Chemo-endocrine therapy in patients with stage D2 prostate cancer

There have only been a few studies of chemo-endocrine therapy compared with endocrine therapy alone in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients. We assessed the effects of these two therapies by comparing long-term survival rates. One hundred and twenty-nine patients were entered in this study between November 1977 and March 1992. Seventy-seven patients were treated with endocrine therapy alone. Other 52 patients received chemo-endocrine therapy, which included orchiectomy and/or diethylstilbestrol diphosphate (DES-DP) plus Cisplatin, with or without other cytotoxic agents. All patients had bone metastasis at the beginning of the study. There was a significant difference in survival between patients who received endocrine therapy and chemo-endocrine therapy (P = 0.0078). That is, survival rate was superior for the chemoendocrine therapy patients throughout the entire follow-up period. These data suggest that early chemo-endocrine therapy containing Cisplatin, with or without maintenance chemotherapy, is a potentially effective treatment for newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer and is worth further investigation via a randomized trial.     

A Case of Postsurgical Pancreatic Pseudocyst Treated by Endoscopic Cystogastrostomy

Pancreatic pseudocyst after pancreatic surgery is a relatively rare condition and conservative therapy is the common treatment of choice. When symptoms persist or complications follow, however, surgical treatment is considered. There have been reports on endoscopic cystoenterostomy since the early 1980s. We herein describe a case of postsurgical pancreatic pseudocyst treated successfully by endoscopic cystogastrostomy. A nineteen-year-old female showing left hypochondralgia and back pain with elevation of her serum amylase level, who had undergone enucleation of a solid cystic tumor in the body of the pancreas, was referred to our department. She was diagnosed as having a pseudocyst of the pancreas 5.8×4.5 cm in size at the site of enucleation by US and CT. Endoscopic retrograde pancreatography and endoscopic ultrasonography performed simultaneously revealed obstruction of the main pancreatic duct and a cystic change in the body-tail of the pancreas just behind the gastric wall of the upper body. An extrinsic compression was seen in the posterior wall of the upper body of the stomach endoscopically. An incision was made using a sphincterotome. A pigtail stent, 7.2 Fr in size, was placed to keep the patency of the fistula, which was removed one and a half months later. Her symptoms showed great improvement immediately after the procedure. Follow-up CT demonstrated no recurrence of the pseudocyst.     

Prolidase Activity in Chronic Wound and Blister Fluids

We investigated prolidase activity in samples derived from wound fluid as well as blister fluid. Prolidase activity was elevated in fluid samples collected from wounds over the levels in sera collected from patients with chronic wounds (P<0.05). Prolidase activity was also present in samples taken from blister diseases. However, prolidase activity in blister fluid was not higher than that in sera collected from patients with blister diseases. Our results indicate that prolidase may play a role in wound healing.     

Primary Adenocarcinoma in the Urethrorectal Fistula

A 60-year-old Japanese man was hospitalized because of urinary leakage from the anus on October 3, 1994. Retrograde urethrography detected a fistula between the bulbous urethra and the rectum. Urethrocystoscopy revealed a tumor on the urethrorectal fistula. Tumor biopsy showed a well differentiated adenocarcinoma. Cystourethrectomy with fistulectomy, and ileal conduit urinary diversion were performed. Pathological examination revealed primary adenocarcinoma in the fistula with invasion to the prostatic urethra and bladder wall. The patient showed no evidence of a recurrence as of August, 1996.     

Techniques of nasotracheal intubation with the fiberoptic bronchoscope

When nasotracheal intubation with a fiberoptic bronchoscope is performed, the tube may be blocked in the nasal cavity or larynx, resulting in several complications including epistaxis and hoarseness. We review the causes and complications of tube blockage and discuss optimal techniques for minimizing it.     

A Combination of Speckled Lentiginous Nevus with Patch-type Blue Nevus

A peculiar case of “nevus on nevus” was reported. A 67-year-old man had had a pigmented lesion in the left hypochondrial area since birth. The clinicopathologic findings of the pigmented lesion revealed a combination of speckled lentiginous nevus and patch-type blue nevus. This case of “nevus on nevus” is not described under the term of combined nevus as is current in the literature; it was considered to be a subtype of the type II atypical blue nevus described by Kawamura.     

