Seven cases of adenocarcinoma of the urachus treated at the National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, over a nineteen-year period are reported. One hundred fifty-five cases reported in English literature and 140 cases in Japanese literature were analyzed with respect to the modalities of treatment, mean remission times, and sites of recurrence or metastases. From this review and experience on the 7 cases reported here, extended radical total cystectomy with well-designed radio- and chemotherapy was proposed for the treatment of this disease.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed1983

Relationship between luminous fish and symbiosis. I. Comparative studies of lipopolysaccharides isolated from symbiotic luminous bacteria of the luminous marine fish, Physiculus japonicus.

In order to investigate the relationship between host and symbiosis in the luminous marine fish, Physiculus japonicus, the bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of symbiotic luminous bacteria were compared serologically and electrophoretically. Five symbiotic luminous bacteria (PJ strains) were separately isolated from five individuals of this fish species caught at three points, off the coasts of Chiba, Nakaminato, and Oharai. LPS preparations were made from these bacteria by Westphal's phenol-water method and highly purified by repeated ultracentrifugation. These LPSs contained little or no 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate and had powerful mitogenic activity. In sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, these PJ-1 to -5 LPSs were separated by their electrophoretic patterns into three groups; the first group included PJ-1 and PJ-4, the second group PJ-2 and PJ-3, and the third group PJ-5 alone. The results agreed with those of the double immunodiffusion test; precipitin lines completely coalesced within each group but not with other groups. In immunoelectrophoresis, one precipitin line was observed between anti PJ-2 LPS serum and PJ-5 LPS but the electrophoretic mobility of PJ-5 LPS was clearly different from that of the PJ-2 LPS group. Furthermore, in a 50% inhibition test with PJ-2 LPS by the passive hemolysis system, the doses of PJ-2 LPS, PJ-3 LPS, and PJ-5 LPS required for 50% inhibition (ID50) in this system were 0.25, 0.25, and 21.6 micrograms/ml for each alkali-treated LPS, respectively, and the ID50's of both PJ-1 LPS and PJ-4 LPS were above 1,000 micrograms/ml. These results indicate that PJ-5 LPS has an antigenic determinant partially in common with LPS from the PJ-2 group but not with LPS from the PJ-1 group and that the symbiotic luminous bacterium PJ-5 is more closely related to the PJ-2 group than to the PJ-1 group. These results show that the species Physiculus japonicus is symbiotically associated with at least three immunologically different strains of luminous marine bacteria in its specialized light organ.

Animals↗

PubMed1982

Effects of beta-sitosterol on the concentrations of serum and liver cholesterol and serum apolipoproteins in rats fed butter fat.

Male rats were fed on semipurified cholesterol-free diets containing butter fat with or without supplementary beta-sitosterol. The expected rise of serum cholesterol caused by butter fat, as compared with safflower oil, was not able to be demonstrated, and hence the hypocholesterolemic effect of beta-sitosterol as well. However, the plant sterol effectively lowered the liver cholesterol level. Similar responses were also observed in mice. The distribution of cholesterol in serum lipoproteins remained unchanged among different dietary regimens. Butter fat increased the concentration of serum apoA-I in relation to safflower oil. There was possibly a trend toward higher serum apoA-I with supplementation of beta-sitosterol in a butter-fat diet. The effect of the plant sterol on serum apoB was rather variable. The observation strongly suggests that alteration in cholesterol metabolism in these rodents may not satisfactorily be estimated by the serum cholesterol parameter alone when diets free of cholesterol are fed. The concentration of hepatic cholesterol and serum apolipoproteins seems a more apposite measure for this purpose.

Animals↗

PubMed1980

[Controlled hypotension with large doses of trimethaphan (Arfonad) in scoliosis surgery (author's transl)].

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Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cloning and sequencing of a cDNA encoding glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Tetrahymena thermophila: growth-associated changes in its mRNA expression.

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase is a key enzyme in the glycolytic pathway. Since its transcript levels do not vary in most experimental conditions, it has been often used as a control in northern blot or reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis. We have cloned and sequenced a gene encoding glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (Tthgapdh) from Tetrahymena thermophila cDNA library and determined whether the Tthgapdh mRNA is a loading control in gene expression studies of T. thermophila cell. The open reading frame encoded a protein of 341 amino acid residues (36.8 kDa) containing a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-binding domain and a catalytic domain, which was highly similar to those of other organisms. Its mRNA levels at different growth stages were examined by northern blot analysis. The fragment of the isolated cDNA was hybridized to a 1.3-kb mRNA transcript. There was a marked increase in Tthgapdh mRNA level at the mid-exponential phase, followed by a gradual decrease. Therefore, much caution should be made to use Tthgapdh mRNA as an internal standard for northern blot analysis in Tetrahymena.

Amino Acid Sequence↗