No abstract

The effects of solvent type and concentration of C 60 on the crystallization of poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) during solvent evaporation, heating from room temperature, and cooling from the melt were investigated by polarized optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The addition of C 60 enhanced the PLLA crystallization during solvent evaporation, during heating of the melt-quenched films, and during cooling from the melt of As-cast films, except for heating and cooling of the PLLA film with 1 wt % of C 60 prepared with dichloromethane. In the case of solvent evaporation, the difference in crystallinity between the PLLA films with and without C 60 became higher for the solvent with a lower boiling point. In the case of heating of melt-quenched films, the addition of C 60 had a small effect on the crystallinity of PLLA, whereas significantly lowered the peak top and ending temperatures of cold crystallization, except for melt-quenched PLLA film with 1 wt % of C 60 prepared with dichloromethane. The crystallinity of PLLA was determined by the solvent type, rather than by the C 60 concentration. In the case of cooling from the melt of As-cast films, the addition of C 60 elevated the crystallinity and cold crystallization temperature values of PLLA films, except for PLLA films prepared with dichloromethane.

We report on the complication of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in four patients with lower brainstem dysfunction. These patients suffered from perinatal asphyxia, cerebellar hemorrhage, or congenital dysphagia of unknown origin and showed facial nerve palsy, inspiratory stridor due to vocal cord paralysis, central sleep apnea, and dysphagia, in various combinations. Naso-intestinal tube feeding was introduced in all of the patients due to recurrent vomiting and aspiration pneumonia resulting from GER. T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging revealed symmetrical high intensity lesions in the tegmentum of the lower pons and the medulla oblongata in two of the patients, and pontomedullary atrophy in another patient. In normal subjects, lower esophageal sphincter contraction is provoked by distension of the gastric wall, through a vago-vagal reflex. Since this reflex arc involves the solitary tract nucleus, where the swallowing center is located, the association of dysphagia and GER in the present patients is thought to result from the lesions in the tegmentum of medulla oblongata. We propose the term "dysphagia-GER complex" to describe the disturbed motility of the upper digestive tract due to lower brainstem involvement. In children with brainstem lesions, neurological assessment of GER is warranted, in addition to the examination of other signs of brainstem dysfunction, including dysphagia and respiratory disturbance.

Melanosis in which melanin deposition is found in the epithelia and stroma or blue nevus of the prostate gland is an uncommon lesion, and the histogenesis is still unclear. To our knowledge, there have been only two case reports in which prostatic melanosis and prostatic adenocarcinoma were both present. This article reports a third case having this combination and discusses the existence of melanin pigment in the carcinoma cell with melanosis.

A patient with a 5 year history of hypersensitivity to mosquitoes developed a skin nodule on the chest, high fever, and hepatosplenomegaly. The diagnosis of malignant histiocytosis was made, based upon histological examination of the skin and cytological study of the pleural effusion. Immunological studies revealed the impaired activity of both T and B cells. After four weeks of no response to chemotherapy, the patient died. Autopsy revealed malignant histiocytes invading the bone marrow, liver, spleen, lung, adrenal glands, lymph nodes and skin. The possible relationship of immunodeficiency to malignant histiocytosis is discussed.