Search

Laparoscopic totally extraperitoneal hernia repair (TEP) is a widely used treatment for inguinal hernia. Single-incision laparoscopic TEP (SILTEP) has attracted the attention of several surgeons, given its superior cosmetic results and patient satisfaction, as well as comparable outcomes to multiport surgery. Nonetheless, no relevant studies have evaluated the learning curve (LC) of SILTEP in terms of both operation time (OT) and surgical failure. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the LC of SILTEP for inguinal hernia.Medical records of 180 patients who underwent SILTEP performed by a single surgeon from a single institution between October 2012 and November 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. The LC was analyzed using the moving average method and cumulative sum control chart (CUSUM) for OT and surgical failure. Surgical failure was defined as the need for additional ports, open conversion, severe postoperative complications (Clavien-Dindo ≥ IIIa), and recurrence. Eight patients who underwent combined surgery or bilateral hernia repair were excluded from the OT analysis.From CUSUM graphs, the study period was divided into three phases: OT-phases 1 (1st-32nd), 2 (33rd-83rd), and 3 (84th-172nd) for OT and failure-phases 1 (1st-29th), 2 (30th-58th), and 3 (59th-180th) for surgical failure. Mean OTs were statistically different in the three OT phases (64.6 vs. 50.8 vs. 35.2 min; p 0.001). Open conversion (31.0% vs. 0% vs. 2.5%) and additional port insertion (6.9% vs. 24.1% vs. 2.5%) stabilized consecutively at failure-phases 2 and 3 (p 0.001). Surgical failure rates decreased to 5.7% by failure-phase 3 (37.9% vs. 24.1% vs. 5.7%; p 0.001).For an experienced laparoscopic surgeon, we estimated that approximately 60 cases are needed to overcome the LC for SILTEP in terms of both reducing OT and achieving a surgical failure rate 10%. Further proficiency could be achieved after approximately 85 SILTEP procedures with a stable OT of approximately 35 min.

An optimum route to fabricate the Cu-based SiC composites with homogeneous microstructure was investigated. Three methods for developing the densified composites with sound interface between Cu and SiC were compared on the basis of the resulting microstructures. Starting with three powder mixtures of elemental Cu and SiC, elemental Cu and PCS coated SiC or PCS and Cunitrate coated SiC was used to obtain Cu-based SiC composites. SEM analysis revealed that the composite fabricated by spark plasma sintering using elemental SiC and Cu powder mixture showed inhomogeneous microstructure. Conversely, dense microstructure with sound interface was observed in the sintered composites using powder mixture of pre-coated PCS and Cu-nitrate onto SiC. The relationship between powder processing and microstructure was discussed based on the role of coating layer for the wettability

The as-cast Co–Cr–Mo alloy (ASTM F75) has been widely used as biomaterial in orthopaedic implant because of its excellent mechanical properties, good corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. However, some defects such as porosity and pinhole in an as-cast make some problems for application. Therefore in this study, the cobalt-aluminate (CoAl2O4) used as an inoculant during coating plays to refine the grain size and to reduce the porosity and pinhole content in an as-cast. Therefore, the effect of an inoculant addition on defect content, microstructure and mechanical properties of as-cast Co–Cr–Mo alloy has been investigated. The mechanical properties of the Co–Cr–Mo alloy were improved by addition of an inoculant.

The influence of yttrium addition on high-temperature performance of stress rupture property and oxidation resistance in Inconel 713C has been investigated. High-temperature stress rupture property and oxidation resistance property of Inconel 713C were dramatically improved with increasing yttrium addition content up to 0·02%yttrium, then decreased in excess of yttrium. Especially, the carbide morphology changed to discrete blocky shapes by causing improved high-temperature properties. Intermetallic compounds by excess yttrium addition made a poor stress rupture life. The high-temperature oxidation resistance of 0·02 wt-% yttrium added Inconel 713C improved more than no added yttrium Inconel 713C.

