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Background In transplant patients with localized prostate cancer, irradiation is not proposed as often as it is in healthy adults because of the post-radiation risks, such as ureteral stenosis and gastrointestinal toxicity as the result of fragile tissue. The objective of the study was to analyze the efficacy and feasibility of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for prostate cancer in renal transplant recipients (RTRs). Methods Between May 2005 and December 2014, all patients who had undergone IMRT for clinically localized prostate cancer at our institution were retrospectively identified (n = 365). Of these patients, 2 had a history of renal transplantation. We reviewed all available clinical data. One patient had a functioning graft and the other had restarted hemodialysis 7 years after the transplantation. Results The mean time from renal transplantation to prostate cancer diagnosis was 11 years. The mean follow-up after irradiation was 43 months. The 2 patients remain free of prostate-specific antigen progression. There was no severe acute and chronic genitourinary and gastrointestinal toxicity. Renal function of the patient with a functioning graft as measured by serum creatinine was stable during and after the irradiation. Conclusions IMRT is feasible and acceptable as a minimally invasive treatment in the carefully selected RTRs with localized prostate cancer. This treatment should be considered a good option for RTRs with localized prostate cancer.

Background In young patients with localized prostate cancer, radical prostatectomy is the treatment of choice in the general population. Radiotherapy, such as low-dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy or intensity-modulated radiotherapy, is a viable alternative as well. However, in transplant patients, irradiation is not proposed as often as it is in healthy adults because of the risk of post-radiation ureteral stenosis and gastrointestinal toxicity as the result of fragile tissue. The objective of the study was to assess the efficacy and feasibility of LDR brachytherapy for prostate cancer in renal transplant recipients (RTRs). Methods Between May 2007 and December 2014, all patients who had undergone LDR brachytherapy for clinically localized prostate cancer at our institution were retrospectively identified (n = 203). Of these patients, 2 had a history of renal transplantation. We reviewed all available clinical data retrospectively. One patient had a functioning graft and the other had re-started hemodialysis 7 years after the transplantation. Results The mean time from renal transplantation to prostate cancer diagnosis was 16 years. The mean follow-up after seed implantation was 45 months. There were no peri-operative complications after seed implantation. The 2 patients remained free of prostate-specific antigen progression during the follow-up period. The renal function of the patient with a functioning graft, as measured by serum creatinine, was stable during and after the operation. Conclusions LDR brachytherapy is technically feasible and acceptable as a minimally invasive treatment in carefully selected RTRs with localized prostate cancer. This treatment should be considered a suitable option for RTRs with localized prostate cancer.

Skin toxicity caused by radiotherapy has been visually classified into discrete grades. The present study proposes an objective and continuous assessment method of skin erythema in digital images taken under arbitrary lighting conditions, which is the case for most clinical environments. The purpose of this paper is to show the feasibility of the proposed method.Clinical data were gathered from six patients who received carbon beam therapy for lung cancer. Skin condition was recorded using an ordinary compact digital camera under unfixed lighting conditions; a laser Doppler flowmeter was used to measure blood flow in the skin. The photos and measurements were taken at 3 h, 30, and 90 days after irradiation. Images were decomposed into hemoglobin and melanin colors using independent component analysis. Pixel values in hemoglobin color images were compared with skin dose and skin blood flow. The uncertainty of the practical photographic method was also studied in nonclinical experiments.The clinical data showed good linearity between skin dose, skin blood flow, and pixel value in the hemoglobin color images; their correlation coefficients were larger than 0.7. It was deduced from the nonclinical that the uncertainty due to the proposed method with photography was 15%; such an uncertainty was not critical for assessment of skin erythema in practical use.Feasibility of the proposed method for assessment of skin erythema using digital images was demonstrated. The numerical relationship obtained helped to predict skin erythema by artificial processing of skin images. Although the proposed method using photographs taken under unfixed lighting conditions increased the uncertainty of skin information in the images, it was shown to be powerful for the assessment of skin conditions because of its flexibility and adaptability.

