Serum total and free testosterone level of Japanese men: a population-based study

BACKGROUND: There has never been a large scale population-based study of serum levels of total testosterone (TT) and free testosterone (FT) in Japanese men. METHODS: We determined serum levels of TT and FT of 1120 Japanese men aged 40-79 years using radioimmunoassay (RIA), as a part of a population-based longitudinal study of aging. Of these, sex hormone binding protein (SHBG) was also measured by RIA in 471 men. For the latter group, the calculated free testosterone (cFT) was determined by a formula using serum level of albumin, TT and SHBG. RESULTS: The mean +/- 2 SD of TT, FT and cFT were 513 +/- 326 ng/dL (187-839 ng/dL), 13.2 +/- 7.8) pg/mL (5.4-21.0 pg/mL) and 77.0 +/- 43.4 pg/mL (33.6-120.4 pg/mL), respectively. While TT did not relate to age, FT and cFT decreased with age. FT in the 40-49 years age group was 15.1 +/- 8.4 pg/mL (6.7-23.5 pg/mL), in the 50-59 years age group was 13.9 +/- 6.8 pg/mL (7.1-20.7 pg/mL), in the 60-69 years age group was 12.0 +/- 6.6 pg/mL (5.4-18.6 pg/mL) and in the 70-79 years age group was 11.5 +/- 7.0 pg/mL (4.5-18.5 pg/mL). FT significantly correlated with cFT (Spearman's r = 0.803). The correspondence rates were 92.3% at the mean -1 SD and 98.7% at the mean -2 SD level. CONCLUSIONS: We determined the mean and standard deviation of TT, FT and cFT in Japanese men aged 40 years or older. It is supposed that FT determined by RIA would be useful for diagnosing partial androgen deficiency of aging males.     

Immunophenotyping of peripheral blood mononuclear cells collected by cytotoxic and cytotoxic/G-CSF mobilization

We investigated surface immunophenotypes of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) collected by cytotoxic and cytotoxic/G-CSF mobilization of peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) from 38 patients with haematological malignancies in complete remission who underwent consolidation chemotherapy. PBMC were collected by leucapheresis during the haemato poietic recovery phase after intensive chemotherapy. G-CSF was used for mobilization of PBSC in 19 cases. Surface immunophenotyping of frozen-thawed PBMC was performed by flow cytometry. Our findings showed that monocytes and T cells were the two major cell components of PBMC. There were very few B cells in PBMC. Expression of CD45RO and HLA-DR was elevated in lymphocytes, suggesting that T cells in PBMC were activated. The percentage of CD34 positive cells were significantly increased in PBMC collected by cytotoxic/G-CSF mobilization (group 1) compared with PBMC collected by cytotoxic mobil ization (group 2). There were significantly higher percentages of CD14 and CD33 positive cells in group 1 than in group 2. The percentage of CD4 positive lymphocytes positive for HLA-DR was significantly higher in group 1 compared with group 2. These observations indicated that PBMC contained a large number of monocytes and activated T cells, especially in cytotoxic/G-CSF mobilization.     

Action of interleukin-3 on the proliferation of leukaemic progenitor cells from patients with acute myeloblastic leukaemia

In the present study, we examined the effects of interleukin-3 (IL-3) on the proliferation of leukaemic progenitor cells from 11 Japanese patients with acute myeloblastic leukaemia (AML), including the effect of its combination with granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF). The results showed that IL-3 sufficiently stimulated the proliferation of AML progenitor cells in almost all the cases examined, and that the stimulation pattern of IL-3 was similar to that of GM-CSF, although different from that of G-CSF. Furthermore, IL-3 worked synergistically with G-CSF, whereas IL-3 and GM-CSF together were less actively synergistic (P < 0.05). These findings suggest the possibility of IL-3/G-CSF/cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) combination therapy, which may be able to enhance the cytotoxic effect of Ara-C on AML progenitor cells powerfully in a wider range of patients including cases refractory for IL-3/Ara-C combination therapy.     

