A problem in the measurements of pulmonary extravascular water volume by double indicator dilution method, using heat and dye--thermal diffusion into the left ventricular wall

Pulmonary extravascular water volume was obtained as the lung thermal volume (LTV) in mongrel dogs (n = 31) by double indicator dilution method, using negative heat and indocyanine green. We used a technic of one injection site (right atrium) and two sampling sites, i.e., pulmonary artery trunk and aortic root. In 13 dogs, cardiac outputs determined simultaneously from thermodilution curves in pulmonary artery trunk, aortic root and from dye dilution curve in aortic root, were in a good agreement with a coefficient of variation of +/- 12%. Lung thermal volume measured twice within a period of 5 minutes in 17 dogs, gave closely similar values with a coefficient of variation of +/- 9%. Lung thermal volume was 5.7 +/- 1.1 ml/kg (mean +/- SD) and corresponding "weighed lung water" (WLW), which was measured by destructive, direct method, was 5.0 +/- 1.0 ml/kg, the ratio of LTV to WLW (LTV/WLW) being 1.2 +/- 0.2 in control state. LTV/WLW ratio was 1.2 +/- 0.2 in 11 dogs loaded with dextran, and 1.1 +/- 0.1 in 6 dogs loaded with alloxan. Thus the lung thermal volume slightly exceeded WLW. In order to evaluate the extent to which the thermal diffusion into the left ventricular wall would cause LTV to slightly overestimate the pulmonary extravascular water volume, dye dilution curves and thermodilution curves were recorded simultaneously in the left atrium (LA) and aortic root (Ao) in a total of 25 runs in 5 dogs. The ratio of LTV obtained in LA to that in Ao was 0.9 +/- 0.1 (mean +/- SD). It was concluded that the pulmonary extravascular water volume was overestimated, by about 10% due to the thermal diffusion into the left ventricular wall.

Restoration of antigenicity of tissue antigens, cell-bound immunoglobulins and immune deposits in paraffin-embedded tissue. The influence of fixation and proteolytic enzymatic digestion

The possibility of preservation and restoration of antigenicity of some antigens in paraffin-embedded tissue was evaluated by direct immunofluorescent technique on deparaffinized sections. Fixation with 96% ethanol-1% acetic acid, 10% neutral buffered formalin and p-formaldehyde was useful for the preservation of tissue antigens and immune deposits, whose antigenicity could be easily restored by trypsin digestion. Neutral buffered formalin was also a satisfactory fixative in immunofluorescent staining on lymphocyte/plasma cell-bound immunoglobulins. Fixation with alcohol-Bouin's fluid showed contrast results; feasible for staining of cell-bound immunoglobulins, but poor for that of glomerular immune deposits. After papain digestion, BSA and lysozyme, antigens of immune complexes, were easily detected in experimental chronic serum sickness glomerulonephritis. Pepsin was more efficient than trypsin in restoring the antigenicity of renal tissue antigens such as fibronectin and polyantigenic basement membrane, but the brush border antigen of the proximal renal tubules was frail to the pepsin digestion. In general, the enzymatic digestion time necessary for the restoration of antigenicity was in parallel with fixation time. Results obtained have shown that deparaffinized sections could be used as satisfactory substrate for immunohistochemistry when proper fixation and efficient proteolytic enzymatic pretreatments were performed.

Effects of diltiazem on plasma level and urinary excretion of digoxin in healthy subjects

To evaluate a possible effect of diltiazem hydrochloride (DTZ) on digoxin (DX) kinetics, we performed a study in which a single oral dose of DX (0.5 or 0.75 mg) was given with and without DTZ (30 mg three times daily for 1 wk) to six healthy subjects. DTZ increased plasma DX concentrations at 3, 4, 6, and 12 hr and decreased renal clearance of DX from 3.05 +/- 0.126 to 2.31 +/- 0.234 ml/min/kg. There was no significant change in absorption t 1/2, peak concentration, peak concentration time, distribution t 1/2, biologic elimination t 1/2, or apparent volume of distribution with DTZ.

