No abstract

A 20-year-old woman presented to our hospital for investigation of a left neck mass. Ultrasonographic examination of the jugular mass demonstrated an echo-free space, the caliber of which markedly increased when the patient shifted from the sitting to the recumbent position or performed a Valsalva maneuver. On color Doppler flow imaging, a slow flow signal flowing in the direction opposite to that of the common carotid artery was found within this space. Ultrasonography and color Doppler flow imaging thus proved to be useful for correctly diagnosing internal jugular phlebectasia.

SUMMARYBasement membrane of myocytes from patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who died suddenly, seemed to be discontinuous by immunohistochemical methods. With the use of the sandwich immunoassay technique, we determined the frequency of type IV collagen and its influence on functional abnormality in 31 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and controls. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy exhibited significantly increased serum type IV collagen compared with controls. A significant correlation was observed between serum type IV collagen and fractional shortening (r=-0.42 p<0.05), and end-diastolic volume (r=0.40 p<0.05), DT (r=-0.50 p<0.05). These data suggest that serum type IV collagen enhances clusters of cell-surface type IV collagen, including an alteration of the cytoskeleton, which may account for functional abnormalities in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Considering the fact that microscopic examination is unable to resolve the structure of the myocardial basement membrane, measurement of serum type IV collagen is thought to be useful in the diagnosis of myocardial basement membrane injury and the progression of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. (Jpn Heart J 35: 311-321, 1994) Key words:Type IV collagen Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Basement membrane YPERTROPHIC cardiomyopathy is a clinical and pathologic disorder with variable manifestations. Hemodynamically, the condition may be associated with normal systolic function without obstruction of ventricular outflow, and diastolic abnormalities including increased chamber stiffness and impaired relaxation.1-3) The addition of angiographically derived indexes of left ventricular function contributes to the clinical profile of the high risk patient. In particular, patients with impaired systolic and diastolic function at the time of diagnosis are at increased risk.4)

We report a rare case of Maffucci's syndrome combined with dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma in the right shoulder girdle developing from pre-existing enchondroma. In this case, magnetic resonance imaging was useful in diagnosing dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma before surgery. T2-weighted imaging was used to distinguish between the cartilaginous component and the dedifferentiated one. Histologically, there was enchondroma in the humerus and grade 2 chondrosarcoma in the scapula. Further, the dedifferentiated tumor had three mesenchymal elements: osteosarcoma, malignant fibrous histiocytoma, and fibrosarcoma. This histological heterogenicity may be due to mesodermal dysplasia of Maffucci's syndrome.

A gelatin gel sheet was UV-irradiated to raise the gel melting temperature T m . Three second of T m increased proportionally to irradiation time t UV . The sheet of which T m was larger than the culture temperature 37°C was used as a cell culture scaffold. Human fibroblast cells WI-38 adhered to the sheet and dug deeply into it regardless of t UV , while cancer cells WI-38-VA-13 formed spheroids and did not adhere to the sheet individually at high UV dose. The cell selectivity of the scaffold could be used for biological and medical studies.