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Aim: The purpose of the study was to assess the efficacy of bone grafting from the mandibular outer cortex for reconstructing the orbital walls. Material and methods: Bone grafting was performed in 75 patients. The site the transplants were harvested from were: A: mental region, B: area posterior to the mental foramen, C: ramus region. In order to obtain the appropriate curvature for the orbital floor, proper selection of the donor area is required. The bony defect size was confirmed pre-operatively from 3D-CT data. Bone, characteristically 2-3mm thick, was harvested from each area and grafted into the blow-out fractures. Results: Out of the 75 patients 13 cases underwent reconstruction using mandibular outer cortex bone from area A, 8 from area B, and 54 from area C. The maximum size available for harvest from area C was 7x4cm; material from this area could also be used for the repair of both medial and inferior orbital wall defects if necessary. Conclusion: Bone harvest from the mandible affords several advantages including (1) ease of harvest, (2) ease of trimming, (3) appropriate size and curvature, (4) absence of functional disability, (5) no secondary deformity, (6) no visible scars, (7) post-operative immobilization not necessary, (8) absence of post-operative difficulties with respect to breathing and walking and (9) major complications are rare.

UCoAl exhibits attributes of an itinerant 5f-electron metamagnet. It is paramagnetic down to lowest temperatures but the c -axis susceptibility shows a maximum around T max , 20 K. When a field larger than B c , 0.6 T is applied along the c -axis of hexagonal structure a ferromagnetic ordering of U moments is induced at low temperatures. The critical parameters T max and B c are sensitive to alloying and hydrostatic pressure. In the latter case values of both, T max and B c , are increasing with increasing pressure, i.e. metamagnetism is suppressed towards a conventional paramagnetism. We report on results of an experiment with a c -axis uniaxial pressure, which has an opposite influence on T max and B c leading to ferromagnetism in zero field. A scenario of the physics of UCoAl is presented accounting for effects of hydrostatic- and uniaxial-pressure on the lattice and consequences in the 5f-electron delocalization and anisotropy of hybridization-mediated exchange interactions.

Three-dimensional (3D) imaging for parotid gland lesions was performed using 3D sialography. This method provided a detailed surface structure of the parotid gland, and made it possible to overcome the disadvantages of X-ray sialography, planar CT, and MRI. Immediately after the conventional sialography via an oral route, CT scanning was performed with a slice-thickness of 3 mm using a helical CT scanner. CT data were analyzed on a workstation to reconstruct 3D images. 3D sialography was found to have the following advantages: (1) The structure of the acinar surface is visualized in detail; (2) The 3D structure of the entire parotid system from Stensen's duct to the gland is shown in one image; (3) The parotid gland can be assessed in the context of the bony architecture of facial bones; (4) The surface structure of the parotid gland can be understood very easily, like a scanning electron micrograph. We conclude that 3D sialography is a useful imaging technique for parotid gland lesions.

Three-dimensional (3D) imaging for parotid gland lesions was performed using 3D sialography. This method provided a detailed surface structure of the parotid gland, and made it possible to overcome the disadvantages of X-ray sialography, planar CT, and MRI. Immediately after the conventional sialography via an oral route, CT scanning was performed with a slice-thickness of 3 mm using a helical CT scanner. CT data were analyzed on a workstation to reconstruct 3D images. 3D sialography was found to have the following advantages: (1) The structure of the acinar surface is visualized in detail; (2) The 3D structure of the entire parotid system from Stensen's duct to the gland is shown in one image; (3) The parotid gland can be assessed in the context of the bony architecture of facial bones; (4) The surface structure of the parotid gland can be understood very easily, like a scanning electron micrograph. We conclude that 3D sialography is a useful imaging technique for parotid gland lesions. Comp Aid Surg 5:42–45 (2000). © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

