A case of gallbladder abscess caused by torsion that completely disappeared following drainage.

A woman in her 90s presented with loss of appetite, lower back pain, abdominal pain, and fever. Physical examination and subsequent blood tests indicated an inflammatory process, and computed tomography (CT) scans revealed gallbladder torsion with necrosis and abscess formation. The case involved successful management of this rare condition through percutaneous drainage without the need for surgical intervention, avoiding complications during follow-up. Remarkably, post-treatment CT showed complete resolution of the gallbladder abscess and the gallbladder itself was no longer visible. This case highlights the effectiveness of minimally invasive treatment for gallbladder torsion in elderly patients and underscores the potential for non-surgical intervention in managing complex abdominal conditions.

Probability of Two-Step Photoexcitation of Electron from Valence Band to Conduction Band through Doping Level in TiO2.

For an Ir-doped TiO2 (Ir:TiO2) photocatalyst, we examined the most dominant electron-transfer path for the visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance. The Ir:TiO2 photocatalyst showed a much higher photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation than nondoped TiO2 after grafting with the cocatalyst of Fe3+. For the Ir:TiO2 photocatalyst, the two-step photoexcitation of an electron from the valence band to the conduction band through the Ir doping level occurred upon visible-light irradiation, as observed by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The two-step photoexcitation through the doping level was found to be a more stable process with a lower recombination rate of hole-electron pairs than the two-step photoexcitation process through an oxygen vacancy. Once electrons are photoexcited to the conduction band by the two-step excitation, the electrons can easily transfer to the surface because the conduction band is a continuous electron path, whereas the electrons photoexcited at only the doping level could not easily transfer to the surface because of the discontinuity of this path. The observed two-step photoexcitation from the valence band to the conduction band through the doping level significantly contributes to the enhancement of the photocatalytic performance.

Deep abdominal muscle thickness measured under sitting conditions during different stability tasks.

[Purpose] This study was conducted to investigate ultrasonically determined changes in the thickness of the transversus abdominis and internal oblique muscles during different sitting conditions. [Subjects and Methods] Twenty healthy men volunteered to participate in this study. Four different sitting conditions including (A) sitting, (B) sitting with left hip flexion, (C) sitting with an abdominal hollowing maneuver (AHM), and (D) sitting with an AHM and left hip flexion, were used. Subjective exercise difficulty was evaluated. [Results] Transversus abdominis and internal oblique muscle thicknesses significantly differed between conditions, with significantly greater thickness between positions from (A) to (D). Stability of the surface when sitting had no effect on the muscle thickness of the transversus abdominis. By contrast, sitting on an unstable surface caused an increase in muscle thickness of the internal oblique in each condition. The subjects reported progressively increasing difficulty in performing each exercise in a stable position from (A) to (D), while the difficulty in an unstable position was significantly different between (A) and (B), and between (C) and (D). [Conclusion] Our findings suggest that task (B) on a stable surface should be chosen for maximal activation of transversus abdominis without inducing overactivation of the internal oblique muscle.

Long-term liposteroid therapy for idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis.

UNLABELLED: Control of refractory bleeding in idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis (IPH) is challenging. Based on the effect of liposteroid (dexamethasone palmitate) for acute bleeding in two reported cases, the long-term utility was assessed in all nine IPH children (including the first two cases) treated in a tertiary center for 20 years. The median at disease onset was 2.3 years (range, 1.2 to 8.6). All had life-threatening and/or repetitive bleeding on prednisolone (PSL) therapy. Liposteroid was intravenously infused at 0.8 mg/kg/day for three consecutive days at the time of acute bleeding. Single infusion was followed by a longer interval from weekly to monthly accompanied by low-dose PSL (less than 0.3 mg/kg/day). Monthly infusion as maintenance therapy was continued for prophylaxis of bleeding. Treatment outcomes were retrospectively analyzed. During the observation period of a median of 11.0 years (range 2.4-16.9 years), no one died. Five patients were weaned and the other one was being weaned from liposteroid for the cure or long remission (median, 5.5 years). Three others were on liposteroid therapy because of active disease. Neither patient had respiratory symptoms, although three showed subnormal %vital capacity. Serum levels of KL-6 and ferritin were normal in all and all but one patient(s), respectively. Four patients (three on liposteroid therapy) showed low bone mineral density. There were no obese patients. Height SD score did not significantly decrease except for one patient. CONCLUSION: The liposteroid therapy might improve the survival of IPH patients with reducing the adverse effects of steroids, although prospective control studies are needed.

Natural cadmium loading and balance in a non-polluted rice paddy field in Japan.

