Chronic liver failure induced by long-term administration of tegafur: a case report

A 55 year-old man was admitted with massive ascites. Although the laboratory data on admission were compatible with hepatic cirrhosis and remarkable esophageal varices were observed during endoscopy, the imaging findings such as computed tomography and ultrasonographic examination did not confirm hepatic cirrhosis. The patient had no history of alcohol abuse, blood transfusions or acute hepatitis. Serological markers related to viral and autoimmune hepatitis were all negative. Seven years ago, the patient had undergone an operation for colon cancer and has been taking tegafur since then for a total of 55 months. Tegafur was suspected as the causative agent for the liver dysfunction of this patient and the administration of tegafur was stopped. His laboratory data improved gradually and the ascites vanished. The first liver biopsy performed 6 months after discontinuation of tegafur still revealed chronic active hepatitis. However, at the liver biopsy performed 18 months after withdrawal of tegafur, inflammatory activity had subsided and the third liver biopsy, performed 34 months thereafter, revealed further improvement of the pathological changes that had occurred in the liver. We therefore conclude that the administration of tegafur may have caused chronic active liver injury with portal hypertension manifested as ascites and esophageal varices.     

Molecular cloning and functional expression of feline thrombopoietin

Feline thrombopoietin (TPO) was molecularly cloned to establish a basis for cytokine therapy of thrombocytopenia in cats. cDNA clones covering the whole coding sequence of feline TPO were isolated from feline liver. The feline TPO cDNA obtained in this study contained an open reading frame encoding 349 amino acid residues. The predicted amino acid sequence of feline TPO shared 78.7, 69.9, 72.9 and 83.0% similarity with sequences of human, murine, rat and canine TPO, respectively. Four cysteine residues and two of four N-glycosylation sites that are conserved among species were also found at the corresponding positions in feline TPO. The feline TPO cDNA fragment encoding the whole amino acid coding region was recloned into an expression vector, and the resulting vector was transfected into 293T cells using the calcium phosphate method. The supernatant of the transfected 293T cells stimulated the proliferation of a human megakaryoblastic leukemia cell line (UT-7/TPO) cells in a dose dependent manner, indicating that the feline TPO cDNA obtained in this study encodes biologically active feline TPO.     

Linkage map of phenotype and RFLP markers in rice

The results from linkage mapping activities at Kyushu University during the last 10 years are summarized in this paper. The present paper concisely reveals present situation on linkage map of phenotype markers, the integration linkage map of phenotype and RFLP markers and the genetic stocks available. Some of the problems in this field, in addition, are pointed out and discussed.     

Changes in Volume and Compression Energy upon Compression of Calcium Silicate Tablets

The compression mechanism of calcium silicate (Florite®RE, FLR)was evaluated by determining the physicochemical properties such as compression energy, volume reduction percentage during the compression process, and elastic recovery of FLR tablets. The results obtained were compared with those of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), anhydrous dibasic calcium phosphate (ADCP), cornstarch (CS), and lactose (LAC). FLR is found to have higher plasticity in the compression process and lower elastic recovery in a wide range of tablet hardnesses compared with the other 4 excipients. The results also indicate that a large part of compression energy was consumed for plastic deformation and fragmentation of particles. These characteristics are attributable to FLR's porous structure and are responsible for FLR tablets' high hardness, an important propen'y in tablet formulation. As a consequence, it was suggested that FLR would be a useful excipient for the formation of tablets in the pharmaceutical industry.     

Dual mode synchronous positioning with switching of master–slave axes by using a torque signal for contour control of articulated robot arms

Dual mode synchronous positioning control with switching of master and slave axes is proposed to realize accurate contour control of industrial robot arms. The axis which is contaminated with disturbance is selected as the master axis, then the disturbances in both first axis and second axis can be compensated. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified by experimental results of an actual articulated robot arm. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 138(2): 33–40, 2002     

Fine particle removal by a negatively-charged fine particle collector in silane plasma

To suppress inclusion of fine particles in amorphous silicon films, a negatively-charged fine particle (NFP) collector has been successfully installed in a silane plasma. Two modes of operation of the NFP collector biasing were examined: (i) turning on after the appearance of fine particles; and (ii) turning on from the very beginning of the plasma operation. While the former proved the effectiveness of the NFP collector in the removal of fine particles, apparently very small particles (<100 nm) removal in the latter reduced the degradation of the photo conductivity in deposited a-Si:H films by light soaking. This effect is accompanied by the increased density of SiH bonding, which can be related to the possible modification in the silicon networks in the amorphous film.     

Effective operation method by interdependent use of condenser energy of the voltage transient sag compensator with controlled gradational voltage

This paper presents the efficient operation method of the interdependent use of condenser energy on the new concept of voltage transient sag compensator. This compensator consists of the series connection inverter units, and each inverter unit generates a different output voltage by 2ⁿ times. The method proposed here, in any case of various levels of transient voltage sags on the power line, provides the efficient use of condenser energy of all these inverter units. The method of interdependent use of condenser energy is also verified by the experiment. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 154(3): 56–64, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20290     

Preparation and utility of glibenclamide suppository for hospital use

Glibenclamide (GC) is widely used as an oral hypoglycemic drug in the treatment of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Since GC is usually taken for a long period, side effects and noncompliance are among the problems. In order to solve those problems, we prepared GC suppositories and examined their usefulness. Suppositories containing 4, 20, and 40 mg of GC were prepared and examined for drug release, drug absorption and blood glucose levels after the rectal administration of suppositories in rabbits. In the release test, GC suppositories released the drug continuously for 6 hours. The areas under the drug release time curve (ADT) of 20 and 40 mg GC suppositories were 3.5 and 6.2 times of 4 mg GC suppositories respectively. The plasma concentrations after administration of 4 and 20 mg GC suppositories showed about the same profiles for 6 hours. After administration of 40 mg GC suppositories, the maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) was observed at 2 hours. All the GC suppositories showed lower blood glucose levels compared with the control. The remainder of the area under the blood glucose concentration time curve between the control (RAUC) in the case of 40 mg GC suppository was 1.3 times larger than that of the 4 mg GC suppository. The GC suppositories sufficiently lowered the blood glucose levels. These results suggest that the GC suppositories should be useful in the hospital preparation for the treatment of NIDDM patients.     

Atrial septal displacement for repair of anomalous pulmonary venous return into the right atrium

BACKGROUND: In the repair of anomalous connection of the pulmonary veins to the right atrium, the use of a baffle of pericardium to divert the pulmonary venous blood into the left atrium could cause pulmonary venous obstruction as a result of thickening of the pericardial patch. Anomalous pulmonary venous drainage to the right atrium caused by malposition of the atrial septum primum can be repaired by displacing the shifted septum primum to the normal position. METHODS: In 5 patients with total (n=2) or partial (n=3) anomalous pulmonary venous drainage into the right atrium, the septum primum was shifted toward the left atrium and the pulmonary veins drained into the anatomic right atrium despite their normal connection with the posterior wall of the left atrium. This method consisted of incision of the posterior edge of the atrial septum primum and displacement of the incised atrial septum between the anomalous pulmonary veins and both venae cavae. No patch was used. RESULTS: Postoperative echocardiography showed a wide pathway from the pulmonary veins to the left atrium with no stenotic portions. No atrial arrhythmias occurred after the operation. CONCLUSIONS: This technique may be advantageous because it allows for future growth of the route of the pulmonary venous pathway and avoids postoperative supraventricular arrhythmias.