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Alnus sieboldiana has been planted widely on denuded sites in the Rokko mountains. Its pollination season is in the latter half of that of Japanese cedar. This epidemiologic study was carried out in Ashiya in the 1991 spring hay fever season. The subjects were 532 female residents chosen at random, who had been living there more than ten years. There was an evident relation between the airbone alder pollen count and the prevalence of alder pollinosis. In the mountain town most severely inundated with alder pollen (977/sq. cm/year), the prevalence rate of alder pollinosis alone or both alder and cedar pollinosis was 26.1%. In the flat area 5 km far from south of the mountain town, where aribome pollen count was 386/sq.cm/year, the prevalence rate of alder pollinosis was 4.3%. The heavy traffic main road pass through the flat area, thus the air pollution was significantly strong in the flat area more than in the mountain town. However, we couldn't find adjuvant effect of air pollution on the alder pollinosis, which was often reported about Japanese cedar pollinosis.

We examined the efficacy of systemic local anesthetics on various types of neuropathic pain in 89 patients. Lidocaine 1.5 mg.kg-1 was infused intravenously for one minute. Pain score (PS) by visual analogue scale (VAS, 0-10) was measured 1, 5, 15 and 35 min after the infusion. The efficacy of intravenous lidocaine was evaluated by PS which was lowest after infusion. PS decreased to less than 50 percent of pre-infusion value in more than 75 percent of cases of cancer pain, postherpetic neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, low back pain with signs of root pain or spinal canal stenosis, peripheral nerve injury and thalamic pain, in 50-75 percent of cases of herpetic neuralgia, and in less than 50 percent of cases of cervical spondylosis, spinal cord injury, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, causalgia and psychogenic pain. This study suggests that systemic local anesthetics is effective in neuropathy due to cancer pain, postherpetic neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, low back pain with signs of root pain or spinal canal stenosis, peripheral nerve injury and thalamic pain.

One-hundred and seven patients undergoing elective surgery were studied to analyze the correlations between preoperative spirometric values and respiratory parameters during general anesthesia. They were grouped according to 3 criterions; preoperative %VC of less than 80%, FEV1.0% of less than 70%, V50/V25 exceeding 4.0. Following the induction of general anesthesia and of mechanical ventilation, expiratory flow (VE), FECO2, PaCO2 and PaO2 were measured to calculate respiratory parameters including VCO2-SR, VD/VT-Bohr, VD/VT-physiological (phys), a-ETDCO2, Volume Pressure Index (VPI) and A-aDO2. Six respiratory parameters were compared between the groups, and correlations between preoperative spirometric values were studied. Those with lower %VC had higher values in VCO2-SR and in VPI, and those with lower FEV1.0% had higher values in VCO2-SR, in VD/VT-phys and in a-ETDCO2. Significant correlations were also observed between these parameters. Preoperative V50/V25 and A-aDO2 during general anesthesia did not correlate with any of the parameters studied. We conclude that VCO2-SR, VD/VT-phys, a-ETDCO2 and VPI during general anesthesia are useful to detect the patients with restrictive and/or obstructive lung dysfunction, although they are not sensitive enough to detect those with small airway disease.

A human cytochrome P-450 cDNA clone, lambda hPA6, was isolated from a human adult liver cDNA library. The expression plasmid pHM3 delta 2 was constructed by insertion of lambda hPA6 and a synthetic DNA into the yeast mRNA and reduced carbon monoxide-difference spectra of the yeast microsomes revealed that only the yeast transformed by the expression plasmid pHM3 delta 2 produced foreign cytochrome P-450. In addition, the expressed protein reacted with antiserum to P-450-HM2, a form probably identical with P-450MP, and showed a detectable level of mephenytoin 4-hydroxylase activity.

From 1968 through 1984, 110 cases (113 eyes) with indirect traumatic optic neuropathy were seen at the Department of Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology of the Kobe University Hospital; 43 eyes were treated nonsurgically with steroid and 70 eyes were operated on by the endonasal-transethmoidal method of optic canal decompression. By comparison of the visual improvements in the two groups, the effectiveness of the surgical treatment was evaluated. In the nonsurgical group, 19 eyes showed a visual improvement, giving an overall improvement rate of 44.2%. In 9 eyes with complete visual loss at the initial visit no visual improvement could be seen. In 34 eyes with the vision better than light perception at the initial visit, vision improved in 19 eyes, ie, the improvement rate was 55.9%: the recovery occurred relatively rapidly within 3-4 weeks, and thereafter the condition remained unchanged. In 30 eyes treated within 3 weeks after trauma, 17 eyes (57%) showed visual improvement, but in 13 eyes where treatment started after 3 weeks, improvement was seen only in 15%. In the surgical group, 34 eyes showed a visual improvement; the overall rate of improvement was 47.7%. In 28 eyes where complete visual loss was seen at the first visit, 7 eyes showed visual improvement. In 38 eyes treated within 3 weeks after trauma, 18 eyes (45%) showed visual improvement, and in 32 eyes where the surgery was performed after 3 weeks, 16 eyes (50%) showed improvement. The latter improvement rate was significantly higher (P less than 0.05) than the improvement rate of 15% found in eyes of the nonsurgical group, where the treatment started 3 weeks after trauma. In cases with indirect traumatic optic neuropathy, surgical decompression of the optic canal can give a visual improvement even when complete visual loss is found in the early period. The surgery is effective in cases where visual recovery by conservative treatment is not satisfactory after 3 weeks. On this basis the criteria for surgical treatment were determined: when the vision is better than light perception in the early period, conservative treatment must first be given, but surgery is indicated when the vision does not improve to 0.5 or better within 3 weeks. In cases where complete visual loss is found soon after injury, earliest possible surgical intervention is recommended.

16 cases (18 eyes) of rhinogenous optic neuropathy due to muco-pyoceles in the sphenoid sinus and posterior ethmoid cells are reported. The clinical symptomes of this condition are characterized as follows: 1) acute or chronic progressive visual disturbance, 2) ophthalmoscopically normal or oedematous disc in the acute stage and optic atrophy in the chronic stage, 3) central scotoma or inferior hemianopsia in the visual field, 4) good recovery of vision in the cases with mucoceles, occasionally no recovery of vision in the cases with pyoceles, 5) oculomotor as well as abducent palsy and exophthalmos; occasionally, 6) past history of optic neuropathy and nasal operation, 7) few rhinologic complaints, 8) rhinoscopically: swelling, obstruction and/or polyp in the middle meatus, and 9) CT scan showing homogeneous mass in the sphenoid sinus and/or posterior ethmoid cells. The causative factor of the visual disturbance due to pyoceles might be caused not only by compression but also by inflammatory infiltration and vascular disturbance. Recurrence of rhinogenous optic neuropathy is frequent.