Purpose : Although the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is unclear, autoimmune processes seem to play roles in IBD because several types of autoantibodies have been found in it. Calreticulin (CRT) is a soluble Ca²⁺ binding protein which is present in a wide variety of cells. CRT is localized mainly in the endoplasmic reticulum and is often a target for autoantibodies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of anti-CRT antibodies measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using the sera of patients with ulcer-ative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD).
Methods: We measured the serum anti-CRT antibodies of 31 Japanese patients with UC and 24 with CD by ELISA. The controls were 105 subjects: 30 healthy persons, 44 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), 21 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 10 with acute colitis (AC).
Results: The mean titer of anti-CRT antibodies was significantly higher in patients with UC than in healthy individuals (p<0.05). The prevalence of anti-CRT antibodies in these patients was significantly higher during the initial phase than during the passing phase (p<0.05). In patients with CD, the mean titer of anti-CRT antibodies was not significantly higher than in healthy individuals. The positivity for anti-CRT antibodies, however, was about 30% in those patients, which was as high as in patients with UC, SLE and PBC. In patients with AC, anti-CRT anti-bodies were all negative.
Conclusions: The positivity of anti-CRT antibodies may have a diagnostic value for IBD, especially in the initial phase of UC.

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Liver neoplasms, whether they are benign or malignant, are usually fed by the hepatic artery. We experienced a case of hepatic angiosarcoma supplied by both hepatic artery and portal vein. Since there are currently no specific laboratory tests to diagnose hepatic angiosarcoma, it is important to detect suspect cases from imaging features. This unique hemodynamic property was detected on computed tomography (CT) during hepatic arteriography and CT during hepatic arterioporto-graphy. If any imaging examinations indicate the liver tumor to be fed by the portal vein, hepatic angiosarcoma should be suspected.

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Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are common mesenchymal tumors of the digestive tract. These tumors occasionally present a pelvic mass and leading to the misdiagnosis of gynecologic diseases. Two patients with GIST in the small intestine giving an impression of an ovarian fibroma and a uterine leiomyoma respectively were diagnosed correctly at the surgery. In the patients with a pelvic mass, especially if unusual symptoms and laboratory data being not compatible with gynecological disease, the possibility of diseases other than a gynecologic disease has to be considered.

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There have been only a few reports of serotonin syndrome developing after mono-therapy with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). We report a case of serotonin syndrome caused by long-term therapy with ftuvoxamine prior to treatment with paroxetine. An 18-year-old man with spinal cord injury (SCI) at thoracic level 2-3 presented with onset of serotonin syndrome after taking ftuvoxamine (50 mg per day) for 8 weeks prior to treatment with paroxetine (10 mg per day) for 6 days. He had confusion, agitation, severe headache, tachycardia (124 beats/minute), hypertension (165/118 mmHg), high fever (39.1°C), and myoclonus. All of the symptoms disappeared within 24 hours after discontinuation of administration of paroxetine. This is an interesting case of serotonin syndrome that developed after minimum doses of single therapy with an SSRI in a patient with SCI.

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