Two Cases of Primary Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma of the Liver: Immunohistochemical Expression of Ezrin and Its Relationship with Prognosis

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) as soft tissue sarcoma would not be especially noteworthy, but primary hepatic MFH reports are extremely rare. Herein, we report ezrin expression in tumor tissues from two primary hepatic MFH cases with different prognoses. Cases 1 and 2 were both women, ages 45 and 70 years, respectively. Case 1 had an 11×10 cm liver tumor in segment (S) 3, and case 2 had two liver tumors, 12×8 cm in S5 and 10×7 cm in S8. Neither had any other systemic tumors. Cases 1 and 2 survived for two year and ten months and for eight and a half months, respectively, after the initial tumor resection. Microscopically, the tumors of these two cases were similar and showed proliferation of atypical cells, including spindle, pleomorphic and multi-nucleated giant cells arranged in storiform, sheet and/or fascicle patterns, with scattered foci of inflammatory cells, indicating MFH. Ezrin expression in tumor tissue from case 1 was sparse, whereas that of case 2 showed strong ezrin expression in many tumor cells. The present results indicate ezrin immunoreactivity in primary hepatic MFH to correlate possible with prognosis, which is consistent with reports on some other types of malignancies

Administration of donor splenocytes via the respiratory tract generates CD8α+ regulatory dendritic cells and induces hyporesponsiveness to fully allogeneic cardiac grafts

Background: We previously showed that pretreatment with intratracheal delivery (ITD) of alloantigen induced prolonged cardiac allograft survival and generated regulatory T cells (Tregs) in mice. In this study, we examined the role of splenic dendritic cells (DCs) in the ITD model. Methods: CBA mice were treated with ITD from C57BL/10 splenocytes and 7 days later received transplantation of C57BL/10 hearts. In adoptive transfer studies, splenic DCs from ITD-treated mice were transferred into naive CBA recipients that received C57BL/10 hearts immediately after the transfer. In addition, to determine the role of splenic DCs isolated from ITD-treated mice, the cells were incubated under stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Results: ITD-treated CBA recipients had markedly prolonged allograft survival (median survival time [MST], 67 days) while naive recipients rejected allografts acutely (MST, 8 days). In adoptive transfer studies, CBA recipients of the transfer of splenic DCs from ITD-treated mice had prolonged allograft survival (MST, 85 days), while CBA recipients of the transfer of splenic DCs from naive mice did not have prolonged allograft survival (MST, 8 days). In another transfer study, CBA recipients of the transfer of splenic CD8α+ DCs from ITD-treated mice had prolonged allograft survival (MST, 79 days), while those receiving splenic CD8α- DCs from ITD-treated mice did not have prolonged allograft survival (MST, 8 days). In vitro studies showed that ITD-treated splenic DCs produced more IL-10 and less IL-12 than naive splenic DCs under stimulation with LPS. Conclusions: ITD pretreatment induces regulatory DCs, which produce high amounts of IL-10 resulting in the prolongation of graft survival in our model

Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis after fluorouracil chemotherapy for rectal cancer

Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (PCI) is a relatively rare condition characterized by intraluminal gas in the gastrointestinal tract. Several chemotherapeutic agents have been reported to be associated with PCI, although fluorouracil-related PCI is extremely rare. We report a case of a 76-year old man who received adjuvant chemotherapy for rectal cancer with fluorouracil (FU) and leucovorin (LV). After 1 cycle of the treatment, he presented with diarrhea and abdominal pain. Abdominal radiogram revealed the presence of free air under the diaphragm and intramural gas in the intestine. Laparotomy was performed, showing a suspected diagnosis of perforation in the gastrointestinal tract. Intraoperative findings revealed pneumatosis of the intestine without evidence of perforation. He was treated supportively and his symptoms improved. In conclusion, we should consider the possibility of PCI occurring in patients with malignancies during chemotherapy treatment

Exploring Relationships Between Tweet Numbers and Over-the-counter Drug Sales for Allergic Rhinitis: Retrospective Analysis

Background: Health-related social media data are increasingly being used in disease surveillance studies. In particular, surveillance of infectious diseases such as influenza has demonstrated high correlations between the number of social media posts mentioning the disease and the number of patients who went to the hospital and were diagnosed with the disease. However, the prevalence of some diseases, such as allergic rhinitis, cannot be estimated based on the number of patients alone. Specifically, individuals with allergic rhinitis typically self-medicate by taking over-the-counter (OTC) medications without going to the hospital. Although allergic rhinitis is not a life-threatening disease, it represents a major social problem because it reduces people’s quality of life, making it essential to understand its prevalence and people’s motives for self-medication behavior. Objective: This study aims to explore the relationship between the number of social media posts mentioning the main symptoms of allergic rhinitis and the sales volume of OTC rhinitis medications in Japan. Methods: We collected tweets over 4 years (from 2017 to 2020) that included keywords corresponding to the main nasal symptoms of allergic rhinitis: “sneezing,” “runny nose,” and “stuffy nose.” We also obtained the sales volume of OTC drugs, including oral medications and nasal sprays, for the same period. We then calculated the Pearson correlation coefficient between time series data on the number of tweets per week and time series data on the sales volume of OTC drugs per week. Results: The results showed a much higher correlation (r=0.8432) between the time series data on the number of tweets mentioning “stuffy nose” and the time series data on the sales volume of nasal sprays than for the other two symptoms. There was also a high correlation (r=0.9317) between the seasonal components of these time series data. Conclusions: We investigated the relationships between social media data and behavioral patterns, such as OTC drug sales volume. Exploring these relationships can help us understand the prevalence of allergic rhinitis and the motives for self-care treatment using social media data, which would be useful as a marketing indicator to reduce the number of out-of-stocks in stores, provide (sell) rhinitis medicines to consumers in a stable manner, and reduce the loss of sales opportunities. In the future, in-depth investigations are required to estimate sales volume using social media data, and future research could investigate other diseases and countries