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To characterize the personality profile of glaucoma subjects.One hundred eight subjects including 56 open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and 52 controls were given the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) test and all performed automated perimetry. Clinical and demographic information which could relate to personality type was collected.OAG subjects had significantly higher Hypochondriasis (Hs; P=0.0082), Hysteria (Hy; P=0.0056), and Health Concerns (HEA; P=0.0025) mean scores than the control group. OAG subjects also had a significantly greater frequency of clinically abnormal score for hysteria (P=0.0262), and health concerns (P=0.0018). Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that Hypochondriasis, Hysteria, and Health Concerns scores were related to number of systemic medications used and to diagnostic group. Other potential explanatory variables such as sex, ethnicity, number of medical problems, length of glaucoma diagnosis, occurrence of glaucoma surgery, intraocular pressure, and visual status (logMAR, visual field indices) were not related to these personality scores.Patients with a diagnosis of OAG had more abnormal MMPI-2 scores in areas that focus upon concerns of somatic complaints and poor health. The use of systemic medications, which may be a constant reminder of illness, is a factor that may contribute to higher MMPI-2 scores.

Inherited thrombophilia has been suggested as a cause of micro-thrombosis resulting in femoral head necrosisin Legg-Calve' Perthes Disease (LCPD). Protein C, hepatic zymogens, acts as a thrombotic agent and regulatesthe coagulation cascade. Genotype variations in the promoter region of the protein C gene (T-1654C; A-1641G & A-1476T) have been reported to be associated with plasma protein C levels and thrombotic risk.In order to clarify any association of these polymorphic variations to LCPD, we analyzed the promoterregion of gene for protein C (from –1704 to –1198 nt) in 70 Japanese LCPD cases (8 early-onset & 62 lateonsettype) and 93 controls.Results of direct sequencing of the protein C gene promoter region showed a significantly high incidence ofT-1654C change in early-onset LCPD cases than among the late-onset LCPD and control groups. Ourresults, therefore, suggest a significant association between early onset LCPD and the T-1654C mutation inthe protein C promoter region.Key Words: Protein C gene promoter region polymorphism, micro thrombosis, early-onset LCPD.

Background: A possible relation between maternal-fetal microchimerism and autoimmune diseases with some similarities to chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD) has been reported. Objective: To investigate whether cells with male DNA exist in female patients with Sjogren's syndrome (SS) as SS has clinical features similar to those of cGVHD. Methods: DNA was extracted from 27 samples of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), 42 biopsy samples of labial salivary glands (LSG), and nine samples of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cells from 56 female patients with SS. The presence of male DNA was determined by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and by fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH). Results: Among 56 female patients with SS, 42 patients had at least one male child. Among those 42 patients, none of the 22 PBMC but 10/28 (36%) LSG samples tested positive by PCR for the Y chromosome-specific sequence (p=0.0013). The Y chromosome-specific sequence was not detected in the samples of LSG in 10 patients without SS. In the BALF samples 2/9 (22%) patients with SS tested positive by PCR. Cells containing the Y chromosome were shown to exist in all the LSG specimens from three female patients with SS by FISH. Conclusions: Maternal-fetal microchimerism was shown for the first time to exist in the salivary glands and lungs of female patients with SS in this study. The presence of non-host cells in the inflammatory lesions but not in the peripheral blood suggests a possible role for maternal-fetal microchimerism in the pathogenesis of SS.

To find out whether the palatal plane is a useful indicator for evaluating the level of velopharyngeal closure, we did a cross-sectional study from early childhood to puberty of the vertical relationship between the palatal plane and the level of velarpharyngeal contact during velopharyngeal functioning in 61 patients with repaired cleft palate (unilateral cleft lip and palate = cleft group) and 82 controls without clefts (control group). Measurements on the vertical dimension were derived from a coordinate system and landmarks on lateral cephalograms, and the significance of differences in measurements was analysed using Student's t-test. Changes in the points of velarpharyngeal contact in relation to the palatal plane with growth showed a consistent tendency though differed between the two groups. In the control group, the PPW (point where palatal plane extension intersects the posterior pharyngeal wall) was maintained at a level that did not differ significantly from the level of midpoint of velarpharyngeal contact during phonation of /a/, and was maintained at a level that did not differ significantly from the level of the inferior point of velarpharyngeal contact. In the cleft group, however, it was maintained at a level that was slightly higher than the superior point of velarpharyngeal contact both during phonation of /a/ and during blowing. These results suggest that the palatal plane is useful as an indicator for evaluating the level of velopharyngeal closure.

