Effect of Adrenergic Blocking Agents on Plasma Gastrin and Secretin Levels in Man

The effect of adrenergic blocking agents on gastrin and secretin secretion before and after a bolus arginine injection (arginine pulse) was investigated in normal subjects. Repeated arginine pulses given at 30-minute intervals caused abrupt and almost identical rises of plasma gastrin with each pulse. On the other hand, plasma secretin levels were unchanged by repeated injections of arginine. The increase in plasma gastrin induced by arginine pulse was significantly suppressed by the infusion of beta-adrenergic blocking agent, propranolol, while the infusion of alpha-adrenergic blocking agent, phentolamine tended to enhance the arginine-induced gastrin secretion slightly but not significantly. Whereas, the infusion of neither phentolamine nor propranolol had significant influence on secretin secretion. These results suggest that alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors play an important role in the regulation of arginineinduced gastrin secretion.     

PET-CT诊断胃癌腹膜转移的临床价值

目的评价正电子发射体层摄影-CT(PET-CT)诊断胃癌腹膜转移的价值。方法2002年11月至2006年1月,141例胃癌患者在日本静冈县立癌症中心接受了PET-CT检查,其中114例同时接受了多层螺旋CT检查,并与细胞学检查、病理活检和临床表现作了比较。结果PET-CT诊断胃癌腹膜转移的准确率为87.9%,灵敏度74.4%,特异度93.1%,阳性预测值80.6%,阴性预测值90.5%,显著优于多层螺旋CT的78.1%、39.4%、93.8%、72.2%和79.2%(P<0.01)。15例Cy1P0病例,PET-CT与多层螺旋CT检测的灵敏度分别为53.3%和13.3%,无统计学差异(P=0.053);19例P1病例,PET-CT与多层螺旋CT检测的灵敏度分别为84.2%和63.2%,也无统计学差异(P=0.141)。结论PET-CT对于诊断胃癌腹膜转移有一定的临床价值。     

Proximal Renal Tubular Acidosis Associated with Glycogen Storage Disease, Type 9

ABSTRACT. A 21/2-year-old Japanese boy with glycogen storage disease, type 9, developed proximal renal tubular acidosis (RTA). The RTA significantly improved in response to cornstarch therapy, implying a direct causal relationship between subtle metabolic derangements in glycogen storage disease, type 9, and proximal RTA.     

Cytotoxicity Tests against Cultured Human Lung Cancer Cells With Autologous Lymphocytes Activated in vitro by Mitomycin C-Treated Tumor Monolayers in the Presence of T-Cell Growth Factor

Human peripheral blood or lymph node lymphocytes, obtained frompatients with a variety of lung cancer, were incubated in vitrowith mitomycin C-treated tumor monolayers in the presence ofT-cell growth factor. The cytotoxicity of these lymphocytesfor autologous tumor cells (autologous killer activity) wasassessed by a 4-hr ⁵¹Cr-release assay. Cytotoxic activity wasobserved in 14 out of a total of 20 cases. Lymphocytes frompatients with squamous cell carcinoma, large cell carcinomaand carcinoid exhibited positive activity levels of 11.1 ±1.8, 16.3 and 23.9% respectively. Nine out of 13 patients withadenocarcinoma exhibited positive activity with a mean valueof 8.8 ± 6.8%. No lymphocyte activity against small cellcarcinoma was observed. Natural killer (NK) activity did not always correlate with autologouskiller (AK) activity. Treatment of lymphocytes with monoclonalanti-human lymphocyte antibody revealed differences in effectorcell populations concerning these two activities; AK activitywas abrogated only by treatment with anti-human Lyt 3 antibodyand complement, whereas NK activity was abrogated by anti-humanLyt 1, 2 and 3 and partially by anti-human la antibody. Theseresults indicate that AK activity is mediated exclusively byT cells, but that NK activity is mediated by several subpopulationsof lymphocytes such as T cells, null cells and others.     

Cerulein-induced Pancreatic Polypeptide Secretion

Intramuscular administration of cerulein caused an abrupt rise in plasma pancreatic polypeptide (PP) in normal subjects. Pretreatment by atropine tended to lower the basal plasma PP level and significantly blunted the cerulein-induced PP secretion. It appears, therefore, that PP secretion induced by cerulein is under vagal control. In addition, in normal subjects, a gallbladder series first revealed a well-filled gallbladder of normal size and shape, which then contracted most strongly after a cerulein injection at a time corresponding exactly with the peak plasma PP levels produced by the cerulein. Since exogenous PP is known to cause a relaxation of the gallbladder, it is possible that endogenous PP plays an important role in gallbladder motility.     

