Wepresent a case of hepatosplenic sarcoidosis. A 51-year-old Japanese male, who was diagnosed to have sarcoidosis 4 years previously, was presented to our hospital because of dry cough and anorexia with weight loss. He had tender hepatosplenomegaly. A dynamic abdominal computed tomography (CT) revealed multiple small low-density areas in both liver and spleen, as well as in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The laparoscopic photographs showed many small whitish nodules surfacing on the liver and several tumorous nodules on the spleen. Multiple imaging modalities including dynamic CT and MRI are valuable for detecting focal hepatic and splenic lesions of sarcoidosis. (Internal Medicine 37: 449-453, 1998)

We report two patients who were diagnosed with sarcoidosis after receiving interferon (IFN)-alpha therapy for chronic hepatitis C, and conduct a review the relevant literature. The first patient was a 52-year-old female who developed multiple subcutaneous nodules 2 months after finishing IFN-alpha therapy. A skin biopsy from subcutaneous nodules on the right elbow joint revealed sarcoid granulomata. These lesions resolved spontaneously 4 months later. The second patient, a 57-year-old male, developed bilateral hilar and mediastinal lymph node enlargement 2 years after finishing IFN-alpha 2a therapy. A transbronchial lung biopsy demonstrated sarcoid granulomata. In addition, he had uveitis and left ulnar nerve involvement. His eye and nerve involvement gradually improved over 20 months. It is feasible that IFN therapy has been a trigger for sarcoidosis in these patients.

Weinvestigated the changes in cellular components and neutrophil chemotactic factors in pleural fluid from 19 lung cancer patients who received intrapleural injection of OK-432 to treat malignant pleurisy. Not only neutrophil chemotactic activity (NCA) but also neutrophil count and percentage were increased significantly at 6 hours after OK-432injection. The neutrophil count was significantly correlated with NCAlevel. The levels of C5a and IL-8 in pleural fluid were increased significantly after OK-432 injection. The increased IL-8 level was associated with a increase of both NCAand neutrophil count. OK-432 treatment also induced a marked increase of IL-lfi and IL-6 in pleural fluid. Thus, intrapleural injection of OK-432 induced production of neutrophil chemotactic factors (IL-8 and C5a) and cytokines (IL-lfi and IL-6), which eventually attracted neutrophils into the pleural space. These observations suggest that neutrophil migration mediated by these factors and cytokines may contribute to the sclerosing effects of OK-432 treatment. (Internal Medicine 34: 352-356, 1995)

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A new shearing interferometer using hologram is introduced. The hologram is taken with two reference beams polarized perpendicularly to each other and shearing is achieved through rotating the hologram during the reconstruction process. The amount of shear is adjustable by changing the azimuth. A theoretical illustration for the shearing process is given, and experimental applications of the method to the diffusion process of the solute in an acqueous solution and also to the measurement of the change of the refractive index are described.

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