When homo- or isograft was used as a right ventricle-pulmonary artery bypass in the Rastellitype procedure for congenital heart disease, reoperation was mandatory due to calcification and conduit stenosis after several years. However, the survival period of intimal cells or smooth muscle cells has not been clarified, nor has the question of whether the calcification is due to an immunoreaction or not. Thus, to observe the geometrical or pathological changes of the grafts, an experimental model of homograft transplantation was established using rats' aorta, where cyclosporine A (CsA) was given after the transplantation. The rats used were 8 or 9 weeks old. Male King rats were the donors, and female Lewis rats were the recipients. The descending thoracic aorta was transplanted to the infra-renal abdominal aorta. There were 2 experimental groups; one in which CsA was not given (n=35), and the other in which CsA was given (n=44). The animals were sacrificed at 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 weeks after the transplantation, and were examined by an optical microscope after slicing longitudinally. The area of the cross-section, intima and the media of the vessel were calculated by 2 ways; manually, and by computer. These data were used to calculate and analyze the percentage of intima-media area, the ratio of the intima/media area, and the percentage of intima area and media area. The effect of suppression of the percentage of intima-media area and the percentage of the intima area were revealed to be significant at an acute stage after brief high dose CsA administration. From this result, we suggest that there is a possibility of a rejective reaction participating in the intimal hyperplasia in the acute phase after homograft transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies indicate that the timing of introduction of potentially allergenic food is crucial for the development of food allergy in children. This cross-sectional study aimed to clarify the reality of allergen food intake in a general population of young children in Japan. METHODS: A questionnaire survey of caregivers was conducted at health checkups for 1.5-year (18-month)-old and 3-year-old children in the fall of 2020. The caregivers were asked about (1) the presence/absence of allergic disease symptoms based on the ISAAC questionnaire, and (2) foods that caregivers avoided giving their children. Ordinal logistic regression analyses were periformed to determine factors associated with food avoidance. RESULTS: Questionnaires were distributed to 1720 caregivers, and 1603 (93%) responded. The responders consisted of 771 and 832 caregivers who participated in 1.5-year-old and 3-year-old checkups, respectively. The prevalence of allergic diseases was comparable to recent epidemiological studies in Japan, indicating that the population may be representative. At 1.5 years old, more than 50% of the children were not exposed to peanuts, tree nuts, fish eggs, shellfish, and buckwheat. At 3 years old, the avoidance rates of the foods had decreased but were still between 18.8% and 32.0%. On the other hand, the avoidance rates of chicken egg and cow's milk, the top 2 common allergenic foods in Japan, were much lower at 2.8% and 1.5% at 1.5 years, and they decreased to 1.4% and 0.7% at 3 years old, respectively. Ordinal logistic analysis showed that avoidance of chicken egg, cow's milk, and wheat was associated with food allergy diagnosis and chicken egg avoidance with eczema, but avoidance of other foods showed no associations with any risk factors for food allergy. CONCLUSION Caregivers avoided giving various foods, independent of allergy risk factors, to their young children. Since delayed introduction of an allergenic food has been reported to increase the risk of developing an allergy to the food, the results warrant future investigation of the development of food allergies in relation to current eating habits and recommendations.
Female ; Animals ; Cattle ; Humans ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Japan/epidemiology* ; Food Hypersensitivity/complications* ; Risk Factors ; Food ; Allergens