Foreign bodies in the digestive tract

In the past two years time 128 patients-prisoners, who had swallowed foreign bodies, have been observed. Six anchors and crosses, which had been stuck in the esophagus, were immediately and successfully removed endoscopically. Long rods and crosses (60 cases) situated mostly in the stomach or descending part of the duodenum were operated without any complications. A few weeks delay of operation caused the covered perforation of the alimentary tract wall nearly 20% of cases and one of which died. Ingested small foreign bodies (less than 10 cm in length) are harmless, pass spontaneously through the gastrointestinal tract and don't need any surgical intervention. In a few cases those small foreign bodies perforated the guts, covered outside the digestive tract without any complaints.     

Malignant systemic diseases of the digestive tract

In about 5-6% of all patients with malignant myeloproliferative disorders the gastrointestinal tract is involved with macroscopic lesions. The most common sites of digestive manifestations are stomach, small bowel, pancreas and colon. Multiple irregular ulcers, doughy infiltration of the bowel wall, multiple nodules and diffuse polyposis of the colon are classic patterns of secondary lymphoma of the gut. Prognosis is considerably impaired by gastroenterological symptoms.     

Use of corrosion-resistant maraging steels in long-lived thread pieces

The effect of isothermal holdings at 350, 500, 580, 660, and 780°C during heating to various sustenitizing temperatures on the grain size, aging processes, structural and mechanical properties, and the stress-strain curves of 03Kh11N10M2T-VD and 03Kh11N8M2F-VD maraging steels with 0.002% B is studied. X-ray diffraction analysis and metallographic examination are performed, and the corrosion and fatigue characteristics of these steels are determined. At the aged state with the maximum strength, the steels exhibit no strain-hardening ability upon tension and retain a high local plastic deformation during necking (ψ ≤ 60%). Preliminary thermal-cycling treatment at 500–800°C causes grain refinement and increases the plastic properties of the steels (the uniform elongation increases to 20%). Isothermal holding during heating to the austenitizing temperature affects an elastoplastic transition at a low tensile strain.     

Treatment of MALT lymphoma of the digestive tract]

Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) is an autonomous part of the immune system with a specific function, histological structure and circulation of cells. As a result of malignant transformation of this tissue maltomas develop, peripheral extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphomas of B-origin more than two-thirds of which are found in the digestive system. The authors investigated in a retrospective study the effectiveness of different types of treatment of maltomas of the digestive tract with a low and high grade of malignity in 16 patients. It appears that splenectomy is not necessary in these patients and that the effectiveness of primary chemotherapy with a view of inducing complete remission of the disease is comparable with surgical treatment and subsequent adjuvant treatment without deterioration of the patient s life by mutilating surgery. An integral part of treatment of gastric maltomas is eradication of infection caused by Helicobacter pylori.     

Hydatid liver cyst perforation into the digestive tract

Complications of liver hydatid disease include those related to the compression of adjacent viscus, to the infection of the cyst's contents or to the perforation of the cyst. Perforations into hollow abdominal organs are rare, and can occur secondary to the infection of the cyst or to a primary pathology of the perforated organ. We report on 2 cases of perforation of a liver cyst into the duodenum, 1 due to the presence of a duodenal ulcer, and 1 secondary to a hydatid abscess. The surgical treatment of the lesions and their complications was, in both cases, successful.     

Beta-carotenoids and their potential use in diseases of the digestive tract

Flying personal with chronic hepatitis received beta-caratinoid vetoron. The latter proved to be an effective immunomodulator improving lipid peroxidation, clinical and morphological characteristics in the personnel with chronic persistent hepatitis. Follow-up gives proves on longer physical fitness for service of those pilots who have taken beta-caratinoids.     

Impact of celioscopic surgery in general and digestive system surgery

A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the impact of laparoscopic surgery on activity in general and digestive surgery. From May 1990 to December 1994, 2256 laparoscopic procedures were performed for cholecystectomy (36%), appendicectomy (20.4%) or inguinal hernia (19.8%). 23.2% of all procedures performed in 1994 were done laparoscopically. The use of laparoscopy did not, in our experience, added any new indications from 1988 to 1994. The conversion rate was 8.15%. 24% of the conversion cases could not be predicted. Mortality was 0.18% and 1.19% of the patients had to undergo a second operation due to complications of laparsocopic surgery. The impact of laparoscopic procedures, 7 years after the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy has been great. The results of this surgical technique must be evaluated to determine its medical and economic impact.     

