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Through X-ray and endoscopic examination of stomach, a 77 year-old man, who complained of epigastralgia, he was diagnosed to have Borrmann III type gastric carcinoma on the antrum. The gastric biopsy specimen obtained from the tumor revealed to be well differentiated adenocarcinoma. Since the patient refused receiving surgical treatment, a combined administration of futraful and uracil (UFT therapy) was performed. 4 weeks after receiving UFT therapy, the patient became less aware of subjective symptom and the gastrofiberscopic picture showed smaller mass lesion compared to that of prior to the treatment. 8 weeks later, the tumor was remarkable reducing its size. When compared 14 cases of gastric carcinoma receiving UFT therapy with 26 cases receiving Futraful therapy (FT therapy), the UFT group responded more effectively than the FT group. In the UFT therapy, complete (CR) and partial response (PR) were obtained in 4 of 13 cases of gastric carcinoma with an effective rate of 30.8% according to the response criteria proposed by the Koyama-Saitoh group and with a Karnofsky scale of IA or better in 6 (42.8%) of 14 cases. On the other hand, in the FT therapy CR and PR were obtained in 5 of 26 cases with that of 19.2%, while a Karnofsky scale of IA or better was achieved in 6 (23.1%). As for 3 cases of PR in the UFT therapy the microscopic view of the biopsy specimen from gastric carcinoma showed well differentiated adenocarcinoma, which responded to the UFT therapy remarkably 4-5 weeks after receiving UFT therapy.

Blood coagulation and fibrinolysis in pregnancy with or without hyperlipidemia were studied. Blood samples were taken from 36 cases with early pregnancy, 59 cases with late pregnancy, and the relationship between the hemostatic changes and the concentrations of lipids was examined. The following results were obtained: 1. In early pregnancy, all cases were non-hyperlipidemic, but in 41% of late pregnancy cases, hyperlipidemia was found. 2. In late pregnancy without hyperlipidemia, shortening of prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time, increases in platelet epinephrine, collagen aggregation, fibrinogen, and plasminogen, and a decrease in alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor were marked compared with those in early pregnancy without hyperlipidemia. 3. In late pregnancy with hyperlipidemia, the platelet count and fibrinogen were increased, and prothrombin and activated partial thromboplastin time were shortened compared with late pregnancy without hyperlipidemia. The platelet epinephrine aggregation was slightly decreased. Antithrombin III was increased and alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor was slightly decreased. 4. In the same subjects, the relationship between changes in blood coagulation and fibrinolysis in early and late pregnancies and total cholesterol was studied by the independent matched pair test. There were significant correlations (p less than 0.02, p less than 0.05) between activated partial thromboplastin time (r = -0.5998) and fibrinogen (r = 0.6230). From these results the author concluded that late pregnancy was a hypercoagulable state and this tendency was more obvious in late pregnancy with hyperlipidemia.

Searching for the best procedure for simultaneous estimation of the anterior pituitary hormones, extraction efficiencies of various media, additives such as urea and triton X-100, and physical treatments such as freezing-thawing (F-T) and sonication, were examined by measuring prolactin (PRL), growth hormone (GH), lutropin (LH), follitropin (FSH), and thyrotropin (TSH) in the extracts. Ethanolic media (60% EtOH) gave high yields of PRL at neutral to alkaline pH, but poor extraction of GH accompanied by a marked loss of its immunoreactivity during storage. Ethanolic media also gave a poor yield of LH even at high pH. Aqueous media like PBS at various pH, 0.1 M acetic acid and distilled water were considerably effective in the extraction of GH, LH, FSH and TSH if they were coupled with F-T and sonication. However, high yields of PRL could not be obtained with these aqueous media even with F-T and sonication. Hartree's 40% EtOH-6% ammonium acetate, pH 5.1, solubilized considerable amounts of glycoprotein hormones, but yielded almost no GH and only a small amount of PRL. The addition of triton X-100 to PBS (pH 7) at 0.1% resulted in the maximum extraction of glycoprotein hormones with homogenization and F-T, but further sonication was necessary for GH and PRL. When the anterior pituitaries were homogenized and frozen-thawed in PBS (pH 7) containing 1 M urea, yields of PRL, GH, LH, FSH, and TSH were maximum, and sonication did not cause any additional extraction, indicating that this procedure, i.e. homogenization and F-T in 1 M urea-PBS, would be the best for the simultaneous estimation of these anterior pituitary hormones.

