Early gastric cancer and its complications: bleeding, perforation and pyloric stenosis.

Some cases of early gastric cancer are accompanied with complications of the upper gastro-intestinal tract. The characteristics of these complications were investigated, and the problems of diagnosis and treatment were discussed. Out of 297 cases of early gastric cancer, 18 cases were accompanied with complications of the upper gastro-intestinal tract, including 11 cases of bleeding, a case of perforation and 6 cases of pyloric stenosis. All 18 cases were of the macroscopically depressed type, and about 85 percent of the 297 early gastric cancer cases were of the depressed type. The depressed lesions were often accompanied by ulceration which was an important factor causing the complications, and the mechanism of which appeared to be the same as that of a benign ulcer. There are some cases of early gastric cancer which are discovered by their complications, and it would be more difficult to find an early gastric cancer lesion if there were a benign lesion at the same time. Therefore, it is necessary to take much care when diagnosing and treating cases which have such complications. An endoscopic examination before the operation is especially important, and a biopsy is indispensable.</p

Synergistic Antitumor Effects of Natural Human Tumor Necrosis Factor and Mouse Interferon Beta and Gamma

Referring to synergistic antitumor effects of natural human tumor necrosis factor (n-TNF) derived from human acute lymphoblastic leukemia BALL-I cell as well as mouse interferon beta (mIFNbeta) and mouse interferon gamma (mIFNgamma), a series of the study was made using Lewis lung carcinoma grafted on BDF1 mice. With a combination dose of n-TNF (1 x 10^2 U/kg/day) and mIFNbeta (1 x 10^2 IU/kg/day) as well as that of n-TNF (1 x 10^2 U/kg/day) and mIFNgamma (1 x 10^2 IU/kg/day), a significant enhancement of antitumor effect was observed. Furthermore, with a triple combination dose of n-TNF (1 x 10^2 U/kg/day), mIFNbeta (I x 10^2 IU/kg/day) and mIFNgamma (I x 10^2 IU/kg/day), too, a strong synergistic effect was noted. The concentration of n-TNF required for concomitant use with mIFNbeta and mIFNgamma was 1 over 5 x 10^3 of that required for single dose of n-TNF, to obtain the same level of effect

Antitumor Effects of Natural-Human TNF on BDFI Mice Bearing Lewis Lung Carcinoma

Natural-human tumor necrosis factor (n-TNF) was obtained by isolating and refining lymphokines which were extracted from human acute lymphoblastic leukemia BALL-I cells. Antitumor effects of this n-TNF were studied by using Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL) which was transplanted on BDFI mice. n-TNF showed inhibitory effects of the proliferation of metastatic tumors dose-dependently through i.v. injection daily for 10 days. And the study of the dose schedule of the administration and the route of the administration showed that routes of i.v., i.m. and i.t. injections were effective respectively through daily administration. Histological study showed effects which were ranked Grade Ilb (and partially III) of Shimosato and Ohboshi's histological criteria

The Synergistic Antitumor Effect of Natural-Human TNF and Anticancer Drugs

In the present report, we compared and discussed synergistic antitumor effects of natural-human tumor necrosis factor (n-TNF) which was derived from human acute lymphoblastic leukemia BALL-I cells and conventional anticancer drugs by using Lewis lung carcinoma which was transplanted on BDF1 mice. n-TNF and anticancer drugs were administered daily for 10 days. n-TNF showed antitumor effects which were equivalent to or stronger than MMC (1 mg/kg/day, i.v.), 5FU (5 mg/kg/day, i.v.), Adriamycin (1 mg/kg/day, i.v.), Actinomycin D (0.05 mg/kg/day, i.v.), Cyclophosphamide (10 mg/kg/day, i.v.) and OK-432 (0.5 KE/mouse/day, s.c.). And synergistic antitumor effects were observed when n-TNF was administered with anticancer drugs, and the strong enforcement was obtained especially when it was combined with 5FU

The Clinical Significance of CT in the Preoperative Diagnosis of Colon and Rectal Cancer

The clinical significance of CT in the preoperative diagnosis of colon and rectal cancer was studied. Thirty four patients were investigated in this series. The diagnostic criteria of the CT examination were previously established in a study of wall invasion (S factor), lymph node metastasis (N factor), liver metastasis (H factor) and peritoneal dissemination (P factor). The CT diagnosis was done prospectively according to these criteria, and the CT diagnosis was compared with the macroscopic and histological diagnosis. The accuracy of the prospective diagnosis as to H, S, N and P factors was 79.4%, 55.9%, 41.2% and 20.6%, respectively. The diagnostic value of CT seemed to be acceptable as to the H factor, but limited to some extent to the S and N factors

Antinociceptive Effects of Intrathecal Landiolol Injection in a Rat Formalin Pain Model

