Transrectal hyperthermia for benign prostatic hyperplasia]

Transrectal hyperthermia was performed on 30 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia twice a week for a total of ten times with the temperature of the prostatic tissue set at 43.0 degrees C. In our in vitro experiment using an agar phantom, the highest temperature was observed at approx. 1.5 cm from the point where the 915-MHz microwave was generated. Our histopathological study of the prostatic tissue, resected at open surgery after three days of hyperthermia, indicated that the effect of hyperthermia first occurred in the interstitial tissues, and then extended to the epithelial cells. Subjective symptoms and objective findings were evaluated. In almost all cases, improvement was observed in subjective symptoms after completion of the treatment. The residual urine volume improved significantly. Also, significant improvement was observed in our urodynamics study. In 16 out of 30 cases (53%), both subjective symptoms and objective findings were still improved after six months.     

A multi-institutional survey of the quality of life after treatment for uterine cervical cancer: a comparison between radical radiotherapy and surgery in Japan

This study aimed to research the post-treatment quality of life (QOL) between radiotherapy (RT)- and operation (OP)-treated early cervical cancer survivors, using separate questionnaires for physicians and patients. We administered an observational questionnaire to patients aged 20–70 years old with Stages IB1–IIB cervical cancer who had undergone RT or OP and without recurrence as outpatients for ≥6 months after treatment. We divided 100 registered patients equally into two treatment groups (n = 50 each). The average age was 53 and 44 years in the RT and OP groups, respectively. The RT group included 34 and 66% Stage I and II patients, respectively, whereas the OP group included 66 and 34% Stage I and II patients, respectively. The OP group included 58% of patients with postoperative RT. Combination chemotherapy was performed in 84 and 48% of patients in the RT and OP groups, respectively. On the physicians’ questionnaire, we observed significant differences in bone marrow suppression (RT) and leg edema (OP). On the patients’ questionnaire, significantly more patients had dysuria and leg edema in the OP group than in the RT group, and severe (Score 4–5) leg edema was significantly higher in the post-operative RT group than in the OP only group. The frequency of sexual intercourse decreased after treatment in both groups. On the patients’ questionnaire, there were no significant differences between the two groups regarding sexual activity. These findings are useful to patients and physicians for shared decision-making in treatment choices. The guidance of everyday life and health information including sexual life after treatment is important.     

近交系小鼠核心群和生产群遗传质量监测

目的:对常用的近交系小鼠核心群和生产群进行遗传质量监测,观察2者之间的遗传质量差异,为近交系小鼠保种繁殖方法的改进提供理论依据.方法:采用生化标记法和微量细胞毒实验对3个近交系小鼠BALB/c、C57BL/6、DBA/2的核心群(n=6)和生产群(n=30)进行遗传质量监测.生化标记法检查的位点有Idh-1、Car-2、Gpd-1、Hbb、Es-1、Es-2、Mod-1、Es-3和Akp-1;微量细胞毒实验检查的位点有Thy-1、H-2K和H-2D.结果:在所监测的9个生化标记位点上,核心群和生产群都符合品系标准.在免疫学位点上,3个品系的核心群和DBA/2品系的生产群符合品系标准,C57BL/6和BALB/c的生产群中分别发现2个(Thy-1a/b和H-2Db/d)和4个(H-2Kd/b)变异的个体;H-2Kb抗血清对BALB/c的细胞毒指数明显升高.结论:近交系小鼠核心群和生产群在遗传质量上可能出现差异,生产群的遗传质量问题应引起高度重视.     

Mucinous carcinoma of the skin with apocrine-type differentiation: immunohistochemical studies

We investigated the pathway of differentiation in a case of mucinous carcinoma of the skin (MCS) arising on the right temple of a 70-year-old man. Histopathologic findings of the tumor showed evidence of apocrine-type differentiation such as distinctive decapitation secretion. Additionally, by employing a panel of antibodies, the immunohistochemical staining pattern of tumor cells was shown to be compatible with that of apocrine glands. Although the differentiation of this neoplasm remains controversial, the findings in our case suggest apocrine differentiation.     

Classification of sensitivity or resistance of cervical cancers to ionizing radiation according to expression profiles of 62 genes selected by cDNA microarray analysis

To identify a set of genes related to radiosensitivity of cervical squamous cell carcinomas and to establish a predictive method, we compared expression profiles of 9 radiosensitive and 10 radioresistant tumors obtained by biopsy before treatment, on a cDNA microarray consisting of 23,040 human genes. We identified 121 genes whose expression was significantly greater in radiosensitive cells than in radioresistant cells, and 50 genes that showed higher levels of expression in radioresistant cells than in radiosensitive cells. Some of these genes had already known to be associated with the radiation response, such as aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) and X-ray repair cross-complementing 5 (XRCC5) (P<.05, Mann-Whitney test). The validity of the total of 171 genes as radiosensitivity related genes were certified by permutation test (P<.05). Furthermore, we selected 62 genes on the basis of a clustering analysis, and confirmed the validity of these genes with cross-validation test. The cross-validation test also indicates the possibility of making prediction of radiosensitivity for discriminating radiation-sensitive from radiation resistant biopsy samples by predicting score (PS) values calculated from expression values of 62 genes in 19 samples, because the prediction successfully and unequivocally discriminated the radiosensitive phenotype from the radioresistant phenotype in our test panel of 19 cervical carcinomas. The extensive list of genes identified in these experiments provides a large body of potentially valuable information for studying the mechanism(s) of radiosensitivity, and selected 62 genes opens the possibility of providing appropriate and effective radiotherapy to cancer patients.