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To clarify the value of clinical long-term follow-up with radiological examination, ranging from 12 to 63 months (average: 35 months), 18 consecutive patients suffering from spontaneous carotid cavernous fistula (CCF), were studied prospectively. Five aged patients without aggressive symptoms were treated conservatively, and the other 13 underwent transarterial embolization. The radiological follow-up was primarily by magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), performed from 2 to 6 times (average: 4.1 times) during the follow-up period. In three cases, CCFs persisted, but the other fifteen (83%) demonstrated complete cure as defined by long-term follow-up MRA. The three patients with persistent CCFs were comparatively young, less than 60 years old, had no atherosclerotic factors and demonstrated multiple venous drainage routes with cortical venous drainage on angiography. In two of them, the symptoms completely disappeared, and the other had only mild chemosis. However, surprisingly, in two, MRA revealed residual CCF with drainage into only cortical veins through the sphenoparietal sinus, this radiological finding being well known to signify danger. During the follow-up period, central retinal vein thrombosis occurred in two cases. The common point in these cases was that the superior ophthalmic vein was the only venous drainage route. This is also a point requiring care. We therefore emphasize the importance of careful long-term radiological follow-up for spontaneous CCF patients even when their symptoms improve or disappear. MRA is particularly suitable for this purpose and applicable in the out-patient clinic because of its non-invasive nature.

A 37-year-old female with left sided multiple congenital haemangiomata presented with repeated haemorrhage. The haemorrhagic origin was from the angiomatous lesion with arteriovenous (AV) shunting in the tongue and pharynx. The patient had already undergone ligation of the external carotid artery. Vascularization was mainly from the portion of the external carotid artery distal to the occlusion. Our first approach via the collateral channels to the haemangioma failed. Through direct puncture of the distal end of the external carotid artery with the use of two dimensional road mapping, we succeeded in catheterizing the distal end of the external carotid artery at the first attempt without placing any pressure on the neck, and carried out selective embolisation without mishap.

Effectivness of the hybrid-weakness caused by a complementary interaction of two dominant genes Hwc1 and Hwc2 to suppress the spread of the red-grain gene into ordinary white-grained rice cultivars was investigated using the Monte Carlo computer simulation method. It was shown that the weakness genes, as far as being capable of reducing the fitness of the carrier by 80 percent or more, work quite effectively to suppress the genetic contamination of white-grained cultivars due to inflow of pollen from red-grained cultivars due to inflow of pollen from red-grain gene once the gene has been incorporated in to the population in the form of red-grained progeny produced as a result of the imperfect lethality of the initial hybrid between red-and white-grained cultivars. The weakness genes have little or no effect cultivars. The weakness genes have little or no effect either, when the contamination is initiated by an inflow of seeds or seedlings from ed-grained cultivars in these situations, removal (selection)of red grained plants Is the only countermeasure to exterminate the red-grain gene. The removal of red grained plants need not be intensive if carried out continuously. The spread of the red-grain gene after initial contamination is suppressed if the red-grain gene and weakness genes are linked. The suppressing effect of the linkage, however, is not substantial when the outcrossing rate is around or smaller than 0.01 as can be assumed in most rice cultivars.

We report on one Japanese case subject with neurocysticercosis (NCC) who had a single cyst in the brain and had undergone curative surgical resection. Pathological examination revealed that it was a cysticercus of Taenia solium. Serological examination of the pair serum samples just before and 1 year after surgery revealed that antibody responses against the glycoproteins, highly specific to NCC and detected in the serum sample just before surgery by both immunoblot and ELISA became negative within 1 year after the surgery. It is, therefore, strongly suggested that this case had a single cysticercus in his whole body and the presence of a single cysticercus was sufficient to evoke antibody responses against it.

