Response of a Living Body to 8-Tesla Magnetic Field(Crystal Growth, Chemical Reaction and Biology)

A study was made to investigate body function in high magnetic field of 8-tesla. In order to avoid magnetic-field effect on the measuring system, long distance was placed between a experimental animal and the measuring system. Changes in contractility of the heart were measured from frogs. Heart and respiratory rates were recorded from rabbits. Contractility of the heart was increased with increasing magnetic fields from 0 to 8 tesla in frogs. Heart and respiratory rates were decreased with increasing magnetic fields from 0 to 8 tesla

Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated effectively with irinotecan via hepatic arterial infusion followed by proton beam therapy

金沢大学医学部附属病院がん高度先進治療センターWe report a 48-year-old man with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) chemotherapy followed by proton beam therapy. The HCC lesion in this patient was 88 mm in diameter, with portal vein tumor thrombosis in the right lobe of the liver. He was first treated with 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin, and isovorin, administered by HAI, combined with interferon-α, and he was subsequently treated with epirubicin and mitomycin-C administered by HAI. However, no definite efficacy of either of these treatments was observed. Then, after 3 weeks\u27 continuous administration of irinotecan by HAI, the tumor size decreased to 68 mm in diameter. However, 3 months after reduction of the tumor, the tumor had become enlarged to 100 mm in diameter and intrahepatic metastases were prominent. Angiographic findings indicated that the HCC was fed not only from the right hepatic artery but also from the left gastric and right and left subphrenic arteries. After rearrangement of the arteries, and 3 months\u27 continuous HAI chemotherapy with irinotecan, plus hyperthermia, the tumor size had decreased to 50 mm in diameter. The reduction rate of the main tumor according to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors was 43%; therefore, the efficacy of this treatment was judged as a partial response. Two months after reduction of the tumor, the patient\u27s serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level was elevated, and so docetaxel was administered by HAI instead of irinotecan. The liver tumors showed gradual enlargement during the administration of docetaxel, although the AFP level was suppressed. Proton beam therapy was instituted and the liver tumors showed necrosis after this therapy. The patient died of hepatic failure and distant metastases 6 years after the onset of HCC. As far as we know, this is the first case report of HCC treated effectively with irinotecan administered by HAI followed by proton beam therapy in which tumor suppression and the long-term survival of the patient were observed. © 2009 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases

Myxedema accompanied by huge portal-systemic shunt without portal hypertension

金沢大学医薬保健研究域医学系A 43-year-old woman with a huge portal-systemic shunt accompanied by myxedema showed slow speech and behavior. Several imaging studies revealed a bold portal-systemic shunt from the splenic vein to the left renal vein. In addition, hypothyroidism caused by chronic thyroiditis was diagnosed, and synthesized thyroxine replacement was effective for the symptoms. However, the serum ammonia and indocyanin green retention remained in the abnormal range, nevertheless the portal vein pressure was normal and findings of liver cirrohsis were not recognized histologically. Surgical shunt closure was performed, resulting in normalized serum ammonia levels and serum branched chain amino acids/aromatic amino acids ratio, and improvement of the ammonia tolerance test

Interaction Effects on Combustion of Alcohol Droplet Pairs

Experimental investigation was conducted on two droplet-array combustion of methanol and methanol/dodecanol mixture fuels in microgravity. For methanol, effects of ambient pressure and droplet spacing were examined. Results show that the droplet lifetime decreases with increasing spacing at relatively low pressure and the droplet lifetime becomes independent of spacing at higher-subcritical and supercritical pressures. For methanol/dodecanol mixture, effects of pressure, fuel composition were investigated in terms of occurrence of disruption. Disruption of droplet during combustion was demonstrated both for single droplet and droplet pairs