We compared the antimicrobial activities of penems in human urine with those in Mueller-Hinton broth in order to clarify the usefulness of penems for urinary tract infections. Furthermore, we also investigated the influence of urine components, such as pH, magnesium concentration and calucium concentration, on the antimicrobial activities of penems. Three penems, i.e., imipenem, panipenem and meropenem were employed. And two bacterial strains, i.e., Escherichia coli NIHJ JC-2 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 18s, were tested.There was no significant difference in MBCs between human urine and Mueller-Hinton broth against E. coli. However, MBCs of penems in human urine was lower than those in Mueller-Hinton broth against P. aeruginosa. On the other hand, MBCs of penems against these two strains were low when urine pH was high or urine calcium concentration was low. No influence of urine magnesium concentration on MBCs of penems was seen.From these results, it was suggested that we should measure the antimicrobial activities of penems not only in Mueller-Hinton broth, but also in human urine, when we administer penems to patients with urinary tract infections. And we should foresee the clinical effects of penems against urinary tract infections paying attention to urine pH of the patients.
Intravesical thermometers are occasionally encountered in urologic practice. In the present paper, we describe the removal of a thermometer from the bladder of a woman who presented with irritable bladder symptoms. The thermometer was removed intact transurethrally using a rigid nephroscope and forceps, even though both ends of the thermometer were embedded in the bladder wall. Our retrieval technique may be of general use in such cases, and it should be attempted before resorting to open surgery.
Abstract Multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene encodes for P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a Mr 170,000 transmembrane calcium-dependent efflux pump that is inactivated in prostate cancer. We hypothesize that inactivation of the MDR1 gene through CpG methylation contributes to the pathogenesis and progression of prostate cancer. To test this hypothesis, CpG methylation status of the MDR1 promoter and its correlation with clinicopathological findings were evaluated in 177 prostate cancer samples and 69 benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) samples. Cellular proliferation index and apoptotic index were determined by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and single-strand DNA immunostaining, respectively. After 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine treatment, increased expression of MDR1 mRNA transcript was found in prostate cancer cell lines (DU145, DuPro, and ND1). MDR1 methylation frequency was significantly higher in prostate cancer samples compared with BPH samples (54.8 versus 11.6%, respectively, P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis revealed that PC patients are 11.5 times more likely to have MDR1 methylation than BPH patients (95% confidence interval 4.87–27.0) and that MDR1 methylation is independent of the age. Significant correlation of MDR1 methylation was observed with high pT category (P < 0.001), high Gleason sum (P = 0.008), high preoperative prostate-specific antigen (P = 0.01), and advancing pathological features. In addition, PCNA-labeling index were significantly higher in methylation-specific PCR (MSP)-positive than in MSP-negative prostate cancer samples (P = 0.048). In contrast, no significant difference in apoptotic index was found between MSP-positive and -negative prostate cancer samples. These findings suggest that CpG hypermethylation of MDR1 promoter is a frequent event in prostate cancer and is related to disease progression via increased cell proliferation in prostate cancer cells.
Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is associated with adult T-cell leukemia and HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM). HAM is characterized by slowly progressive paraplegia but often presents with involuntary movements. Periodic limb movements (PLMs), characterized by stereotyped, repetitive, nonepileptiform movements of the legs, with HAM are usually associated with motor paresis or occur after the development of myelopathy. We describe an HTLV-I carrier presenting with PLMs that progressed to myelopathy (HAM).
A 34-year-old woman had a 4-year history of involuntary leg movements during sleep. Restless legs syndrome had been diagnosed at another hospital in August 2002. MRI of the brain, cervical spine, and lumbar spine showed no abnormalities. The EEG was normal. CSF showed 4 white blood cells (WBCs)/mm3 and a protein level of 44 mg/dL. The anti-HTLV-I antibody was positive in CSF (×8). The patient's mother was a healthy HTLV-I carrier. Because involuntary movements developed despite treatment with levodopa and clonazepam, the patient was admitted to our hospital in December 2002. The deep tendon …
Thymidine phosphorylase (TP), also known as platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF), has been implicated in bladder cancer angiogenesis and invasion. However, the molecular basis of its role in invasion remains unclear. We investigated the expression of TP and 10 invasion-related genes in bladder cancers from 72 randomly selected patients by real-time two-step RT-PCR assay. We found that the expression levels of TP, MMP-9, uPA, and MMP-2 were significantly higher in invasive tumors than those in superficial tumors. Also, the expression level of TP significantly correlated with that of uPA, MMP-1, MMP-9, PAI-1 and VEGF. KK47/TP cells, bladder cancer cells that overexpress TP, had a higher expression of MMP-7 and MMP-9 than KK/CV cells that express lower level of TP in hypoxic condition. PC/TP cells, prostate cancer cells that overexpress TP, also had a higher expression of MMP-1 and MMP-7 than PC/CV cells that express no detectable TP. Taken together these data indicate that TP enhances the invasion of tumor cells through the induction of invasion-related genes.
A case of adrenal myelolipoma is reported. The patient was a 63-year-old female on whom liver dysfunction was diagnosed and a tumor was detected accidentally in the right adrenal region by ultrasound abdominal test. This patient was the 26th patient from whom this tumor was extirpated in Japan. Reports on similar cases are on the increase owing to the advances in diagnostic imaging. A half of such cases were asymptomatic, and 85% of them were right unilateral cases.