We have developed the sinusoidal excitation type parametric magnetic sensor. A sinusoidal oscillator with the exciting frequency of twice the parametric oscillation frequency is needed in order to make parametric oscillation. In this digest, we propose that the parametric magnetic sensor is more simple and portable with a pulse oscillator instead of a sinusoidal oscillator, and we clarify that the pulse excitation type parametric magnetic sensor has excellent characteristics.

We report the case of a patient with invasive uterine cervical carcinoma, who is also infected with human immunodeficiency virus. This patient has had the longest progression-free survival of any with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome uterine cervical carcinoma. She was found to be human immunodeficiency virus positive in February 1996 and found to have uterine cervical carcinoma stage IB in July 1996. Shortly thereafter, she underwent radiation therapy. She died of renal and liver failure in January 1999. However, no residual tumor existed at that time. The longest progression-free survival in this case may be attributable to maintenance of the CD4 cell count from the onset of uterine cervical carcinoma to death, which meant the patient's immune system to the cancer cells worked.

Telomerase participates in malignant transformation or immortalization of cells, and has attracted attention as an anticancer drug screening and diagnostic tumor marker. We developed a novel telomerase assay called the PPDK-luciferin-luciferase system bioluminescence assay (PLLBA) using pyruvate phosphate dikinase (PPDK). In this assay, pyrophosphate produced by the telomerase reaction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is converted to ATP by PPDK, and ATP is detected by the firefly luciferin-luciferase reaction. In this work, telomerase substrate was obtained in accordance with the telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP). Telomerase-positive (500 cells/assay), -inactive (heated for 10 min at 85 °C) and -negative (only Chaps lysis buffer) samples were used. As a result, the findings clearly showed that the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of the positive cells was 39.5. After the telomerase reaction and PCR, PLLBA was completed ~ 120 s later. A high level of reproducibility was obtained with - coefficient of variation (CV) of 4.1% (positive cells). The detection limit for cells using telomerase was one cell per assay. This assay for telomerase activity was also shown to be adaptable to human cancer-derived cell lines.

Summary form only given. A parametric magnetic sensor is a flux-response type and its sensitivity is higher than that of any other flux-response type sensor. Also, it is an oscillation type sensor like an MI sensor. The frequency of the oscillation voltage is operated as that of the carrier voltage. The output voltage of the sensor is detected as an envelope voltage of the amplitude-modulated oscillation voltage. In this paper a low frequency parametric magnetic sensor for detection of a local magnetic field is described. We show that the sensor has very high sensitivity.

We have shown previously that chondroitin sulfate, but not heparan sulfate/heparin, linked to either natural core proteins or serum albumin interferes with cell-to-substrate adhesion, provided that the external proteoglycans are topologically immobilized on plastic plates. In order to study the roles of glycosaminoglycan chains (GAGs) as recognition structure, a new assay system is now developed which involves the conversion of free GAGs to reactive lactone derivatives selectively modified at the reducing end. The modified GAGs can be coupled to the amino group of phosphatidylethanolamino (PE) for use as probes on either plastic plates or cell surfaces. Incubation of GAG-PE solutions in polystyrene plates results in a time- and dose-dependent increase of the density of the GAG chains noncovalently immobilized onto the plates. No immobilization is detected with any of the GAG-PE samples that have been treated with phospholipase D. A M(r) 30,000 chondroitin sulfate conjugate to PE (CS-PE), when immobilized onto a fibronectin-coated well for 2 h at an initial concentration of 0.06 microgram/100 microliters/well, inhibits the adhesion of baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells to the substratum by approximately 50%, whereas heparin-, heparan sulfate-, hyaluronic acid-, and dermatan sulfate-PE do not. The effect of CS-PE is abolished by treating the CS-PE-coated plates with chondroitinase ABC. A similar level of inhibition by CS-PE is found when the RGD-containing 120-kDa fragment of fibronectin is used in place of fibronectin. CS-PE in soluble form, once exposed to BHK cells in suspension, can be associated with the cell surfaces, thereby exerting some inhibitory effects on cell-to-substrate adhesion. On a per mol basis, however, the activity of cell-associated CS-PE is far lower than that of substrate-associated CS-PE. Together the results indicate that our GAG-PEs offer useful tools for probing regulatory function of the GAG moieties of proteoglycans and further support the hypothesis that the inhibitory regulation of cell-to-matrix adhesion by large chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans is caused by an interaction between the cell surface and the chondroitin sulfate chains topologically immobilized on extracellular matrices.