^1^3C-NMR studies of new class of C"6"0 superconductors, (NH"3)"xNaA"2C"6"0 with A=K or Rb, are reported. The results are compared with the other classes of A"3C"6"0 superconductors. In fee A"3C"6"0, an examination of the modified Korringa relation, T"1TK^2~@bS showed existence of weak but substantial antiferromagnetic spin fluctuation in A"3C"6"0; @b=0.40~0.58 with an error of +/-20 %. Stoner enhancement factor was also determined as 1~1.5. The temperature dependent T"1TK^2, which becomes significant at high temperature (>~100 K), is suggested to be explained by an enhancement effect related to short mean free path in the present materials. In (NH"3)"xNaA"2C"6"0, a gap-like behavior in temperature dependence of ^1^3C-spin lattice relaxation rate was observed. C"6"0 and NH"3 molecular dynamics are also discussed.

Rb"1C"6"0 is studied by ESR as a function of frequency from several tenth MHz to 26 GHz and by heat capacity, to reveal the nature of the phase transition around 50 K. Above the transition temperature, the electronic states are consistent with a metallic state. Below it, the ESR linewidth increases linearly with decreasing T, which is ascribed to a development of short-range order (SRO) based on its frequency dependence. Furthermore, the present analysis of the EPR spectra suggested a distribution of the linewidth that was consistent with broadly distributed transition temperatures of the spin density wave (SDW) or antiferromagnetism. The heat capacity shows a broad anomaly from 50 K down to 30 K The apparent entropy change of such a magnetic anomaly suggests that only one fourth of spins are in the ordered state at 30 K, which is consistent with the reported intensity of AFMR.

The structural features of the superconducting Li3CsC60 fulleride are studied by synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction as a function of pressure and temperature. In contrast with the behavior of Li2CsC60, Li3CsC60 shows a phase transition below room temperature from fcc (space group Fm&thremacr;m) to an orientationally ordered primitive cubic phase (space group Pa&thremacr;), isostructural with the metastable phases of Na2A‘C60. Despite the slow cooling protocols adopted, the system shows no other phase transitions even after prolonged standing at 200 K. The pressure dependence of the structure of Li3CsC60 at ambient temperature was followed up to 8.12 GPa. A phase transition occurs at 0.72 GPa to a low symmetry fullerene bridged polymeric phase with short center-to-center interfullerene separations of ~9.38 Å. This phase was found to be monoclinic (space group P21/a), isostructural with the low-temperature polymer phase of Na2RbC60 and the high-pressure polymer phase of Na2CsC60. The pressure evolution of the monoclinic lattice constants reveals a highly incompressible, tightly packed, and strongly anisotropic polymeric structure.

Abstract: Ultraviolet B (UVB) alters the expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) in cultured fibroblast cells derived from human skin. However, the nature of the signal transduction pathway remains to be determined. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) has a large variety of biological functions, including cell growth control, modulation of inflammation and immunoregulation. In this study, we examined whether TGF-β is associated with the process of HSP70 expression induced by UVB irradiation. The constitutive expression of TGF-β1 mRNA and HSP70 expression in human skin fibroblast cells were detected using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analysis. The results indicate that: (1) UVB irradiation stimulates HSP70 expression in a dose- and time-dependent manner, (2) constitutive expression of TGF-β1 mRNA is detected after UVB irradiation, the level of which peaks at 4 h after 10 mJ cm–2 of UVB irradiation, (3) HSP70 expression is induced by TGF-β1 without UVB irradiation, and (4) HSP70 expression induction with UVB irradiation is inhibited by preincubation of the cells with the anti-TGF-β type II receptor antibody. Our results suggest that HSP70 expression induced by UVB involves the autocrine signalling of TGF-β production.

We report a case of acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis, Sweet's syndrome, associated with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in which we found rearrangement of the bcr gene in DNA obtained from a skin lesion as well as in blood DNA by Southern blot analysis. This indicated the presence of CML cells within the skin lesion. To our knowledge, this is the first report in which the presence of CML cells is shown within skin lesions of Sweet's syndrome. In our patient, leukocyte alkaline phosphatase activities returned to normal levels when he was suffering from Sweet's syndrome and decreased again to below normal levels after it subsided. Whether the normalization of leukocyte alkaline phosphatase activity is common among CML patients with Sweet's syndrome remains to be determined. (J Am Acad Dermatol 1999;40:275-9.)

