Currently, Keishi-bukuryo-gan is widely used for overcoming blood stagnation, and is most frequently used for adult women with blood stagnation (Oketsu) presenting the cold and hot flush (rush in the bust and cold in the lower half of the body) such as menopausal disorder. This time, we carried out thermographic tests for two groups: the patients with subjective symptoms of the cold and hot flush (group 1:8 adult women) and patients with subjective symptoms of cold sensation only in the lower limbs (group 2:8 adult women).
In the first group the difference between the surface temperature of the skin of the upper abdomen and that of the lower abdomen was more significant as compared with the second group. We also observed both groups for 60 minutes after administration of Keishi-bukuryo-gan. In the second group the surface temperature of the skin of both upper and lower abdomen decreased. In the first group, however, the skin temperature of the upper abdomen decreased but that of the lower abdomen increased in reverse, and the difference of the temperature between the upper abdomen and lower abdomen was reduced. This means Keishi-bukuryo-gan worked for improving “the cold and hot flush, ” i. e., the imbalance of the endocrine system and autonomic nervous system.
The findings suggest that Keishi-bukuryo-gan treatments for hot flush, which is the increase of the skin temperature caused by telangiectasis of the skin of the upper body, may increase the blood flow in the lower abdomen and improve pelvic congestion, which is one of the conditions of blood stagnation, as well as decreasing the skin temperature by contracting peripheral vessels.

An isolated huge unruptured aneurysm of the right coronary sinus of Valsalva was detected incidentally in a 47-year-old man. Echocardiography and aortograms revealed severe aortic insufficiency with moderate stenosis, and mild dilatation of the lower ascending aorta without annulo-aortic ectasia. At operation, a sclerotic bicuspid aortic valve was confirmed. These abnormal findings necessitated a reconstruction of the aortic root with a valved conduit and reimplantation of the coronary arteries (Bentall operation with the Carrel patch technique). Pathologic examination of the resected aortic wall showed diffuse sclerotic change and partial medial degeneration.

　　It usually takes several days to detect slow-growing bacteria by a blood culture system. Moreover, even if the microbial growths are detected in blood samples, they will escape our notice at a microscopic examination using Gram’s stain. Consequently, the results are often regarded as false positive.　　This paper reports case of malignant lymphoma in which bloodstream infection caused by slow-growing spirillum was observed. The patient in chemotherapy for malignant lymphoma, complained of repeated fever. Repeated blood cultures were taken and occasionally positive signals, which mean increased CO2 concentrations in the culture bottle, were detected by BACTEC 9240 (Becton Dickinson). However, routine microscopic examination with Gram’s stain did not detect any bacteria. Thus, the results of BACTEC were thought to be false positive. Thereafter, the bacterial culture period was extended. Finally, a spirillum, suspected of one of Helicobacter species, was observed microscopically. The detected spirillum was regarded as Helicobacter canadensis with 98.08% homology, using polymerase chain reaction with the 16S rRNA method and basic local alignment search tool (BLAST).　　H. canadensis is one of new species isolated from humans with diarrhea. This bacterium is considered to cause a zoonotic infection. There have been some case reports that this bacterium infected immunosuppressive patients, so we should exercise caution against such conditions. Moreover, we should keep vigilant against the spread of slow-growing bacteria when there are discrepancies in findings between blood culture system and microscopic examination. It is useful to extend the culture period to detect such slow-growing bacteria.

Primary cardiac tumors are comparatively rare. Primary cardiac angiosarcoma is the most common cardiac malignant tumor and the most common site of this tumor is in the right atrium. It is usually difficult to diagnose and treat this condition before death. The present case of primary cardiac angiosarcoma was located in the left atrium, which is very rare. A cardiac malignant tumor was suspected in this 56-year-old man based on chest MRI examination. The operation was performed successfully but its outcome was very poor.