Motivated by the development of an efficient and stable routing scheme for the Internet, Papadimitriou introduced a multicommodity flow game and raised the problem of whether the core of a multicommodity flow game is always nonempty. Markakis and Saberi settled the problem affirmatively. However, thier proof is not constructive, and it is not known how to find a solution in the core of the game, to the best of my knowledge. This paper presents a polynomial-time algorithm for finding a multicommodity flow game if G is a spider

Communications among consumer appliances are often directly related to user's privacy. Unfortunately, most of the consumer appliances are not sufficiently equipped with security and privacy protection functions. We propose IPsec-Proxy technology which is implemented on a security device that can protect privacy, at the same time maintaining simplicity of operations of current appliances. It enables to incrementally attach IPsec functions on consumer communication networks as well as detach them from the networks by simply eliminating themselves. We have implemented it on a small PC running as an IP bridge and measured the performance. Throughout our proposal, we have confirmed the feasibility of the security protection platform for privacy-related information using IPsec-Proxy technology. Our platform requires neither modifications nor additional customization to the current consumer appliances.

The mechanism of a parametric magnetic reproducing head is explained and the experimental results are reported. The head is fabricated with an additional inductive pickup coil to verify the flux in the magnetic circuit. It is excited by the oscillation current under the sinusoidal magnetization condition and the oscillation voltage is obtained by differentiating the magnetic flux. The incremental permeability and the loss of the B-H loop are measured and compared as a function of DC biased current for one set of oscillation parameters. The reproduction conditions that the slope of the B H loop is steep and the loss is low are presumed.

Demagnetizing effect on the recorded media in parametric reproduction process is described. The cause of the demagnetization is analyzed experimentally and a ditch-type head is proposed for the reduction of the demagnetization. The operation of the head is proved compared with that of a ring-type head.

This study was designed to evaluate the concomitant use of docetaxel and carboplatin for radiosensitization in head and neck cancer.One dose of docetaxel at 10 mg/m2 and five doses of carboplatin at AUC of 0.4 per week were administered to patients during the first two weeks of radiotherapy. Sixteen patients were treated with this regimen. Radiotherapy was given to a total dose of 64.8 to 82.0 Gy. Altered fractionation radiotherapy was performed in 12 patients with untreated advanced tumors.The complete response (CR) rate was 81%, with a partial response (PR) rate of 19%. Toxicities included grade 3 mucositis in 69% of patients and grade 2 dermatitis in 56% of patients.This schedule of docetaxel and carboplatin combined with radiotherapy may become a useful approach for the management of head and neck cancer with proper management of mucositis.

To improve the reliability and the productivity of insulated windings for high voltage motors, we have developed the refined vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI) system. Higher thermal resistance and better impregnability have been achieved by new mica paper with small amounts of milled glass fibers in it. In this paper, we described the impregnability, the voltage endurance and the thermal resistance of our new VPI.

In this paper, we propose a technique for sensing very low frequency magnetic fields. The method is based on the modulation of the parametric oscillation voltage of a RLC circuit. Under appropriate conditions, if the capacitor of the RLC circuit is sinusoidally varied at 2/spl omega//sub 0/, where /spl omega//sub 0/ is the natural angular resonance frequency, oscillation will occur at the frequency /spl omega//sub 0/. If the inductance is appropriately biased, an external magnetic field can be made to modulate its permeability, thereby modulating the oscillation output voltage or current as the case maybe. Subsequent demodulation then yields a signal proportional to the modulating field. We shall explain the characteristics of parametric oscillation and its application in the measurement of low-frequency magnetic fields. Simulation and experimental results are included to verify the theoretical analysis.