Human pancreatic ribonuclease I (hRNase 1) in the mature form has been produced in E.coliusing T7 expression system. The recombinant hRNase 1 protein was solubilized from the inclusion bodies, refolded in glutathione redox system, and purified through chromatographic procedures by utilizing cation-exchange and reversed-phase columns. The ribonucleolytic activity of recombinant hRNase 1 was examined on yeast RNA and cytidylyl-3′,5′-adenosine revealing the distinctive ribonucleolytic activity. The activity was perfectly inhibited by human placental RNase inhibitor. Truncation of 7 amino acid residues in the amino-terminal sequence resulted in much reduction in ribonucleolytic activity and in affinity to human placental RNase inhibitor with the disintegration of secondary structures of the protein observed by circular dichroism spectra. The present study has revealed the important contribution of the amino-terminal sequence of hRNase I to the characteristics of the protein.

V(D)J recombination and somatic hypermutations are developmentally regulated during B-cell differentiation; therefore, DNA analysis of the Ig gene delineates the cellular origin of B-cell neoplasms. We analyzed the third complementarity-determining region and adjacent regions of the Ig heavy-chain gene of tumor cells from 7 patients with Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM) and from 10 patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), 2 of whom progressed to high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), ie, Richter's syndrome (RS). There were no intraclonal variations resulting from VH replacements or ongoing somatic mutations in both WM and CLL. We found replacement mutations in the D and/or JH segments in all patients with WM and in 4 of the 10 patients with CLL, including the 2 RS patients. Replacement mutations were clustered in codon 102 of the JH segment. Preferential utilization of the JH4 gene was found in WM (5 of 7 [71.4%]) and in CLL (7 of 10 [70.0%]), and DXP family genes in CLL (5 of 10 [50.0%]). In conclusion, WM and CLL with RS are generated under the influence of antigenic stimulation and selection. However, the majority of CLL may arise from a distinct subpopulation that has the restricted repertoire of nonmutated Ig genes.

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We evaluated an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting anti-Jo-1 antibodies in patients with polymyositis (PM) or dermatomyositis (DM) by use of the recombinant fusion protein Jo-1. Sera from 64 patients with PM or DM, from 80 patients with other connective tissue diseases, and from 64 healthy subjects matched for age, sex and race, were studied by the ELISA and by the double immunodiffusion (DID) method. Eight patients with myositis (six PM, one DM and one DM with malignancy) with positive anti-Jo-1 by DID also showed positive results by the ELISA method, whereas five patients with positive anti-Jo-1 by this ELISA showed negative results on DID. One of the five had non-specific results. The incidence of positive results for anti-Jo-1 with the ELISA (18.8%) was greater than that for DID (12.5%), but the difference was not statistically significant. All patients with positive results for anti-Jo-1 by DID were also positive by the ELISA. The ELISA system with the recombinant Jo-1 antigen was useful in the detection of anti-Jo-1 antibodies in patients with PM/DM.Keywords: Jo-1 antibodies, Polymyositis, Dermatomyositis, Recombinant protein antigen, ELISA, Double immunodiffusion, Jo-1 antibody syndrome, Anti-synthetase syndrome.

We evaluated an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting anti-Jo-1 antibodies in patients with polymyositis (PM) or dermatomyositis (DM) by use of the recombinant fusion protein Jo-1. Sera from 64 patients with PM or DM, from 80 patients with other connective tissue diseases, and from 64 healthy subjects matched for age, sex and race, were studied by the ELISA and by the double immunodiffusion (DID) method. Eight patients with myositis (six PM, one DM and one DM with malignancy) with positive anti-Jo-1 by DID also showed positive results by the ELISA method, whereas five patients with positive anti-Jo-1 by this ELISA showed negative results on DID. One of the five had non-specific results. The incidence of positive results for anti-Jo-1 with the ELISA (18.8%) was greater than that for DID (12.5%), but the difference was not statistically significant. All patients with positive results for anti-Jo-1 by DID were also positive by the ELISA. The ELISA system with the recombinant Jo-1 antigen was useful in the detection of anti-Jo-1 antibodies in patients with PM/DM.

Peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) were collected for autotransplantation by a total of 46 continuous-flow leukaphereses in 17 children with various types of cancer in whom the stem-cell pool had been expanded by chemotherapy. As the cells collected by leukapheresis were contaminated with many visible cell clumps, platelets, and erythrocytes, they were separated from the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) by slow-speed centrifugation and fractionated on a discontinuous gradient of Percoll. All the hematopoietic progenitors (CFU-GM, CFU- GEMM) in the starting samples were recovered at the interface of 40% and 60% Percoll solutions largely free of other cellular components and with a substantial reduction in volume. The separation and freezing procedures could be completed within three hours after obtaining cells by leukapheresis. After their fractionation and storage, these PBSC were shown to be able to reconstitute normal hematopoiesis in ten children with poor prognosis leukemia or neuroblastoma for whom no HLA- compatible marrow donors were available and who had been subjected to marrow-ablative therapy. This separation procedure is simple, efficient, and readily available and can be used for children as a routine procedure for PBSC autotransplantation.

The electrical properties of Zr/ and Ti/Si1−xGex/(100)Si heterostructures have been examined. The Schottky barrier heights (SBH's) of as-deposited diodes determined fromI-V characteristics are 0.53 and 0.55 eV for Zn/ and Ti/n-Si0.8Ge0.2, respectively. It can be seen that p-Si0.8Ge0.2 diodes tend to have smaller SBH's than n-Si0.8Ge0.2 ones for both metals. This fact is consistent with the contact resistivity measured for Zr/n+- and Zr/p+-Si0.8Ge0.2/(100)Si.

Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and other cytokines released from megakaryocytes are thought to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of myelofibrosis. We describe a patient with essential thrombocythaemia (ET) who developed myelofibrosis with an increased level of serum thrombopoietin (TPO). Recombinant human (rh) TPO stimulated the proliferation and spontaneous megakaryocyte colony formation of the neoplastic cells in the peripheral blood. Moreover, serum concentrations of PDGF, platelet factor 4, and beta-thromboglobulin were elevated and the production of these growth factors from the megakaryocyte progenitors was augmented with the addition of rhTPO in vitro. These results indicate that TPO may contribute to the development of myelofibrosis in ET.

A monoclonal antibody (MoAb) that defines a novel terminal B-cell- restricted antigen, termed HM1.24, was developed against a human plasma cell line. The MoAb, designated anti-HM1.24, reacted with five different human myeloma cell lines, as well as with monoclonal neoplastic plasma cells obtained from the bone marrow or peripheral blood of patients with multiple myeloma or Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia. The HM1.24 antigen was also expressed by mature Ig- secreting B cells (plasma cells and lymphoplasmacytoid cells) but not by other cells contained in the peripheral blood, bone marrow, liver, spleen, kidney, or heart of normal individuals or patients with non- plasma-cell-related malignancies. The anti-HM1.24 MoAb bound to human myeloma RPMI 8226 cells with an affinity constant of 9.2 x 10(8) M-1, indicating approximately 84,000 sites/cell. By immunoprecipitation assay under reducing conditions, this MoAb identified a membrane glycoprotein that had a molecular weight of 29 to 33 kD. Our studies indicate that the HM1.24-related protein represents a specific marker of late-stage B-cell maturation and potentially serves as a target antigen for the immunotherapy of multiple myeloma and related plasma cell dyscrasias.

