[Off-pump coronary artery bypass for old myocardial infarction associated with jejunotomy for obstructive ileus due to gall bladder stone; report of a case].

In non-cardiac operative cases with inflammatory digestive organ disease, bacterial translocation (BT) often results from non-enteral nutrition postoperatively. If coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is performed in the case having old myocardial infarction (OMI) and inflammatory digestive organ disease at first before non-cardiac operation, he seems vulnerable to have severe complications such as multiple organ failure due to systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and preexisting BT postoperatively. We performed a off-pump CABG (OPCAB) for OMI associated with jejunotomy for obstructive ileus due to gall bladder stone. No complication was found in the postoperative course. We conclude that combined operation, non-cardiac surgery after OPCAB is worth considering in those cases. And we think OPCAB is better than conventional CABG in such cases, because cardiopulmonary bypass is known to ponder comparable damages to immune system, coagulation system and others.

Sgs1 helicase activity is required for mitotic but apparently not for meiotic functions.

The SGS1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a homologue for the Bloom's syndrome and Werner's syndrome genes. The disruption of the SGS1 gene resulted in very poor sporulation, and the majority of the cells were arrested at the mononucleated stage. The recombination frequency measured by a return-to-growth assay was reduced considerably in sgs1 disruptants. However, double-strand break formation, which is a key event in the initiation of meiotic DNA recombination, occurred; crossover and noncrossover products were observed in the disruptants, although the amounts of these products were slightly decreased compared with those in wild-type cells. The spores produced by sgs1 disruptants showed relatively high viability. The sgs1 spo13 double disruptants sporulated poorly, like the sgs1 disruptants, but spore viability was reduced much more than with either sgs1 or spo13 single disruptants. Disruption of the RED1 or RAD17 gene partially alleviated the poor-sporulation phenotype of sgs1 disruptants, indicating that portions of the population of sgs1 disruptants are blocked by the meiotic checkpoint. The poor sporulation of sgs1 disruptants was complemented with a mutated SGS1 gene encoding a protein lacking DNA helicase activity; however, the mutated gene could suppress neither the sensitivity of sgs1 disruptants to methyl methanesulfonate and hydroxyurea nor the mitotic hyperrecombination phenotype of sgs1 disruptants.

Density of muscle spindles in the jaw muscles of the Japanese flying squirrel and the guinea pig.

The number of muscle spindles and their distribution pattern in the jaw muscles were examined in serial sections of the heads of the Japanese flying squirrel and the guinea pig, and were compared with each other. The Japanese flying squirrel had 127 to 177 spindles, the length of which ranged from 140 microns to 1400 microns; 74 to 99 in the masseter, 39 to 47 in the temporalis, 11 to 28 in the zygomaticomandibularis, zero to one in the maxillomandibularis and two to three in the medial pterygoid muscles. The guinea pig had 322 to 346 spindles, the length of which ranged from 140 microns to 2800 microns; 116 to 125 in the masseter, 15 to 16 in the temporalis, 98 to 107 in the zygomaticomandibularis, 89 to 94 in the maxillomandibularis, and three to five in the medial pterygoid muscles. The lateral pterygoid, mylohyoid and anterior digastric muscles were devoid of spindles, as was the case in the other rodent species examined.

[Antihypertensive effect of felodipine, a new calcium antagonist].

The antihypertensive effect of felodipine was examined in various hypertensive animal models. In spontaneously hypertensive rats, felodipine administered singly at 0.1-1.0 mg/kg (p.o.) had a dose-dependent antihypertensive effect. Nifedipine was effective at 1 mg/kg. In the repeated oral administration experiment, both the maximum decrease in blood pressure and duration of the effect increased gradually and reached steady levels at 3 weeks of administration, which were maintained thereafter. Similar results were noted with nifedipine, but felodipine was longer-acting (4-6 hr) in the steady state than nifedipine (1-2 hr). No development of tolerance was observed during the administration period. In DOCA-salt and renal hypertensive (2K1C) rats, felodipine at 0.1-0.5 mg/kg (p.o.) was superior to nifedipine in the maximum decrease in blood pressure and duration of the effect. Felodipine up to 1 mg/kg (p.o.) caused no significant heart rate increase in any rat model. In renal hypertensive (2K2C) dogs given felodipine at 0.2-0.5 mg/kg (p.o.), the effect lasted for 2 hr after injection. This felodipine effect was stronger and longer lasting than the nifedipine one. At 0.5 mg/kg of felodipine, the heart rate was transiently increased. The present results show that felodipine has a stronger and long-lasting antihypertensive effect than nifedipine in the hypertension models.

