The Shozu Herpes Zoster (SHEZ) Study was designed to clarify the incidence of and predictive and immunological factors for herpes zoster in a defined community-based Japanese population. As part of this series, a total of 5683 residents aged ≥50 years received a varicella-zoster virus (VZV) skin test with VZV antigen, and 48 h later, the erythema and oedema were assessed by measuring the longest diameter. The diameters of both the erythema and oedema decreased with the increasing age of the subject. Sixty-three subjects contracted herpes zoster within a year after receiving the VZV skin test. Analysis of the herpes zoster incidence rate vs. the skin test reaction revealed that the shorter the diameter of erythema or oedema, the greater the likelihood of herpes zoster. These results demonstrated that the VZV skin test is an excellent surrogate marker for predicting the risk of herpes zoster.

No abstract

Leukocytapheresis (LCAP) is a method of therapeutic apheresis to remove patients' peripheral leukocytes by extracorporeal circulation. Previous studies showed that LCAP for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) was more effective and had fewer adverse effects compared to high-dose steroid therapy. However, there are no reports on the application of LCAP for UC patients with toxic megacolon (TM). This study reports the effectiveness and safety of LCAP in treating patients with severe or fulminant UC with TM. Six patients were enrolled in this study and LCAP sessions were performed three times per week for 2 weeks, followed by four further times in the next 4 weeks. After completion of therapy, four patients improved in TM and went into the remission stage of UC. The average Rachmilewitz clinical activity index of these four patients improved from 19.5 to 1. The remaining two patients had to undergo colectomy, however, the symptoms had been mitigated by LCAP and the operations were completed without any problems. These results suggest that LCAP is an additional effective and safe option for TM management in preventing colectomy or for bridging to a safer operation.

When the peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with drug-induced allergic hepatitis were stimulated with a specific drug in vitro in the presence of a liver cytosol fraction containing liver specific antigen, lymphocyte transformation was seen in eight out of 11 patients. The macrophage activating factor (MAF), a kind of lymphokines, was also detectable in the culture medium of activated lymphocytes from seven out of eight patients who showed positive blastogenesis evaluated the uptake of 3H-glucosamine into macrophages. MAF-activated macrophages exhibited a cytotoxic effect on separated liver cells resulting in a marked inhibition of albumin synthesis. This macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity was also observed in eight out of 11 patients who showed positive lymphocyte transformation. These observations suggest that macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity may play some role in the pathogenesis of drug-induced allergic hepatitis.

When lymph node lymphocytes from the tuberculin-sensitized guinea pigs were stimulated in vitro with PPD (purified protein derivatives) and the culture fluid was injected into the mesenteric vein of rats, a marked reduction of bile flow was observed. These culture supernatants contained cholestatic activity were fractionated by gel filtration using a Sephadex G-75 column followed by DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. Both the cholestatic activity and the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) activity were detected predominantly in the fourth fraction of gel filtration. By further fractionation using a DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, the cholestatic activity was separated into two fractions; one of them was shown to have both cholestatic activity and MIF activity, but the other did not have any detectable MIF activity. These results suggest that the cholestatic factor may be different at least partially from the MIF.