Background: Primary lymphomatous effusion is a rare lymphoma that arises in the body cavity and has a peculiar proliferative form, lacking a tumor. This primary lymphomatous effusion includes human herpes virus 8 (HHV8)-related primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and HHV8-unrelated PEL-like lymphoma. We attempted to clarify the nature of the primary lymphomatous effusion. Methods: Using ‘PEL’ and ‘body cavity-based lymphoma’ (BCBL) as key words, reports written in English were collected from PubMed. Primary lymphomatous effusion was defined as BCBL with primary effusion and without tumor at onset. Adding our 2 PEL-like lymphoma cases, each case was studied as to the patients’ and lymphomas’ characteristics, therapy and survival time. Moreover, each item was compared among four groups according to the presence of HHV8 and HIV. Results: In 214 cases investigated, there was no difference in proliferation, but an apparent difference in age, gender, phenotype, effectiveness and prognosis among the four groups. Conclusions: Both PEL and PEL-like lymphoma are thought to be characterized by a peculiar proliferation, regardless of the presence of HHV8. Dividing PEL or PEL-like lymphoma into two subgroups on the basis of HIV presentation might also be appropriate.

Naked plasmid DNA (pDNA) and short interfering RNA (siRNA) duplexes were transduced into adult murine heart by means of sonoporation using the third-generation microbubble, BR14. Plasmid DNAs carrying luciferase, b-galactosidase (b-gal), or enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) reporter genes were mixed with BR14 and injected percutaneously into the left ventricular (LV) cavity of C57BL/6 mice while exposed to transthoracic ultrasound at 1 MHz for 60 s. Sonoporation at an output intensity of 2.0 W/cm 2 and a 50% pulse duty ratio resulted in the highest luciferase expression in the heart. Histological examinations revealed significant expression of the b-gal and EGFP reporters in the subendocardial myocardium of LV. Intraventricular co-injection of siRNA-GFP and BR14 with concomitant ultrasonic exposure resulted in substantial reduction in EGFP expression in the coronary artery in EGFP transgenic mice. The present method may be applicable to gain-of-function and loss-of-function genetic engineering in vivo of adult murine heart.

The amelioration of insulin resistance by either a low-energy diet or troglitazone decreased the serum UA level in overweight hypertensive patients. Insulin resistance or hyperinsulinemia, independent of body weight and BP, may play an important role in UA metabolism in multiple risk factor syndrome.

Diagnosis and treatment of hypertension has generally been based on casual blood pressure (BP) as measured by physicians or nurses. Along with the increasing availability of electronic devices for home BP measurement, self-measurement of BP at home has become the preferred method in many countries. Home BP measurement appears to be superior to office BP determination because it provides multiple BP records under relatively stable conditions and is not susceptible to a white coat effect (12).Cross-sectional studies, including our own, have shown that the target-organ damage of hypertension is more closely related to home BP than to clinic BP (12,13). Similarly,

The optical and structural properties for 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) films deposited on Au-coated substrates at the various growth temperatures by the organic molecular beam deposition (OMBD) method have been studied. The planar PTCDA molecules were oriented almost parallel to the substrate surface in the films deposited at the growth temperature of -160° C. Orientational disorder of the molecular planes occurred especially in the films grown at higher substrate temperatures. These films had basically large anisotropy of refractive indices which were evaluated by the prism attenuated total-reflection (ATR) method. The anisotropy of indices decreased for the film grown at the substrate temperature of 100° C. The optical anisotropy has been understood in terms of the molecular orientation.