With the diagnosis of metastatic tumor of the lung suspected, we had a chance to experience a histopathological case of carcinoma of the uterine cervix (adenoid squamous cell carcinoma), which was thought to coexist with carcinoid tumor. In this paper, we report the results of cytological as well as histological examinations of the case.
The patient was as 43-year-old woman. She visited our hospital, complaining about abnormally prolonged uterine bleeding (metrorrhagia). Cytodiagnosis was performed with a Papanicolaou smear. A microscopic examination revealed squamous cell carcinoma occurring together with adenocarcinoma. A similar finding was obtained by cervical biopsy. Thus, the case was diagnosed as adenoid squamous cell carcinoma.
Then the patient underwent radical hysterectomy and lymphadenectomy, followed by chemotherapy. After leaving the hospital, she was put under doctor-monitored observation. About 4 years after the surgery, a chest x-ray examination found abnormal shadows. For inspection, bronchoscopy was performed. Carcinoid of the lung was diagnosed through histopathological as well as electron microscopic examination of specimens taken from bronchial polyps during bronchoscopy. At the same time a cytologic study was conducted. It also revealed neoplasms strongly suspected of caricinoid tumors. Retrospective studies of cytological and histopathological images of the uterine cervix when the patient first visited us found only adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, but no signs of carcinoid tumors. However, the immunohistological staining of NSE and chromoganins A, both neuroendocrine markers, showed positive findings in some adenocarcinomatous parts of the tissues of the unterine cervix. Therefore, we considered that the cervical cancer is compounded of adenoid squamous cell carcinomas and tumors having properties of neuroendocrine cells.
From this, we concluded that it is necessary to take into account a differential diagnosis of neuroendocrine tumors including carcinoid of the uterine cervix when less differentiated adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are suspected in histological and cytological examinations. Furthermore, we thought it important to make a definite diagnosis after meticulous examinations by immunohistological staining and electron microscopy.

Telomerase has been reported to increase its activity in more than 80% of human pulmonary cancer tissue samples, thus potentially contributing to cancer diagnosis. This led us to try the measurement of telomerase activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in cases clinically suspected to be primary pulmonary cancer. Methodologically, the measurement was made by means of TRAP (telometric repeat amplification protocol) assay, a high-sensitivity assay system using the technique known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The resultsshowed that telomerase activity in all the 6 cases, diagnosed as primary lung cancer histologically, was positive. On the other hand, on cytologic examination, 4 out of these 6 cases were positive, and the remaining 2 cases (squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma) were negative. Histologic examination revealed that of these 4 cases, 2 and 2 were pulmonary cancers and pulmonary tuberculoses, respectively. The above results suggested that examination of telomerase activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid may be useful for cancer diagnosis clinically.

We report the case of a 46-year-old man with hypertension whose blood pressure decreased due to saiko-karyukotsuboreito consumption.The patient also presented with some symptoms that suggested autonomic imbalance. After consuming 7.5g/day of a spray-dried powder of saikokaryukotsuboreito (Tsumura & Co.) for 3 months, his blood pressure measured at office was considerably lower. Twenty-four hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring revealed that the surge in morning blood pressure, which is considered to be a risk factor for cerebrovascular disease, diminished in addition to the 24-hour mean blood pressure. A postural test revealed that his autonomic balance, which had been in a sympathetic dominant state, was inversely inclined to a parasympathetic dominant state.Our case report suggests that saikokaryukotsuboreito acts on the autonomic nervous system, which in turn exerts an antihypertensive effect, and that this effect is helpful in lowering the blood pressure in hypertensive patients whose autonomic balance is impaired due to stress.
Blood Pressure ; Assessment of balance ; Hour ; Effective ; Equilibrium

Prostatic stromal sarcoma (PSS) is quite rare. Herein, we describe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of a PSS identified in a 26-year-old man with dysuria and hematuria. MRI clearly depicted the extent and multinodular appearance of the tumor, which was mainly located in the central zone of the prostate. The tumor appeared as a heterogeneously signal-hyperintense mass with a pseudocapsule on T2-weighted imaging. Contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI showed necrotic portions in the gradually enhanced solid mass, and diffusion-weighted imaging permitted the accurate assessment of the local extent of the tumor. Thus, the appearance on MRI was quite different from that of adenocarcinoma of the prostate.
Adult ; Contrast Media/diagnostic use ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Fatal Outcome ; Gadolinium DTPA/diagnostic use ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/*methods ; Male ; Prostatic Neoplasms/*diagnosis ; Stromal Cells/*pathology

During the one-year period from April 1992 through March 1993, we measured 25, 498 blood samples by the use of a sequential multichannel autoanalyzer, which our hospital installed in August 1991. Of the total, 4, 707 samples were thoroughly examined under the microscope. They included those from the patients for which physicians indicated laboratory testing, those samples whose white cell counts were less than 3, 000/μlor more than 10, 000/μl, the cases in which the amount of hemoglobin was less than 10.0g/dl, and the samples which defied blood typing. The result was that three cases of myelodysplastic syndrome were detected, although the autoanalyzer failed to find any abnormalities in these three cases.
Laboratory technicians in hospital are so busy that they hardly have time enough for thoroughgoing examination of hemogram. Nevertheless, the recent experience has brought home to us the importance of a microscopic scrutiny, into hemogram and its application to diagnosis.