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.     

Inhibition of IgE formation in mice by glycoproteins from corn silk

The inhibitory effects of glycoproteins separated from a hot water extract of corn silk (U-CSE) on the formation of IgE antibodies after primarily and secondarily challenged responses with dinitrophenyl (DNP)-ovalbumin (OVA) antigen in mice were investigated using the passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) test. When U-CSE was given intranasally or intraperitoneally the day before primary immunization, IgE antibody production was strongly inhibited. Furthermore, it was found that new formation of IgE antibodies was readily inhibited by U-CSE administration in mice with high levels of IgE after primary immunization. It was also found that U-CSE markedly suppressed IgE antibody formation in secondarily challenged responses with the antigen. U-CSE may be clinically applicable to type I allergic diseases.     

Monocytoid B lymphocytes and epithelioid cell clusters in abscess-forming granulomatous lymphadenitis. With special reference to cat scratch disease.

In order to clarify the appearance of monocytoid B lymphocytes (MBLs) in abscess-forming granulomatous lymphadenitis (AGL) and the relation between AGL and cat-scratch disease (CSD), 48 cases of AGL were studied histologically. MBLs were present in about 50% of AGL cases. Warthin-Starry (WS) silver stain-positive bacteria, which are the causative agent of CSD, were present in 52.4% of AGL cases with MBLs and 59.2% of AGL cases without MBLs. The appearance of MBLs in AGL was not related to various clinical features, including disease interval from initial lymphadenopathy to lymph node biopsy. Histologically, epithelioid cell clusters appeared in about 70% of MBL-positive AGL cases, but were not observed in MBL-negative AGL. Therefore, a close interaction between MBLs and epithelioid cells in AGL is suggested, and we emphasize that the histological features of some AGL cases resemble those of toxoplasmic lymphadenitis.     

An ultrastructural study on anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using autogenous patellar tendon grafts in dogs

An ultrastructural study was undertaken concerning morphological changes within the autografted patellar tendon (PT) after being transplanted to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in mongrel dogs. After 4 weeks, the arrangements of both large and small collagen fibrils in the PT graft became disordered, and the number of inflammatory cells increased. However, the same PT grafts revealed postsurgical signs of newly-produced collagen fibrils around activated fibroblasts at 12 to 24 weeks. At 52 weeks after the transplantation, small collagen fibrils increased in both number and density, showing a remarkable morphological similarity to the collagen fibrils of normal ACL. These data indicate that the characteristics of the PT graft eventually resemble those of a normal ACL. This paper was presented in part at the Combined Meeting of the Orthopedic Research Societies of the USA, Japan and Canada in Banff, Alberta, Canada, October, 1991.     

Benastatins A and B, new inhibitors of glutathione S-transferase, produced by Streptomyces sp. MI384-DF12. I. Taxonomy, production, isolation, physico-chemical properties and biological activities.

Benastatins have been isolated as part of a program designed to find microorganism-produced inhibitors of glutathione S-transferase from Streptomyces sp. MI384-DF12. They were purified by chromatography of reversed-phase silica gel, silica gel and Capcell Pak C18 (HPLC) followed by solvent extraction and then isolated as yellow powders. Benastatins A and B have the molecular formulae, C30H28O7 and C30H30O7, respectively. They were competitive with 3,4-dichloronitrobenzene as the substrate, and the inhibition constants (Ki) of benastatins A and B were 5.0 x 10(-6) and 3.7 x 10(-6), respectively.     

A case of multiple leiomyomatous lesions of the lung: An analysis of flowcytometry and hormone receptors

A 36 year old woman was admitted to our department because of a chest X-ray which showed multiple developing shadows. She underwent bilateral exploratory thoracotomies and a total 5 tumors were resected and pathologically diagnosed as benign metastasizing leiomyoma, the largest of which was positive for the progesterone receptor and negative for the estrogen receptor. A histogram of this tumor using a flow cytometer showed a diploid pattern and 4.6 percent of the S phase which was not more than that of a leiomyoma of the uterus from another patient. Two months later, she underwent a hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy for treatment of the positive progesterone receptor in the pulmonary lesions. The resected uterine myoma and normal myometrium showed positive estrogen and progesterone receptors. For the subsequent 28 months she has been free of any further symptoms. Benign metastasizing leiomyoma of the uterus is a rare disease and very interesting because of its histological benignity and hormonal dependency. However, according to the literature, it is often confused in entity due to the fact that normal lung tissue also possesses hormone receptors. Considering our data on hormone receptors, it is rational to think that multiple leiomyomatous lesions in the lung should only be diagnosed as benign metastasizing leiomyomas when they possess positive estrogen and progesterone receptors.     

Ouabain as an amplifier of mineralocorticoid-induced hypertension.

Ouabain has recently been reported to be an endogenous Na, K-ATPase inhibitor. To evaluate whether it exerts hypertensive action itself or amplifies the hypertensive action of small doses of mineralocorticoids, 5 mg deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA), 1 mg ouabain, or a combination of both were injected into mononephrectomized rats weekly for 6 weeks, and changes in blood pressure were evaluated. The blood pressures of control, DOCA-treated, ouabain-treated, and the combination treatment group at the sixth week were 138 +/- 3 (SE), 160 +/- 6, 144 +/- 6, and 201 +/- 14 mmHg, respectively. The blood pressure of rats given DOCA or ouabain alone was not significantly different from that of controls. In contrast, the blood pressure of rats given the combination of DOCA and ouabain was significantly higher than that of control rats and those given DOCA or ouabain separately. Cardionephromegaly and histopathological changes found in rats given the combination of DOCA and ouabain were consistent with the effects of an elevation of blood pressure. Further evaluation revealed that the amplification effect of ouabain on the hypertensive action of DOCA was dose dependent, with the minimum dose that caused the amplification effect being 0.25 mg/week. These results indicate that ouabain, although devoid of hypertensive action itself, amplifies the hypertensive action of small doses of DOCA and can cause a hypertensive state similar to that induced by larger doses of DOCA. It is inferred that the amplification effect of ouabain on mineralocorticoids is important in the genesis of hypertension.     

Staged Fontan procedure for mitral atresia associated with severe tricuspid regurgitation, pulmonary hypertension, and pulmonary artery distortion

Optimal initial palliation and a subsequent staged approach is mandatory for high-risk Fontan candidates. We describe the case of mitral atresia with severe tricuspid regurgitation and pulmonary hypertension successfully managed by repeated palliation from the neonatal period and 2-stage Fontan surgery. A 1-month-old boy diagnosed with mitral atresia and double-outlet right ventricle underwent pulmonary artery banding at 1 month of age, followed by repeated pulmonary artery banding accompanied by tricuspid annuloplasty and atrial septal defect enlargement at 6 months. Because of the presence of pulmonary artery distortion, right ventricular dysfunction, and borderline pulmonary vascular resistance, a hemi-Fontan procedure was conducted with extended pulmonary artery plasty when the boy was 3 years and 8 months old. Cardiac catheterization done 3 months after showed improvement in risk factors, and the final Fontan operation (total cavopulmonary connection) was successfully done in conjunction with repeated tricuspid annuloplasty when the boy was 4 years and 5 months old. The patient remains in excellent clinical condition at the last follow-up 5 years after the final Fontan procedure with sinus rhythm and good ventricular function.