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症例は66歳の男性で，心窩部痛，嚥下時つかえ感を主訴に受診した．上部消化管内視鏡検査および造影検査で腹部食道から噴門部にかけて潰瘍を伴う全周性の隆起性病変を認め，造影CTで噴門部および左胃動脈周囲リンパ節腫大を認めたが生検では悪性の診断は得られなかった．経過中に腫瘍による狭窄症状が悪化したため噴門部悪性腫瘍を疑い左開胸開腹下胃全摘，下部食道切除術を行った．摘出標本では食道胃接合部に凹凸の著しい白色上皮に覆われた隆起性病変を認めた．病理組織学的検査ではほとんど異型のない扁平上皮が食道筋層外まで達する病変を形成し，Ki-67免疫染色にて基底細胞層が陽性であることなどから食道に発生したVerrucous carcinoma（以下，VCと略記）と診断した．VCは主に口腔領域に発生する高度に分化した扁平上皮癌の一種で，食道に発生するものはまれとされている．食道に発生したVCの1例を経験したので報告する．

症例は70歳の男性で，主訴は心窩部から右側腹部の痛みであった．腹部USにて胆嚢腫大，胆泥を認め，ERCP，drip infusion cholangiography CT（以下，DIC-CT）で胆嚢は描出されなかった．胃内視鏡検査にて胃角部小彎後壁側に1型胃癌を認めた．さらに，胆泥などによる胆嚢管の閉塞が疑われたため，幽門側胃切除術，胆嚢摘出術を施行した．切除標本にて胆嚢管の硬化を認めた．病理組織学的には胆嚢管に漿膜下まで達する腺癌を認め，切離断端にも腫瘍組織を認めた．後日，肝外胆管切除術，肝十二指腸靭帯周囲リンパ節郭清術，胆管空腸吻合術を施行した．最終的な病理組織学的検査で，切除組織に腫瘍の遺残を認めず，Farrarの診断基準を満たす胆嚢管癌と診断した．術後2年経過したが，再発を認めていない．Farrarの診断基準を満たす症例はまれであり，自験例を含む本邦報告37例の検討を行った．

空腸憩室の頻度は極めて低く，空腸憩室炎から膿瘍を形成した症例の報告は，さらに稀である．症例は52歳の男性で，ネフローゼ症候群のためプレドニンを4mg/2日で内服していた．2006年1月に腹痛，発熱で他院を受診した．腹部CT検査で腹腔内に膿瘍形成を認めたため，当院に紹介となった．心窩部に圧痛，反跳痛，筋性防御と38.5度の発熱を認めた．経皮的膿瘍ドレナージを施行し，造影したところ小腸の一部が造影された．小腸造影を施行したところ，膿瘍ドレナージ部の近傍に空腸憩室を認めた．ドレナージにて膿瘍の縮小を認めたが，食事を開始すると発熱，腹痛を繰り返すため，手術を施行した．開腹するとTreitz靱帯から約10cmのところで小腸が一塊となっていたため，一塊となった小腸を切除した．切除標本では，空腸憩室と考えられる空腸と連続した腔を認め，空腸憩室炎による腹腔内膿瘍と診断した．

診断が困難であった肝膿瘍の1例を経験したので報告する．症例は，42歳の男性で2006年12月，発熱，心窩部痛にて近医より急性胆嚢炎の疑いにて紹介となった．入院時，発熱，右季肋部に圧痛，筋性防御を認めた．腹部超音波検査にて，胆嚢の壁肥厚と軽度腫大を認め，肝S5に低エコー域を認めた．腹部CTでも胆嚢壁の肥厚，肝S5に低吸収域を認め，内部に一部隔壁を伴っていた．肝膿瘍ドレナージを施行したところ内容物は悪臭を伴う粘性の白色膿汁であった．膿培養は陰性で，アメーバ，エキノコッカスなども認めなかった．膿瘍腔造影では肝内胆管との交通を認めた．以上から，胆嚢炎からの逆行性感染による肝膿瘍と診断し，入院から3日後，腹腔鏡下胆嚢摘出術を施行した．切除した胆嚢の粘膜面には炎症所見を認めず，肝膿瘍からの炎症の波及と考えられた．後日，血清アメーバ抗体陽性であったため，アメーバ性肝膿瘍と診断することができた．

