Excretion,distribution and metabolism of 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene in rats

1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene (TCB) labeled with C-14 was given perorally to rats at a dosage of 50 mg/kg for excretion and distribution studies.About 66% and 17% of the oral dose was excreted in the urine and feces, respectively, within 7 days. Trapped radioactivity in the expired air amounted to 2.1% of the dose, but production of labeled carbon dioxide was negligible. Tissue residues were evenly distributed throughout the organs and tissues examined, except for the adipose tissue which consistently had a little higher concentration.The urinary, fecal and expiratory metabolites were identified. Free 2,4,5- and 2,3,5-trichlorophenol (TCP) and their conjugates were mainly detected in the urine. 5- or 6-Sulfhydryl, methylthio, methylsulfoxide and methylsulfone derivatives of TCB were also detected as minor metabolites. Dichlorobenzenes and unchanged TCB were confirmed in the expired air. Reductive dechlroination seems to be catalysed by intestinal microflora enzymes.     

A case of Beh?et disease with transverse sinus thrombosis and successful treatment with colchicine

A 64-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of headache and fever. Four months before admission, he had suffered from thrombophlebitis of the legs, erythema, oral aphtha and genital ulcers, and was diagnosed as having Beh?et disease. Several days prior to admission he developed fever and was treated with enoxacine, which caused disorientation and abnormal behavior. These psychiatric symptoms disappeared after enoxacine was discontinued. On admission he was neurologically normal. Fever and headache disappeared spontaneously. However, he complained again of headache, and was suspected to have cerebral sinus thrombosis. Brain CT scan showed no abnormality, but brain MRI and cerebral angiography demonstrated right transverse sinus thrombosis and stasis. He was treated with colchicine, isosorbide, and ticlopidine. Because he had a gastric ulcer, corticosteroids were not indicated. Two months later, brain MRI demonstrated reduction of the size of the sinus thrombosis, and the clinical outcome was favorable. We would like to emphasize the usefulness of MRI and colchicine in the patient with Beh?et disease complicated by sinus thromboses.     

Results of pulmonary resection for metastatic renal cell carcinoma

Nine cases of metastatic renal cell carcinoma to the lung were studied to assess the efficacy of surgical management. Between January, 1965 and December 1981, 116 cases of metastatic renal cell carcinoma to the lung were treated. Nine of these cases (7.8%), were treated with surgical resection for the pulmonary metastases. The overall crude survival rate after pulmonary resection was 33.3% (3/9) at 3 years and 22.2% (2/9) at 5 years. Two patients are long-term survivors, one still being in good health 108 months, and the other 72 months after pulmonary resection. Pulmonary resection for metastatic renal cell carcinoma was considered effective in some selected slow-growing cases as protection against metastasis from a metastasis.     

Hybrid carcinomas of the salivary glands: report of nine cases with a clinicopathologic, immunohistochemical, and p53 gene alteration analysis.

Hybrid carcinomas of the salivary gland are a recently defined and rare tumor entity, consisting of two histologically distinct types of carcinoma within the same topographic area. In this study, we examined nine such cases, which mainly arose in the parotid gland (seven cases), with an additional one each from submandibular and lacrimal glands, and analyzed their clinicopathologic profiles, including immunohistochemical features and p53 gene alterations. The prevalence of hybrid carcinomas was 0.4% among the 1863 cases of parotid gland tumors in our series. The nine patients comprised five men and four women, ranging in age from 40 to 81 years (mean, 62 y). Tumor size ranged from 2 to 10 cm (mean, 4.2 cm). Of the seven patients who were followed up, two were alive with disease and five were alive with no evidence of disease, although the follow-up period was short. Three cases had cervical lymph nodal metastases. The combinations of carcinoma components in our hybrid carcinomas were as follows: epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma and basal cell adenocarcinoma in two cases, epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma in one case, salivary duct carcinoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma in two cases, myoepithelial carcinoma and salivary duct carcinoma in one, acinic cell carcinoma and salivary duct carcinoma in one, and squamous cell carcinoma and salivary duct carcinoma in two. Although the proportion of each carcinoma component in a tumor mass varied from case to case, the minor component always represented >or= 10% of the area. Differences in cellular composition were studied by immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. The Ki-67-labeling index apparently differed between the two carcinoma elements in five cases. Diffusely positive p53 immunoreactivity was observed in four cases, restricted to the more aggressive component in each pair. Furthermore, p53 gene alteration analysis of these p53-positive cases revealed that all and three cases demonstrated loss of heterozygosity at p53 microsatellite loci and p53 gene point mutations, respectively, which were detected only in the p53-immunoreactive carcinoma component. Therefore, there is the possibility that such molecular-genetic events take an integral part for inducing the transformation from histologically lower to higher grade tumor during the hybrid carcinoma genesis of the salivary glands.     

Toxicological analysis of the psychotropic drugs chlorpromazine and diazepam using chemically fixed organ tissues

Toxicological analysis for chlorpromazine and diazepam was performed using chemically fixed organ tissue specimens. After chlorpromazine and diazepam had been injected into rabbits, organ tissues (brain, lung, liver, kidney and skeletal muscle) were collected and fixed in 3 fixative solutions: buffered 10% formalin solution (pH 7.4, 10% BF), non-buffered 10% formalin solution (pH 5.1, 10% non-BF), buffered 4% paraformaldehyde solution (pH 7.4, 4% BPA). Chlorpromazine and diazepam were determined by GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) after 5 different fixation periods, and were detected even after 28 days of fixation. Recoveries of chlorpromazine and diazepam in 10% BF were within the range 48–86% and 68–171%, respectively after 28-day fixation, those in 10% non-BF were 22–54% and 48–78%, respectively, and those in 4% BPA solution were 13–59% and 14–50%, respectively. Thus, 10% BF was found to be the most suitable fixation medium for analysis of chlorpromazine and diazepam.     

Developments in the darkroom: a cross-sectional study of sickness absence, work-related symptoms and environmental monitoring of darkroom technicians in a hospital in Glasgow

Nine female technicians using both manual and automatic processingmethods were matched by age, sex and smoking habits with controlsfrom the occupational therapy department. All were interviewedusing a questionnaire about symptoms experienced during theday in question and the preceding month. Sickness absence informationfor 1987 was obtained, and the working environment was assessedby standard occupational hygiene methods. The technicians andcontrols had similar numbers of episodes of sickness absence(23 versus 24, respectively) but aggregated substantially moredays absence attributed to sickness (204 versus 41). The totalnumber of ‘monthly’ symptoms experienced by thetechnicians was greater than the controls (44 versus 30) aswas the number of ‘daily’ complaints (26 versus6). In all cases, respiratory symptoms were responsible forabout one-third of problems, but statistical analysis (Wilcoxonmatched pairs signed ranks tests) showed that the differenceswere not statistically significant. Occupational hygiene resultswere all within normal limits.     

Cavernous sinus meningioma presenting as orbital apex syndrome. Diagnostic methods of dynamic MRI,spoiled GRASS (SPGR) image

Orbital apex syndrome is a symptomatologic complex. In this paper, the usefulness of several clinical diagnostic MR methods in preparing for surgery is discussed. These include dynamic MRI and the spoiled GRASS (SPGR) image for a cavernous sinus meningioma presenting with orbital apex syndrome. A 53 year old man, who had right cavernous sinus tumor presenting with orbital apex syndrome, was examined by several new MRI techniques. The tumor was partially removed and fibroblastic meningioma was confirmed pathologically.