The effects of dopamine 0.5--6.0 microgram kg-1 min-1 on urine flow and the excretion of sodium and inorganic phosphate were studied in patients and dogs. In both the patients and the animals the diuretic effect of dopamine was augmented by the i.v. administration of droperidol 0.25 mg kg-1. Similarly, the excretion of sodium and inorganic phosphate was increased by droperidol.

A new model useful for studying capillary growth in vitro is described. When the microvessel fragments and accompanying single cells (myofibroblastic cells) from rat epididymal fat pads were co-cultivated, the myofibroblastic cells initially began to grow and reached confluence. A few days later, endothelial cells started to sprout from the vessel fragments, forming cellular cord networks on and in the multilayered myofibroblastic cells. Ultrastructurally, the lumina, surrounded by the endothelial cells having intercellular junctions, were observed at cross-sectioned cellular cords. The growth of cellular cords from the fragments always occurred after the myofibroblastic cells had reached confluence. The medium conditioned to isolated rat myofibroblastic cells stimulated not only the proliferation of the endothelial cells from the bovine capillary and human vein but also the migration of bovine capillary endothelial cells in vitro. Moreover, the extracellular matrix produced by rat myofibroblastic cells modulated the morphology of bovine capillary endothelial cells to a cordlike shape. These observations strongly suggest that the formation of the capillary in vitro is induced by myofibroblastic cells.

We studied the healing of acetic acid-induced esophageal ulcers in rats with respect to the cellular kinetics. Esophageal ulcers were induced by topical application of acetic acid to the serosal surface. Well-demarcated circular or elliptical ulcers had developed by day 3 after the acid treatment. These ulcers began to decrease in size from day 7 and had healed by day 14. Histological and cellular kinetic findings, with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), were degeneration of the esophageal mucosa on day 1 and ulcer formation on day 3, with an increase in the number of BrdU-labeled cells in the esophageal mucosa around the ulcer. On day 7, regenerated epithelium was found to extend towards the ulcer base and the regenerated epithelium had become thicker, with papilla formation, by day 10. On day 14, the ulcer base was covered with thickened regenerated mucosa, with a decrease in the number of BrdU-labeled cells. Marked proliferative activity of the regenerated mucosa and thickening of the esophageal mucosa, with papilla formation, were observed during the healing process.

This report describes cardiac angiosarcoma in a 62-year-old man. The patient presented with metastatic pulmonary and extradural spinal cord tumors of unknown origin. During the course, he developed hypoxemia, gastrointestinal bleeding, thrombocytopenia, and microangiopathic hemolytic anemia. Anticancer therapy could not be initiated because of his poor general condition, and he died. Autopsy revealed angiosarcoma in the right atrium. Metastases were found in the lungs, liver, adrenals, gingiva and vertebrae. The various hematologic abnormalities were probably the result of aberrant hemodynamics caused by the presence of a large amount of neoplastic vascular tissue.

