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Lentinan inhibited the proliferation of MH-134 ascites hepatoma transplanted subcutaneously. The best result occurred when 1 mg-2 mg/kg of lentinan was administered for 10 consecutive days from the eighth day after tumor transplantation. Tumor proliferation was 33% inhibited as measured by the average tumor diameter. The average survival (days) when chemotherapy with mitomycin-C (MMC), 5-FU and Ara-C in combination with lentinan, was administered concurrently in the second week of the tumor transplantation was 29.2 days as compared to 20.5 days in the untreated group, 25.1 days in the group given lentinan alone, and 22.0 days in the group receiving chemotherapy alone. When lentinan was administered in combination with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the group given lentinan for 5 consecutive days from the third day after tumor transplantation and 30 micrograms LPS i.p. on the thirteenth day, had 70% inhibition of tumor as measured by the average tumor weight. The antitumor activity of lentinan was studied by following changes in macrophage migration inhibition activity (MI). In the untreated group, MI activity disappeared on the 14th day after tumor transplantation. In the group treated with lentinan, spleen cells had positive activity suggesting a restorative action of lentinan on the immune suppression accompanying tumor growth.

The patient was a 37-year-old female teacher with hyperemesis diabeticorum and juvenile Type-I diabetes. At the age of 29 years, nausea and vomiting developed and secured at nearly weekly intervals. She was started on clotiazepam (15 mg/day). The vomiting was cured and psychological improvement was evident; her anxiety about diabetes was markedly reduced. An X-ray examination after the administration of clotiazepam showed that she was entirely free from marked hypoperistalsis and the severe retention of gastric contents which had been present before this treatment. The present case is a clear example of stress closely related to the pathogenesis of hyperemesis diabeticorum.

Response rates and survival times were studied in 47 patients who had multiple myeloma and who were being treated with Prednisolone and sequential Melphalan and Ifosfamide (MIP therapy). The clinical response was determined by objective parameters such as the reduction of M-protein level, tumor volume and healing of bone destruction. Twenty-eight of the patients (59.6%) responded to the MIP therapy. The 50% survival time as followed from the initiation of treatment to death was 19 months. Of the prognostic factors, the age (greater than or equal to 70 years), clinical stage III of Durie and Salmon, hypercalcemia, extensive bone lesions, and the patho-morphological type IV of Brucher were associated with a decreased life-span. Therefore, MIP therapy was more effective in poor risk (high tumor mass group) than in good risk (low or intermediate tumor mass group) patients, but the survival of patients on MIP therapy was shorter in the poor risk group than in the good risk one. In addition, the group which responded rapidly (i.e. within 2-5 weeks) had longer remission and longer survival than the group which improved slowly (i.e. after 6-16 weeks).

Eighteen patients with advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma other than the diffuse histiocytic type were treated with a combination of adriamycin, vincristine, ifosfamide and prednisolone (AVIP). The objective response rate was 83% (15/18); 61% (11/18) achieved complete remission. The median duration of complete remission was 11 months ranging from 2 to 39+ months. Eleven of the 18 patients are still alive during the median follow-up time of 13 months. The median survival was 14+ months for complete responders, and 9.5 months for partial and nonresponders. A myelosuppressive toxicity was well tolerated. AVIP offers some hope as treatment of advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The cholinesterase activity of skeletal muscle and its subcellular components, including motor endplates, was compared chemically in human, mouse and rat. The total cholinesterase activity of muscle per unit protein was in the descending order of human, mouse and rat. Cholinesterase was present in all subcellular components fractionated by differential centrifugation, and was greatest in the microsome fraction followed, in descending order, by the mitochondria, myofibril, and supernatant fractions. Each of these fractions had greater cholinesterase activity in human muscle than in mouse muscle, and in mouse muscle than in rat muscle. The ratio of the activity of the microsome fraction to the activity of muscle homogenate was 11.1 in human, 4.6 in mouse and 3.4 in rat. Because of its relatively greater proportion, the myofibril fraction seems to contribute most to the total cholinesterase activity of muscle. Muscle membrane contained high cholinesterase activity of motor endplates, and the activity was greater than the activity of the microsome fraction in rat. Cholinesterase activity per motor endplate was in the descending order of rat, human and mouse, and the variation was less than the variation in the total muscle cholinesterase activity among these species.

