ABSTRACT
Acupuncture is one of the most popular complementary therapies in the world. Pneumothorax due to perforation of the lungs by needle insertion is one of the most common and serious complications of acupuncture treatment. Although there have been several case studies of pneumothorax induced by acupuncture, as far as we know there have been no reports on the pathological findings of autopsy cases.<BR>In this report, we describe the pathological findings of an autopsy case of bilateral tension pneumothorax after acupuncture. The patient suffered dyspnea and chest pain soon the completionof an acupuncture treatment, and died 90 min later. Several ecchymoses were macroscopically observed on the parietal pleura in the left and right thoracic cavity, suggesting that needles were inserted into the thoracic cavity and that the lungs were perforated. The many black spots we observed on the parietal pleura along the vertebral column microscopically consisted of a number of dust-like black pigments and macrophages containing these pigments. These spots seemed to have appeared because of the previous insertion of needles.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>AIM</b>To evaluate the occurrence and prevalence of microdeletions in the gamma chromosome of patients with azoospermia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>DNA from 29 men with idiopathic azoospermia was screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis with a set of gamma chromosome specific sequence-tagged sites (STSs) to determine microdeletions in the gamma chromosome.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Deletions in the DAZ (deleted in azoospermia) loci sgamma254 and sgamma255 were found in three patients with idiopathic azoospermia, resulting in an estimated frequency of deletions of 10.7% in idiopathic azoospermia men.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>We conclude that PCR analysis is useful for the diagnosis of microdeletions in the Y chromosome, which is important when deciding the suitability of a patient for assisted reproductive technology such as testicular sperm extracion-intracytoplasmic sperm injection (TESE-ICSI).</p>
Subject(s)
Adult , Humans , Male , Base Sequence , Chromosomes, Human, Y , DNA Primers , Euchromatin , Genetics , Follicle Stimulating Hormone , Blood , Heterochromatin , Genetics , Luteinizing Hormone , Blood , Oligospermia , Blood , Genetics , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Prolactin , Blood , Sequence Deletion , Genetics , Sequence Tagged Sites , Testosterone , BloodABSTRACT
<p><b>AIM</b>The metastatic ability of a Dunning R-3327 rat prostate cancer subline (AT6.3) was suppressed by the introduction of human chromosome 10, when these hybrid cancer cells were injected subcutaneously into nude mice (Nihei et al., Genes Chromosomes Cancer 14:112-119, 1995). The present study was undertaken to clarify which step of metastasis was suppressed in the human chromosome 10-containing microcell hybrids (AT 6.3-10 clones).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Gelatin zymography, an in vitro invasion assay using a Boyden chamber and an intravenous metastasis assay involving the injection of hybrid cells into nude mice were performed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Gelatin zymography revealed that AT6.3-10 microcell hybrid clones expressed the 72 kD type IV collagenase (MMP-2) at an almost equal level as control microcell hybrid clones. Both the invasiveness as measured by the invasion assay and the number of lung metastases as measured by the intravenous metastasis assay of AT6.3-10 hybrid clones were significantly less than those of the AT6.3 parental clone.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The human chromosome 10 suppresses both the local invasion and the metastatic process after entry into the blood circulation of rat prostate cancer. This decrease in local-invasive ability does not seem to require a decrease in MMP-2 activity.</p>
Subject(s)
Animals , Humans , Male , Mice , Rats , Animals, Genetically Modified , Cell Division , Chromosomes, Human, Pair 10 , Gelatin , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Mice, Nude , Neoplasm Invasiveness , Neoplasm Metastasis , Genetics , Prostatic Neoplasms , Genetics , Pathology , Skin Neoplasms , Genetics , Pathology , Tumor Cells, CulturedABSTRACT
<p><b>AIM</b>Chromosome 13 is one of the most frequently altered chromosomes in prostate cancer. The present study was undertaken to examine the role of human chromosome 13 in the progression of prostate cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Human chromosome 13 was introduced into highly metastatic rat prostate cancer cells via microcell-mediated chromosome transfer.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Microcell hybrid clones containing human chromosome 13 showed suppression of metastasis to the lung without any suppression of tumorigenicity, except for one clone, which contained the smallest sized human chromosome 13 and did not show any suppression on lung metastasis. Expression of two known tumor suppressor genes, BRCA2 and RB1, which map to chromosome 13, was examined by reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction analysis. BRCA2 was expressed only in the metastasis-suppressed microcell-hybrid clones, whereas RB1 was expressed in all clones.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Human chromosome 13 contains metastasis suppressor gene(s) for prostate cancer derived from rat. Furthermore, the RB1 gene is unlikely to be involved in the suppression of metastasis evident in this system.</p>