It is well-known that SFD babies are born of the mothers who had toxemia of pregnancy in many cases. Recently we examined the relation of hemocoagulatological changes in mothers with toxemia to the birth weight of their babies with the intention of investigating the cause of development of SFD babies and obtained some information as follows: 1. The pregnant women with toxemia were significantly lower (p less than 0.01) in platelet count, fibrinogen content, and serum factor XIII value, significantly longer (p less than 0.01) in bleeding time, and significantly higher (p less than 0.01) in serum-urine FDP, platelet ADP aggregation and platelet spreadability than the normal pregnant women. 2. As for the relation of these changes to the birth weight, the value obtained in the SFD baby and that obtained in the AFD baby group were 5.8 +/- 1.5 and 4.5 +/- 1.3 in bleeding time (min), 20.4 +/- 3.17 and 23.4 +/- 4.21 in platelet count x 10(4)/mm3), 296.5 +/- 58.5 and 346.8 +/- 50.4 in fibrinogen content (mg/dl), 1.3 +/- 0.80 and 0.6 +/- 0.63 in urine FDP (microgram/ml), respectively, and the difference between both groups was significant (p less than 0.05) in each of these parameters. The results stated above suggested that toxemia of pregnancy assumed as aspect of chronic DIC and this tendency was stronger in the SFD baby group. From these facts it is considered that a state of chronic DIC in toxemia of pregnancy may be a cause of disturbance in the development of the fetus.

In order to approach from the aspect of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis the reason for the birth of SGA (small for gestational age) infants, we studied the blood coagulation and fibrinolysis capacity of maternal venous blood in the 36th and 37th weeks after conception employing 54 cases in which were no abnormality was seen during pregnancy up to delivery, and we also studied the relationship of the body weight at delivery and arrived at the following conclusions. In the SGA infant birth group there was a tendency toward acceleration of blood coagulation, acceleration of blood platelet aggregation and inhibition of fibrinolysis when compared with two other groups i.e. AGA (appropriate for gestational age) and LGA (large for gestational age) infant birth groups. In the SGA infant birth group in particular there was seen a statistically significant reduction in prothrombin time (p less than 0.002) when compared with the other two groups. A correlation was noted between prothrombin time for maternal blood and the infant's body weight at birth (r = 0.38446, p less than 0.01), and the shorter the prothrombin time for maternal blood in the late stage of pregnancy, the lower the infant's body weight tended to be at birth. The results indicate that these changes in blood coagulation and fibrinolysis may influence the decrease in the blood output of the uterine placenta, and it may be assumed that this causes the birth of SGA infants. Furthermore, the prothrombin time values become one of the parameters used in forecasting an SGA infant's birth, and this should to be considered as a new fibrinolytic therapy for SGA infants.

A 75-year-old male was admitted to our hospital for further investigation of a large mass shadow in the left hilum that was seen on an X-ray film of his chest. Cytological examination of his sputum revealed keratinized squamous cell carcinoma and combination chemotherapy using cisplatin and vindesine was administered. Later, both a chest X-ray and a CT scan showed a remarkable reduction in the size of the lung cancer. Complete response was obtained on the 90th hospital day, and was maintained with UFT administration. No sign of recurrence has been observed for over 9 months.

With a new highly sensitive immunoradiometric assay (IRMA), serum thyrotropin (TSH) concentrations were determined in 213 healthy pregnant women. Serum free thyroxine (FT4) and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) levels were also measured in the same individuals. The mean serum TSH value in the 1st trimester was 0.8 microU/ml and significantly lower than those of the other three periods and non-pregnant women. Seventeen of 77 (22.1%) and 2 of 128 (1.6%) subjects in the 1st and 3rd trimester, respectively, had an undetectable serum TSH value (less than 0.1 microU/ml) with normal or slightly elevated serum FT4 levels and these pregnant women had no clinical signs or symptoms of thyrotoxicosis. Significant positive correlations were found between serum FT4 and HCG in the 1st and 3rd trimester. In 13 subjects whose serum basal TSH values had been less than 0.1 microU/ml, the thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation test was performed. Two of 4 subjects in the 1st trimester and one of 8 subjects in the 2nd trimester did not respond to TRH and their serum TSH values before TRH administration were less than 0.1 microU/ml. Although the exact mechanism of blunted TSH response to TRH is not clear, the feedback suppression of serum TSH by slightly elevated serum FT4 concentrations may occur early in pregnancy. However, in the 3rd trimester serum FT4 values fell below the reference range without an elevation of serum TSH. Other factors regulating the secretion of TSH during pregnancy can be postulated.