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We report a case of bilateral lateral costal branches (LCB) of the internal thoracic artery (ITA). On the left side, the ITA branched from the subclavian artery as a common trunk with the thyrocervical trunk. The left LCB flew into the collateral branch of the fifth intercostal artery after reaching the upper end of the sixth rib and after exiting the left ITA at the upper part of the first rib. The left ITA was disconnected near the second rib because it had been used for coronary artery bypass surgery. The right ITA arose from the anterior surface of the right subclavian artery just after the right ITA diverged from the brachiocephalic artery. The right LCB reached the upper end of the fifth rib and flew into the collateral branch of the fourth intercostal artery. The right ITA descended along the back of the costal cartilages as usual. The mechanism of the development of the LCB is thought to be due to a lateral longitudinal anastomosis connecting the inter-node arteries arising from the dorsal aorta during the embryonic phase. More anatomical and embryological studies are necessary to further elucidate this variant arterial branch.

Danaparoid and heparin, on the basis of anti-activated factor X (anti-FXa) activity, were equipotent in accelerating the rate of interaction of FXa and antithrombin III. In rat tissue factor-induced disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) models, an intravenous administration of danaparoid inhibited the decrease in plasma fibrinogen and platelet counts and the increase in serum fibrinogen degradation products. Expressed on the basis of anti-FXa activity, these effects were comparable with those of dalteparin and heparin. In rat mesenteric small artery and vein, less bleeding was observed after intravenous administration of danaparoid than after dalteparin or heparin. Danaparoid did not affect adenosine diphosphate- or collagen-induced platelet aggregation, and showed weaker inhibitory effects on aggregation induced by thrombin, or collagen + thrombin, than did dalteparin or heparin. These findings suggest that danaparoid may be useful for the prevention of DIC and has less tendency to cause bleeding than dalteparin or heparin, probably as a result of its weaker ability to inhibit platelet aggregation.

Optimal growth and health of suckling neonates critically depend on milk production by their mothers. In both humans and animals, branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) are not only the major components of milk proteins but are also nitrogenous precursors for the synthesis of glutamate, glutamine, alanine, and aspartate in the mammary gland. These synthetic pathways, which are initiated by BCAA transaminase, contribute to the high abundance of free and peptide-bound glutamate, glutamine, aspartate and asparagine in milk. In mammary epithelial cells, the carbon skeletons of BCAA can be partially oxidized via branched-chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase to provide energy for highly active metabolic processes, including nutrient transport, protein turnover, as well as lipid and lactose syntheses. In addition, results of recent studies indicate that BCAA play regulatory roles in mammary metabolism. For example, leucine can activate the mammalian target of rapamycin cell signaling pathway to enhance protein synthesis in mammary epithelial cells. Dietary supplementation with BCAA may have great potential to enhance milk synthesis by the lactating mammary gland, thereby improving neonatal survival, growth and development.

The carrier-doping (or band-filling) dependence of electronic states has been investigated in the perovskitelike titanate compounds, La1-xSrxTiO3 and Y1-xCaxTiO3, by measurements of the specific heat. The linear temperature coefficient of the electronic specific heat, γ, is enhanced significantly near the metal-insulator phase-transition boundary, indicating a divergent increase of the effective electron mass due to the strong electronic correlation on approaching the metal-insulator transition boundary. The result is argued in comparison with that of the high-Tc cuprates.

The electronic structure of LaxSr1−xTiO3 has been studied by photoemission and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Electron doping through La substitution induces a new photoemission feature of Ti 3d character within the band gap of SrTiO3; the Fermi level is located near the bottom of the conduction band of SrTiO3. The experimental results are incompatible with the rigid-band behavior predicted by one-electron band theory or Hubbard-model calculations., This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan, Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), and Scheikundig Onderzoek Nederland (SON). The work at Berlin was supported by the Bundesrninister fur Forschung und Technologie.

We have examined the signal transduction for H2-receptor mediated positive chronotropic response of guinea-pig right atrium. Our results indicate that phospholipid methylation is rapidly induced by histamine acting on H2-receptor in guinea-pig right atrium and therefore plays a predominant role in the signal transfer of H2-receptor-mediated cyclic AMP generation to exert positive chronotropic effect of atrium, as well as GTP-binding protein activation.