The hydration structure of calcium nitrate tetrahydrate, Ca(NO3)2 · 4.1 H2O, melt at 328 K has been investigated by X-ray scattering and correlation method. Analysis of the radial distribution function and model fitting revealed that in the hydrate melt, a Ca2+ ion is surrounded by about six oxygen atoms, 4.1 of which come from water molecules at the average distance of 0.241 nm, 2.0 coming from the nitrate ions at the average distance of 0.254 nm. In the first coordination shell of the melt, the formation of a direct Ca2+-NO3-correlation, such as contact ion pairs, was suggested. The hydration structure of the melt analysed was compared with that of Ca(NO3)2 · 3.5H2O melt previously reported, and the decrease from nine of the reported melt to six in this melt was observed in the number of the nearest neighbour oxygen atoms around a Ca2+ ion. This implies that in the highly concentrated aqueous solution, the structure of the first coordination shell around the cation changes markedly with a small difference in the water molecule content.

The effect of erythroid differentiation factor (EDF) on the maintenance of human hematopoietic progenitors in a microenvironment was examined by co-culture of adherent- and E rosette-depleted mononuclear cells from the bone marrow (BM) or peripheral blood (PB) with allogenic stromal cells. EDF had no effect on colony formation of erythroid burst-forming units (BFU-E) from the BM cultured without a stromal layer. The number of BFU-E cultured with the stromal layer was decreased less in the presence of EDF than in its absence. This activity of EDF was also observed when the mononuclear cells were separated from the stromal layer by a filter membrane. These data suggest that EDF facilitates maintenance of the number of BFU-E through a humoral factor(s) secreted by the stromal layer. The number of BM erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-E) was decreased on addition of EDF, which promotes differentiation of CFU-E. The number of PB CFU-E was increased irrespective of the presence or absence of EDF over 2 weeks, suggesting that BFU-E, which are more abundant in PB than in BM, differentiate to supply CFU-E. However, the addition of EDF resulted in less increase of PB CFU-E, indicating that it inhibited the proliferation of CFU-E progenitors to suppress colony formation. On the other hand, CFU-GM was consistently decreased by addition of EDF to this culture system. These data indicate that EDF acts as a commitment factor and/or a promoter of erythroid progenitors in a hematopoietic microenvironment.Copyright 1993, 1999 Academic Press

Abstract:  The temperature-sensitive mutant cells (tsFT101) derived from a mouse mammary carcinoma cell line, FM3A, become multinucleated at a non-permissive temperature of 39°C. To further understand the molecular mechanism of such cytokinetic disturbance, we examined the expression of profilin, the main regulator of the transition of globular actin (G-actin) to filamentous actin (F-actin). RT-PCR analysis of mouse profilin cDNA from tsFT101 showed a point mutation (177 A → G) which was a wobble mutation causing no change in the encoded amino acid. The expression level of profilin mRNA was, however, diminished in cultured tsFT101 cells under non-permissive temperatures compared with wild-type FM3A cells in association with multinucleation. A stable transfection of profilin cDNA expression vector to tsFT101 cells prevented multinuclear cell formation when cultured at 39°C. In contrast, antisense profilin cDNA expression vector did not alter multinuclear cell formation. The primary cause of the cytokinetic disturbance of tsFT101 cells may be due to the diminished level of profilin gene expression.

We examined the effects of activin A on the proliferation and differentiation of immature hematopoietic progenitors prepared from peripheral blood (PB) using methylcellulose and liquid-suspension culture. In a kinetic analysis, colony formation by PB granulocyte- macrophage colony-forming unit (CFU-GM) was delayed in a dose-dependent manner by the addition of activin A only when stimulated with interleukin-3 (IL-3), but not when stimulated with granulocyte colony- stimulating factor (G-CSF), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), or stem cell factor (SCF) plus G-CSF. DNA-synthesizing CFU-GM was increased by IL-3, but this effect was abolished by activin A. In contrast, PB erythroid burst-forming unit (BFU-E) was accelerated by the addition of activin A only when exposed to IL-3 plus erythropoietin (Epo), but not when exposed to Epo or Epo plus SCF. DNA- synthesizing BFU-E was increased by IL-3 and activin A, alone and additively in combination. In a mixed culture of myeloid and erythroid progenitors, activin A increased the numbers of BFU-E and CFU-Mix colonies at concentrations of 1 and 10 ng/mL and decreased the number of CFU-GM colonies in a dose-dependent manner. However, in a liquid- suspension culture of erythroid progenitors, activin A decreased total cell count and the percentage of hemoglobin-containing cells only when cells were exposed to IL-3 plus Epo. These results indicate that activin A suppresses the proliferation of IL-3-responsive CFU-GM progenitors and stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of IL- 3-responsive BFU-E progenitors, and suggest that activin A acts as a commitment factor of immature hematopoietic progenitors for erythroid differentiation.

