A virus-associated hemophagocytic syndrome is characterized by high fever, liver dysfunction, coagulation abnormalities, pancytopenia, and a benign histiocytic proliferation with prominent hemophagocytosis in bone marrow, lymph node, spleen, and liver. We describe six Japanese children with fatal Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated hemophagocytic syndrome. Five of the six patients had serologic evidence of primary EBV infection at the onset of their diseases. EBV genomes were detected in all the patients by Southern blot hybridization or the polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, clonality analysis of the EBV genome showed that EBV-infected cells proliferated monoclonally or biclonally in three examined patients. In situ hybridization study using EBV- encoded RNA 1 (EBER1) showed that EBER1 was detected in one of two examined liver tissues, which localized in hepatocytes.

Hepatocytes are classified into periportal hepatocytes (PPH) and perivenous hepatocytes (PVH) according to studies on a zonal difference in metabolism and proliferation.

Since 1989, neonatal mass screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) has been performed in Japan, and the frequency of the classical form of 21-hydroxylase deficiency was found to be nearly identical to that in other countries. However, it has not yet been determined whether our mass screening program can detect the nonclassical (NC) form. From 1991 to 1994, about 4,500,000 infants underwent CAH mass screening in Japan. During this period, we identified by screening 2 siblings and 2 unrelated patients who had mild elevation of serum 17-hydroxyprogesterone levels at 5 days of age, but who revealed no symptoms of CAH. They were diagnosed as having probable NC steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency. To clarify the molecular basis of NC CAH detectable by neonatal screening in Japan, the steroid 21-hydroxylase (CYP21) genes from these cases were analyzed. The 2 siblings (patients 1 and 2) had I172N and R356W mutations in 1 allele and in the other allele had local gene conversion, including the P30L mutation in exon 1. Patient 3, who was unrelated, had gene conversion encoding the same P30L mutation in 1 allele and in the other allele had an intron 2 mutation (668-12 A-->G), causing aberrant ribonucleic acid splicing, and the R356W mutation. Patient 4, also a compound heterozygote, had the R356W and 707del8 mutations. The estimated rate of detection of the NC form by mass screening (1:1,100,000) seemed low compare to the established detection rate for the classical form (1:18,000). As all of our 4 patients were compound heterozygotes with at least 1 allele bearing 1 or more mutations associated with classic CAH, it may be difficult to detect NC cases carrying only NC-associated alleles using our current neonatal mass screening methods.

Continuous intravenous infusion of landiolol was found to be effective and safe for supraventricular tachycardia after pulmonary resection.

Pseudohypoparathyroidism Ia (PHP-Ia), is an inherited disease with clinical hypoparathyroidism caused by parathyroid hormone resistance (PTH), and shows the phenotype of Albright hereditary osteodystrophy (AHO), including short stature, obesity, round face, brachydactyly, and subcutaneous ossification. This disease is caused by mutation that inactivates the α-subunit of Gs, the stimulatory regulator of adenylyl cyclase. Here, a novel frameshift mutation (delG at codon 88) in exon 4, and a missense mutation (R231H) in exon 9 of the Gsα gene were identified in two Japanese patients with sporadic PHP-Ia. Deletion of a G in exon 4 at codon 88 in the first patient produced a premature stop codon, resulting in the truncated protein. The second patient had a previously reported R231H mutation. Because this amino acid is located in a region, switch 2, that is thought to interact with the γ subunit of Gsα protein, this mutation may impair Gs protein function. We report here one novel Gsα mutation, and note that mutations in Japanese patients with PHP-Ia are probably heterogeneous.