Measurement of lipid peroxides and alpha-tocopherol was undertaken in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. In sera and livers in diabetic rats, the lipid peroxides increased but alpha-tocopherol decreased. To study the effect of vitamin E deficiency in the diabetic state, diabetes was induced in rats maintained on a vitamin E deficient diet. Serum lipid peroxides increased greatly but alpha-tocopherol decreased. Lipid peroxides and alpha-tocopherol increased in the liver of vitamin E deficient states. In the liver, vitamin E deficient diabetic rats had lower lipid peroxides levels but higher alpha-tocopherol levels than vitamin E deficient non-diabetic rats. On the basis of the present experiments, it was considered that the decrease of alpha-tocopherol might be due to consumption as an antioxidant as lipid peroxides increased in sera and livers. The decrease of lipid peroxides in the liver was thought to play an important part of the increase in serum lipid peroxides.

Changes in the stenotic resistance of a coronary artery following brief coronary occlusion were studied in the anesthetized open-chest dog. A critical coronary stenosis was constructed by tying a thick string around the circumflex coronary artery (LCx) near its origin. The LCx was occluded for 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 seconds with and without coronary stenosis then the reactive hyperemia was observed. In the absence of the stenosis, resistance of the segment of the large coronary artery remained unchanged during the reactive hyperemia independent of the duration of occlusion. In the presence of the stenosis, however, stenotic resistance increased for a certain time after the release of occlusion. This increased resistance lasted longer with more severe stenosis and with longer duration of coronary occlusion. These results suggest that stenotic resistance can increase dynamically, and that the duration of increased resistance may reflect the severity of the stenosis.

Cytogenetic and dermatoglyphic studies were performed on a group of 197 institutionalized patients with severe mental and physical handicaps in order to evaluate the contribution of chromosomal aberrations on the etiology of the condition, and to determine whether any association exists between the dermatoglyphics and the severe handicaps. There were 4 patients with trisomy 21 and 2 patients with a de novo balanced reciprocal translocation. In addition, 9 patients were found to have a pericentric inversion of chromosome 9 (inv (9) (p11q13)). Other chromosome variations identified included inv (1) (p11q11) (one case), elongation of 1 qh (one case), and telocentric chromosome 13 (two cases). Dermatoglyphics from the patients excluding cases with Down syndrome were compared with those from 500 normal controls. Significant differences were observed in several dermatoglyphic characteristics, including simian crease, fingertip pattern, mean a-b ridge count, thenar/first interdigital pattern, hypothenar pattern, and hallucal pattern. The present study indicated that de novo balanced translocation as well as chromosome duplication or deficiency is causally related to the severe combined handicaps. This study also showed that the incidence of inv (9) (p11q13) in the patients was 4.2 times higher than that in the general Japanese population. If a real association exists between the inv (9) (p11q13) and severe handicaps, the increase of inv (9) (p11q13) in the patients may be explained by the concept of a risk factor. Moreover, the dermatoglyphic deviations found in patients may be evidence that pathological factors had been operating during early embryonic life in some of them.