A magnetic reproducing head using parametric oscillation is discussed. It forms a toroidal core with a closed magnetic path. The head is a flux-response type. The amplitude of the output voltage is independent of the signal frequency and is proportional to the signal field. The head shows excellent reproducing characteristics in a comparatively wide-frequency range. >

A 36-year-old woman admitted to our hospital because of numbness in the left limbs and weakness in the right arm, and was subsequently given a diagnosis of intramedullary spinal cord metastases from lung cancer. The patient had lung adenocarcinoma with metastases to the brain, spine and lymph nodes. Occipital craniotomy, radiation therapy and chemotherapy were performed on the lesions in the year following June 1994. In June 1995, however, she complained of numbness in the left limbs and weakness in the right arm. Compatible with her neurological manifestation, MRI demonstrated tumors in the right side of the cord at the spinal level of C3-4 and C7-Th1, both of which were of high density in T2-enhanced conditions with enhancement by gadolinium-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid. No invasion from spinal metastasis was detected by CT, scintigraphy or MRI. We therefore diagnosed her manifestation as Brown-Séquard syndrome caused by intramedullary spinal cord metastatic tumors of lung adenocarcinoma. In order to avoid paraplegia and dysfunction of the bladder and bowel, radiation therapy of the cord lesions with total dose of 44 Gy was performed. Her neurologic manifestation was improved, restoring her quality of life, as the tumor size estimated by MRI decreased. Four months later, however, she died of lung adenocarcinoma that developed accompanied with severe peritonitis carcinomatosa and multiple metastases.

Cardiac sympathetic nerve activity in children with chronic heart failure was examined by quantitative iodine-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) myocardial imaging in 33 patients aged 7.5 +/- 6.1 years (range 0-18 years), including 8 with cardiomyopathy, 15 with congenital heart disease, 3 with anthracycrine cardiotoxicity, 3 with myocarditis, 3 with primary pulmonary hypertension and 1 with Pompe's disease.Anterior planar images were obtained 15 min and 3 hr after the injection of iodine-123 MIBG. The cardiac iodine-123 MIBG uptake was assessed as the heart to upper mediastinum uptake activity ratio of the delayed image (H/M) and the cardiac percentage washout rate (%WR).The severity of chronic heart failure was class I (no medication) in 8 patients, class II (no symptom with medication) in 9, class III (symptom even with medication) in 10 and class IV (late cardiac death) in 6. H/M was 2.33 +/- 0.22 in chronic heart failure class I, 2.50 +/- 0.34 in class II, 1.95 +/- 0.61 in class III, and 1.39 +/- 0.29 in class IV (p0.05). %WR was 24.8 +/- 12.8% in chronic heart failure class I, 23.3 +/- 10.2% in class II, 49.2 +/- 24.5% in class III, and 66.3 +/- 26.5% in class IV (p0.05). The low H/M and high %WR were proportionate to the severity of chronic heart failure.Cardiac iodine-123 MIBG showed cardiac adrenergic neuronal dysfunction in children with severe chronic heart failure. Quantitative iodine-123 MIBG myocardial imaging is clinically useful as a predictor of therapeutic outcome and mortality in children with chronic heart failure.

We analyzed 58 cases of advanced or recurrent cervical cancer treated with intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy (IAIC) with or without radiotherapy. Two separate IAIC regimens were administered since 1985: group I consisted of 5-FU + MMC +/- ADR (30 patients) and group II consisted of CDDP + MMC +/- 5-FU (28 patients). The tip of a catheter was placed in the bifurcation of the abdominal aorta (1 way method: 45 patients regimen II: 15) between 1977-1984. We have used selective catheterization (2 ways method: 9) since 1995 in order to get good drug distribution. However we experienced grade 4 toxic effect of cutaneous and pain with this method, so we have used a 3 ways method (4 patients) since 1998. The two-year survival rete was 60% with the 1 way method, and 67% with the 2 ways method and regimen II. Severe adverse effects (grade 3 + 4) were found in 53, 56, 0%, respectively, by each of the three methods (1, 2, 3 ways) hematologically, 13, 22, 0% in gastrointestinally, 0, 44, 0% in cutaneously and 0, 56, 0% in pain or neurotoxicity. These data suggest that IAIC by the 3 ways method is a useful treatment for advanced or recurrent cervical cancer. However, one should check the blood flow distribution periodically, and control concentration of drugs.

