Among 39,656 voluntary blood donors in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, 115 (0.29%) were repeatedly reactive for antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) by second generation (2nd-gen) passive hemagglutination assay (PHA). Positive serum samples were tested for anti-HCV using three different enzyme immunosorbent assays (ELISAs; Abbott 2nd EIA, UBI-HCV-EIA, JCC-2) and for HCV-RNA by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The 115 2nd-gen PHA-positive sera were divided into three groups according to the agglutination titers; > 2(10) (high titer group), 2(7)-2(9) (median), 2(5)-2(6) (low). All but one serum (44/45) in the high PHA titer group reacted in each of the three second screening ELISAs. Furthermore, 43 (97.7%) of the 44 sera contained HCV-RNA by PCR. In the median titer group, 11 of the 13 samples tested were positive by each of the three ELISAs, and 4 (36.4%) of the 11 showed reaction by PCR. On the other hand, all of the 38 sera tested in the low titer group were negative for HCV-RNA by PCR, and 24 of the 38 were also negative by each of the three ELISAs. Most of the low titer positive reactions in the 2nd-gen agglutination assay seemed to be false positive. In Okinawa Prefecture, the prevalence of anti-HCV among blood donors is much lower than in the rest of Japan (0.29% vs. 1.11%). Moreover, a significant proportion of these sera were low titer by the PHA assay.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
In a fifty-three-year old Japanese woman, a 3-cm-diameter saccular, calcified aneurysm was detected beneath the pancreas during surgery for cholelithiasis. She was then referred to the authors' institution, where an aneurysm was detected on the medial wall of an anomalous celiac axis, that is, the hepatosplenic trunk as a branch of an anomalous hepatosplenomesenteric trunk. This vascular anomaly was identified as type III in Adachi's classification of the structural variation of the celiac axis. The aneurysm was resected, and revascularization of the hepatic and splenic arteries was successful following insertion of an autogenous vein graft.
The vasodilating and anti-platelet actions of OP-41483 was studied to determine the effective dose of this drug for the treatment of ischemic lower limbs. The compound was given to 11 patients intravenously at rates of 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 ng/kg/min. Infusion at a rate of 10 ng/kg/min increased the mean flow rate of the tibial arteries from 3.15 +/- 1.77 ml/min before the infusion, to 7.89 +/- 2.51 ml/min (p less than 0.001) and to 6.38 +/- 3.19 ml/min (p less than 0.001), at the time of, and 60 minutes after the cessation of the infusion, respectively. The peripheral flow resistance of the tibial arteries was reduced from 2.1 +/- 1.12 X 10(5) dyne.sec/cm5 before the infusion to 0.9 +/- 0.33 X 10(5) dyne.sec/cm5 (p less than 0.001) and to 1.2 +/- 0.78 X 10(5) dyne.sec/cm5 (p less than 0.05), at the time of, and 60 minutes after the cessation of the infusion. ADP-induced platelet aggregation was reduced from 73.3 +/- 17.6% before the infusion to 50.7 +/- 24.5% (p less than 0.01) and to 64.0 +/- 23.5% (p less than 0.05), at the time of, and 60 minutes after the cessation of the infusion, respectively. Collagen-induced platelet aggregation was also reduced from 71.4 +/- 24.0% to 66.6 +/- 21.5% before and after the infusion (p less than 0.05).
A clinical review of 400 prosthetic arterial reconstructions, carried out in the Second Department of Surgery of Kyushu University Hospital during a period from 1965 to 1981, revealed 10 graft infections (2.5 per cent). There were two out of 120 abdominal aneurysms (1.7 per cent) and 8 out of 260 aorto-femoral occlusive diseases (3.1 per cent). The contributing factors included intraoperative contamination with duodenal juice during surgery for abdominal aneurysms ruptured into the duodenum (2 cases), minor hematoma and/or lymphorrhoea at the groin or lower abdominal wall (5 cases), wound infection (1 case), compression necrosis of the sigmoid colon by the implanted graft (1 case) or perityphlitic abscess due to a perforating appendicitis (1 case). Bacteriologic examination revealed a predominance of a variety of staphylococcus at the groin or lower abdominal wall and E. coli in the abdominal cavity. Four patients expired. Limb amputation had to be done in 2, and 4 were cured. In the management of infected graft at the groin or lower abdominal wall, we used with success a skin sliding closure technique after continuous wound lavage in 3 patients.
One hundred and thirty-six patients (June 1979, through May 1984) underwent mitral, aortic or double valve replacement and apico-aortic bypass with the St. Jude Medical (SJM) prosthesis, at Ryukyu University Hospital, Okinawa. Operative mortality for the entire group was 4.4 per cent. Late mortality from 1979-1984 was 6.1 per cent. There were no deaths related to mechanical failure. Warfarin anticoagulation was recommended for all patients. The incidence of thromboembolism was 0.76/100 patient years. Post operative catheterization studies in 21 patients one year after operation showed a satisfactory recovery of cardiac function. The SJM valve seems to be the satisfactory artificial valve in present use.
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