The clinical usefulness of MRI for the diagnosis of abnormal pregnancies was evaluated.
Pelvic MRI was carried out on 29 cases suspected of abnormal pregnancy by ultrasonography and clinical examinations. The abnormal pregnancies were classified into three categories: (1) maternal abnormalities, (2) fetal abnormalities and (3) placental abnormalities.
(1) MRI was of great value for the diagnosis of maternal abnormalities, particularly in cases of coexistent pelvic tumors. MRI allowed diagnosis of uterine leiomyomas and dermoid cyst through its excellent tissue characterization and broad range of vision.
(2) MRI was useful in making diagnoses of fetal central nervous anomalies and fetal death, since the lack of fetal movement and the lesions were clear enough to be detected by MRI. However, anomalies in the fetal trunk or extremities could only be demonstrated, but not diagnosed, by MRI owing to its inferior spatial and time resolution.
(3) MRI showed placenta accreta and placental hematoma. Although accurate diagnosis was difficult because of their rarity, MRI revealed the hemorrhagic component of the lesions, which was not shown by ultrasonography. The author believes MRI has potential usefulness in making diagnoses of placental abnormalities through its tissue characterization.
MRI was superior to ultrasonography in the soft tissue characterization, field of view, while MRI was inferior in time and spatial resolution.
In summary MRI should be used in case of abnormal pregnancies such as pelvic tumors, fetal nervous anomalies and placental hemorrhagic lesions. MRI will become useful for the diagnosis of other abnormalities as its spatial resolution and fast scan technology advances.

View full abstract

Using a force plate and electromyographic recordings, changes in the muscle activity of the lower extremities during forward-inclining-posture walking and the free walking of healthy young adults were studied and compared with the free gait of healthy geriatrics. The movement of the hamstring, and the tibialis anterior and calf muscles caused a negative quadric curve during the forward-inclining gait and a positive curve during the free walking. However, the movements of the rectus femoris muscle caused a positive curve during the forward-inclining gait and a negative curve during the free walking.
It also was found that geriatrics are thrown off balance by changes in cadence while walking. Further, greater muscular activity of the lower extremities is needed by geriatrics than by young adults during free walking, and the muscular movements of geriatrics during free walking showed no relation to the forwardinclining muscular movements of the young adults.

View full abstract

Since sinusoidal liver cells directly interact with circulating hemopoietic cells and lymphocytes, Kupffer cells may have the capacity to trap and activate these cells in the liver microcirculation. In order to investigate the adhesion mechanism of Kupffer cells to other lymphoid cells, mouse sinusoidal liver cells were isolated by a collagenase perfusion followed by differential centrifugations. By in vitro adhesion assay of lymphocytes to sinusoidal liver cells and staining of adhered lymphocytes with FITC/peroxidase labeled peanut agglutinin (PNA), the following observations were made: 1) Lymphocytes from various lymphoid organs including the liver itself adhered to Kupffer cells. 2) After an incubation period, DNA synthesis of the adhered lymphocytes increased. 3) A high percentage of the adhered lymphocytes were PNA+ cells. 4) D-Galactose, a PNA specific carbohydrate, inhibited the lymphocyte binding and the total DNA synthesis of the adhered lymphocytes decreased proportionally with their decrease in number. Our results suggest that sinusoidal liver cells may have the ability to trap and to activate PNA+ cells.

View full abstract

To evaluate the cardiac dysfunction of the cerebral infarction (cerebral thrombosis) patients in the chronic period, non-invasive studies were performed on 45 cerebral infarction patients (CI group: 25 males and 16 females, mean age 64.1 y). Forty hospitalized patient without cerebral infarction served as controls (non-CI group: 23 males and 19 females, mean age 64.8 y).
The CI and non-CI group were divided into two sub-groups: patients with a past history of hypertension (HT) and without (NT).
In each sub-group, the cardiac functions were compared between CI and non-CI by M-mode and Doppler echocardiography.
In echocardiograpy, research based on the premise that the function of the left ventricle can be devided into preload (EDVi), afterload (SVR), contractility (EF, mVcf, SBP/ESV) and distensibility (E/A).
On results show that there were no significant differences in preload, afterload and contractility of the left ventricle between CI and non-CI group in each HT and NT sub group.
However, a significant difference was demonstrated in the diastolic function the left ventricle between the two groups in the HT (p=0.007) and NT (p=0.04) sub-groups.
In conclusion, left ventrcle diastolic function was deteriorated in cerebral infarction patients although systolic function not deteriorated.
Because diastolic dysfunction may be caused by existing latent heart failure and/or silent myocardial ischemia, echocardiographic study is useful for early detection of left ventricle impairments in cerebral infarction patients.

View full abstract