Effects of a New Compound of Calcium Gluconate and Calcium Lactate on the in vivo and in vitro Growth of Bifidobacterium

Effects of calcium gluconate (GACa) and a new compound of calcium gluconate and calcium lactate (Medical Super Ca; MSCa) on the growth of Bifidobacterium were investigated in vivo and in vitro. In in vitro experiments, GACa and MSCa stimulated the growth of B. bifidum in synthetic VLM medium. However, these substances did not stimulate, rather inhibited in part, the growth of B. bifidum in the complex medium (GAM broth). When 2.2 mg per mouse per day of GACa or MSCa was administered to mice, and feces were assessed for anaerobic bacteria on VLM medium and for facultative anaerobic bacteria on BTB-L agar, there was no difference among the 3 groups of mice administered with or without GACa or MSCa. Colony forming units (CFU) of B. bifidum in feces of the mice drinking 2.2 mg of MSCa was 3.5 × 105 organisms per g of feces, a value intermediate between those drinking 2.2 mg GACa (6.8 × 104) and controls (3.3 × 106). These results suggested that GACa and MSCa stimulated the growth of B. bifidum in synthetic media, and that the effects of MSCa on the growth of bifidobacteria in vivo and in vitro were intermediate between those of GACa and control

Rupture of the Right Hepatic Artery After Left Lobectomy of the Liver in Patients with Bile Duct Carcinoma

Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) has been reported as the treatment of choice for rupture of the visceral artery. We experienced two clinical cases of rupture of the right hepatic artery after left lobectomy of the liver for radical resection of the bile duct carcinoma. In the first case, TAE was performed on the right hepatic artery twice under a condition of hemorrhagic shock. Consequently, hepatic ischemia developed into complete infarction of the remnant liver tissue in spite of control of bleeding from the rupture site. In the second case, TAE was successfully accomplished because of the patient\u27s good general condition and sufficient collaterals to the remnant liver. Bile leakage from the hepaticojejunostomy was observed early in the postoperative course, and episodes of intermittent flow of blood through the abdominal drain were experienced in both cases. Injury to the exposed arterial wall by leaking bile after lymph-node dissection was considered to be a possible contributive factor of rupture. TAE following initial diagnostic arteriography should be performed at an early stage when there are several episodes of intraabdominal bleeding. However, hypovolemic shock from massive hemorrhage and poor arterial collaterals due to the primary surgical procedure unfavorably affected the prognosis of a patient undergoing TAE

Competition between ferromagnetic and charge-orbital ordered phases in Pr1−x_{1-x}Cax_{x}MnO3_3 for xx=1/4, 3/8, and 1/2

Spin, charge, and orbital structures in models for doped manganites are studied by a combination of analytic mean-field and numerical relaxation techniques. At realistic values for the electron-phonon and antiferromagnetic $t_{2g}$ spin couplings, a competition between a ferromagnetic (FM) phase and a charge-orbital ordered (COO) insulating state is found for $x$=1/4, 3/8, and 1/2, as experimentally observed in Pr$_{1-x}$Ca$_{x}$MnO$_3$ for $x$=0.3$\sim$0.5. The theoretical predictions for the spin-charge-orbital ordering pattern are compared with experiments. The FM-COO energy difference is surprisingly small for the densities studied, result compatible with the presence of a robust colossal-magnetoresistive effect in Pr$_{1-x}$Ca$_{x}$MnO$_3$ in a large density interval.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, with 2 figures embedded in the text. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

離島集団検診における未受診者の課題

五島奈留町において昭和46年から毎年継続して集団検診を行ってきて，平成10年で27年になる．総合検診が確立した昭和60年から平成7年までの11年間の集団検診のデータを基に調査を行い，昭和60年から平成2年の6年間を前期，平成3年から平成7年の5年間を後期とした．癌死亡率の推移を見ると，前期平均31.1％，後期平均27.3％と有意（P. We thus concluded this long term general mass screening program to be an effective community measure for reducing the mortality rate of cancers. However, various issues remain regarding non-participants in the mass screening program among inhabitants who live in such a medically depopulated area. We carried out a questionnaire survey and an interview both by telephone and home visits, on a total of 882 individuals (males:427, females:455) who had not participted in the mass screening program for at least 5 years and were all over 40 years of age and residents of Naru town. The objective of this story was to evaluate the non-participants in this mass screening program