Preparation and stability of liposome-type artificial red blood cells stabilized with carboxymethylchitin

Liposome-type artificial red blood cells stabilized with carboxymethylchitin (mean diameter 310 nm) were prepared by a two-step emulsification technique. Sheep haemolysate was dispersed as fine droplets in a lecithin solution in dichloromethane to yield a W/O-type emulsion. The W/O emulsion thus obtained was then dispersed in an aqueous carboxymethylchitin solution to give a W/O/W-type complex emulsion. Removal of the organic solvent by evaporation from the complex emulsion left an aqueous suspension of the artificial red blood cells. The haemoglobin-trapping efficiency of the cells was found strongly dependent on the pH of the carboxymethylchitin solution used. The artificial red blood cells underwent disintegration by the action of surfactants. When a comparison was made among those surfactants which have the same alkyl chain length, the degree of cell disintegration was in the increasing order, anionic greater than cationic greater than nonionic. Globulin and fibrinogen produced no disintegration of the cells while albumin disrupted the cells to a slight extent.

Magnetic resonance imaging: effects of magnetic field strength

Magnetic resonance images of the head, abdomen, and pelvis of normal adult men were obtained using varying magnetic field strength, and measurements of T1 and T2 relaxations and of signal-to-noise (SN) ratios were determined. The T1 relaxation of gray matter, white matter, and muscle increases and T2 decreases with field strength, while T1 of fat remains relatively constant and T2 increases. As a consequence, for any one spin echo sequence, gray/white matter contrast decreases and muscle/fat contrast increases with field. SN levels rise rapidly up to 3.0 kgauss and then change more slowly, actually dropping for muscle. The optimum field for magnetic resonance imaging depends on tissue type, body part, and imaging sequence, so that it does not have a unique value. Magnetic resonance systems that operate in the 3.0-5.0 kgauss range achieve most or all of the gains that can be achieved by higher magnetic fields.

The influence of strenuous muscle stimulation on the menarche

Nowadays, the average age at which menarche begins is lowering by three to four years every century, that is, four months every decade, according to both Japanese, and European and American annual changes of the average age. It emerged that the menarche shows a tendency to occur later in female gymnasts, because of the influence of strenuous muscle stimulation, and the fact that a higher level of technic is required in gymnastic games each year. These conclusions have been drawn from replies submitted to a questionnaire distributed among a relatively small number of gymnasts who participated in the competitions including the Inter High School Championship and the World Cup Championship. For example, at the age of 14, the percentage of women who had menstruated is almost 100% among women in general, but only 24% among World Cup Championship gymnasts, the average age at menarche of the latter being later than that of the former by as many as 3 years. At the age of 16, the percentage of women who had menstruated is 100% among women in general, but on the other hand, it is only 60% among World Cup Championship gymnasts, in other words, only a low percentage of women, of the latter group, had menstruated. Finally in our study, we established that the age at menarche of gymnasts is three or five years later than that of women in general. From our study, we concluded that the excessive burden imposed on muscles might cause an abnormal menstrual cycle, and the influence on menstruation would be considerable.

[Studies on the skin test of cefotiam and anti-cefotiam antibody]

Patients having previously not received cefotiam (CTM), a recently introduced cephem antibiotic, were subjected to skin tests with a 300 micrograms/ml solution of CTM in physiological saline before and after CTM therapy to detect sensitization with the drug. Anti-CTM antibody titration was carried out on sera from patients who showed a positive skin test and those who developed signs of hypersensitivity during CTM therapy. The results were as follows: Of 1,927 patients examined by skin test with CTM prior to initiation of CTM therapy, 31 patients (1.61%) showed positive reactions with formation of a wheal and erythema. There were 7 patients (0.36%) who proved negative in the skin test but developed mild symptoms of hypersensitivity in association with the skin test. The 847 patients negative on the CTM skin test were retested after a completion of CTM therapy, of whom 6 (0.71%) were found to have become positive showing formation of a wheal and erythema and 3 others (0.35%) showing a negative skin test developed mild adverse reactions associated with the skin test. Sixty-eight serum samples collected from the patients positive on the CTM skin test and those who developed manifestations of hypersensitivity following CTM therapy were examined for anti-CTM antibody by the Prausnitz-K ustner reaction, passive cutaneous anaphylaxis test and hemagglutination test. All proved negative in these tests. Of various background factors assessed, none was found to have causal relation to the skin reaction in any of the patients showing positive skin reactions to CTM.

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of serum aliphatic amines in chronic renal failure

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been introduced for the determination of aliphatic amines in serum as their 2,4-dinitrophenyl derivatives. The method has been applied to the estimation of ethanolamine, methylamine and dimethylamine in serum from patients with chronic renal failure undergoing maintenance haemodialysis. Significant differences in the levels of both methylamine and dimethylamine were obtained between normal subjects and uraemic patients both predialysis and postdialysis. After a dialysis treatment, the levels of these two amines were reduced to approximately 55% in the patient group. Their mean values, however, were found to be about six times the values of the normal group. The degree of removal of these substances during haemodialysis was smaller than those for urea nitrogen and creatinine. On the other hand, the mean ethanolamine level before dialysis was close to that of controls, and yet a 2.3-fold increase was observed after dialysis.