Select types of supporting cell in the inner ear express aquaporin-4 water channel protein

Aquaporins (AQPs) confer a high water permeability on cell membranes and play important parts in secretory and absorptive epithelia in kidney and other organs. Here we investigate whether AQPs are expressed in the sensory epithelia of the inner ear, where a precise volume regulation is crucial. By use of specific antibodies it was found that the inner ear contains AQP1 and 4 while being devoid of detectable levels of AQP2, 3 or 5. Immunofluorescence and postembedding immunogold labelling revealed a strictly non-epithelial distribution of AQP1, confirming previous data. In contrast, AQP4 protein and mRNA (visualized by in situ hybridization) were concentrated in select types of supporting cell, including Hensen's cells and inner sulcus cells. Immunogold particles signalling AQP4 were confined to the basolateral plasma membrane of Hensen's cells and to the basal plasma membrane of Claudius cells and inner sulcus cells. AQP4 was also found in supporting cells of the vestibular end organs, but was absent from transitional epithelial cells and dark cells. Strong labelling for AQP4 and AQP4-mRNA was associated with the central part of the cochlear and vestibular nerves. Hair cells were consistently unlabelled. Our findings indicate that AQP4 may facilitate osmotically driven water fluxes in the sensory epithelia of the inner ear and thus contribute to the volume and ion homeostasis at these sites.     

Semaphorin3A signalling is mediated via sequential Cdk5 and GSK3beta phosphorylation of CRMP2: implication of common phosphorylating mechanism underlying axon guidance and Alzheimer's disease

Collapsin response mediating protein-2 (CRMP2) has been identified as an intracellular protein mediating Semaphorin3A (Sema3A), a repulsive guidance molecule. In this study, we demonstrate that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) and glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK3beta) plays a critical role in Sema3A signalling. In In vitro kinase assay, Cdk5 phosphorylated CRMP2 at Ser522, while GSK3beta did not induce any phosphorylation of CRMP2. Phosphorylation by GSK3beta was exclusively observed in Cdk5-phosphorylated CRMP2, but barely in CRMP2T509A. These results indicate that Cdk5 primarily phosphorylates CRMP2 at Ser522 and GSK3beta secondarily phosphorylates at Thr509. The dual-phosphorylated CRMP2, but not non-phosphorylated or single-phosphorylated CRMP2, is recognized with the antibody 3F4, which is highly reactive with the neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer's disease. 3F4 recognized the CRMP2 in the wild-type but not cdk5-/- mouse embryonic brain lysates. The phosphorylation of CRMP2 at Ser522 caused reduction of its affinity to tubulin. In dorsal root ganglion neurones, Sema3A stimulation enhanced the levels of the phosphorylated form of CRMP2 detected by 3F4. Over-expression of CRMP2 mutant substituting either Ser522 or Thr509 to Ala attenuates Sema3A-induced growth cone collapse response. These results suggest that the sequential phosphorylation of CRMP is an important process of Sema3A signalling and the same mechanism may have some relevance to the pathological aggregation of the microtubule-associated proteins.     

Changes in blood pressure and muscle sympathetic nerve activity during water drinking in humans

To investigate the possible involvement of the sympathetic nervous system in pressor response during water drinking, muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), blood pressure (BP), and heart rate (HR) were continuously measured in healthy young volunteers throughout the experiments of a 5-min control, 2 min of drinking 500 ml water, and a 28-min recovery. To avoid the effects of water passing through the oropharyngeal and esophageal regions and/or effects of swallowing, an equal amount of water was directly infused to the stomach through a stomach tube for 2 min. Water drinking caused a transient increase in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and HR immediately after drinking (DeltaMAP, 12.6 +/- 2.1 mmHg; DeltaHR, +19.9 +/- 1.7 beats/min at the peak). An abrupt decrease of MSNA was observed directly during water drinking (Deltaburst rate, -6.9 +/- 1.3 bursts/min; Deltatotal activity, -2,606 +/- 491 U/min), and it increased to the baseline level thereafter. Gastric infusion had little or no effect on MAP, HR, and MSNA. The present study demonstrated that a pressor response during water drinking was associated with the attenuation of MSNA and not generated by gastric infusion of water at the same rate as in this drinking manner. In conclusion, the rapid rise in BP might be caused through stimulations from the oropharyngeal region, swallowing-induced factors, and/or a feedforward mechanism by a central descending signal from the higher brain centers.