We have compared the energy expenditure during walking in three patients, aged between 51 and 55 years, with unilateral disarticulation of the hip when using the mechanical-controlled stance-phase control knee (Otto Bock 3R15) and the microprocessor-controlled pneumatic swing-phase control knee (Intelligent Prosthesis, IP). All had an endoskeletal hip disarticulation prosthesis with an Otto Bock 7E7 hip and a single-axis foot. The energy expenditure was measured when walking at speeds of 30, 50, and 70 m/min. Two patients showed a decreased uptake of oxygen (energy expenditure per unit time, ml/kg/min) of between 10.3% and 39.6% when using the IP compared with the Otto Bock 3R15 at the same speeds. One did not show any significant difference in the uptake of oxygen at 30 m/min, but at 50 and 70 m/min, a decrease in uptake of between 10.5% and 11.6% was found when using the IP. The use of the IP decreased the energy expenditure of walking in these patients.

We undertook a prospective, randomised study in order to evaluate the efficacy of clamping the drains after intra-articular injection of saline with 1:500 000 adrenaline compared with post-operative blood salvage in reducing blood loss in 212 total knee arthroplasties. The mean post-operative drained blood volume after drain clamping was 352.1 ml compared to 662.3 ml after blood salvage (p < 0.0001). Allogenic blood transfusion was needed in one patient in the drain group and for three in the blood salvage group. Drain clamping with intra-articular injection of saline with adrenaline is more effective than post-operative autologous blood transfusion in reducing blood loss during total knee arthroplasty.

The aim of this study was to assess the importance of immunohistochemical thymidylate synthase (TS) expression level as a prognostic marker in tongue cancer patients. In 140 patients with primary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue, intratumoural TS expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The level of TS expression was determined by a semiquantitative scoring system, ranging from 1+ to 3+ according to the ratio of TS-positive cells. Of 140 patients, 64 (45.7%), 49 (35.0%) and 27 (19.3%) were assessed as 1+, 2+ and 3+, respectively. Univariate analyses demonstrated that both disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were significantly lower in patients with a TS 3+ tumour than in those with a TS 1+/2+ tumour (DFS: P = 0.0082, OS: P = 0.0100). In a multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model, cervical lymph-node status and TS expression level were selected as independent factors for DFS and OS. Maintenance adjuvant chemotherapy by oral 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) significantly improved DFS and OS in patients with a TS 1+/2+ tumour (DFS: P = 0.0027, OS: P = 0.0398). These data suggest that the level of immunohistochemical TS expression is an independent prognosticator in patients with tongue SCC, and may be useful in the selection of patients who would benefit from oral 5-FU adjuvant chemotherapy.

Watermarking is a technique embedding hidden multimedia information imperceptibly, such as images and sounds. Generally original image is transformed and coded watermark data is embedded in frequency domain watermarking models. In this paper, we propose a new data embedding method using cellular automata transform (CAT). An original image is CA-transformed and the watermark data is embedded into the coefficients of CA-transformed pattern. Our watermarking model has the flexibility in data hiding. It is possible to embed watermark pattern in many different CAT planes with different rule number parameters and CA bases class of CAT and all kinds of image models such as shape, letter and photo can be used as a watermark data. Using CAT with various rule number parameters, it is possible to get many channels for embedding. So our method can recover the weak point having only one transform plane in DFT and DCT domain methods. The watermarking experiments were conducted to show the validity of the proposed method, and the results show that our method can provide multi frequency domains for embedding watermark.

Pelvic radiographs of 200 consecutive Japanese Oriental patients who were admitted for hip surgery at the Hospital of Kobe University in Japan were compared with those of 199 consecutive American white patients who were admitted for the same purpose to a New England hospital over a similar four and a half-year period between 1972 and 1976. One hundred and fifty-three Japanese Oriental and 157 American white patients had either primary or secondary osteoarthritis. The remainder had other types of hip pathology, such as avascular necrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis. The radiographs of five Japanese Oriental and seven American white patients showed evidence of previous Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, coxa vara, or slipped capital femoral epiphysis. With only two exceptions, the osteoarthritis in the remainder of the Japanese Oriental patients was secondary, caused by antecedent congenital hip disease: twenty-eight had one or two congenitally dislocated hips, ninety-two had acetabular dysplasia, and twenty-six had superolateral osteoarthritis. In contrast, only nine of the American white patients clearly had a diagnosis of acetabular dysplasia, and twenty-six had superolateral osteoarthritis. Twenty-one American white men had a femoral head-tilt deformity. Among the Americans, the largest group (sixty-five patients) had superomedial osteoarthritis. Nine had non-rheumatoid protrusio acetabuli and twenty had axillary or concentric osteoarthritic involvement. The majority of American white patients, therefore, had a type of osteoarthritis that was not seen in the Japanese Oriental patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)