The effect of dopamine on cyclic AMP levels in tissue slices of canine myocardium and kidney, and in chopped superior mesenteric arterial wall was investigated to identify dopamine receptors. Tissues were incubated in modified Krebs-Henseleit Ringer bicarbonate solution at 37 degrees C for 20 min with test drugs, after 20-min preincubation. In the presence of 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX), dopamine and apomorphine caused dose-dependent increases in cyclic AMP levels in the myocardium, kidney and superior mesenteric artery. Phentolamine significantly intensified the cyclic AMP-increasing effect of dopamine in the superior mesenteric artery, but it did not influence the cyclic AMP increase caused by dopamine or apomorphine in the myocardium and kidney. Propranolol markedly blocked the effect of dopamine on cyclic AMP levels in all tissues studied. Haloperidol slightly inhibited the effect of dopamine and completely blocked the effect of apomorphine in the myocardium and kidney. These data suggest that dopamine increases cyclic AMP levels by activating predominantly beta-adrenergic receptors and partly dopamine receptors in the canine myocardium, kidney and superior mesenteric artery. The present results also suggest that dopamine acts not only on beta-adrenergic and dopamine receptors but also on alpha-adrenergic receptors in the superior mesenteric artery. Contrary to the activation of beta-adrenergic and dopamine receptors, the activation of alpha-adrenergic receptors resulted in a decrease in cyclic AMP levels in this tissue.

As a staging procedure before treatment, examination of bone marrow from the posterior iliac crest was performed on a total of 107 patients with bronchogenic carcinoma. Among them, 11 patients (10.3%) had metastasis in the bone marrow: five of 39 adenocarcinomas, five of 33 small cell carcinomas, one of four large cell carcinomas, and none of 31 epidermoid carcinomas. Leukoerythroblastosis was found exclusively in the patients with metastasis, although the presence of tumor cells in the bone marrow did not correlate well with peripheral blood cell counts. Survival following an intensive chemotherapy in patients with bone marrow metastasis was substantially longer for those with small cell carcinoma than for those with other histologic types of bronchogenic carcinoma.

Pretreatment laboratory parameters were analyzed as prognostic factors in patients with small cell lung cancer. Serum lactic dehydrogenase activity, serum albumin concentration, PPD skin reaction, and peripheral lymphocyte count were of prognostic importance. When these factors were evaluated by multivariate analysis together with performance status and disease extent, lactic dehydrogenase and albumin were the most influential factors related to survival.

Paraquat is a broad spectrum herbicide known to be highly lethal to man and animals. Its toxicity is characterized by acute lung injury. Paraquat produces such toxic effects through the generation of the superoxide anion according to one proposed mechanism. The present experiment, methemoglobin formation was demonstrated after incubation of oxyhemoglobin with paraquat. The generation of the superoxide anion through the interaction of oxyhemoglobin with paraquat was suggested by chemiluminescence of luminol. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalare inhibited methemoglobin formation. The generation of the superoxide anion is discussed in regard to methemoglobin formation by paraquat.

Cytogenetic studies were performed on a biopsy specimen of a jaw tumor and on a bone marrow aspirate from a Japanese patient with Epstein-Barr virus-negative Burkitt's lymphoma. A 14q + chromosome was found in cells from either source, although each contained a different clone. Other karyotypic abnormalities present in common included 2dir dup (1q) (q21 leads to q32), 3q+, 6p--, +12, +mar.

In the aortic stenosis group, the left ventricular (LV) muscle mass index was a good parameter for predicting the prognosis. Associated mitral valve disease had no influence on long term survival after aortic valve replacement. In the aortic insufficiency group, associated mitral valve disease had a marked influence on the results of aortic valve replacement. In general, the aortic insufficiency group had less clinical improvement postoperatively than the aortic stenosis group. In the annuloaortic ectasia group, left ventricular enddiastolic pressure (LVEDP) might be the predictor to the prognosis. This group had the worst prognosis, of the three groups. Early operation should be considered for patients who have no, or only mild symptoms of, aortic valve disease.

<P>A 73-year-old man with a left testicular tumor is presented. Orchiectomy was performed and the tumor was diagnosed as a plasmacytoma. There has been no bone lesion or immunoglobulin abnormality during a follow-up period more than one year. For several reasons, the tumor was regarded as a primary plasmacytoma of the testicle. The literature concerning testicular plasmacytoma is reviewed briefly.