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A total of 62 patients of gastric carcinoma were studied to find a correlation between newer prognostic indicators like cell proliferative indices including Nucleolar Organizer regions (AgNORs), Ki 67 Labelling Index and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) expression with the various, histopathological criteria and compared with 30 controls of non neoplastic gastric diseases. EGFR expression was positive in 48(77.4%) cases. The Ki 67 labelling indices ranged from 0 to 50% with a mean of 21.35 +/- 17.88% among the cases. AgNOR counts ranged from 1.64 to 4.49 with a mean of 3.41 +/- 0.81 among the cases. Positive EGFR expression correlated strongly with differentiation of the tumour, poorly differentiated tumours showing a higher positivity. EGFR positivity also showed good correlation with metastasis as well as with the invasiveness of the tumour. Ki 67 labelling indices correlated significantly with metastatic status, microscopic types and degree of differentiation of the tumour. A strong correlation was observed between AgNOR counts and metastasis as well as the microscopic type of the tumour. EGFR expression correlated strongly with Ki 67 scores and weakly with AgNOR counts among the patients of gastric carcinoma.

A series of L,L- (42, 44, 46, and 60) and D,D- (43, 45, 47, and 61) dipeptide derivatives composed of phenylglycine, phenylalanine, homophenylalanine, and valine and containing a 2-chloroethylamino group at the C-terminus and an N'-(2-chloroethyl)-N'-nitroso-aminocarbonyl group at the N-terminus of the dipeptides were prepared. The dipeptide derivatives (42-47, 60, and 61) were first evaluated in vivo for their anticancer activities against the murine lymphocytic leukemia P388. Compounds 42, 44, 46, and 60 possessed activities ranging from 46 to 111 percent increase in life span (%ILS), whereas 43 was marginal (%ILS = 31) and 45, 47, and 61 were inactive. In general, the L,L-series exhibited low to good activity (%ILS = 46-111), whereas the corresponding D, D-series, except for 43 (%ILS = 31), was devoid of activity. The analogously structured monoamino acid derivatives of L-alanine (74), L-phenylalanine (75), and L-aspartic acid (76) exhibited higher activity against P388 than the dipeptide derivatives (i.e., 481, 297, and 481 %ILS, respectively). The more active representatives of dipeptides (i.e., 42, 44, and 60) and the amino acids derivatives 74-76 were then tested in vivo against the murine lymphoid leukemia L1210. Compounds 42, 44, and 60 exhibited either low or marginal activity (i.e., the %ILS values were 46, 31, and 26, respectively). Compounds 74, 75, and 76 possessed low to moderate activity, as evidenced by the %ILS values of 56, 48, and 64, respectively. The %ILS parameters obtained against the P388 and L1210 tumor lines were correlated with the corresponding lipophilicities, and there is a trend towards higher activity with concomitant decrease in hydrophobicity.

The responses of Meriones hurrianae deprived of food and food-cum-water were found to be similar in respect of time spent in feeding, exploration and drinking whereas water- deprived gerbils fed for a significantly (P < 0.01) shorter time. However, they explored twice (P < 0.01) as long as gerbils in the other two conditions of deprivation. These observations indicate that deprivation of water increases exploratory behaviour among M. hurrianae but food, and food-cum-water deprivation do not seem to influence it. The behaviour of M. hurrianae, when deprived of water, mostly alternated between exploration and drinking whereas feeding was the major behavioural component of the gerbils deprived of food, and food-cum-water. It appears that feeding behaviour among M. hurrianae is of a higher order than drinking behaviour since the animals depend chiefly on the available water content of the food in their natural invironment - the desert., (Copyright © 1980. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Given a choice to feed on millet in two separate food baskets placed on two sides of the cage, the soft-furred field-rat, Rattus meltada pallidior preferred millet in which 1% conspecific urine, either of male or female, was added indicating the conspecific urine or its odour functions as phagostimulant for this rodent. Evaluation of the responses of male and female metads towards the urine odour of the either sex revealed that they prefer uni-sex odour. Both the sexes of field rat stayed in the urine side of the cage for a longer duration (P < 0.001) and the males sebum-marked and the females urine-marked with a higher frequency in the urine environment as compared to the other side of the cage., (Copyright © 1987. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Individually caged northern palm squirrels, Funambulus pennanti, were fed with bait containing 0.025% warfarin or fumarin, 0.0075% chlorophacinone or 0.005% brodifacoum for a fixed number of days varying from 1 to 14. Brodifacoum (WBA 8119) was found most toxic since 66% and 70% of the animals died after one and two days' feeding respectively. Chlorophacinone killed 70% of the squirrels after three days' feeding. Squirrels were relatively tolerant to warfarin and fumarin since the mortality after a period of 14 days' feeding was only 58% and 75% respectively.

Brodifacoum was evaluated in the laboratory against the two gerbils, Tatera indica and Meriones hurrianae and the house rat, Rattus rattus. The acute oral LD50 for these rodents was found to be 0.10 mg/kg, 0.083 mg/kg and 0.77 mg/kg respectively. Feeding tests with 0.002% and 0.005% brodifacoum produced a 100% mortality after a 3-day feeding period in the gerbils and after a 4-day period in R. rattus. The anticoagulant is toxic at both the concentrations to all three species but is less palatable in comparison to plain baits. Results of this laboratory evaluation indicates that 0.002% brodifacoum-treated bait can be effectively used against T. indica, M. hurrianae and R. rattus.