This report describes a patient with acute-type adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) successfully treated by autologous CD34+ peripheral blood stem cell transplantation after fractionated total body irradiation and high-dose cytarabine and cyclophosphamide. A newly established inverse polymerase chain reaction method was used to demonstrate the disappearance of ATLL clonal cells. The patient achieved a sustained molecular remission after transplantation, but died from opportunistic infection 4 months after transplantation. Thus, autologous CD34+ peripheral blood stem cell transplantation is promising for this type of malignancy. However, a prudent clinical attitude toward immunological fragility after transplantation is needed for better outcome.

We set out to review treatment policy, survival rate and acute and late sequelae of histologically confirmed seminoma patients who underwent orchiectomy and radiation therapy.Thirty patients with testicular seminoma were investigated. The follow-up ranged from 1-20 years, with a median of 8.6 years. There were 23 patients with Stage I, six with Stage IIA and one with Stage IIB of the disease. All patients were treated with orchiectomy followed by iliac and paraaortic irradiation (median dose: 3900cGy for Stage I and 4000 cGy for Stage II patients). Up to 1986 the median total dose was 40Gy, and this dose was administered to sixteen patients. After that, fourteen patients received a total dose of 32Gy.For patients with Stage I and Stage II, 5- year disease-free survival rate was 100%. Twenty-three patients experienced certain acute reactions or side effects and all became well after radiation therapy; however, almost no patients showed severe late complications.In our study, radical orchiectomy and postoperative irradiation of iliac and paraaortic lymphaticus give good results for patients with Stage I and II testicular seminoma.

The conventional treatment for patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer has been surgery or radiotherapy. The indication of the treatment depends on the location of the primary tumor, tumor stage, resectability of the lesion and operability of the patient. Radiotherapy is used in a case refusing surgery, medical contraindications to surgery, extensive locoregional disease or poor general condition. The survival rate by surgery alone or radiotherapy alone is poor. Thus, single modality therapy is not a standard treatment, but combined multimodal therapy including chemotherapy is a standard approach for locally advanced esophageal cancer. Further studies of optimization of multimodal therapies which are surgery and/or radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy are needed to improve the results in the treatment of esophageal cancer.

The efficacy of intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) for the local recurrence of rectal cancer was evaluated. Operations were performed for a total of 43 patients with local recurrence of rectal cancer, and among them 13 cases received IORT. These patients were divided into two groups those with a suspicion of cancer remaining in the surgical margin macroscopically (EW+ group) or those with no such suspicion (EW- group). The length of pain relieving period and total survival between the IORT and no IORT groups in EW- patients showed no statistical difference. Though the same result was found in EW+ patients, in the patients whose area of positive surgical margin was less than 10 cm2 and given IORT, the pain relief period was prolonged compared with the no IORT patients such as 270 days v.s. 218 days. IORT did not show efficacy in terms of the survival period, but if the local remnant area was small, it was beneficial for the patients in terms of the pain period.