Cardiac imaging using gated magnetic resonance

To overcome the limitations of magnetic resonance (MR) cardiac imaging using nongated data acquisition, three methods for acquiring a gating signal, which could be applied in the presence of a magnetic field, were tested: an air-filled plethysmograph, a laser-Doppler capillary perfusion flowmeter, and an electrocardiographic gating device. The gating signal was used for timing of MR imaging sequences (IS). Application of each gating method yielded significant improvements in structural MR image resolution of the beating heart, although with both plethysmography and laser-Doppler velocimetry it was difficult to obtain cardiac images from the early portion of the cardiac cycle due to an intrinsic delay between the ECG R wave and peripheral detection of the gating signal. Variations in the temporal relationship between the R wave and plethysmographic and laser-Doppler signals produced inconsistencies in the timing of IS. Since the ECG signal is virtually free of these problems, the preferable gating technique is IS synchronization with an electrocardiogram. The gated images acquired with this method provide sharp definition of internal cardiac morphology and can be temporarily referenced to end diastole and end systole or intermediate points.

Preservation of fixed anionic sites in the GBM in the acute proteinuric phase of cationic antigen mediated in-situ immune complex glomerulonephritis in the rat

Cationic antigens have been observed to bind with the negatively charged glomerular basement membrane (GBM). Using the cationic reagent polyethyleneimine (PEI), the distribution of glomerular anionic sites was evaluated ultrastructurally in the early stage (2 h-day 7) of cationic antigen mediated in-situ immune complex formation type glomerulonephritis (GN) in the rat. Renal perfusion via the renal artery with 100 micrograms of cationized human IgG(pI greater than 9.5), followed by the i.v. injection of specific antibodies, led to an initial increase in urinary albumin excretion, subsequent massive globulinuria and the formation of numerous subepithelial deposits on day 7. The most striking alteration in glomerular anionic sites was observed on the epithelial cell surface coat; the PEI deposition on the epithelial cell surface was almost identical to that in control glomeruli at 2 and 4 h after the induction of GN; thereafter, on day 7, a broad loss of anionic sites was observed on flattened epithelial foot processes. In contrast, fixed anionic sites of the laminae rarae of the GBM showed no apparent alterations in the distribution and number from 2 h to day 7 and did not disappear even in the lamina rara externa adjacent to subepithelial deposits. These findings not only show that fixed anionic sites of the GBM, in contrast to the rapid decrease in those of the epithelial cell surface, are not completely neutralized or destroyed even in GN, in which cationic antigen participates in the in-situ formation of GBM-deposits.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Spatial resolution in NMR imaging

NMR imaging is used as an example of how spatial resolution can be improved in a signal-to-noise (S/N) limited situation. The NMR imaging process consists of two components-generating the NMR signal and localizing it in space. This paper will show that spatial resolution not only aids in identifying small structures, but improves the detectability of larger features by preserving their object contrast.

A new method of preparing monocored water-loaded microcapsules using interfacial polymer deposition process

A new method was proposed to prepare monocored water-loaded microcapsules with diameters of 50 microns or larger by making use of the process of interfacial polymer deposition. A solution of ethylcellulose or polystyrene in dichloromethane was added dropwise to an O/W emulsion in which n-hexane was dispersed as fine droplets in aqueous gelatin solution. Successive evaporation of dichloromethane at 40 degrees C and n-hexane at 80 degrees C gave monocored water-loaded ethylcellulose or polystyrene microcapsules. Monocored water-loaded ethylcellulose/polystyrene composite microcapsules were similarly prepared using mixed solutions of the two polymers in dichloromethane instead of ethylcellulose or polystyrene solution. When those mixed solutions which exhibit phase separation were used, the composite microcapsules obtained had a patchwork-like structure in which polystyrene-rich islands are dispersed in the ethylcellulose-rich sea.

High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. Technical concepts and their implementation

In magnetic resonance (MR) imaging manipulating spatial resolution, contrast resolution, and imaging time separately results in improvement in some parameters without degradation of others. The authors have found that MR imaging of the head with a repetition time TR = 2.0 seconds produces images with high signal-to-noise levels and excellent sensitivity to demyelinating disease and brain water content. In the body, a long TR yields large signal levels that permit delineation of low-intensity structures such as patent vessels and bone. The long TR technique can be used in a high-resolution mode (256 X 256 data acquisition elements, each 0.8 X 0.8 mm) while maintaining image times of 50 or 100 sec/section. For normal resolution (1.7 X 1.7 mm), imaging time is 25 or 50 sec/section. It is concluded that the combination of slow-imaging techniques with simultaneous multisection imaging will prove practical for clinical MR.

