Clinical Effects of Halothane Concentration on Trifluoroacetic Acid Excretion in Urine

Excreted amount of urinary trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) during and after halothane anesthesia in twelve surgical patients was determined isotachophoretically. The levels of urinary TFA which amount was zero or a trace during the anesthesia increased after discontinuation of halothane inhalation. The values of daily excreted TFA were the highest on the 2.1±0.3 postoperative day (M±SEM). The urinary TFA values of patients inhaling a low concentration (0.8%) of halothane reverted to zero or a trace level on the 11.2±1.0 postoperative day (M±SEM) and the total amount of averaged 21.53 ± 3.23 mmol (M ± SEM). In patients to levels seen on the 7 .0 ± 0.6 postoperative day (M±SEM) and the total amount of TFA excreted was 20.20±4.77 mmol (M±SEM). These clinical findings indicate that the aerobic biotransformation of halothane after anesthesia is enhanced by high concentration of halothane.Supported in part by Research Grants No.57480297 and 57570564 from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan. Presented in part at the 7th World Congress of Anesthesiologists, Hamburg, September 1980

Histological aspect of the effects of soft food on major salivary glands

The modern Japanese population favors soft foods, which do not demand extensive mastication. However, daily intake of soft foods is considered to have unfavorable influences on the mind and body. This is especially within the oral maxillofacial region. Consequently, many studies using experimental animals, feed a liquid or powdered diet and indicate that soft foods negatively affect the jaw bones, masseter muscle, and temporomandibular joint. Furthermore, since a report by Hall and Schneyer in 1964, the effects of soft foods on salivary glands have been under investigation. Soft food intake induces atrophic alteration to the parotid glands in adult animals. In these glands, shrinkage, suppression of proliferation, and apoptotic deletion of acinar cells were observed. In growing animals fed soft foods, parotid gland growth is inhibited through the suppression of an increase of acinar cell size and of acinar cell proliferation, but not through apoptosis. These findings support that unfavorable effects on parotid glands are induced by the intake of soft food regardless of growing or mature phases. However, different observations exist between these two phases. Despite accumulated knowledge on parotid glands, the debate whether soft food affects submandibular and sublingual glands remains controversial. It is the case that many studies agree soft food unfavorably affects parotid glands to a greater extent than submandibular and sublingual glands. This article reviews the histological effects of soft food on major salivary glands and introduces recent data from our research group

Comparison of long-term quality of life based on surgical procedure in patients with rectal cancer

IntroductionReports on the long-term quality of life (QOL) over 3 years after surgery in patients who have undergone surgery for rectal cancer are limited. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the long-term QOL of patients who underwent high anterior resection (HAR), low anterior resection (LAR), internal sphincter resection (ISR), or abdominoperineal resection (APR) for rectal cancer.MethodsA questionnaire regarding QOL was sent to 360 patients with rectal cancer who underwent curative resection by HAR, LAR, ISR, or APR between January 2005 and December 2015. QOL was assessed using the short-form 36 (SF-36) and modified fecal incontinence QOL (mFIQL) questionnaire. QOL between surgical procedures was analyzed using a multivariate model adjusted for age, sex, and postoperative time.ResultsA total of 144 patients responded with a median follow-up period of 94 months (range 38–233 months). According to surgical procedure, HAR was performed in 26 patients, LAR in 80 patients, ISR in 32 patients, and APR in 6 patients. Patients who underwent HAR had significantly better mFIQL scores than those who underwent LAR and ISR (p=0.013 and p=0004, respectively) and significantly better role/social component summary scores on the SF-36 subscales (p=0.007). No difference was observed in the mFIQL scores between patients who underwent ISR and those who underwent APR (p=0.8423). In addition, postoperative anastomotic leakage sutures did not influence the mFIQL and SF-36 scores after surgery.ConclusionThe QOL of patients who underwent anus-preserving surgery was best in the HAR group, with the QOL of other groups similar to the APR group. These results suggest that anus- preserving surgery is acceptable from a QOL standpoint. However, a colostomy may be a more satisfactory procedure in some patients

Involvement of apoptosis and proliferation of acinar cells in atrophy of rat parotid glands induced by liquid diet

Parotid glands of experimental animals fed a liquid diet are reported to show atrophy (Hall and Schneyer 1964; Wilborn and Schneyer 1970; Hand and Ho 1981; Scott et al. 1990; Scott and Gunn 1991). To clarify whether apoptosis and proliferation of acinar cells participate in atrophy of rat parotid glands induced by liquid diet, rats were fed a liquid diet and compared to pellet-fed controls. Parotid glands were removed at 3, 7, 14 or 21 days, weighed, and examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and studied immunohistochemically for cleaved-caspase-3 (Casp-3), a marker of apoptotic cells, and 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU), a marker for proliferating cells. Body weights of experimental rats fed liquid diets were not significantly different from controls fed pellet diets; however weights of experimental parotid glands were smaller than those of controls. In the experimental parotid glands, structures like apoptotic bodies were histologically observed in acini at each time point; more Casp-3-positive acinar cells were identified in experimental parotid glands than in the controls on days 3, 7, and 14. Experimental glands showed fewer BrdU-positive acinar cells at each time point. TEM confirmed typical apoptotic acinar cells in the atrophic glands. These findings suggest that increased acinar cell apoptosis and reduced acinar cell proliferation occur in atrophic parotid glands of rats fed a liquid diet