Successful treatment of metastatic pulmonary tumors by bronchial arterial infusion chemotherapy in two patients with locally well controlled uterine cancer.

Pulmonary metastatic tumors in two patients with locally well controlled uterine cancer were treated with bronchial arterial infusion chemotherapy. The first patient underwent a radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy for stage IIb cervical cancer. Fifteen months after the operation, pulmonary metastasis was identified. Clinical evidence of tumor was negative after bronchial arterial infusion chemotherapy, systemic chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The patient continues to be healthy without recurrent signs six years after bronchial arterial infusion chemotherapy. The second patient underwent a radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy for stage II endometrial cancer. Fifteen months after the operation, pulmonary metastasis was identified. After bronchial arterial infusion chemotherapy and systemic chemotherapy, regression of the tumors was observed. This patient has also survived for two years since the lung metastases. These results indicate that bronchial arterial infusion chemotherapy is a potent treatment for pulmonary metastases of uterine cancer.</p

セロトニン遊離薬p-chloromethamphetamineおよびfenfluramineによる雄ラットの性機能誘発効果

Methodological shortcomings present in elicitation of penile erection and ejaculation in anesthetized rats. The present study has demonstrated that intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of p-chloromethamphetamine (PCMA ; 1-10 mg/kg) and fenfluramine (FEN ; 1-10 mg/kg), the serotonin (5-HT) releasing drugs, elicited dose-dependently both penile erection and ejaculation in anesthetized rats. PCMA (10 mg/kg) and FEN (10 mg/kg) caused an intermittent cluster of genital responses consisting of glans erections and penile cups, which closely resembles the response observed during the ex copula tests in unanesthetized rats. PCMA and FEN also caused frequent ejaculations and the weighing of ejaculates accumulated over 60 min were almost equivalent between both drugs. Pretreatment with a 5-HT synthesis inhibitor p-chlorophenylalanine (150 mg/kg × 3, i.p.) and a selective 5-HT reuptake inhibitor citalopram (1 and 3 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly inhibited the expression of both PCMA- and FEN-induced penile erection and ejaculation, while acute spinal transection (T_) did not affect the responses. These results indicate that PCMA- and FEN-induced penile erection and ejaculation in anesthetized rats are mainly elicited by the release of 5-HT which may be limited to the peripheral sites. Furthermore, the sexual responses of male rats can be easily and reliably elicited by the administration of PCMA and FEN, which may be useful for the study of the mechanisms underlying sexual functions

Dermorphin tetrapeptide誘導体Tyr-D-Arg-Phe-β-AlaおよびTyr-D-Arg-Phe-β-Ala-NH_2の鎮痛作用発現におけるμ1受容体の関与

Involvement of μ1-opioid receptor on the antinociception induced by dermorphin tetrapeptide analogues Try-D-Arg-Phe-β-Ala (TAPA) and Tyr-D-Arg-Phe-β-Ala-NH_2 (TAPA-NH_2) were determined in mice, using a tail-pressure test and formalin test. TAPA and TAPA-NH_2 injected i. c. v. and i. t. produced dose-dependent antinociception in both assays. In the tail-pressure test, the antinociception induced by i. c. v. and i. t. injected TAPA, but not TAPA-NH_2, was significantly attenuated by the pretreatment with naloxonazine, selective antagonist for μ1-opioid receptor. Moreover, naloxonazine also significantly attenuated the antinociception induced by i. c. v. injected TAPA, but not TAPA-NH_2 in formalin test. In contrast, the antinociception induced by both TAPA and TAPA-NH_2 given i. t. was significantly attenuated by the pretreatment with naloxonazine in formalin test. The present results suggest that TAPA and TAPA-NH_2 should be considered to be selective agonist for μ1-and μ2-opioid receptors, respectively. The C-terminal amidation may be the critical portion for TAPA-NH_2 to distinguish μ1-and μ2-opioid receptors

Determination of Cathepsins D and E in Various Tissues and Cells of Rat, Monkey, and Man by the Assay with β-Endorphin and Substance P as Substrates

We developed a new method for the assay of cathepsins D and E. The method was based on the different hydrolytic activities of cathepsins D and E against β-endorphin and substance P. The method was applied to the determination of the levels of cathepsins D and E in various tissues and cells of rat, monkey, and man, and was clarified to be much more specific, sensitive, and quantitative than the ordinary hemoglobin-digestion method. The levels of cathepsin D were high in adrenal and spleen, and the levels of cathepsin E were high in gastrointestinal tissues, bone marrow, and lymph node. The variations in level were much wider in the case of cathepsin E than in the case of cathepsin D. This might reflect that cathepsin D is a house-keeping lysosomal enzyme in a variety of cells and cathepsin E is involved in the physiological activities of certain types of tissues and cells

Mapping Paddy Fields in Japan by Using a Sentinel-1 SAR Time Series Supplemented by Sentinel-2 Images on Google Earth Engine

Paddy fields play very important environmental roles in food security, water resource management, biodiversity conservation, and climate change. Therefore, reliable broad-scale paddy field maps are essential for understanding these issues related to rice and paddy fields. Here, we propose a novel paddy field mapping method that uses Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) time series that are robust for cloud cover, supplemented by Sentinel-2 optical images that are more reliable than SAR data for extracting irrigated paddy fields. Paddy fields were provisionally specified by using the Sentinel-1 SAR data and a conventional decision tree method. Then, an additional mask using water and vegetation indexes based on Sentinel-2 optical images was overlaid to remove non-paddy field areas. We used the proposed method to develop a paddy field map for Japan in 2018 with a 30 m spatial resolution. The producer&rsquo;s accuracy of this map (92.4%) for non-paddy reference agricultural fields was much higher than that of a map developed by the conventional method (57.0%) using only Sentinel-1 data. Our proposed method also reproduced paddy field areas at the prefecture scale better than existing paddy field maps developed by a remote sensing approach