Perioperative beta-blocker administration has recently been recommended for patients undergoing cardiac or other surgery due to the beneficial cardiovascular effects of these agents. In addition, some studies have reported that perioperatively administered beta-blockers also have analgesic effects. In this study, to investigate the antinociceptive effects and the analgesic profile of landiolol, we examined the effects of intrathecal landiolol administration on nociceptive pain behavior and c-fos mRNA expression (a neural marker of pain) in the spinal cord using a rat formalin model. We found that pain-related behavior was inhibited by intrathecal landiolol administration. Moreover, the increase in c-fos mRNA expression on the formalin-injected side was less pronounced in rats administered landiolol than in saline administered controls. Thus, intrathecal administration of landiolol exhibited antinociceptive effects. Further investigation of the antinociceptive mechanism of landiolol is required

Up-regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the dorsal root ganglion of the rat bone cancer pain model

Metastatic bone cancer causes severe pain, but current treatments often provide insufficient pain relief. One of the reasons is that mechanisms underlying bone cancer pain are not solved completely. Our previous studies have shown that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), known as a member of the neurotrophic family, is an important molecule in the pathological pain state in some pain models. We hypothesized that expression changes of BDNF may be one of the factors related to bone cancer pain; in this study, we investigated changes of BDNF expression in dorsal root ganglia in a rat bone cancer pain model. As we expected, BDNF mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) and protein were significantly increased in L3 dorsal root ganglia after intra-tibial inoculation of MRMT-1 rat breast cancer cells. Among the eleven splice-variants of BDNF mRNA, exon 1–9 variant increased predominantly. Interestingly, the up-regulation of BDNF is localized in small neurons (mostly nociceptive neurons) but not in medium or large neurons (non-nociceptive neurons). Further, expression of nerve growth factor (NGF), which is known as a specific promoter of BDNF exon 1–9 variant, was significantly increased in tibial bone marrow. Our findings suggest that BDNF is a key molecule in bone cancer pain, and NGF-BDNF cascade possibly develops bone cancer pain

Can POSSUM, a Scoring System for Perioperative Surgical Risk, Predict Postoperative Clinical Course ?

POSSUM, a Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity, is a scoring system which assesses perioperative surgical risks (Copeland GP et al.: Br J Surg, 1991, Vol 78, 356-360). The POSSUM scoring system consists of two categories of assessment to assess the risk of surgery. A 12-factor (age, cardiac status, pulse rate, systolic blood pressure, respiratory status, Glasgow Coma Score, serum concentration of urea, potassium and sodium, hemoglobin concentration, white cell count and findings on electrocardiography) and 4-grade physiological score (PS) were developed. This was combined with a 6-factor (type of surgical procedure, number of procedures, blood loss, peritoneal soiling, presence of malignancy and mode of surgery) and 4-grade operative severity score (OSS). The present paper attempts to validate it retrospectively. Postoperative hospitalization period and duration of antibiotics administration were both significantly correlated with OSS, but not with PS. These results suggest that the POSSUM scoring system is useful for predicting the postoperative clinical course.</p

Can POSSUM, a Scoring System for Perioperative Surgical Risk, Predict Postoperative Clinical Course ?

POSSUM, a Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity, is a scoring system which assesses perioperative surgical risks (Copeland GP et al.: Br J Surg, 1991, Vol 78, 356-360). The POSSUM scoring system consists of two categories of assessment to assess the risk of surgery. A 12-factor (age, cardiac status, pulse rate, systolic blood pressure, respiratory status, Glasgow Coma Score, serum concentration of urea, potassium and sodium, hemoglobin concentration, white cell count and findings on electrocardiography) and 4-grade physiological score (PS) were developed. This was combined with a 6-factor (type of surgical procedure, number of procedures, blood loss, peritoneal soiling, presence of malignancy and mode of surgery) and 4-grade operative severity score (OSS). The present paper attempts to validate it retrospectively. Postoperative hospitalization period and duration of antibiotics administration were both significantly correlated with OSS, but not with PS. These results suggest that the POSSUM scoring system is useful for predicting the postoperative clinical course.</p

Safety and Quality in the Agricultural Product Chain in Brazil

An agriculture-intensive country should be aware of natural toxins, including both mycotoxins and cyanotoxins, which are closely associated with the quality of raw materials, for food safety and industry. The major production chains – corn, wheat, beef, and broiler chicken – are the top components of agribusiness, and they should be tracked by reliable and practical tools. The corn chain is of particular concern in food production; intensive controls, multi-year mycotoxin monitoring, and improved harmless/sustainable management methods for uninterrupted farming in the tropic-subtropics are needed to achieve a long-lasting trend. The rapid control of natural toxins (mycotoxin and cyanotoxin) has focused on immunochemical methods developed with highly specific monoclonal antibodies (mAb) matched with chromatographic methods. In parallel, the promising widespread application of non-destructive analytical methods based on NIR (Near Infrared Reflectance) spectroscopy, computer vision and hyperspectral imaging coupled with multivariate analyses have been introduced as an alternative for the prediction of quality and compositional parameters. Rapid quality control and product traceability are discussed, as well as accurate monitoring, which is essential for potentially launching an innovative system for food production in Brazil