In human skin transplanted to the back of 3 strains of immuno-deficient mice the functin of the eccrine sweat glands of the human transplant was tested by topical intradermal application of pilocarine, adrenaline and atropine+pilocarpine. Sweat responses were observed in pre-selected fields of observation by means of video macroscope. The iodine strarch reaction served as an indicator for the appearance of seat sport and permitted the evaluation of areas wetted by sweat in the field of observation. Among 9 animals tested, the hybrids between the CB-17-scidmouse and the BALB/cA-numouse (BALB/cA-nu,scid) seemed to exhibit the most consistent seweating response to local pharmacological stimulation. According to histological examination, eccrine sweat glands were preserved in human skin trasplanted into the back skin of the BALB/cA-nu,scidmouse strain. the heterologous, human skin graft provides a novel model permitting, independent of the normal sweat gland innervation, the analysis of moecular receptors of sweat gland cells by which the actions of natural transmitters and pharmacological agents are transduced.

Abstract:  Cells of a temperature-sensitive mutant line (tsFT101) derived from a mouse mammary carcinoma cell line (FM3A) become multinucleated at a non-permissive temperature of 39°C because of disturbed cytokinesis. To explore how this relates to thermotolerance, we examined the proliferative activity of, and heat shock protein (HSP) expression in, FM3A and tsFT101 cells cultured at 37°C and 39°C after heat shock pretreatment (15 min exposure at 45°C). FM3A cells developed thermotolerance when cultured at both 37°C and 39°C, but whereas tsFT101 cells developed thermotolerance at 37°C, this was markedly reduced at 39°C. Western blot analysis showed similar degrees of expression of constitutive HSP70 (HSP73) in FM3A and tsFT101 cells after heat shock pretreatment at both 37°C and 39°C. However, expression of inducible HSP70 (HSP72) was reduced in tsFT101 cells at 39°C compared to 37°C and to FM3A cells at both 37°C and 39°C. Heat shock pretreatment activated DNA binding of heat shock transcription factor (HSF) in FM3A cells at 37°C and 39°C, but only at 37°C in tsFT101 cells. These results indicate that (1) multinucleation caused by disturbed cytokinesis increases temperature sensitivity, (2) HSP70 is critical for the development of thermotolerance in both FM3A and tsFT101 cells, and (3) decreased expression of inducible HSP70 parallels deficient development of thermotolerance in tsFT101 cells cultured at a non-permissive temperature.

Abstract:  Local sweat rates (M sw) at the chest and thigh and the frequency of sweat expulsions (F sw) were determined in human subjects with (athletes) or without (non-athletes) long-term physical training during moderate bicycle exercise (80 W for 30 min) at ambient thermoneutrality (23°C) and 60% relative humidity. There was a tendency for M sw to be lower in athletes. The rise of M sw with increasing F sw was significantly less steep and F sw was also controlled at a significantly lower rate in athletes than in non-athletes. The start of exercise was followed by a temporary decrease in mean skin temperature (T-s) which was less distinct in athletes. The rise in T-s at the end of exercise was significant in athletes (0.80 ± 0.26°C) but not in non-athletes (0.26 ± 0.33°C). The results indicate that long-term physical training leads to improved circulatory heat transfer to the skin and to a more graded nervous control of sweat expulsion and, further, tends to reduce the rate of sweating.