Search

Many arachidonic metabolites have been shown to have marked potent biological effects in animals. The cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase products of arachidonate metabolism are known to play a key role in the development of inflammatory symptoms and signs. Reports published during past decades indicate that cyclooxygenase products of arachidonic acid metabolism are present in much higher concentrations in inflamed than in healthy periodontal tissues. Since information about the role of lipoxygenase products of arachidonic acid metabolism in human periodontal disease is lacking, the objective of this study was to determine the ability of diseased and non-diseased gingival tissue to synthesize lipoxygenase products from the precursor arachidonic acid. Twenty-six samples of diseased tissue and nine samples of non-diseased tissue were included in our data analysis. After incubation of the tissue with 100,000 cpm [3H]-arachidonic acid, lipoxygenase products were separated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and identified by comparison with cochromatographed standards. Our results showed that inflamed gingival tissue synthesized significantly larger amounts, of LTB4(p < 0.01), LTC4(p < 0.01), LTD4(p < 0.01), LTE4(p < 0.01), 5-HETE(p < 0.05), 12-HETE(p < 0.01), and 15-HETE(p < 0.01), compared to non-diseased tissue. The lipoxygenases are more active in inflamed gingival tissue than in non-diseased gingival tissue. 12-HETE and 15-HETE were the the major metabolites formed by lipoxygenases in diseased and non-diseased human gingiva. Since we did not functionally determine the fractions separated by HPLC, our present data may only provided indirect evidence for the existence of lipoxygenase products in periodontal tissue. However, our study did establish a research model for the investigation of arachidonic acid metabolism in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease.

The purposes of the study were as follows: (1) to evaluate the molar furcation involvement and number of molar correlated with age and sex; and (2) to study the relationship between the means of alveolar bone loss and associated factors of molar furcation involvements (FIs). 1102 molars (703 males and 399 females) were measured in 219 individuals (136 males and 83 females) for the alveolar bone loss and associated factors of molar furcation involvements. Based on the results, we conclude the following: (1) the higher prevalence of FI was in the mandibular first molar (94.6%), whereas the lowest prevalence of FI was in maxillary second molar; (2) except for the mandibular first molar, the prevalence of molar FI markedly increased with an increased age group (16 & 26, r = 0.335, p < 0.01; 17 & 27, r = 0.345, p < 0.01; 37 & 47, r = 0.239, p < 0.01); (3) the prevalence of molar FI was significantly higher in males than in females (p < 0.05); (4) the mean number of molar FI was significant greater in males (mean = 3.45) than in females (mean = 2.69); (5) factors such as age (r = 0.222, p < 0.01), sex, (r = 0.145, p < 0.05), number of remaining teeth (r = -0.330, p < 0.01) and molar FI (r = 0.471, p < 0.01) are strongly associated with the mean alveolar bone loss of molars.

We had treated 115 patients with malignant obstructive jaundice, including 69 pancreatic head carcinoma and 46 periampullary carcinoma during the period between 1982 and 1991. In the 115 jaundiced patients 33 had undergone pancreaticoduodenectomy, 50 had bypass operation and the remaining 32 patients undergone percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) only. No operative mortality happened for the 33 pancreaticoduodenectomies. Postoperative complications occurred in 12 patients. Leakage from the choledochojejunostomy was the most often occurred complications, it was found in 7 patients (21.2%). Intraabdominal abscesses happened in six patients (18.2%) which recovered by treating with ultrasound-guided catheteral drainage. Leakage from pancreaticojejunostomy was also found in five patients (15.2%), the complication recovered uneventfully after administration of total parenteral nutrition and good abdominal drainage. Twenty-two out 33 patients with pancreaticoduodenectomy received preoperative biliary drainage. However, despite preoperative biliary drainage, 10 of 22 patients (45.5%) still suffered postoperative complications. It implied that hyperbilirubinemia would trend to carry a high postoperative morbility. The prognosis for our patients with pancreatic head carcinoma was extremely poor. The mean survival period for all of them was not exceeding 12 months. Those who had PTBD as the sole treatment had the shortest survival period, which was 3.4 +/- 3.1 months only. On the other hand, the mean survival period for those who had periampullary cancer and had pancreaticoduodenectomy was 35.5 +/- 27.2 months, while it was 13.3 +/- 10.1 and 11.8 +/- 10.0 months for those having bypass operation and PTBD respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)