Internal medicine
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Comparative Study
Hemoglobin variant HbG-coushatta (beta-22 Glu --> Ala) found by dissociation of blood glucose from values of HbA1C measured by HPLC.
Unexpectedly low values of HbA1C, measured by HPLC compared with their blood glucose levels were found in three related persons. We investigated whether this discrepancy was due to abnormal hemoglobin. ⋯ The dissociation was due to underestimation of HbA1C in the measurement by HPLC which excluded glycated variant Hb.
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Review Case Reports
Segmental mediolytic arteriopathy involving celiac to splenic and left renal arteries.
A 46-year-old man presented with a huge splenic artery dissecting aneurysm that had been incidentally found and was successfully resected before rupture. The histopathologic findings were compatible with segmental mediolytic arteriopathy (SMA). ⋯ The patient was also found to have an adrenocortical adenoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, hepatocellular carcinoma and schizophrenia. The relationship between SMA and other accompanying diseases was discussed.
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This is a report of a patient with occupational hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) caused by Konjak flour and powdered Hijikia fusiforme. A 56-year-old man had worked as a Konnyaku manufacturer for 38 years, and suffered from dyspnea on exertion. ⋯ The diagnosis of HP was confirmed immunologically by the detection of serum precipitins to powdered Hijikia fusiforme, and by the positive result of in vitro lymphocytic proliferative response for Konjak flour using peripheral blood lymphocytes. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of Konnyaku manufacturer's lung.
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Although cigarette smoking is a recognized cause of acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP), and an increase in eosinophils in the lung is a common occurrence in AEP, early-phase neutrophilia in AEP is not well understood. We describe three cases of cigarette smoke (menthol type)-induced AEP with neutrophilia in the lungs or blood. Increased in-vitro production of the neutrophil chemoattractant interleukin (IL)-8 by human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) was correlated with neutrophilia. We suggest that IL-8 released from HBECs is involved in neutrophilia in the lung in AEP, and is newly recognized as an important factor in the early phase of AEP development.