Distribution of Salmonellae in the digestive tract and lymph node of carrier-dogs

The genetic activity of the antimicrobial food additives AF-2 and H-193 has been investigated in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The strains chosen for the present studies were D5 for the induction of mitotic recombinational events and XV185-14C for the induction of reversion of the mutants lys1-1, his1-7 and homs3-7. When three concentrations (25, 50 and 100 mug/ml) of AF-2 were used in the reversion system of strain XV185-14C, there was an increase in the frequency of hom+ and his+ revertants as a function of incubation time, while the lysine mutant exhibited a very low frequency of induced reversion. When AF-2 and H-193 were compared at the same concentration and exposure time, AF-2 exhibited a higher genetic activity in both systems than H-193. However, H-193 was genetically more active in inducing revertants than AF-2, when the comparison was made at the same survival level. Cells of both haploid and diploid strains were found to be more sensitive to inactivation by AF-2 than by H-193 It should be pointed out that the solubility of H-193 was lower (about 4 mug/ml saturation) than the solubility of AF-2 (120 mug/ml saturation). The haploid strain was more sensitive to both compounds than the diploid strain.     

Frontiers of digestive surgery using laparoscopy

AIM: To investigate the effects of tyrphostins, (AG213, AG1394, AG114, AG1109, AG555) on the activity of casein kinase (CK) II. METHODS: CK II was partially purified from rat livers by sequential DE52 and heparin-Sepharose chromatography. CK II activity was assayed by incubating CK II with dephosphorylated casein and [gamma-32 P]ATP. RESULTS: AG213 inhibited the activity of CK II with IC50 44.7 mumol.L-1 (41.5-47.9 mumol.L-1), and AG1394 (144 mumol.L-1) strongly inhibited the activity of CK II with an inhibitory ratio of 89%. AG114 (174 mumol.L-1) and AG1109 (126 mumol.L-1) had inhibitory effects on the activity of CK II (p < 0.01). AG555 (136 mumol.L-1) had little effect on CK II activity. CONCLUSION: Some tyrphostins are potent inhibitors of CK II.     

The endoscopic treatment of postoperative stenoses of the upper digestive tract

The authors compare their experience in dilatation of postoperative benign esophageal strictures. A total of 60 patients (37 males, 23 females: mean age 52), all with severe dysphagia, from January 1985 to September 1995, underwent endoscopic dilatation: 32 of these with Savary dilators and 28 with balloon dilators. Dilatation was effective in 93% in both groups. Two severe complications were recorded (1 heart attack and 1 perforation) in the group that underwent endoscopic dilatation with Savary dilators. During endoscopic management, pain recurred in 43% and 87% of cases after balloon or Savary dilatations, respectively. The authors believe balloon dilators are more effective, better tolerated and with less complications than Savary dilators. They reserve the management with Savary dilators to the extremely severe esophageal strictures.     

The absorption of phosphate from the digestive tract of ruminant animals

The late competence protein ComF1 is required for genetic transformation in Bacillus subtilis. Because of the sequence similarities of ComF1 to known ATP-dependent DNA helicases and translocases, we have hypothesized that this protein either unwinds bound double-stranded DNA or helps in the translocation of the transforming single-stranded DNA across the cell membrane. Two important implications of this hypothesis (the association of ComF1 with the membrane and its specific requirement for DNA uptake) have been tested in this report. Using cell fractionation techniques and Western blotting analysis, we show that ComF1 is located almost exclusively on the cell membrane and that it is membrane-targeted independently of other competence proteins. Moreover, ComF1 behaves like an integral membrane protein in extractability and detergent partition assays. We also show that this protein is required for the DNA-uptake step during transformation but not for DNA binding to the cell surface. DNA uptake is blocked in strains with null mutations or in-frame deletions in comF1 but also in strains that overproduce the ComF1 protein under competence conditions. This last observation suggests that ComF1 expression must be balanced with that of other competence proteins, with which it may interact to form a multisubunit complex for DNA uptake.     

Simultaneous operations in surgery of the biliary tract

The experience with simultaneous performance of the operations on the bile ducts and other organs in 802 patients, including 109 who underwent simultaneous operations on 2 or several organs for pathogenetically unrelated diseases (lethality--1.9%), 662--combined interventions on the anatomically and functionally connected organs for main disease and its complications (lethality 29%), is summarized. Simultaneous performance of the operations ensures the effective and radical surgical treatment.