The prevalence of diabetes in the Funagata area was two to four times higher than that of previous reports in Japan, in which many investigators used a urinary glucose test as a preliminary test. This difference is attributed to the method of determining the prevalence of diabetes.

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The objective of this study was to estimate postprandial hypertriglycemia by a newly designed oral fat-loading test. Twenty-three healthy normolipidemic volunteers were orally administered a test meal consisting of a mixture of Telmeal 2.0  and 20 g of saltfree butter after fasting for 12 h. To measure the levels of total cholesterol (T-Cho), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), remnant-like particlecholesterol (RLP-C), lipoprotein (a) [Lp (a)], free fatty acid, apolipoproteins (Apos), plasma glucose (PG), immunoreactive insulin (IRI), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), venous blood samples were collected before the meal and at each hour until 9 h after fat-loading. The levels of both TG and RLP-C were drastically elevated at 2 h after fat-loading and these levels remained high until 4 h ( p < 0.01). A significant correlation between TG and RLP-C was also observed at 2, 3 and 4 h, and the values of the correlation coefficients (r) were 0.837, 0.838, and 0.908, respectively. In contrast, the levels of T-Cho, HDL-C, Lp (a), Apos, PG, and hs-CRP did not change. Furthermore, there were no gastrointestinal symptoms during or after the study. These results strongly suggested that this newly designed fat-loading test was very useful for evaluating postprandial hypertriglycemia, including remnant concentrations. IntroductionMultiple epidemiological and clinical studies have established that dyslipidemia, e.g., increased total cholesterol (T-Cho), particularly low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), and decreased high-density lipoproteincholesterol (HDL-C), is the most crucial factor in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, including coronary heart disease (CHD) and subsequent sudden death (1-5). In contrast, although some investigators have reported that moderately elevated fasting triglycerides (TG) increased coronary events (6-9), the independent role of TG in the contribution of CHD has been controversial, since the fasting level of TG is inversely related to that of HDL-C in lipid metabolism (10). Most studies on the relationship between atherosclerosis and lipids have been based on fasting lipid levels.Recently, however, some prospective studies have clearly shown the potential importance of postprandial hypertriglycemia in the etiology of CHD even after adjusting for HDL-C using multivariate analyses (11,12 A Newly Designed Oral Fat-loading Test TG level could predict the incidence of CHD, even in Japanese subjects who showed a decreased level of T-Cho, followed over a 15.5-year period (11). Talmud et al. have also suggested that the combined evaluation of apolipoprotein (Apo) B with nonfasting TG could provide useful diagnostic criteria for CHD risk (12). In addition, considerable evidence supports the view that postprandial hypertriglycemia is associated with insulin resistance, its concomitant compensatory hyperinsulinemia, and obesity (13,14).In contrast, although several investigators have tried and reported fat-loading tests to examine postprandial hypertrigl...

SUMMARY In specimens from the superficial temporal artery (STA) and middle cerebral artery (MCA), obtained during STA-MCA anastomosis, green fluorescent varicose fibers of sympathetic nerves were clearly visible with both formaldehyde-glutaraldehyde and sucrose-potassium phosphate-glyoxylic acid wethistofluorescent techniques. These fibers were fairly thick, were densely packed and had a meshwork-like arrangement. Fluorescent terminals were seen both in the adventitia and in the outer muscular layer of the media in both STA and MCA specimens. They were more often observed in patients with prominent atherosclerosis in these vessels. The present study suggests the possible role of sympathetic nerve terminals in the development of vasospasm and occlusive lesions in cerebral vessels. It may also help to explain the marked constriction and transient occlusion following a STA-MCA bypass procedure. SUPERFICIAL TEMPORAL ARTERY (STA) -middle cerebral artery (MCA) anastomosis plays a potentially important role in the surgical treatment of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases. STA-MCA anastomosis is not a technically hazardous operation. However, when these vessels are not handled gently during the operation, marked spasm and transient postoperative occlusion are often seen angiographically within the first few days after the bypass procedure.1^ Allen et al. reported in vitro contractile activity of vasoactive agents on human STA and MCA, and postulated that either the sympathetic nerves or serotonin could be the cause of arterial spasm in these segments. 5 However, there have been no histochemical demonstrations of sympathetic nerve terminals in human STA and MCA. We present sympathetic nerve terminals in STA and MCA using wet-histochemical fluorescent techniques and discuss the possible role of these terminals in the development of vasospasm and arterial lesions. Materials and MethodsThe formaldehyde-glutaraldehyde (FaGlu) and sucrose-potassium phosphate-glyoxylic acid (SPG) wethistofluorescent methods are useful because of their simplicity and constant visualization of catecholamine terminal fibers as compared to conventional FalckHillarp histofluorescent methods. 6,7 These methods were used on arterial specimens obtained at surgery. Five MCA and 8 STA specimens were obtained from 8 patients with transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), reversible ischemic neurological deficits, or completed stroke between the ages of 37 and 67 during 9 STA-MCA anastomosis ( in phosphate buffer) or SPG (2% glyoxylic acid and 30% sucrose in phosphate buffer at pH 7.4) mixtures at 0-^4°C for 4-6 hours. They were then processed according to FaGlu 6 and SPG 7 techniques. The specimens were examined and photographed under ultraviolet light (Olympus BH-RFL). ResultsIn the sections from the STA and the cortical branch of MCA, green fluorescent varicose fibers were clearly visible with both FaGlu and SPG techniques. Cathecholamine fluorescence was more clearly visible with the SPG technique than with the FaGlu technique ( fig. 1). Fluorescent varico...

The adhesion of Corynebacterium renale, Corynebacterium pilosum, and Corynebacterium cystitidis to various epithelial cell layers of bovine urinary bladders was examined. Adhesion was most efficient to the urinary sediment epithelial cells and the superficial cells immediately before shedding, followed by the remaining superficial cells and intermediate cells in this order, and least efficient to the deeper intermediate and basal cells. Incubation of the intermediate cells for 6 h increased the number of bacteria that adhered to these cells.