To determine whether the absolute value for the stump pressure might be a useful index of symmetrical cerebral blood flow (CBF), and to examine correlations with the stump pressure ratio (initial mean stump pressure/preocclusion mean arterial pressure), fifty candidates for ICA injury or permanent occlusion were evaluated preoperatively. Each was continuously monitored for mean stump pressure and arterial pressure before, during (for a total of 20 min), and after balloon test occlusion. During the occlusion, CBF was measured by 99 m Tc-hexamethyl-propyleneamine oxime (99 m Tc-HMPAO) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The stump pressure and the stump pressure ratio were then compared with the results of 99 m Tc-HMPAO SPECT. Patients who failed to tolerate even brief periods of carotid occlusion and showed asymmetric decreases in CBF on SPECT were divided into high and moderate risk groups. Those with no significant changes in CBF on the occluded site formed the minimum risk group. Mean stump pressure was over 50 mmHg in 10 of a total of 25 patients in the high and moderate risk groups, and below 50 mmHg in 5 of the 25 patients in the minimum risk group. The stump pressure ratio did not exceed 56% in any but two patients in the high and moderate risk groups, and values were at least 60% in all patients of the minimum risk group. Decrease of CBF in two moderate risk group cases was localized in the posterior circulation. Difference in symmetrical CBF between the stump pressure ratio vs. the absolute value of mean stump pressure were statistically significant (p < 0.01, Fisher's Exact Test). Maintenance of a stump pressure ratio of 60% or more during test occlusion may be a more useful index for a good collateral circulation than any absolute value for mean stump pressure.

We assessed the long-term follow-up results of platinum coil embolization and aneurysmography (ARG) with endovascular surgery for giant aneurysms. 24 cases of giant aneurysms were treated over a period of seven years. In the present study, the 16 of these for which surgical dipping was impossible so that only endovascular surgery was employed were investigated in detail. In 10 cases the cavernous sinus area was involved, in two each the tip of the basilar artery, and the bifurcation of the ophthalmic artery, and in one each the extracranial internal carotid and the vertebral artery. Since conventional angiography did not allow the position and size of the neck of 10 cavernous sinus aneurysms to be identified, making treatment decisions difficult, we applied the ARG developed by the senior author. Prior to treatment, balloon test occlusion of the parent arteries was performed. In all 10 cavernous sinus cases, ARG successfully revealed the morphology of the aneurysm. A small neck was diagnosed for seven of the aneurysms of the cavernous sinus and all those located at the basilar and ophthalmic arteries, making a total of 11, and for these endosaccular embolization was carried out. In the other 5 cases, proximal occlusion using Gold valve balloons was performed. Under ARG, embolization of the aneurysms could be safely accomplished with platinum coils, without dislocation of the coils into the parent arteries in all cases. In four out of 10 cases, re-opening of the aneurysms occurred after 2 months or longer, so that re-embolization was required. Regarding complications, transient monoparesis of the upper extremity was encountered in one case. After angiographic and MRA follow-up of 1–36 months (average, 13.8 months), 4 of 10 cases demonstrated complete occlusion, and 5 displayed an 80–90% reduction in blood flow. In only one case, involving a basilar tip aneurysm, was the treatment unsuccessful in preventing eventual rupture and death. In cases where the morphology of the aneurysm is unclear, ARG can be considered indispensable for determining the treatment modality and safe performance of localized embolization of the neck by endovascular surgery. However, since coils used for embolization of giant aneurysms may move or become compacted, re-opening can occur so that applications may be limited, especially with terminal type lesions with intraluminal thrombus, and the necessity for long-term follow-up must be emphasized.

Effect of Eimeria tenella infection on Salmonella typhimurium infection of chickens was tested using feed experimentally contaminated with S. typhimurium. Four experiments were conducted. In Experiments 1 and 2, chickens received feed contaminated with 10(3) or 10(2) cfu of S. typhimurium per g for 5 days after E. tenella infection. In Experiments 3 and 4, chickens were fed feed contaminated with 10(2) or 10 cfu of S. typhimurium per g for 3 days before E. tenella infection. In all experiments, chickens were necropsied 3 to 14 days after E. tenella infection. The number of S. typhimurium in the cecal contents was counted and the presence of the organism in the liver and bile was examined. In Experiments 1 and 2, there was no significant difference in S. typhimurium infection between the group infected with S. typhimurium alone and the group infected with both E. tenella and S. typhimurium. In Experiments 3 and 4, S. typhimurium counts in the cecal contents of chickens in the concurrently infected group were significantly greater than those of chickens in the S. typhimurium alone-infected group.