Sixty-three patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx were treated at the University of Tokyo between 1985 and 1993. Twelve patients were treated with surgery alone, 16 with preoperative irradiation, 26 with postoperative irradiation, and nine with irradiation alone. A tumor dose of 50 Gy (25 fractions/5 weeks) was used in postoperative irradiation, 40-60 Gy in preoperative irradiation, and 70 Gy in irradiation alone. When "number of indications," including, for example, partial pharyngectomy, positive or close (or = 5 mm) margin, and extracapsular extension, was used for multivariate analysis in patients who underwent surgery, it proved to be the only significant prognostic factor for gross survival. Six of seven patients with a positive surgical margin or close margin who received postoperative irradiation had local recurrence. A tumor dose of 50 Gy (25 fractions/5 weeks) in postoperative irradiation is not enough. It is difficult to cure by irradiation metastases to the parapharyngeal lymph nodes large enough to be detected with CT. It is necessary to irradiate parapharyngeal lymph nodes prophylactically, but 50 Gy in postoperative irradiation may not be enough from our results. The same may be true for metastases to the paratracheal nodes, which lie close to the lower poles of the thyroid gland or within the superior mediastinum and are difficult to access through surgery. In the patients who were operated on, N stage and the number of lymph node metastases were significant for gross survival. When "number of indications" was used for analysis, "number of indications" proved to be the most significant prognostic factor for gross survival.

The clinical usefulness of a new myocardial perfusion imaging agent, technetium-99m tetrofosmin, was assessed in 58 patients for a total of 76 times (mean age 9.7 years, 1-15 years) including 20 with and 26 without significant coronary stenotic lesions in Kawasaki disease. Pharmacological (dobutamine or adenosine triphosphate disodium) or exercise stress technetium-99m tetrofosmin single photon emission computed tomography was performed under stress and at rest on the same day. The sensitivity for detection of stress-induced perfusion defects by this method was 90% (18/ 20) and the specificity was 85% (22/26). The dose was 9.3 +/- 2.5 MBq/kg under stress and 18.7 +/- 5.6 MBq/kg at rest. No significant correlation was recognized between the dose and the image quality. Adequate image quality was provided by projection time 20-40 sec per frame. Increased liver accumulation was seen in 24% (18/76), especially in younger and pharmacological stress cases. The acquisition starting time after tetrofosmin injection was 58.4 +/- 18.7 min in the negative increased liver accumulation group and 43.7 +/- 18.3 min in the positive group (p0.01). We recommend that the following protocol is used for pediatric imaging. 1) The standard tetrofosmin dose is rougly 10 MBq/kg (upper limit 370 MBq) at stress and the double dose for the rest imaging. 2) SPECT projection time of 20-40 sec per frame. 3) In practice, the patient should be fasting prior to stress injection, and the imaging should be done 1 hour after eating. The rest injection should be done immediately thereafter, and the rest image should be obtained 1 hour later.

To analyze the prognostic factors for postoperative radiotherapy of metastatic brain tumors, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical records of 127 cases that received more than 30 Gy of postoperative radiotherapy. The overall one-year survival rate (SR) was 48.2%, while the intracranial control rate (ICR) was 51.7%. Univariate analysis (UVA) revealed that female sex (p = 0.02), higher radiation dose (p = 0.05), and late onset (p = 0.05) were significantly favorable factors of SR. With multivariate analysis (MVA), the approving factors were higher radiation dose (p = 0.02), small number of metastases (p = 0.004), lesser extracranial metastasis (p = 0.02), and female sex (p = 0.02). In MVA, greater radiation dose (p = 0.004), lung cancer (p = 0.02), and late onset (p = 0.05) were found to be significantly good factors for ICR. Our unique method of localized field radiation as applied to well-resected and solitary metastatic tumors, was significantly correlated with better SR in this study. As long as patients are carefully selected, this technique is though to be useful for both the reduction of late complications and dose escalation in postoperative radiotherapy.

We analyzed 52 cases of advanced or recurrent cancer of the cervix treated by intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy (IAIC) with or without radiotherapy. IAIC regimen was separated into two groups: Group I consisted of 5-FU + MMC +/- ADR (30 cases) and group II of CDDP + MMC +/- 5-FU (22 cases). The tip of the catheter was placed in the bifurcation of abdominal aorta or the bilateral internal iliac arteries (7 cases). The overall response rate (CR + PR) was 71%, 87% in patients given radiotherapy, 50% in those without radiotherapy, and 100% in primary cases. The five-year survival rate was 20% in primary cases, 14% in recurrent cases, 3% in Group I and 38% in Group II (p = 0.00182) by chemotherapy regimen. Severe (more than grade III) hematological acute side effect was 48% for all cases, but recovered by interruption of drugs. In 7 cases in which the tip of the catheter was placed in internal iliac arteries, there were severe skin ulcers in 2 cases and severe pain of leg or gluteal region requiring narcotics in 2 cases. These data suggest that IAIC mainly with cisplatin with or without radiotherapy is one of the effective treatments for advanced or recurrent cervix cancer. But we should check the blood flow distribution periodically, and control the concentration of drugs.

