Abstract
Objective : To investigate the causes of fever of inpatients hospitalized in the Department of General Practice at Jichi Medical University Hospital.
Methods : We reviewed all medical records of the patients hospitalized in the Department of General Practice at this hospital between April 2003 and March 2004. Patients were selected as the “febrile group” by following criteria, 1) body temperature exceeded 37.5°C on admission, 2) fever and fever of unknown origin (FUO) were included in the clinical problems, and the causes of fever were described.
Results : A total of 464 patients were hospitalized and 221 patients (47.6%) were categorized as the “febrile group”. The most common cause of fever was infection (67.4%), followed by malignant disease (4.1%), collagen disease (3.2%), miscellaneous diseases (10.4%). 26 patients were classified as fever of unknown origin (FUO). Among FUO patients, collagen disease was the most common cause (34.6%), and undiagnosed cases was 26.9% that was similar to past reports. Although the rates of malignant disease and collagen disease were about sixteen percent in each generation from thirties to fifties as the cause of fever, only one patient met the criteria of classical FUO.
Conclusions : The most common cause of fever was infection. Systematic survey including hospitalization is needed early in case an outpatient doesn't cure fever unexpectedly. Noninfectious inflammatory diseases emerge as an important category of the causative disease of FUO.

It is known that subaortic stenosis (SAS) occasionally progress after the repair of Co/A. And it may progress if the initial repair is incomplete. We successfully repaired a 6-year-old girl with recurrent SAS with aortic and mitral regurgitations and pulmonary hypertension (Pp/Ps=0.74) progressed after the initial repair for SAS. She had been operated at 4-year-old with transaortic resection of subaortic myocardium and the membrane. He SAS had progressed since the coarctectomy at 7 months of her age. At that procedure, right coronary cusp was lacerated and repaired. In may 1989, Konno operation with 21 St. Jude Medical aortic prosthesis and mitral valve replacement with 25 St. Jude Medical prosthesis were performed. Interventricular septum, aortic root and right ventricular outflow tract were reconstructed employing composite patch with preserved equine pericardium and Dacron velour. So mitral annulus was dilated because of the volume over loading due to aortic regurgitation, that complete repair was not able to do with mitral valvulo and annuloplasty. After the procedure severe cardiac and respiratory failure occurred and continued for over 10 days. And hemolytic anemia with homoglobiuria appeared. It continued for 14 days. In spite of those complications, the girl became well and goes to school with the administration of warfarin and dipyridamole. We recommend that Konno operation could be the first indication for the children with narrow aortic root when incomplete repair was made during the initial repair for subaortic stenosis.

In the developing human musculoskeletal system, cell death with macrophage accumulation occurs in the thigh muscle and interdigital area. To comprehensively clarify the distribution of macrophages, we immunohistochemically examined 16 pairs of upper and lower extremities without the hip joint (left and right sides) obtained from 8 human fetuses at approximately 10-15 weeks of gestation. Rather than in muscles, CD68-positive macrophages were densely distributed in loose connective tissues of the flexor aspects of the extremities, especially in the wrist, hand and foot. In contrast, no or fewer macrophages were evident in the shoulder and the extensor aspects of the extremities. The macrophages were not concentrated at the enthesis of the tendon and ligament, but tended to be arranged along other connective tissue fibers. Deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end-labeling revealed apoptosis in the hand lumbricalis muscles, but not in the area of macrophage accumulation. Likewise, podoplanin-positive lymphatic vessels were not localized to areas of macrophage accumulation. Re-organization of the connective tissue along and around the flexor tendons of the hand and foot, such as development of the bursa or tendon sheath at 10-15 weeks, might require the phagocytotic function of macrophages, although details of the mechanism remain unknown.
Apoptosis ; Cell Death ; Connective Tissue ; Deoxyuracil Nucleotides ; Deoxyuridine ; Extremities ; Fetus ; Foot ; Hand ; Hip Joint ; Humans ; Ligaments ; Lower Extremity ; Lymphatic Vessels ; Macrophages ; Muscles ; Musculoskeletal System ; Pregnancy ; Shoulder ; Tendons ; Thigh ; Wrist