Selective Endoscopic Retrograde Pancreatography (Selective ERP) Using a Radifocus Gllidewire–A New Technique for a Diagnostic Pancreatogram

Abstract: We have developed a new method called the “Selective Endoscopic Retrograde Pancreatograpy (Selective ERP)” which uses a Radifocus guidewire to obtain a more precise pancreatogram than a standard ERP. The deep cannulation of a catheter guided by a Radifocus guidewire following standard ERP was easily and rapidly accomplished and precise pancreatograms were successfully obtained. The Selective ERP was very useful not only for obtaining detailed pancreatograms beyond severe stenosis of the main pancreatic duct in ductal cell carcinoma of the pancreas but also in revealing whether mucinous cystadenoma/cystadenocarcinoma communicated with the pancreatic duct or not. In the case of a mucin producing pancreatic tumor, Selective ERP successfully enabled us to obtain a whole pancreatogram and the location and extent of a tumor that standard ERP often fails to reveal because of an abundant accumulation of mucin in the duct. A Selective ERP is a simple and useful method for diagnosing pancreatic tumors and can provide precise and whole pancreatograms. We recommend Selective ERP as it enables us to obtain more complete diagnostic pancreatograms following standard ERP.     

Growth Survey of Schoolchildren in Akita Prefecture: Preliminary Report

Okamura T. (Department of Paediatrics, Yuri Nokyo General Hospital, Honjo City, Akita Prefecture, Japan). Growth survey of schoolchildren in Akita prefecture: preliminary report. Acta Paediatr Scand [Suppl] 349: 73, 1989.
This report presents the results of a preliminary epidemiological study of growth in Akita prefecture. Data were collected from 5672 pupils from nine elementary schools in the region. Previous epidemiological investigations of growth have set the screening standard for growth retardation at - 2.58 SD below the mean. On the basis of this figure it was estimated that 22 out of the 5672 pupils screened in this preliminary study (0.39%) would suffer from growth retardation. When this standard is applied to all 102,193 elementary school students in Akita prefecture, 396 children in the region are estimated to be growth retarded. An epidemiological investigation in Niigata prefecture in 1985 found that 10.5% of growth-retarded patients suffered from growth hormone deficiency. While this percentage is known to vary between different studies and with different methods of statistical analysis, application of this rate to the estimated number of 396 growth-retarded patients in Akita prefecture suggests that there may be 41 or 42 patients with growth hormone deficiency.     

Urethral metastasis from renal cell carcinoma

A case of metastasis to the prostatic urethra after transurethral resection of the prostate from a previously resected renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is reported here. Solitary urethral metastasis from RCC is extremely rare. Only four cases of urethral metastasis from RCC have been previously reported in the literature.     

ACID THYROGLOBULIN PROTEASE ACTIVITIES IN HUMAN DISEASED THYROID GLANDS

The lysosomal acid protease is thought to be a main enzyme in hydrolysis of thyroglobulin. The protease activity of lysosome-rich fractions of various diseased thyroid glands were assayed by the sensitive and reproducible method developed in our laboratory. They included 78 diseased thyroid glands; 37 thyrotoxic goitres, five irradiated thyroids, five Hashimoto's thyroiditis, one granulomatous thyroiditis, six multinodular goitres, 14 'cold' adenomas, four 'hot' adenomas with three paranodular tissues, and six carcinomas. Fifteen paranodular tissues of cold and solitary thyroid nodules were served as controls. The protease activities were significantly increased in thyroid tissues of thyrotoxic goitres, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, adenomas and adenocarcinomas. In thyrotoxic goitres, the protease activity correlated well with the mean area size of colloid follicles. The 'hot' adenomas had higher protease activity than 'cold' ones. The protease activity of multinodular goitres was nearly normal. Only the irradiated thyroid glands had low protease activities. Therefore the high protease activities in hyperfunctioning goitres seem to reflect hormone secretory activities. On the other hand, cold neoplastic goitres seem to have lysosomal protease activities which are not associated with thyroidal secretory process. The assay of acid protease activity will be useful to understand the pathophysiology of lysosomal system in diseased thyroid glands.