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✓ The authors present the case of a 60-year-old woman with a neck lipoma that developed dumb-bell extradural extension, causing radiculopathy. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of a lipoma originating in the neck with dumb-bell extradural extension through the intervertebral foramen and into the spinal canal. The lipoma was first excised from the foramen via a posterior approach to allow decompression of the nerve roots. The remaining lipomatous tissue was then resected via an anterior approach to avoid the region around the vertebral artery.

Summary:Forty patients (24 male and 16 female; age 13-87 years, mean 66 years) with pyogenic spondylitis were treated by percutaneous suction aspiration and drainage between January 1997 and September 2007 at Kurume University Hospital. The surgical procedure and transpedicular approach were similar to those used for percutaneous discectomy in the treatment of intervertebral disc herniation. The average postoperative follow-up period was 22.6 months. Two patients had died by the time of the survey, and two had undergone multiple operations. The clinical outcomes were excellent in 12 patients, good in 17 patients, fair in 5 patients, and poor in 6 patients. The response rate (cases with "excellent" or "good" outcomes) was 72.5% (29 patients). Identification of the organism was possible in 26 patients (65%). The most frequently identified organism was methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA; 11 cases), followed by methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA; 5 cases) and Escherichia coli (3 cases). Percutaneous suction aspiration and drainage has been demonstrated as an effective means of treating early spondylitis. This procedure is minimally invasive and enables pathogen identification, histopathological diagnosis and even simultaneous treatment. This is the only means of treatment available for patients who cannot tolerate open surgery. This therapy also promises medico-economic advantages by shortening treatment periods and eliminating open surgery.

Immunochromatography (IC) is widely used to detect target molecules in biological fluids. Since this method can be performed without a special technique or device, IC is a convenient way to assess the existence of antibodies or pathogens such as viruses and bacteria, simply and quickly. In this study, we established an IC method to detect serum antibodies against oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV)-16 and HPV-18 L1 proteins using recombinant L1 proteins produced by silkworms as antigens. Infection of oncogenic HPVs is a major risk factor of cervical cancer, which is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide. We first measured blood sera of two groups by magnetic beads enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (MB-ELISA). For the first group, sera were collected prospectively from young women who planned to receive HPV vaccination. The second group consisted of children under 20 years of age, non-vaccinated healthy women, vaccinated healthy women, dysplasia, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia III, and cervical cancer patients. We confirmed that standard vaccination doses significantly increased serum HPV antibody concentrations, and the level was sustained at least more than 30 months after vaccination. In contrast, an increase in antibody concentration was not observed in patients with precancerous cervical changes and cervical cancer. We next measured the samples in both groups using the IC method we originally developed, and found that the measurement values of IC highly correlated with those of MB-ELISA. The simple and quick IC method would be a useful tool for rapid monitoring of L1 specific antibody levels in a non-laboratory environment. With less than one drop of serum, our IC can easily detect serum HPV-16/-18 antibodies within 15 minutes, without the need for electronic devices or techniques.

Both cyclic and acyclic sulfinate esters were labeled with at the sulfinyl oxygen by acid-catalyzed isotope exchange with H i 8 0 or alkaline hydrolysis in H2"0 followed b:y re-esterification. Long-range isotope effects on the l3C NMR chemical shifts were observed.Isotopically labeled substrates are useful in investigations of reaction mechanisms as well as structure elucidations. The oxygen of sulfinic acid derivatives is a key atom of the functional group of this class of compounds, and L80-labeled sulfinate esters were previously prepared from labeled sulfinic acids or sulfinyl chlorides [l]. All these procedures are not efficient either in terms of isotopic or chemical yield. We now present in this article simple procedures for obtaining I80-labeled sulfinate esters of both cyclic and acyclic structures by isotope exchange. These procedures are based on the mechanisms of reactions of the esters.A sulfinate ester undergoes acid-catalyzed transesterification in an alcoholic solution (Equation l) [2] and hydrolysis in an acidic aqueous solution equilibrium with sulfinic acid in an acidic aqueous alcoholic solution and that the isotope would be incorporated in the ester as well as in the acid if we used I80-enriched water as a cosolvent (Equation 2). This was successfully achieved with methyl benzenesulfinate. ni RS(0)OR' + H2I80 RS(0) "OH Hi + R'OH RS(180)0R' -H 2 0 (2)It was found that a cyclic sulfinate ester (sultine) undergoes ring opening in an aqueous alkaline solution, while the corresponding hydroxy sulfinic acid cyclizes in acid [4]. The cyclic sulfinate is stable in an acidic aqueous solution. An equilibrium of the intramolecular hydrolysis-esterification shown in Equation 3 is largely on the side of the ester, even in aqueous solution. Although the apparent reaction cannot be seen, the sultine must be in a dynamic equilibrium (Equation 3) in aqueous acid. Therefore, the isotope should be incorporated into the sultine in a solution containing I80-enriched water.? RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Preparation of Benz-Fused SultinesSulfinate esters used in this article are summarized in Scheme 1. Acyclic sulfinate esters are prepared by nucleophilic substitution of sulfinyl derivatives by alcohols, while cyclic sulfinates 0 1993 VCH Publishers, Inc.