Twenty-two non-immunocompromised patients with primary intracranial malignant lymphomas were examined on surgical material by using an argyrophilic method for the demonstration of nucleolar organizer regions as Ag-NORs. The histopathological classifications of 22 patients included 3 small lymphocytic, 7 small cleaved, 9 large cell. 1 mixed large and small, and 2 small non-cleaved type. The numbers of Ag-NOR of malignant lymphoma patients varied from 1.36 to 5.02 (mean 3.46 +/- 0.25). The mean Ag-NOR numbers in the histopathological subtypes were small lymphocytic 1.63, small cleaved 3.18, large 4.21, mixed large and small 3.47, and small non-cleaved 3.78. The number of Ag-NORs in small lymphocytic type was significantly less than small cleaved or large cell type (p0.05). The small cleaved type also had a smaller Ag-NOR number than the large cell type (p0.05). Except for two patients who had postoperative deterioration, 20 patients received postoperative irradiation ranging from 36 to 54 Gy (median, 46 Gy). Sixteen patients had complete response to radiotherapy, and 4 had good partial response. Ten patients had tumor recurrence within the remission period of 3 months to 7 years and 10 months (median 4.8 months). Three patients with intracranial relapse at a remote site had a significantly longer remission period (mean 57.3 months) than 7 with local relapse (mean 6.29 months), p0.05. The mean Ag-NOR number of the short and long remission period were 3.13 +/- 0.34 and 3.8 +/- 0.80, respectively. No significant difference was found between these two groups. The survival period was 3.2 months to 12 years (median 20 months). The Ag-NOR numbers of survival period less than or more than 20 months were 3.62 +/- 0.40 and 3.27 +/- 0.37, respectively. The Ag-NOR numbers did not correlate with either the remission or the survival period. These results indicate that Ag-NOR numbers may correlate with the histopathologic types, but not with the prognosis of primary intracranial malignant lymphomas.

Chondroitin sulfate dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanolamine (CS-PE), when immobilized onto substratum, inhibited the adhesion of B16F10 mouse melanoma cells to fibronectin-coated dishes (anti-adhesion activity). CS-PE showed the most potent anti-adhesion activity for the melanoma cells among various GAG-PEs. CS-PE also inhibited the adhesion of B16F10 cells to Matrigel and the invasion of the cells into Matrigel. In the in vivo system of experimental metastasis, administration of B16F10 cells with CS-PE into C57BL/6 mice significantly inhibited lung metastasis. The inhibition degree of CS or hyaluronic acid-PE was lower than CS-PE. CS-PE administered intravenously into mice before the injection of B16F10 cells also inhibited metastasis. Pretreatment of B16F10 cells with CS-PE caused some but a lower degree of inhibition. When CS-PE was injected intravenously into mice, more binding in the lung was found than when CS was injected. CS-PE but not CS inhibited the retention in the lung of fluorochrome-labeled B16F10 cells when injected intravenously into mice. Since there was no significant effect of CS-PE on the viability and growth of B16F10 cells, the results suggest that CS-PE immobilized onto the subendothelial matrix may prevent melanoma cells from adhering to the subendothelial substrata of lung capillaries and inhibit subsequent invasion processes of metastasis.

