Direct observation of the intravascular atherosclerotic change provides many diagnostic information and supports successful vascular surgery. Angioscopic inspections were performed in the 23 patients who underwent laser angioplasty for the peripheral arteries and 7 patients with aorto-coronary bypass surgery in this study. Useful images could be obtained in 19 (83%) of 23 observations in the peripheral arteries, and the successful rates of angioscopic observation were influenced by the diameter and the degree of kinking of each vessel. On the other hand, intraoperative observation of coronary artery with angioscope could be performed easily in all cases. From these findings, intraoperative application of angioscopy was considered to be useful procedure for the cardiovascular surgery.

Attempts were made to isolate and identify Korean bovine Babesia parasite. Blood samples were collected from Holstein cows in Korea, and Babesia parasites were propagated in SCID mice with circulating bovine red blood cells for isolation. The isolate was then antigenically and genotypically compared with several Japanese isolates. The Korean parasite was found to be nearly identical to the Oshima strain isolated from Japanese cattle, which was recently designated as Babesia ovata oshimensis n. var. Haemaphysalis longicornis was the most probable tick species that transmited the parasite.
Animals ; Arthropod Vectors/parasitology ; Babesia bovis/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Babesiosis/parasitology ; Base Sequence ; Cattle/*parasitology ; Cattle Diseases/parasitology ; DNA, Protozoan/genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal/genetics ; Erythrocytes/parasitology ; Korea ; Mice ; *Mice, SCID ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Ticks/parasitology