Protective effects of an antiulcer agent, ecabet sodium on colorectal carcinogenesis in rodents

A new antiulcer agent, ecabet sodium is one of dehydroabietic acid derivatives prepared from pine resin. The effects of ecabet sodium on colorectal carcinogenesis were investigated in azoxymethane-pretreated mice with chronic ulcerative colitis induced by 3 repeated administration of 3% dextran sulfate sodium and in 1, 2-dimethylhydrazine-treated rats. Although daily treatment with ecabet sodium did not affect the colorectal DNA-synthesizing enzyme activities and bromodeoxyuridine-immunoreactive S-phase cells, high-grade dysplasia in ecabet sodium-treated mice was less frequent than in untreated mice. In rats, ecabet sodium administration reduced the elevated activity of thymidylate synthetase in colorectal tumors.     

Laparoscopy-assisted radical nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma in patients on long-term hemodialysis: report of 2 patients

We successfully performed a laparoscopy-assisted radical nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma in 2 patients on long-term hemodialysis. Both tumors were incidentally discovered on screening by abdominal CT scanning. There were no complications during the operation or in the postoperative period, and both patients resumed normal activities by the fifth postoperative day. A laparoscopic-assisted radical nephrectomy may be useful for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma in hemodialysis patients.     

A modification of hepatic portoenterostomy (Kasai operation) for biliary atresia

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The aim of the present study was to compare power Doppler imaging with traditional color Doppler imaging and with contrast enhanced computer tomography in the evaluation of intratumoral vascularity of hepatocellular carcinomas at diagnosis and in response to percutaneous ethanol injection. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixteen patients with hepatocellular carcinoma underwent colour Doppler, power Doppler and computed tomography at diagnosis. Seventeen patients were studied by the three techniques one month after percutaneous ethanol injection treatment. RESULTS: At baseline evaluation, power Doppler and color Doppler were always in agreement and, with the exception of one case, were also in agreement with the computerized tomography scan. On the contrary, power Doppler and computerized tomography are more sensitive than color Doppler in the evaluation of residual vascularized tumoral tissue after percutaneous ethanol injection. In 3 patients, residual vascularity was demonstrated only by computerized tomography while color and power Doppler were negative. In another 3 cases, a positive power Doppler signal, with a typical arterial Doppler spectrum, was observed while color Doppler and computerized tomography were negative. In these patients, cancer relapse was clinically evident after a few months and treatment was repeated to obtain complete necrosis. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that only the integration of the results of all these techniques can reliably evaluate tumoral vascularity after percutaneous ethanol injection.     

Origin attribution of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in sediment and soil from a Japanese freshwater lake area through congener-specific data analysis

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDDs/PCDFs) in sediment and soil from a freshwater lake area were congener-specifically determined. The obtained data were examined to estimate the major origins of these compounds, with the aid of principal component analysis (PCA). Four major principal components (PCs) were obtained, and three of them were attributed to PCDDs/PCDFs in the atmosphere, in a diphenyl ether herbicide and in pentachlorophenol, based on congener-specific comparisons with references. One PC remained unattributed. These four were interpreted as the major origins of PCDDs/PCDFs in the area. The relative influence of the origins was also investigated.     

Passively aligned hybrid WDM module integrated with spot-sizeconverter integrated laser diode and waveguide photodiode on PLCplatform for fibre-to-the-home

A low cost and high performance hybrid WDM module assembled by passive alignment has been developed for FTTH systems. High coupling efficiency of a spot-size converter integrated laser diode to a PLC waveguide, which facilitates mass production of the module, is achieved. A minimum optical received power of -37 dBm for a 50 Mbit/s burst signal is also achieved     

Effect of Heat Treatment on Plasma-Sprayed Zircon (ZrSiO ZrSiO4)

The effect of heat treatment on the structure and properties of a plasma-sprayed zircon coating was evaluated. The as-sprayed coating, with open porosity of 10%, is composed of t-ZrO₂ and amorphous SiO₂ After heat treatment at 1473 K, ZrO₂ grows in columnar shape perpendicular to the coating surface, while SiO₂ crystallizes to cristobalite. The open porosity decreases to about 5% after the heat treatment. This can be attributed to the sintering of SiO₂ and the phase transformation of zirconia. When heat-treated at 1673 K, the coating is composed of ZrSiO₄ with dispersed fine m-ZrO₂ The open porosity increases again up to 10%. The thermal conductivity of the zircon coating increases with increasing heat treatment temperature.     

