Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) is an uncommon complication in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and mortality remains high. In recent years, cases of DAH due to SLE treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) have rarely been reported. The authors present a case of a 43-year-old woman with SLE who had rapidly aggravating dyspnea and hemoptysis. She was diagnosed as having DAH with refractory respiratory failure and was successfully managed with veno-venous ECMO. We propose ECMO as a useful salvage therapy in patients with alveolar hemorrhage secondary to SLE who are failing conventional ventilatory support.
Adult ; Dyspnea ; Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation* ; Female ; Hemoptysis ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Mortality ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Salvage Therapy

Pelvic Bones* ; Sex Differentiation*

Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease characterized by hyperproliferation and incomplete differentiation of keratinocytes. Mounting scientific evidence suggests that this epidermal alteration occurs as a response to an immunologic injury, giving rise to the concept that psoriasis is a skin-specific autoimmune disease. Indeed, many effective therapeutic agents for psoriasis are immunosuppressive in nature, lending further support to this view. The well known ability of calcipotriene and 1,25(OH)2D3 to inhibit keratinocyte proliferation and to induce its differentiation is certainly compatible with their antipsoriatic actions. In addition, topical calcipotriene has been shown to correct, at least in part, the local cytokine imbalance observed in psoriatic lesions. Interleukin (IL)-8 is a proinflammatory cytokine that is chemotactic for polymorphonuclear cells and T lymphocytes. It also promotes proliferation of keratinocytes and endothelial cells. In lesional psoriatic skin, IL-8 and its receptor levels are markedly elevated. IL-10 is an immunosuppressive cytokine, which as a type2 (T2) cytokine antagonizes cell-mediated immunity. Indeed, IL-10 administration has been shown to improve psoriasis. Topical calcipotriene markedly reduces elevated levels of IL-8 while simultaneously increasing IL-10 levels in lesional skin of psoriasis. These changes occur very early, within the first three days of therapy, prior to significant clinical improvement of psoriasis, indicating that the cytokine alterations are not simply secondary to resolution of psoriatic plaques. Therefore, elaboration of the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10 and a concomitant reduction in the proinflammatory cytokine IL-8 may mediate the immunopharmacological improvementin psoriasis by calcipotriene.
Autoimmune Diseases ; Cholecalciferol ; Cytokines ; Endothelial Cells ; Immunity, Cellular ; Immunosuppression ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-8 ; Interleukins ; Keratinocytes ; Psoriasis ; Skin Diseases ; Skin* ; T-Lymphocytes ; Vitamin D* ; Vitamins*

No abstract available.
Antipsychotic Agents* ; Biomarkers*

The author list should be corrected.

No abstract available.
Cardiac Catheterization* ; Cardiac Catheters* ; Echocardiography* ; Pulmonary Valve Stenosis*

In the present study, immunohistochemical detection of p53 oncoprotein was performed to determine whether the grade of differentiation and the histologic type of gastric adenocarcinoma, and the degree of atypia accompanied with adenoma can be related to p53 mutation. Paraffin sections of 22 gastric adenomas and 56 gastric adenocarcinomas were examined for the overexpression of p53 oncoprotein with the avidin-biotin peroxidase complex staining procedure. The obtained results were as follows; 1. All the 22 cases of adenomas and 16 cases of well differentated adenocarcinomas showed uniformly negative staining. 2.Seven of 18 cases of moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas(39%), and five of 30 cases of poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas(17%) exhibited p53 protein expression. 3. Three of 29 cases of diffuse type (10%) and 9 of 19 cases of intestinal type(47%) exhibited p53 protein expression. These results suggest that p53 mutation is important in carcinogenesis of the intestinal type of gastric adenocarcinoma, and there is no correlation between the differentiation of gastric adenocarcinoma and the degree of p53 oncoprotein overexpression.
Adenocarcinoma ; Adenoma

To investigate the effect of tumor removal and administration of OK432 on the splenic natural killer (NK) cell activity in the subcutaneous tumor bearing rats, NK cell activity assay using a 4-hour 51Cr release assay and flow cytometric analysis for NK cell population were performed. The results were as follows: 1. Splenic NK cell activity and population in the subcutaneous tumor bearing rats decreased along with the growth of the tumor. 2. The rats with subcutaneous tumor removal showed decrease of splenic NK cell activity, but splenic NK cell population was not decreased. 3. In the rats with subcutaneous tumor removal and OK432 administration, splenic NK cell activity was significantly increased 1 week after administration of OK432 and then gradually returned to normal, whereas increase of NK cell population was not significant. In the present study, splenic NK cell activity was significantly decreased despite removal of subcutaneous tumor. But with the administration of OK432, splenic NK cell activity returned to normal. Considering the role of NK cells on the first line of defense against the metastatic implantation of circulating tumor emboli, we suggest that perioperative administration of immunopotentiator such as OK432 may improve the patient's outcome after surgery of human neoplasm.
Animals ; Humans ; Killer Cells, Natural* ; Picibanil* ; Rats* ; Spleen

The authors clinically analyzed 53 cases of patients beyond 18 years of age with closed solitary femoral diaphyseal fractures, and 24 cases of patients with multiple long bone fractures including closed femoral diaphyseal fracture. All theses 77 cases were followed for more than 1 year, during 1988. 1
Clinical Study ; Femoral Fractures ; Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary ; Fractures, Bone ; Fractures, Comminuted ; Fractures, Multiple ; Humans ; Methods ; Sex Distribution ; Transplants