Carcinomatous Infiltration into the Submucosa as a Predictor of Lymph Node Involvement in Early Gastric Cancer

n = 25) and node-negative ( n = 81) groups. Among several pathologic factors, the diameter of the tumor and lymphatic involvement were significantly correlated with nodal involvement. Within the submucosal layer the depth of invasion and the horizontal cancerous expansion also correlated with lymph node disease ( p < 0.05). The size of the tumor did not correlate with the length of submucosal infiltration ( r = 0.12, p = 0.1). Patients with both slight invasion into the submucosa and less than 5 mm of horizontal expansion were often negative for lymph node involvement and thus may benefit from local surgery as an alternative to gastrectomy.     

Idiopathic mediastinal fibrosis: Report of a case

(Received for publication on Nov. 14, 1996; accepted on May 12, 1997)     

Changes in ultrastructure of hepatocytes and liver test results before,during, and after treatment with interferon-β in patients with HBeAg-positive chronic active hepatitis

We studied the histological and ultrastructural changes in the liver and alterations in the liver test results before, during, and after treatment with human interferon- from five patients with hepatitis B e antigen-positive chronic active hepatitis. A daily dose of 3×10⁶ to 6×10⁶ units of interferon- was given intravenously for four weeks. The total index of periportal and portal inflammation, intralobular degeneration, and focal necrosis before treatment was decreased significantly six months after treatment (P<0.05). Ultrastructurally, the structure of endoplasmic reticulum was irregularly shaped or fragmentally decreased during treatment, but these disappeared six or 12 months after treatment. Glycogen particles diminished greatly during treatment. The alanine aminotransferase concentrations in these patients increased during treatment. Serum albumin and cholinesterase levels decreased significantly at the fourth week of treatment (P<0.01) and at the third day (P<0.01) to the second week (P<0.05) of treatment, respectively. These results suggest that interferon- injures endoplasmic reticulum and glycogen areas and damages the cholinesterase activity in the early stage of treatment and protein synthesis in patients with hepatitis B e antigen-positive chronic active hepatitis.     

Effectiveness of the bidirectional Glenn shunt for the univentricular heart

Two cases underwent a modified Fontan operation with simultaneous superior vena cava-right pulmonary artery end-to-side anastomosis, which we called "bidirectional Glenn shunt". This anastomosis seems to be so effective for reduction of right arterial volume loading, and could proved life-saving in the case with the acute obstruction at the site of the right atriopulmonary artery anastomosis immediately after surgery.     

Human serum albumin incorporating synthetic heme: red blood cell substitute without hypertension by nitric oxide scavenging

The administration of extracellular, hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers often elicits an acute increase in blood pressure by vasoconstriction. This side effect is now recognized to be due to the depletion of nitric oxide (endothelial-derived relaxing factor) by the extravasuated hemoglobins. We have recently found that the administration of a recombinant human serum albumin (rHSA)-based oxygen carrier involving synthetic tetraphenyporphinatoiron(II) derivative (FeP) (rHSA-FeP) does not induce such hypertensive action, because of its low permeability through the vascular endothelium. The heart rate responses after the rHSA-FeP injection were also negligibly small. Visualization of the intestinal microcirculatory changes clearly revealed the widths of the venule and arteriole to be fairly constant. The entirely synthetic rHSA-FeP becomes a promising material as a new type of red blood cell substitute.     

Receptive field scatter,topography and map variability in different layers of the hindpaw representation of rat somatosensory cortex

We recorded neurons extracellularly in layers II/III, IV, and V of the hindpaw representation of primary somatosensory cortex in anesthetized rats and studied laminar features of receptive fields (RFs) and representational maps. On average, RFs were smallest in layer IV and largest in layer V; however, for individual penetrations we found substantial deviations from this rule. Within the hindpaw representation, a distinct rostrocaudal gradient of RF size was present in all layers. While layer V RFs were generally largest independent of this gradient, layer IV RFs recorded caudally representing the proximal portions of the paw were larger than layer II/III RFs recorded rostrally representing the digits. The individual scatter of the locations of RFs across laminar groups was in the range of several millimeters, corresponding to about 25% of the average RF diameter. The cutaneous representations of the hindpaw in extragranular layers were confined to the areal extent defined by responsive sites in layer IV. Comparison between RFs determined quantitatively and by handplotting showed a reliable correspondence. Repeated measurements of RFs revealed spontaneous fluctuations of RF size of no more than 5% of the initial condition over an observation period of several hours. The topography and variability of cortical maps of the hindpaw representation were studied with a quantitative interpolation method taking into account the geometric centers of RFs and the corresponding cortical recording sites. On average, the overall topography in terms of preservation of neighborhood relations was present in all layers, although some individual maps showed severe distortions of topography. Factors contributing to map variability were overall position of the representation on the cortical surface, internal topography and spatial extent. Interindividual variability of map layout was always highest in the digit representations. Local topographic orderliness was lowest in layer V, but comparable in layers II/III and IV. Within layer IV, the lowest orderliness was observed in the digit representations. Our data emphasize a substantial variability of RF size, overlap and position across layers and within layers. At the level of representational maps, we found a similar degree of variability that often co-varied across layers, with little evidence for significant layer specificity. Laminar differences are likely to arise from the specific input-output pattern, layer-specific cell types and the connectivity between different layers. Our findings emphasizing similarities in the variability across layers support the notion of tightly coupled columnar interactions between different layers.     

