependent manner. Furthermore, BAY11‐7082, an inhibitor of NF‐κB activation, significantly reduced the IL‐8 production, NF‐κB binding activity and IκB‐α degradation induced by V. vulnificus infection. Taken together, these results indicate clearly that V. vulnificus infection significantly induces IL‐8 production in human intestinal epithelial cells via NF‐κB activation.

Characteristics and management of ruptured distal middle cerebral artery aneurysms

SummaryObjective. Distal middle cerebral artery (dMCA) aneurysms are very rare with a reported frequency of 2–6%. Typically, patients with ruptured distal MCA aneurysms have poor clinical outcomes because often there is both a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and an intracerebral haematoma (ICH). The goals of this study were to identify the characteristics of the distal MCA aneurysms and evaluate the optimal treatment for a good outcome.n Methods. The clinical, neuroradiological and operative records of 8 patients with a ruptured distal MCA aneurysm who underwent surgical management were reviewed retrospectively. The outcomes were presented according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS).n Results. The clinical characteristics of the patients with ruptured dMCA aneurysms included the following: (1) a fusiform appearance in five out of eight (63%) patients. (2) Mean aneurysm size of 9.4u2009mm (range 2–35u2009mm). (3) The location being M2 (insular segment) in three, M2-3 junction in three, and M3 (opercular segment) in two patients. (4) Brain CT images revealed both SAH and an ICH in six of eight (75%) patients with the mean size of the ICH being 10u2009cc (range 5–25u2009cc). (5) Re-bleeding occurred in four out of eight (50%) of patients. All patients underwent early surgical treatment and the procedures used for surgical repair were, clipping in five patients, trapping in two, and trapping with end-to-end bypass surgery in one patient. Clinical outcomes were poor in two patients (death) due to severe brain swelling.n Conclusions. In this study, dMCA aneurysms had a fusiform shape and a high re-bleeding rate; if ruptured, there was generally ICH and SAH. A good clinical outcome was associated with adequate control of brain swelling and early surgery to prevent re-bleeding.

Application of characterization procedure in water and wastewater treatment by Adsorption

The background organics in water and wastewater are necessary to fractionate into groups or components according to the difference in adsorbability. In this study, the background organics were fractionated in terms of the adsorptive strength described by the Freundlich isotherm constants k and n with the assumption that the fractionated components differ in the value of k but have the same value of n based on the IAST (Ideal Adsorption Solution Theory) using binomial concentration distribution. A simple characterization for water and wastewater with a certain amount of DOC in terms of adsorbability was applied to three types of organic mixtures contained in different water sources. The composition of each organic mixture was successfully evaluated to describe the IAE (Integral adsorption experiments) data of the total organic carbon by using this characterization procedure. Batch experiments as well as the membrane-PAC hybrid system experiments were conducted with three different types of PACs.

Spinal metastasis from cranial meningeal hemangiopericytomas

SummarySpine metastasis from cranial meningeal hemangiopericytomas are extremely rare, with five surgically verified cases. We describe a case of a 55-year-old female diagnosed with metastatic hemangiopericytoma to the cervical spine 78 months after the first operation. Because of the long latency period, aggressive spinal surveillance should be advocated along with repeated bone scintigraphy and MRI.