Prostaglandin (PG) E₁ E₂ and F_2α contracted smooth muscle strips from male adult rabbit urinary bladder. Contractile responses to each PG were significantly greater in urinary bladder body than in urinary bladder base. The magnitude of contractile response to each PG was F_2α > E₂ > E₁ in both of the bladder body and the bladder base. These contractions were almost completely eliminated by a calcium entry blocker, verapamil but not by atropine, phentolamine, propranolol or tetrodotoxin. PG E₁ and E₂ significantly relaxed the male rabbit urethral smooth muscle strips, whereas PG F_2α contracted the urethral smooth muscle strips. Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) but not cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) increased significantly after administration of PG E₁ or E₂ in the urethral muscle strip. These results suggest that the regional differences in the magnitude of contractile responses to PG E₁, E₂ and F_2α between the bladder dome and the base and also suggest the contractile differences of PG E₁ and E₂ for the urinary bladder and the urethra; contractions for bladder and relaxations for urethra. These results also demonstrate that contractions induced by PG E₁, E₂ and F_2α in urinary bladder smooth muscles and by PG F_2α in urethral smooth muscles are mainly mediated by calcium influx and that relaxations induced by PG E₁ and E₂ in urethral smooth muscles are mediated by cAMP but not by cGMP.

Apraxia of lid opening (ALO) is a syndrome characterized by a non-paralytic inability to open the eyes at will in the absence of visible contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscle. Here we report that globus pallidus internus deep brain stimulation on the right side markedly alleviates ALO as well as gait freezing in a patient with Parkinson's disease.

Abstract:We report a case of a man with testicular cancer metastatic to the lung and retroperitoneal lymph node, with significant elevation of serum levels of human chorionic gonadotropin, 534 000 mIU/mL. Just after the initiation of chemotherapy, life-threatening hemothorax occurred and hemorrhagic shock ensued. The pulmonary tumor had broken off, and lower lobectomy was carried out. Pathologic examination of the specimen revealed choriocarcinoma and yolk sac tumor. Through multimodal treatments he achieved complete remission. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of choriocarcinoma syndrome with life-threatening hemorrhage caused by rupture of pulmonary metastases, resulting in complete remission through multimodal treatments.

We investigated the anatomical structure of the smooth muscle layers of the mid portion of the canine ureter. In transverse sections the inner muscle bundles appear to be oriented longitudinally and the outer muscle bundles appear to be oriented in a circular configuration. In sections cut parallel with the longitudinal axis of the ureter, the inner and outer bundles appear to be oblique and are oriented in a mesh-line manner. In oblique sections, cut parallel with the helically oriented ureteral muscle, bundles appear to be oriented in a lengthwise configuration. These anatomical studies show that canine ureteral smooth muscle is composed of spiral fibers in a mesh structure and that helical muscle strips which include a significant percentage of continuous bundles have a greater capacity to generate spontaneous contractions in vitro than do transverse and longitudinal muscle strips.

Granulomatous mycosis fungoides (MF) is a rare subtype of MF, characterized by the histological presence of a granulomatous reaction, but distinct clinical characteristics are not present. A 41-year-old healthy man presented with poikiloderma, ichthyosis and erythematous scaly plaque. Histological examination of a biopsy taken from poikilodermic skin showed a granulomatous reaction to epidermotropic atypical lymphocytes. However, in other areas there were only findings of conventional MF without granuloma. Granulomatous MF may be associated with poikiloderma.