Degenerative changes of primary neurons following tooth extraction.

In summarizing the present experimental results of tooth extraction, it can be emphasized that the disturbance of the sensory input units from the teeth resulted in a definite degeneration of the primary neurons. On this ground, it is suggested that the lesion of the sensory input units in the masticatory computer system, according to the individual age affected, may become a large factor in impeding the masticatory activity and accelerating the aging of the masticatory function.

Morphological studies of the neuromuscular mechanism shifting from sucking to biting of mice.

In order to give a neuroanatomical evidence to the mechanism of shifting from sucking to biting, we investigated in prenatal, newborn and postnatal mice whether there is a time difference in the neurogenesis of the neurons relative to sucking and biting or in the histogenesis of their peripheral effector organs by the HRP labeling technique and electron microscopy. The results obtained are as follows. (1) At birth the facial motoneurons exceed the trigeminal motoneurons in cell area and development. (2) After birth, the trigeminal motoneurons grow rapidly and outstrip the growth of the facial motoneurons at the age of 6 days. (3) Thereafter, the cell area of both neuron types continues to increase gradually. (4) The initial sign of the alpha motor end plates is found in the orbicularis oris muscle innervated by the facial nerve in 17-day-old fetuses, while that of the trigeminal nerve is delayed in the masseter muscle of 18-day-old fetuses. (5) The initial sign of the muscle spindle appears with the sensory terminals in the masseter muscle of 17-day-old fetuses and the fundamental structure of the muscle spindle is formed in 4-day-old youngs. (6) Myelination of the facial nerve begins in 3-day-old youngs, while that of the trigeminal nerve becomes apparent in 4- or 5-day-old youngs. From these bases, it is obvious that the facial nerve elements related to sucking are firstly developed at birth and that the differentiation of the trigeminal nerve elements related to biting is rapidly accelerated after birth.

Central projection of proprioceptive afferents arising from maxillo-facial regions in some animals studied by HRP-labeling technique.

20 ICR mice (adult females) were used for analyzing the axonal projection of the trigeminal mesencephalic tract neurons and 10 Japanese shrew-moles for analyzing that of the snout proprioceptive neurons. The HRP-labeled axons were found to be ipsilaterally terminated in the trigeminal motor nucleus, supratrigeminal nucleus and trigeminal main and spinal tract nuclei, lateral pontine-medullary reticular formation, vagal dorsal motor and hypoglossal nuclei and the lamina V of the C2 spinal cord segments. No HRP-labeled axons were found in the facial and solitary nuclei and the cerebellum. Also, the functional localization of the trigeminal mesencephalic tract neurons was analyzed with the retrograde tracers of fluorescent compounds injected into the jaw-closing muscles having spindles. The fluorescent-labeled neurons were found to be intermingled throughout the nucleus and clustered at the caudal level of the nucleus. Also, double or triple fluorescent-labeled neurons were not observed in the nucleus. The HRP-labeled axon bundle of the facial proprioceptive neurons are divided rostro-caudally into the shorter ascending and the longer descending roots, both running closely dorsal to the trigeminal spinal tract nucleus. The ascending root lies adjacently dorsal to the spinal tract nucleus, giving off the terminal fibers to it, to the wider area of the dorso-medial pontine nuclei and finally to the cerebellar nuclei. At the level of the facial inner genu, it turns medially to meet the facial nerve root, giving off the terminal fibers to the facial motor nucleus and to the raphe nuclei and to the opposite nuclei bilaterally. The HRP-labeled descending root takes the course caudally at least down to the C3 segment of the spinal cord, giving off the terminal fibers to the spinal tract nucleus, the nuclei of the IXth, Xth and XIIth cranial nerves and the pontine-medullary reticular formation. In the spinal cord, it descends bilaterally through the posterior fascicles, giving off the terminal fibers to the dorsal and ventral horns.