Detection of toxoplasma membrane antigens transferred from SDS-polyacrylamide gel to nitrocellulose with monoclonal antibody and avidin-biotin, peroxidase anti-peroxidase and immunoperoxidase methods

Toxoplasma (Tp) membrane antigens separated by discontinuous SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were electrophoretically transferred to nitrocellulose and detected with avidin-biotin (AB), peroxidase anti-peroxidase complex (PAP) or indirect immunoperoxidase (IIP) methods. In the AB method, the nitrocellulose was treated with biotinylated monoclonal antibodies and avidin-labeled peroxidase. In the PAP method, it was treated with monoclonal antibody, rabbit anti-mouse IgG antibody, goat anti-rabbit IgG antibody and PAP. Of the two, the AB method was the more sensitive and specific for Tp membrane antigen. The PAP method was less sensitive, but did not require chemical manipulation of the antibodies and was convenient and useful for analyzing Tp membrane antigens. The IIP method was more convenient, but had a lower sensitivity than the other methods.

Flow properties of hemolysate-loaded liposome suspensions

Sheep hemolysate-loaded liposomes were prepared by a modified interfacial deposition technique. The mean diameter of the liposomes was estimated to be about 310 nm. Sheep hemolysate-loaded liposomes were called artificial red blood cells (ARBC). The flow properties of the ARBC suspension (pH 7.4) were measured with a concentric cylinder-type rorational viscometer at low shear rates and were compared with those of sheep red blood cell (SRBC) suspension (pH 7.4). It was revealed that the flow type of the ARBC suspension (pH 7.4) was of pseudoplastic as in the case of SRBC suspension (pH 7.4). The relative viscosity of the ARBC suspension as a function of particle concentration in the medium was linear and fitted fairly well with the Einstein equation. However, the relative viscosity of SRBC suspension was increased more gradually with increasing particle concentration, and was well presented by the Brinkman equation as a function of particle concentration for concentrated suspensions. It was suggested that this would be due to the difference in particle-particle interaction between the two types of suspensions. The flow properties of the mixed suspensions of the ARBC and SRBC in the suspending medium (pH 7.4) with and without dextran were measured. It was revealed that the relative viscosity of the mixed suspension is reduced with increasing mixing ratio of the ARBC in the suspension, suggesting that the flow properties of the mixed suspension of the ARBC and SRBC are dependent on the ARBC rather than dextran.

Altered glycosylation and sialylation of serum proteins and lipid bound sialic acids in chronic renal failure

Abnormalities in the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins are well documented in chronic renal failure (CRF). We have studied the extent of glycosylation and sialylation of serum proteins and also the levels of lipid-bound sialic acids in nondiabetic patients with CRF maintained on haemodialysis. The total neutral sugar content (TNS) and the non-enzymatic glycosylation (NEG) of serum proteins, the protein-bound sialic acids (PSA) and the lipid-bound sialic acids (LSA) were found to be significantly elevated in the patients as compared to a group of healthy controls. A single dialysis therapy produced some alterations in these measurements. The TNS correlated significantly with the NEG and also with the PSA. No correlation existed between total lipids. None of these measurements, however, correlated with the serum creatinine values. The established as well as putative pathophysiological consequences of these findings are discussed.

Paratesticular rhabdomyosarcoma

Two cases of paratesticular rhabdomyosarcoma were reported. One was a 53-year-old male, who was admitted to the Hospital because of swelling of the scrotum, hemosputa, and complete left hemiplegia. Clinical diagnosis was testicular tumor with remote metastases to lung, brain, liver, and para-aortic lymph nodes. At operation, tumor of 340 g of the paratesticular appendage was removed. Pathological findings of the tumor revealed rhabdomyosarcoma of mixed pleomorphic and embryonal types. The other was a 32-year-old male, who was admitted to the Hospital because of left inguinal and scrotal masses. The patient had a history of bruise at the left inguinal region about 5 years prior to admission. An orchiectomy and an excision of the inguinal tumor were performed. Histologically, the tumor was rhabdomyosarcoma of pleomorphic type. Clinical and pathological features of this rare tumor were discussed with a review of literature.