Optimal Pacemaker Sensing with Respect to Amplitude and Slew Rate of Intracardiac Electrograms: Theoretical Analysis by Computer Simulation

The optimal amplitude and slew rate of intracardiac electrograms for pacemaker sensing Here examined on a theoretical basis by computer simulation. The simulation was based on the concept that it is the voltage at the position of the pacing electrode in an electrical field of a moving electrical dipole. By changing the distance between the electrode and the myocardium and the moving velocity of the electrical dipole, simulated ECGs with arbitrary amplitudes and slew rates were generated by the computer and fed to a bandpass filter. This filter was equivalent to those assembled in some models of permanent pacemakers and had a center pass-band frequency of 50 Hz and a Q of 1.0. The outputs of the filter were measured. The results showed that, for pacemaker sensing, simulated intracardiac electrograms with high amplitude should have high slew rates and those with low amplitudes should have low slew rates, although the absolute values depend on the characteristics of the bandpass filter and the sensing threshold of the pacemaker.     

Biochemical characterization of tyrosinase inhibitors using tyrosinase binding affinity chromatography

Purification of tyrosinase inhibitors of hamster melanomas was carried out using tyrosinase binding affinity column chromatography. This method enables the isolation of tyrosinase inhibitors with a 124-fold purification index as compared to that of crude preparation after dialysation. The purified inhibitors consist of a mixture of 5000-6000 and a 310 molecular weight fraction. They also show characteristics of polypeptides which contain glycine, glutamic acid, serine, proline and alanine as main amino acids.     

Prognosis and clinical features of intractable epilepsy: A prospective study

Abstract  Of the epileptic patients who were treated for ≥ 5 years until the end of 1990 and had more than four seizures in 1990, 63 patients had been treated without interruption until the end of 1995. We analyzed their clinical courses from 1990 to 1995 prospectively. More than half the subjects were diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. Twenty cases had presumed etiology, and 32 had neuropsychiatric complications. Of the subjects whose seizures were not controlled with conventional antiepileptic drugs (AED), 11 cases demonstrated significant improvement when new AED; that is, lamotrigine, vigabatrin, clobazam, topiramate, tiagabine or CGP33101 were added. However, 10 patients did not respond to new AED. Presumed etiology, neuropsychiatric complications, multiple epileptic foci in EEG and abnormalities on head CT or MRI were characteristics of the patients whose seizures were resistant to new AED.     

Biopharmaceutics: Topical Delivery of Keloid Therapeutic Drug,Tranilast, by Combined Use of Oleic Acid and Propylene Glycol as a Penetration Enhancer: Evaluation by Skin Microdialysis in Rats

Topical delivery of tranilast (N-(3,4-dimethoxycinnamoyl)anthranic acid), an inhibitor of collagen synthesis and a therapeutic drug for keloid and hypertrophic scar, was examined, in rats, with oleic acid alone or a combination of oleic acid and propylene glycol as penetration enhancer. Evaluation was by measurement of the concentration of tranilast in plasma and in the dialysate from skin microdialysis. When tranilast at a dose of 1.5 mg was applied topically as an ethanol solution containing 5% polyvinylpyrrolidone on a dorsal skin surface (2.25 cm²), the maximum concentration of tranilast in skin dialysate was approximately 2 μM. When 10 or 20% oleic acid was added to the same ethanol solution the maximum concentration of tranilast in the dialysate increased to 10–20 μM, and this value was further increased to 60 μM by the addition of a combination of oleic acid (10 or 20%) and propylene glycol (10%) to the solution. With the combination of oleic acid and propylene glycol the area under the plot of the concentration of tranilast in skin dialysate against time between 0 and 4 h (AUC_0–4) was more than 400-fold that after intravenous administration. The transdermal bioavailability of tranilast as assessed by the AUC_0–4 of tranilast in plasma, was 0.2% of the dose applied in the ethanol solution, 3–5% of that applied in the ethanol solution containing oleic acid, and 14–16% of that applied in the ethanol solution containing both oleic acid and propylene glycol. These results suggest that the topical delivery of tranilast with an absorption enhancer such as a mixture of oleic acid and propylene glycol might be a more effective medication than oral administration of tranilast for the treatment of keloid and hypertrophic scar.