鼠径ヘルニア嵌頓を契機に発見されたS状結腸癌の1例を経験したので報告する．症例は89歳の男性，2005年7月，右鼠径部腫大で当院受診となった．右鼠径ヘルニアと診断した．その4日後，右鼠径部痛で再受診し，右鼠径部腫大，圧痛を認め，還納を試みたが不可能であり鼠径ヘルニア嵌頓と診断した．同日ヘルニア根治術施行した．ヘルニア嚢を開放すると，内部に大網が嵌頓しており，一部に結節性変化を認めた．嵌頓していた大網を切除して病理組織学的検査を行ったところ，腹膜播種との診断であった．後日，大腸内視鏡検査でS状結腸に全周性の2型腫瘍を認め，病理組織学的検査でS状結腸癌と診断された．そのため，S状結腸部分切除術を施行したところ，腹腔内に腹水，多発性の腹膜播種結節を認めた．鼠径ヘルニアを契機にして結腸癌が発見される症例は稀であり，自験例を含む本邦報告5例の検討を行った．

A 52-year-old Japanese man presented for evaluation and treatment of rectal cancer. Screening computed tomography revealed pancreatic arteriovenous malformations (P-AVMs) and abnormally expanded inferior mesenteric vein (IMV) that resulted from P-AVMs. One-stage surgery for rectal cancer was dangerous so we first performed distal pancreatectomy to cure P-AVM and thus normalize the abnormally expanded IMV. After the operation, the IMV was occluded by the thrombi, and then the IMV became normal. We could perform safely radical laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer. This is the first case report of P-AVMs combined with rectal cancer.

Electrophoretic variations of prophenoloxidase were obtained from natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. A1, one of the 2 isofojrms of the prophenoloxidases, is polymorphic: 10 fast-migrating and 2 slow-migrating types were found in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis among 271 wild strains. The majority were the intermediate-migrating type. By use of these variants, A1 gene was mapped at 79.6 on the right arm of the second chromosome. By deletion mapping, its cytological position was located at 55A-B. In the electropherograms, hybrids between the types differing in mobility exhibited 3 bands, indicating that A1 is a dimeric protein. The gene for A1 is expressed through larval, pupal and adult stages.

The resin bond strength of plasma-arc curing in restorative dentistry was investigated in comparison to halogen-light curing with respect to two kinds of thickness, shade and opacity of porcelain laminate veneers. The bond strength of the light-cured resin was evaluated by shear tests and SEM observations of the fracture surfaces, and the results were interpreted in terms of the degree of resin polymerization. It was found that plasma-arc curing for 6 s was sufficient to obtain bond strengths similar to those of specimens polymerized with halogen light for 40 s, whereas the plasma-arc curing time needed to be doubled to 12 s in order to achieve similar failure patterns for a darker-shade porcelain of 2 mm thickness. The bond strength achieved by plasma-arc curing was found to be relatively unaffected by the shade or opacity of porcelain.

Clones encoding pro-phenol oxidase [pro-PO; zymogen of phenol oxidase (monophenol, L-dopa:oxygen oxidoreductase, EC 1.14.18.1)] A1 were isolated from a lambda gt10 library that originated from Drosophila melanogaster strain Oregon-R male adults. The 2294 bp of the cDNA included a 13-bp 5'-noncoding region, a 2070-bp encoding open reading frame of 690 amino acids, and a 211-bp 3'-noncoding region. A hydrophobic NH2-terminal sequence for a signal peptide is absent in the protein. Furthermore, there are six potential N-glycosylation sites in the sequence, but no amino sugar was detected in the purified protein by amino acid analysis, indicating the lack of an N-linked sugar chain. The potential copper-binding sites, amino acids 200-248 and 359-414, are highly homologous to the corresponding sites of hemocyanin of the tarantula Eurypelma californicum, the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus, and the spiny lobster Panulirus interruptus. On the basis of the phylogenetic tree constructed by the neighbor-joining method, vertebrate tyrosinases and molluscan hemocyanins constitute one family, whereas pro-POs and arthropod hemocyanins group with another family. It seems, therefore, likely that pro-PO originates from a common ancestor with arthropod hemocyanins, independently to the vertebrate and microbial tyrosinases.

A high activity of molting hormone (ecdysone) was detected in the extract of unfertilized, diapausing and developing silkworm eggs. The active substance in the diapause eggs behaved as a highly polar molecule at partitioning between n-butanol and water, and also in TLC. The majority of the activity seems to be due to a conjugated ecdysone, since the polar active substance was changed to a less polar substance upon treatment with “snail enzymes”.