Sixty-eight hydrocephalic patients were treated with a shunt system that incorporated a SOPHY programmable valve. This device is very effective for treating disorders of CSF circulation. However, when the valve is placed on the scalp, it produces artifacts on MR imaging due to its small magnetic rotor, and may cause necrosis of the scalp above it. On the other hand, when it is positioned on the chest, MR artifacts decrease and exchanging the valve devices becomes easier. Therefore, we have positioned the device on the chest. However, some complications were encountered, such as the turning over of the valve in the subcutaneous pocket and the twisting of the shunt tube. Moreover, the shunt tube may stretch due to growth of the neck during development in infantile patients or extension of the neck during exercise. These complications are associated only with subcutaneous placement on the chest, so we conclude that such a valve, if placed on the chest, should be placed in a lower position on the chest, and if MR examination will not be performed in the foreseeable future, we recommend that it be placed on the occipital scalp, especially in infantile patients.

SRPX2 (Sushi repeat-containing protein, X-linked 2) has recently emerged as a multifunctional protein that is involved in seizure disorders, angiogenesis and cellular adhesion. Here, we analyzed this protein biochemically. SRPX2 protein was secreted with a highly post-translational modification. Chondroitinase ABC treatment completely decreased the molecular mass of purified SRPX2 protein to its predicted size, whereas heparitinase, keratanase and hyaluroinidase did not. Secreted SRPX2 protein was also detected using an anti-chondroitin sulfate antibody. These results indicate that SRPX2 is a novel chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSPG). Furthermore, a binding assay revealed that hepatocyte growth factor dose-dependently binds to SRPX2 protein, and a ligand–glycosaminoglycans interaction was speculated to be likely in proteoglycans. Regarding its molecular architecture, SRPX2 has sushi repeat modules similar to four other CSPGs/lecticans; however, the molecular architecture of SRPX2 seems to be quite different from that of the lecticans. Taken together, we found that SRPX2 is a novel CSPG that is overexpressed in gastrointestinal cancer cells. Our findings provide key glycobiological insight into SRPX2 in cancer cells and demonstrate that SRPX2 is a new member of the cancer-related proteoglycan family.

Platelet-activating factor (1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine; PAF) acetyl-hydrolase is an enzyme that hydrolyzes the acetyl ester of PAF. We purified this enzyme, which accumulated in the peritoneal cavity during endotoxin shock, by ammonium sulfate precipitation, and sequential use of butyl-Toyopearl, heparin-Sepharose, Con A-Sepharose, chelating-Sepharose, and MonoQ column chromatographies. We identified a monomeric polypeptide with a molecular weight of approximately 63 kDa on SDS-PAGE. This molecular weight differs from those of previously described acetylhydrolases. The purified enzyme did not degrade phospholipids with a long chain fatty acyl group at the sn-2 position. In addition, the enzyme activity was not inhibited by either pBPB or quinacrine. Accordingly, this enzyme is distinct from phospholipase A2. In addition, this enzyme also hydrolyzed some oxidatively fragmented phospholipids with PAF-like biological activities such as 1-O-hexadecyl-2-glutaroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and 1-O-hexadecyl-2-succinoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine.

We examined the production of PAF, a mediator of shock, and LysoPAF, an inactive metabolite of PAF, in the guinea pig peritoneal cavity after i.p. administration of Escherichia coli LPS. Within 1 h of LPS administration, the level of PAF in the peritoneal fluid increased from 4.9 to 37.2 pmol/animal and decreased to the control value thereafter. In contrast, the level of lysoPAF gradually rose from 63.5 to 268 pmol/animal for up to 6 h. The activity of acetylhydrolase, which converts PAF to lysoPAF, in the peritoneal cavity increased in parallel with the increase in the lysoPAF level. The enzyme was distinguishable from phospholipase A2, because p-bromophenacylbromide (p-BPB), Ca2+, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) did not affect its enzymatic activity. In addition, this acetylhydrolase revealed similar biochemical properties to that detected in plasma. Both acetylhydrolases were resistant to trypsin treatment and had the same apparent molecular weight, as shown by gel-filtration column chromatography. These results suggest that the acetylhydrolase, which accumulates in the peritoneal cavity, infiltrates from the plasma in response to LPS, and then participates in the exclusion of PAF during endotoxin shock.