Compatibility in vitro of albumin-heme (O(2) carrier) with blood cell components

Recombinant human serum albumin including 2-[8-[N-(2-methylimidazolyl)]octanoyloxymethyl]-5,10,15,20-tetrakis(alpha,alpha,alpha,alpha-o-pivaloylamino)phenylporphinatoiron(II) (albumin-heme; rHSA-FeP) is a synthetic hemoprotein that has sufficient capability to reversibly bind and release O(2) under physiological conditions (pH 7.3, 37 degrees C) similar to hemoglobin and myoglobin. In order to use this albumin-based O(2) carrier as a new class of red blood cell substitutes, its compatibility with blood cell components carefully was investigated in vitro. After the addition of the rHSA-FeP solution into whole blood at 10, 20, and 44 vol %, the FeP concentration in the plasma phase remained constant for 6 h at 37 degrees C in each group, and no significant time dependence was observed in the numbers of red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets. The microscopic observations clearly showed that the shapes of the red blood cells had not been deformed during the measurement period. With respect to the blood coagulation parameters (prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time), the coexistence of rHSA-FeP had only a negligibly small influence. Also the blood compatibility under dynamic flow conditions was evaluated using a microchannel array flow analyzer. All these results suggest that the albumin-heme has no effect on the morphology of blood cell components in vitro.     

KAPPA-TYPE LIGHT CHAIN CRYSTAL STORAGE HISTIOCYTOSIS

An autopsy case of systemic histiocytosis with excessive deposition of K-type light chain crystals was reported in a 58 year-old man who had consistently showed K-type light chain paraproteinemia, Bence Jones proteinuria and hypogammaglobulinemia for about 10 years until his death. However, no bony destruction was found by repeated X-ray examinations. At autopsy, extensive hyperplasia of crystal-storing histiocytes was observed in the bone marrow, spleen, liver, lymph nodes, interstitial tissues of visceral organs and loose connective tissues. In the bone marrow and some other tissues, mild proliferation of plasmocytoid cells containing small crystals were found, Histochemically the crystals positively stained with various methods for amino acids and proteins, especially with Weigerts'method for fibrin Ultra-structurally intralysosomal crystal deposition was confirmed in the storage histiocytes and derivation of the crystals from Golgi's sacculi in the plasmocytoid cells was suggested. Biochemically the crystals were regarded as mainly consisting of dimers of a variable half of light chain immunoglobulin and immunochemically and immunohistochemically reacted to anti- type light chain serum. Such a generalized storage histiocytosis may be secondarily induced by immunoglobulin synthesized in plasmocytoid cells.     

Construction of ELISA system to quantify human ST2 protein in sera of patients

The human ST2 gene can be specifically induced by growth stimulation in fibroblastic cells, and can also be induced by antigen stimulation in Th2 cells. The gene encodes a soluble secreted protein, ST2, and a transmembrane protein, ST2L, which are closely related to the interleukin-1 receptor. To gain insight into the biological roles of the ST2 gene, three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against human ST2 gene products were obtained. To obtain these antibodies, immunization was carried out using two different immunogens: purified soluble human ST2 protein (hST2), and COS7 cells, which express the extracellular portion of human ST2L. 2A5 and FB9 MAbs were derived from the immunization with soluble hST2, and HB12 was derived from the COS7 cell immunization. All three antibodies were shown to detect native forms of the human ST2 gene products by immunoprecipitation, flow cytometry, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In the competitive ELISA using biotinylated and nonlabelled MAbs, neither FB9 nor HB12 affected the binding of 2A5 to ST2 gene products. Based on this result, we constructed a sandwich ELISA system using 2A5 and FB9 to measure the concentration of soluble hST2 in sera. The ELISA, combined with the flow cytometry using these antibodies, will be a useful tool for elucidating the functions of human ST2 gene products in individuals.     

Molecular design of biodegradable functional polymers, 3. Biodegradability and functionality of poly[(sodium acrylate)-co-(vinyl alcohol)]

As a design for a biodegradable functional polymer, compositionally homogeneous poly[(sodium acrylate)-co-(vinyl alcohol)] [P(SA-co-VA)], containing varying amounts of vinyl alcohol groups as biodegradable segments were prepared and their biodegradability and builder performance in detergent formulations were analyzed with respect to the successive vinyl alcohol length. It was found that the acrylate copolymers having more than 80 mol-% vinyl alcohol content showed biodegradability. That is, P(SA-co-VA) having a vinyl alcohol chain length of more than about 5–6 is cleaved by PVA-degrading microbes. This indicates that the vinyl alcohol blocks, which act as biodegradable segments, should be incorporated into the polymer chain in such a manner that they are accepted as substrates by the PVA-degrading enzymes.