The protective effects of CP-060S on ischaemia- and reperfusion- induced arrhythmias in anaesthetized rats

1. CP-060S is a novel sodium and calcium overload inhibitor, and is also characterized as a calcium channel blocker. As these activities have each been shown independently to ameliorate ischaemia damage in the myocardium, the combination may synergistically exert cardioprotection. In this study, therefore, the protective effect of CP-060S against ischaemia- and reperfusion-induced arrhythmia was evaluated in anesthetized rats. 2. Rats were anaesthetized with pentobarbitone, and the left anterior descending coronary artery was occluded for either 5 min with subsequent reperfusion (a reperfusion-induced arrhythmia model) or 30 min without (an ischaemia-induced arrhythmia model). All drugs were intravenously administered 1 min before the onset of occlusion. 3. In the reperfusion-induced arrhythmia model, the animals in the vehicle-treated group exhibited ventricular tachycardia (VT) in 100%, ventricular fibrillation (VF) in 89%, and death caused by sustained VF in 56%. CP-060S (30-300 microg kg(-1)) dose-dependently suppressed the incidences of arrhythmias. Significant decreases occurred at 100 microg kg(-1) in VF (incidence: 42%) and mortality (8%), and at 300 microg kg(-1) in VT (50%), VF (33%) and mortality (8%). This protective effect of CP-060S was 10 times more potent than that of a pure calcium channel blocker, diltiazem (30-1000 microg kg(-1)) we tested, in terms of effective dose ranges. As both drugs decreased myocardial oxygen consumption estimated by rate-pressure product to a similar extent, the calcium channel blocking activity of CP-060S would not seem to be sufficient to explain its potency. 4. In the same model, co-administration of ineffective doses of diltiazem (300 microg kg(-1)) and a sodium and calcium overload inhibitor, R56865 (100 microg kg(-1)), produced significant suppression of VT (incidence: 62%), VF (46%) and mortality (8%). By contrast, co-administration of R56865 at the same dose with CP-060S (300 microg kg(-1)) did not add to the effect of a single treatment of CP-060S. 5. In the ischaemia-induced arrhythmia model, CP-060S (300 microg kg(-1)) significantly decreased the incidence of VF from 75% to 29%, whereas diltiazem (1 mg kg(-1)) was ineffective. 6. These results suggest that CP-060S inhibits both ischaemia- and reperfusion-induced arrhythmia. The combination of the calcium channel blocking effect and the calcium overload inhibition was hypothesized to contribute to these potently protective effects.     

Membrane targeting and binding of the 74-kDa form of mouse L-histidine decarboxylase via its carboxyl-terminal sequence

The role of the C-terminal region of the 74-kDa form of L-histidine decarboxylase (HDC) in the targeting to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) was investigated in COS-7 cells. The deletion of a 10-kDa segment (residues 578-662) of the C-terminal end of HDC, especially a 20 amino acid sequence (residues 588-607), abrogated the targeting to the ER. The C-terminal 10-kDa portion is sufficient to target the green fluorescent protein (GFP) to the ER. The 74-kDa form of HDC synthesized in an in vitro translation system post-translationally associated with the heterogeneous canine microsomal membranes. These results suggest that the C-terminal 10-kDa portion of HDC contains a signal necessary for HDC to be targeted to the ER membrane.     

Structure-activity relationships of glucagon-like peptide-1(7-36)amide: insulinotropic activities in perfused rat pancreases, and receptor binding and cyclic AMP production in RINm5F cells

There are three classes of Fc gamma receptor proteins, Fc gamma RI (CD64), Fc gamma RII (CDw32), and Fc gamma RIII (CD16), which are encoded by at least eight genes. In this review we summarize some of the biological advances in the Fc gamma receptors during the past year, specifically: 1) identification of genes and their products; 2) regulation of gene expression and modulation of receptor number; 3) cellular functions and mechanisms of signal transduction; 4) ligand binding and the role of polymorphisms; and 5) soluble Fc gamma receptors. We also highlight the direct clinical applications of this Fc gamma receptor research.     

Optical digital cross-connect system using photonic switch matricesand optical amplifiers

This paper presents, for potential application to network failure restoration, an optical digital cross-connect system (DCS) which uses both a photonic switching network and an electric DCS. It is shown that a system constructed of LiNbO₃ 8×8 switch matrices and semiconductor traveling-wave optical amplifiers (TWA's) could be applied to metropolitan area networks. An experimental optical DCS system has been designed and fabricated which incorporates both LiNbO₃ switch matrices and TWA's, and with it, line-failure restoration, a fundamental operation of optical DCS, has been successfully demonstrated