We determined the natural Cd balance in a cultivated rice paddy field in Japan. The main sources of Cd in the non-polluted paddy field were phosphorus fertilizer and precipitation (annual input of Cd, 2,000 mg ha(-1) and 1,020 mg ha(-1), respectively). These sources account for 95% of the total input of Cd (3,192 mg ha(-1)). The actual increase of Cd in the soil was 0.0016 mg kg(-1), we thus consider Cd in soil increases only slightly as a result of rice culture. This study indicates that it is difficult to reduce Cd loading by irrigation water treatment in a non-polluted paddy field. This further indicates that once a field is polluted by Cd it is difficult to decrease the accumulated Cd by the ordinary cultivation of rice plants.

Antisense in vivo knockdown of synaptotagmin I by HVJ-liposome mediated gene transfer attenuates ischemic brain damage in neonatal rats.

Synaptic release of the excitatory amino acid glutamate is considered as an important mechanism in the pathogenesis of ischemic brain damage in neonates. Synaptotagmin I is one of exocytosis-related proteins at nerve terminals and considered to accelerate the exocytosis of synaptic vesicles by promoting fusion between the vesicles and plasma membrane. To test the possibility that antisense in vivo knockdown of synaptotagmin I modulates the exocytotic release of glutamate, thus suppressing the excitotoxic intracellular processes leading to neuronal death following ischemia in the neonatal brain, we injected antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) targeting synaptotagmin I (0.3 (AS), 0.15 (0.5 AS), or 0.03 microg (0.1 AS), or vehicle) into the lateral ventricles of 7-day-old rats by using a hemagglutinating virus of Japan (HVJ)-liposome mediated gene transfer technique. At 10 days of age, these rats were subjected to an electrical coagulation of the right external and internal carotid arteries, then the insertion of a solid nylon thread into the right common carotid artery toward the ascending aorta up to 10-12 mm from the upper edge of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. Cerebral ischemia was induced by clamping the left external and internal carotid arteries with a clip, and ended by removing the clip 2h later. Twenty-four hours after the end of ischemia, the extent of ischemic brain damage was neuropathologically and quantitatively evaluated in the neocortex and striatum. While the relative volume of damage in the cerebral cortex and striatum of the vehicle group was extended to 40% and 13.7%, respectively, that in the AS group was significantly reduced to 4.8% and 0.6%. In the 0.5 AS group, the relative volume of ischemic damage in the cerebral cortex and striatum was reduced to 20.5% and 15.4%, respectively, and the difference between the 0.5 AS group and vehicle group was statistically significant in the neocortex, but not in the striatum. These results indicated that antisense in vivo knockdown of synaptotagmin I successfully attenuated ischemic brain damage in neonatal rats and that the effect was dose-dependent. It was also suggested that this treatment was more effective in the neocortex than in the striatum in neonatal rats.

The effects of hyperglycemia on ischemic cell change and reactive neuronal change in neonatal rat brain following transient forebrain ischemia.

To examine the effects of hyperglycemia on a transient ischemia in the neonatal brain, neuropathological and biochemical evaluations were performed. In 10-day-old rats, brain ischemia was induced by permanent occlusion of the right external and internal carotid and subclavian arteries and the clamping of the left external and internal carotid arteries for 2h. The peritoneal injection of a 50% glucose solution (0.10 ml/15 g weight) 5 min before the induction of brain ischemia increased the plasma glucose concentration to 20-25 mmol/l during ischemia. It preserved brain tissue glucose levels at 1h of ischemia in the glucose-treated group, while tissue glucose was exhausted in the saline-injected group. Tissue lactate concentrations increased slightly at the end of the ischemic insult (6.7 mmol/kg) in the saline-injected group and remarkably (18.7 mmol/kg) in the glucose-treated group. Two distinct forms of ischemic neuronal change were found in this study: ischemic cell change and reactive neuronal change. A quantitative neuropathological assessment indicated that hyperglycemia significantly reduced the volume of ischemic cell change in the neocortex from 85% to 33%, but not that of reactive neuronal change (from 5.5% to 2.4%). These results indicated that hyperglycemia attenuated ischemic cell change, but not reactive neuronal change, in the neonatal rat brain and suggested that it reduced ischemic cell change probably because of reserved brain glucose.

Environmentally benign beta-stereoselective glycosidations of glycosyl phosphites using a reusable heterogeneous solid acid, montmorillonite K-10.

Environmentally benign and stereoselective beta-glycosidations of glycopyranosyl phosphites and alcohols using a reusable heterogeneous solid acid, montmorillonite K-10, as an activator have been developed. By these glycosidations, beta-gluco-, 2-deoxy-beta-gluco-, and beta-mannopyranosides were selectively produced in good to high yields.

Environmentally benign and stereoselective formation of beta-mannosidic linkages utilizing 2,3-di-O-benzyl-4,6-O-benzylidene-protected mannopyranosyl phosphite and montmorillonite K-10.

An environmentally benign and stereoselective beta-mannopyranosylation has been developed employing 4,6-O-benzylidene-protected mannopyranosyl diethyl phosphite as a glycosyl donor and montmorillonite K-10 as an activator.