Yoshiharu Akazawa

Primary Intrasellar Microgerminoma Detected by Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Case Report

A case of primary intrasellar germinoma in a 24-year-old woman is presented. Her initial symptoms were diabetes insipidus and headaches. The neurological examination found no abnormalities, but the endocrinological examination disclosed a deficiency in growth hormone secretion. Her skull x-ray revealed a normal sella turcica, and a computed tomographic scan revealed no abnormal mass in the pituitary fossa, but a slightly enlarged stalk. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a small tumor in the posterior lobe. Transsphenoidal exploration revealed a germinoma in the posterior pituitary lobe. Six cases of primary intrasellar germinoma, including our case, were reviewed. Our case is considered to be the smallest intrasellar germinoma yet reported.

ISLETS OF LANGERHANS IN NORMAL AND DIABETIC HUMANS‐Ultrastructuer and histochemistry, with special reference to hyalinosis

The human islets of Langerhans, obtained from a patient with gastric ulcer and from two autopsied diabetics, were examined by means of electron‐microscopy and histochemistry. Development of three kinds of secretion granules were followed and certain characteristics in their formation were described. Physiological presence of fat granules and other cytoplasmic inclusions were recognized. The beta cells from the diabetics revealed a definite decrease in ribosomes, Golgi apparatuses and secretory granules on one hand, and accumulation of fat granules as well as alpha and delta cells on the other. The hyalinous deposits in the islets of diabetics were elecron‐microscopically and histochemically consistent with amyloid.

Attenuation of triphasic blood pressure responses induced by shortening of amino acid sequences of neurotensin

Abstract Effects of neurotensin (NT) fragments on systemic blood pressure were investigated in anesthetized rats. NT (1–10 nmole/kg i.v.) produced triphasic blood pressure responses: the first depressor, second pressor and third depressor responses. Fragments of NT, NT2–13 and NT4–13, exhibited similar activities as NT in the first depressor phase, however, their potencies in the second pressor and third depressor phases were less than those of NT. Shorter fragments from NT5–13 to NT9–13 had reduced potencies in all three phases, especially in the second and third phases, depending on the length of amino acid sequences. A large dose of NT9–13 (100 nmole/kg) produced only the first depressor response, and NT10–13 failed to show any responses in blood pressure. Thus, the attenuation of the blood pressure responses induced by shortening of amino acid sequences of NT was prominent in the second and third phases. The present results support the hypothesis in our previous paper, that different mechanisms are involved in the three phases of blood pressure.

Three Autops Cases of Testicular and Intracranial. Choriocarcinoma in The Male

Choriocarcinoma in the male occurs usally primarily in the testis and is combined, as a rule, with embryonal carcinoma and / or teratoma. Only rarely does it originate in the extragenital situations. In this present report, two cases of testicular embryonal carcinoma and one case of intracranial teratoma which showed the choriocarcinomatous pattern in their metastatic lesions are described and some histogenetical and endocrinological views of these tumors are discussed.