Combined effect of prophylactic lymphadenectomy and long term combination chemotherapy for curatively resected carcinoma of the stomach

Effectiveness of prophylactic extensive lymph node dissection (PELD) plus postoperative long term combination chemotherapy (PLCC) for patients with curatively resected gastric carcinoma was assessed in terms of the degree of serosal invasion and lymph node metastasis. Either the Group 1 and Group 2 lymphnodes were eradicated by PELD. PLCC included intermittent intravenous administration of mitomycin C (0.4 mg/kg intraoperatively followed by 0.2 mg/kg every 3 months) and oral administration of Tegafur (600–800 mg/day) and PSK (3.0 g/day), an immunostimulator, for as long a period as possible. PELD alone resulted in a cure when the malignancy was confined to the mucosal and muscular layers of the stomach as well as to the Group 1 lymph nodes. In cases when the carcinoma involved the serosa and/or the Group 2 lymph nodes, the 5 year survival rate was about 55 per cent the PELD and PLCC groups, such being significantly higher than about 27 per cent in the PELD alone group. Therefore, PELD plus PLCC is highly effective for advanced gastric carcinoma, under a condition of curative resection.     

Occurrence of saxitoxin and other toxins in the liver of the pufferfish Takifugu pardalis

Highly toxic livers of the pufferfish Takifugu pardalis were extracted with acidic ethanol. The toxins extracted were partially purified by chromatography on Bio-Gel P-2 and then Bio-Rex 70, resulting in separation into three fractions I, II and III. Ratios of total mouse units per fraction were approximately 0.1:100:0.01, respectively, with tetrodotoxin (TTX) as standard. By TLC, electrophoresis and a TTX analyzer, Fr. II was identified as TTX and, unexpectedly, Fr. III as saxitoxin, while Fr. I remains unidentified.     

Self-mutilation and sleep stage in the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome.

Correlation of self-mutilation and sleep stage in the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome was studied by a polygraphic method. Five patients and three control boys were monitored with EEG, EOG, EMG, ECG and respiration throughout the night. The results were as follows: 1. The sleep-time of the patients was much disturbed during the night. 2. Decreased REM density was noticed with low DQ of the patients. 3. Self-mutilation during sleep-time was observed a lot in stages 1, 2, and REM in two cases. 4. No correlation was observed between body movement and self-mutilation in the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. These data suggested functional disorders of the frontal lobe in the patients.