Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks recently affected 2 countries (Japan and South Korea) in eastern Asia that were free of FMD without vaccination. Analysis of viral protein 1 nucleotide sequences indicated that FMD serotype A and O viruses that caused these outbreaks originated in mainland Southeast Asia to which these viruses are endemic.

A sudden outbreak of epidemic diarrhoea of piglets occurred in Japan, the principal features being watery diarrhoea, dehydration and high mortality in newborn animals. The microscopical lesions were villous atrophy in the small intestine, the villous enterocytes being vacuolated and cuboidal in shape. The villus-crypt ratio was severely reduced, varying from 1:1 to 3:1. Transmission electron microscopy showed numerous coronaviruses within the cytoplasm of enterocytes and among microvilli. Specific antigens of porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED) virus were detected in the cytoplasm of enterocytes by the streptavidin-biotin (SAB) technique. Infected cells, which were most abundant in the villous epithelia of the jejunum and ileum, were present in small numbers in the large intestine, the crypt epithelia, the lamina propria and Peyer's patches. The study suggests that the SAB technique is useful for the diagnosis of PED.

No abstract

Intraoperative ultrasonography can both safely and effectively localize pulmonary ground-glass opacities in a completely deflated lung. This procedure is also useful for the evaluation of surgical margins in a resected lung. Hence, ultrasonography may assist surgeons to perform minimally invasive lung resections with clear surgical margins during the treatment of solitary lung ground-glass opacity.

Objective-Prolonged improvement in neurological and mental disorders has been seen after only cranioplasty in patients initially treated with external decompression for high intracranial pressure. The objective was to evaluate, using 133Xe CT and 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), how restoring the bone itself can influence cerebral blood flow and cerebral energy metabolism after high intracranial pressure is attenuated. Methods-Seven patients (45-65 years old) who had undergone external decompression to prevent uncontrollable intracranial hypertension after acute subarachnoid haemorrhage were evaluated. Cerebral blood flow and metabolic changes were evaluated before and after cranioplasty. Results-The ratio of phosphocreatine to inorganic phosphate (PCr/Pi), which is a sensitive index of cerebral energy depletion, was calculated and ,3-ATP was measured. The cerebral blood flow value in the thalamus was normalised, from 44 (SD 9) to 56 (SD 8) ml/100 g/min (P < 0.01) and the value in the hemisphere increased from 26 (SD 3) to 29 (SD 4) ml/100 g/min on the side with the bone defect. The PCr/Pi ratio improved greatly from 2 53 (SD 0'45) to 3'01 (SD 0.24) (P < 0.01). On the normal side, the values of cerebral blood flow and PCr/Pi increased significantly (P < 0'01) after cranioplasty, possibly due to transneural suppression. The pH of brain tissue was unchanged bilaterally after cranioplasty. Conclusion-Cranioplasty should be carried out as soon as oedema has disappeared, because a bone defect itself may decrease cerebral blood flow and disturb energy metabolism.(7 Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1996;61: 166-171) pressive craniotomy remains controversial. Some authors found that morbidity was increased in survivors although decompressive craniectomy reduced the mortality rate, probably because it reduced the adverse effects of severe cerebral oedema and swelling.i"2 Many patients with severe head injury or massive cerebral infarction undergo external decompression as a treatment.However, little is known about how a bone defect itself can influence cerebral blood flow and cerebral energy metabolism after high intracranial pressure is normalised. Prolonged improvement in neurological and mental disorders has been seen only after cranioplasty in patients treated initially with external decompression for high intracranial pressure.'3-'7 The objective of the present study was to measure cerebral blood flow and metabolic changes, using '33Xe CT and 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), before and after cranioplasty to evaluate whether the brain would recover after attenuation of high intracranial pressure, by restoration of the bone itself. Materials and methodsSeven patients (45-65 years old) were selected who had undergone clipping and external decompression to prevent uncontrollable

No abstract

No abstract

Rationale: Neutrophils accumulate in pulmonary capillaries during acute inflammation. Initial events in injury recognition and sequestration do not occur through selectin-mediated rolling. Cytoskeletal rearrangements, as assessed by submembrane F-actin rims, result in poorly deformable neutrophils that may not pass through capillaries. Objective: To test the hypothesis that neutrophils sequestering during pneumonia contain F-actin rims and to determine the roles of CD11/CD18, L-selectin expression, and neutrophil-platelet adhesion in neutrophil sequestration. Methods: Neutrophils were compared in blood obtained simultaneously from venous and arterial sites before and 4 h after instillation of Streptococcus pneumoniae or Escherichia coli in rats. Measurements and Main Results:At 4 h of pneumonia, the number of neutrophils was greater in the venous blood entering the lungs than in the arterial blood leaving the lungs, indicating that neutrophil sequestration was occurring. More neutrophils entering the lungs contained F-actin rims than did neutrophils exiting, and the venous-arterial difference in F-actin-rimmed neutrophil counts completely accounted for sequestration. In E. coli pneumonia, in which neutrophil adhesion is mediated by CD11/CD18, CD18 blockade 15 min before blood samples were obtained did not prevent this sequestration of F-actin-rimmed neutrophils. Neutrophils expressing high or low levels of L-selectin or of neutrophils that bound platelets while circulating did not preferentially sequester. Conclusions: Neutrophils with cytoskeletal rearrangements preferentially sequester within the lungs during pneumonia, and this sequestration is not due to CD11/CD18-mediated adhesion, L-selectin expression, or platelet adhesion to neutrophils, suggesting that cytoskeletal rearrangements result in sequestration of neutrophils.Keywords: acute inflammation; adhesion molecules; cytoskeleton; neutrophil recruitment; pulmonary infection During pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or other acute inflammatory processes in the lungs, neutrophils sequester in the pulmonary capillaries and migrate into the lung parenchyma. The initial events that mediate the recognition of an injured site and stopping of neutrophils have remained elusive. Several studies have demonstrated that neutrophil recruitment occurs through the pulmonary capillaries and the alveolar walls, in contrast to recruitment in many other organs that occurs through the postcapillary venules (1-5). Selectin-mediated rolling of neutrophils along the endothelial cell surface does not