The mechanism of polyol accumulation in diapausing Bombyx eggs, conversion of [6-14C] glucose-6-phosphate into polyols and other neutral sugars was investigated in in vitro reaction systems. When a crude homogenate or a press juice of the eggs was incubated with [6-14C]glucose-6-P, the labelled trehalose, sorbitol and glycerol accumulated in the reaction mixture. In the press juice incubation system of developing eggs at day 1, 14C-sorbitol was detected in appreciable amounts, but it decreased rapidly with the development of the embryos. When the press juice was prepared from eggs in diapause, the formation of 14C-sorbitol was 3–5 times greater in eggs at early stages (day 2 to day 4) than in developing eggs.

Two cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein kinases, designated as protein kinase-I and -II, were obtained from the eggs of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Protein kinase-I is highly dependent on cGMP, whereas protein kinase-II is dependent on cAMP. In developing non-diapause eggs, the level of cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein kinase activity is quite high but that in the diapause eggs is not. The developmental changes in the two protein kinases and the level of cyclic nucleotides were also studied during the development of the eggs.

From the ligation experiments, it is indicated that the secretion from prothoracic glands during early pupal period induces the ovarian development in female pupa of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. The exogenous β-ecdysone injected into isolated pupal abdomen also induces the initiation of the ovarian development.

Investigations were undertaken to elucidate the mechanism of the accumulation of 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-OHK) in pupal ovarian follicles of the silkworm, Bombyx mori L. In diapause-egg-producer pupa (D-pupa), 3-OHK is actively transferred into and accumulated in the follicles from hemolymph, whereas no such phenomenon is observed in non-diapause-egg-producer pupa (ND-pupa). In D-pupa, the following facts indicate that an active transport is one of the major factors involved in the accumulation of 3-OHK; namely 3-OHK accumulation in follicles exceeds that of hemolymph by about 18-fold and the transport is inhibited by DNP and sodium azide. Autoradiography revealed that accumulated 3-OHK localized specifically on the surface of the yolk spheres of the oocytes. On the other hand, in ND-pupa, 3-OHK is considered to be transferred into the follicles by a simple diffusion, since 3-OHK concentration in a follicle nearly coincides with that of hemolymph. The accumulation of 3-OHK could be arrested by the removal of suboesophageal ganglion (Sg) in D-pupa. These results are discussed in relation to the action of the “diapause factor” released from Sg.

Two novel ecdysteroid conjugates, 2,22-dideoxy-20-hydroxyecdysone 3-phosphate (1) and bombycosterol 3-phosphate (2), as well as four known ecdysteroid 22-phosphate esters, have been isolated and characterized from the ovaries of the silkworm,Bombyx mori.

The crystalline material covering the cocoon of Malacosoma neustria testacea (Lasiocampidae, Lepidoptera) was analyzed physically and chemically. The mean component was identified as calcium oxalate monohydrate, and the crystals were found to be whewellite in form.

In the swallowtail, Papilio xuthus L., a switchover in the pigmentary system of epidermis occurs at the last larval molt: viz., from reddish brown xanthommatin to bluish green bile pigment. By transplantation of integument between the larvae of different developmental stages, a control by some humoral factor of the pigmentary system was revealed. But the transplantation of brain or of several combinations of known endocrine systems failed to affect the switchover of the pigmentary system at the last larval molt.

Sorbitol was found to be a normal and sole monosaccharide demonstrable in the late ovarian and in the early embryonic stages of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. This observation was first made on a line of non-diapausing polyvoltine Katsumata strain, but was later confirmed by the analysis of two other Katsumata lines and on several polyvoltine or bivoltine strains. The identification of the sugar extracted from the diapause eggs of a bivoltine strain and from the non-diapausing eggs of a Katsumata strain was based on analyses involving paper chromatography, paper electrophoresis and sorbitol dehydrogenase.

The diapause factor which is responsible for the induction of embryonic diapause in the silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) was isolated from the heads of female moths. It was extracted with 80 percent ethanol or 80 percent methanol and was heat-stable and not dialyzable. Since the active material was precipitated with ammonium sulfate and lost when incubated with proteolytic enzymes, it is highly probable that the diapause factor is a protein or a complex molecule containing peptide bonds. Molecular sieve techniques revealed two species of the diapause factor. The molecular weight of the smaller species lies between 5,000 and 10,000.

From ovaries dissected from developing and emerged adults of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, two substances having high molting hormone activity were isolated. One of these was identified as 2-deoxy-alpha-ecdysone by means of high-pressure liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Although this compound had previously been isolated from the fern Blechnum minus and postulated to be the precursor of alpha-ecdysone, it had not been obtained from insect material. The compound is also contained in the form of a conjugate in ovaries as well as in diapausing silkworm embryos.