Ammonia: a possible promotor in Helicobacter pylori-related gastric carcinogenesis.

Helicobacter pylori (HP) has been shown to possibly be a pathogen of gastric carcinoma. HP has urease activity and produces ammonia in the stomach. In this study, the role of ammonia on gastric carcinogenesis induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) were investigated in rats. After 24 weeks pretreatment with MNNG (83 mg/l), 0.01% ammonia or tap water as a drinking water was administered for 24 weeks. The ammonia-treated rats showed a significantly higher incidence of gastric cancer (percent of animals with tumors and number of tumors per rat). Ammonia would thus appear to have an important role in HP-related human gastric carcinogenesis.     

Limited vertical skin incision for median sternotomy.

The cosmetic deformity of the vertical skin incision for median sternotomy was decreased by using a mechanical traction system to increase exposure at the superior margin of a shorter wound. The limited vertical skin incision did not impede technical surgical maneuvers and produced a scar that was more acceptable than submammary incision or right anterior thoracotomy. The limited skin incision is especially useful in young women with congenital heart disease.     

Clinicopathologic Study of Angiogenesis in Japanese Patients with Breast Cancer

p = 0.0007) and tumor necrosis (TN) (HMC: p = 0.0050). Univariate analysis showed that AMC or HMC was a statistically significant predictor of overall survival in all patients ( p = 0.0086 and p = 0.0307, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that AMC was an independent predictor of node status when we fitted a model with node status, BVI, and either AMC or HMC; but HMC was not independent. However, when we fitted a model including all 11 of the other indicators and AMC or HMC, the node status, HG, and LI were independent predictors, but AMC and HMC were not. Although AMC was a better method than HMC for evaluating angiogenesis, we cannot confirm angiogenesis as a significant independent prognostic factor associated with long-term survival in Japanese breast cancer patients.     

The effect of dietary protein source on plasma cholesterol level and fecal steroid excretion in obese mice

Both goldthioglucose (GTG)-treated and the genetically obese (C57BL/6J ob/ob) mice were fed semisynthetic diets containing either soy protein isolate (SPI) or casein as a protein source, or laboratory chow. In GTG-induced obese mice, the plasma cholesterol level correlated positively with their body weight. The level was highest in mice fed high-fat diet, and lowest in ones fed laboratory chow. No difference was observed between SPI and casein groups whether the diet was low-fat or high-fat. Thus, in the GTG-treated mice, SPI did not have a hypocholesterolemic effect while dietary fat had a hypercholesterolemic effect, and laboratory chow contained some component(s) which can lower the plasma cholesterol level. Both neutral and acidic steroid contents in feces of the SPI group were not different from those of the casein group, and both groups of mice excreted a smaller amount of steroids than mice fed laboratory chow. Results of essentially the same tendency were obtained with normal mice regarding the effects of SPI and casein, although the degree of hypercholesterolemia was lower in high-fat-fed normal mice than in similarly fed GTG-treated mice. These results strengthened the inverse correlation between the amount of fecal steroids and the plasma cholesterol level upon feeding various proteins, indicating that the former is one of the important factors that determine the latter. The ob/ob mice showed a marked hypercholesterolemia irrespective of the kind of diet. The amount of fecal steroids was highest in the laboratory chow group and lowest in the casein group. This indicates that some factor(s) other than fecal steroid excretion is dominantly responsible for their hypercholesterolemia.     

Effects of hypothermal and circulatory arrest on the auditory brainstem response during operation in children

Twenty-two children were monitored by the auditory brainstem response (ABR) during the open chest and/or open heart surgery for cardiac anomalies under the extracorporeal circulation (ECC) with moderate to deep hypothermia. These patients were divided into two groups, namely, the ECC only group (group A: 9 cases) and the total circulatory arrest (TCA) group (group B: 13 cases). The mean age of group A was 36 months and group B was 6.1 months. In group A, moderate hypothermia was conducted with the rectal temperature ranging from 25 degrees C to 30 degrees C, and in group B profound hypothermia was conducted lowering the temperature to 18 degrees C. The ABR recorded at the following points, namely; before inducing anesthesia, before lowering the body temperatures, during the cooling process, at the time of TCA, and during the rewarming process. Accompanying the decrease in body temperature the peak latency of waves I, III and V were markedly prolonged. When the rectal temperature fell to 23 degrees C, the peak latency of each wave was prolonged to about 150% of their precooling values at 36 degrees C. When it fell to 22 degrees C, the ABR disappeared entirely in 16 of 22 cases, and in remaining 6 cases, only I wave was detected. During rewarming, in both the A and B groups, at 24 degrees C, the wave of ABR started to reappear beginning with I waves, and on reaching 26 degrees C, I, III and V waves from became detectable. The peak latency of all waves at rectal temperature of 33 degrees C recovered to almost the same values as these at 36 degrees C.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Detection of platelet-activating factor in exudates of rats with phorbol myristate acetate-induced pleurisy

PAF-likely activity, detected as aggregation of washed platelets, was found in the exudate of rats with pleurisy induced by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA, 1 nmol). At 30 min after the injection of PMA, 400-500 pg of PAF was detected in the pleural exudate. An extract of the exudate was made and analysed by HPLC and by rabbit platelet aggregation. The activity was characterized as that of PAF as a result of the inhibition seen with the PAF-antagonist CV-3988 and the loss of activity by treatment with phospholipase A2. Indirect evidence was previously reported in that CV-3988 suppressed the pleural fluid accumulation in the pleurisy induced by PMA. Taken together these facts it indicates that PAF could be an important mediator of acute inflammation, especially of the plasma exudation resulting from an increase in vascular permeability. Evidence that pleural cells produce PAF was also examined in an in vitro experiment. PAF was found in the supernatant and cellular fractions of the incubation mixture of the pleural cells from normal rats when stimulated by PMA (1 microM) or A23187 (5 microM), and the results indicate that the pleural cells produce PAF and release a portion of it.     

Clinical studies on the transabdominal resection of esophagocardial cancer and cervical anastomosis using bypass methods. Analysis of data on 76 patients

Transabdominal resection for esophagocardial cancer and reestablishment of alimentary continuity using bypass methods were performed in 76 patients. Thirteen underwent a bypass with a gastric tube and in 30, a colonic segment was prepared. In the remaining 33, a jejunal segment was used as a bypass organ, with considerable success. The 5 year survival rates were 68.8 per cent in those with stages (I+II), 16.5 per cent in those with stage III, 12.6 per cent in those with stage IV and 22.5 per cent in all cases, indicating similar results compared to those with cancer located in the upper third of the stomach with the limited proximal extension within the esophagocardial junction and operated on during the same period.