Fermented Chlorella vulgaris was examined for its effects on growth performance, cecal microflora, tibia bone strength, and meat qualities in commercial Pekin ducks. A total of three hundred, day-old male Pekin ducks were divided into three groups with five replicates (n = 20 ducklings per replicate) and offered diets supplemented with commercial fermented C. vulgaris (CBT®) at the level of 0, 1,000 or 2,000 mg/kg, respectively for 6 wks. The final body weight was linearly (p = 0.001) increased as the addition of fermented C. vulgaris into diets increased. Similarly, dietary C. vulgaris linearly increased body weight gain (p = 0.001) and feed intake (p = 0.001) especially at the later days of the feeding trial. However, there was no C. vulgaris effect on feed efficiency. Relative weights of liver were significantly lowered by dietary fermented C. vulgaris (linear effect at p = 0.044). Dietary fermented C. vulgaris did not affect total microbes, lactic acid bacteria, and coliforms in cecal contents. Finally, meat quality parameters such as meat color (i.e., yellowness), shear force, pH, or water holding capacity were altered by adding fermented C. vulgaris into the diet. In our knowledge, this is the first report to show that dietary fermented C. vulgaris enhanced meat qualities of duck meats. In conclusion, our study indicates that dietary fermented C. vulgaris exerted benefits on productivity and can be employed as a novel, nutrition-based strategy to produce value-added duck meats.

Porous Ti with controlled pore structure was fabricated by thermal decomposition and sintering process using TiH2 powders and Polymethylmethacrylates (PMMA) beads as pore forming agent. The beads sizes of 8 and 50 μm were used as a template for fabricating the porous Ti. The TiH2 powder compacts with 20 and 70 vol% PMMA were prepared by uniaxial pressing and sintered for 2 h at 1100°C. TGA analysis revealed that the PMMA and TiH2 were thermally decomposed at about 400°C forming pores and at about 600°C into metallic Ti phase. The porosity increased with increase in the amount of PMMA addition. Also, the microstructure observation showed that the pore size and shape were strongly dependent on the PMMA shapes.

SiC/Cu composite powders with the barrier coating of SiC-Al onto SiC powders were synthesized from Al-containing polycarbosilane precursor and Cu-nitrate hydrate. Curing at 200°C and high temperature pyrolysis at 1600°C was used to achieve the crystallization of precursor, forming the SiC-Al coating on the surface of SiC powders. A core-shell structure with the core of SiC and the shell of Cu was constructed by calcination and hydrogen-reduction of Cu nitrate hydrate. XRD and SEM analysis revealed that the β-SiC and 4H-SiC phases were formed on the surface of the initial α-SiC powders. Also, it was observed by EDX mapping that core powders of SiC were homogeneously surrounded with the fine Cu particles on their surface.

Poultry Science Division, National Institute of Animal Science, RDA, Seonghwan 330-801, KoreaABSTRACT This study was undertaken to assess dietary crude protein (CP) and amino acid (AA) concentrations for growth performance and carcass characteristics in Korean native ducks. In a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement, 1-d-old Korean native male ducks were allotted to 6 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. Experimental diets contained 23 or 21% CP with 1.31/1.09, 1.21/1.00, 1.11/0.91 and 1.11/0.91, 1.02/0.83, 0.92/0.75 AA (Lysine/Total sulfur amino acid, Lysine/TSAA), respectively, from 0 to 3 wk of age. From 4 to 8 wk of age, experimental diets had 19 or 17% of diet; each contained 1.00/ 0.79, 0.94/0.75, 0.88/0.71 and 0.88/0.71, 0.82/0.67, 0.76/0.63 AA (Lysine/TSAA), respectively. Each dietary treatment has 6 replicates and feed and water were provided ad libitum. Body weight (BW), feed intake and uniformity were measured at 3 wk and 8 wk and carcass characteristics were evaluated at 8 wk of age. As CP increased from 21 to 23%, the BW and BW gain significantly increased (P 0.05) between treatments. Carcass yield and relative weights of liver, spleen, right breast and leg per 100 of BW were not different (P>0.05) between treatments. The meat color, shear force value, cooking loss and pH were not affected by dietary treatments (P

National Institute of Animal Science, RDA, Suwon 441-706, KoreaABSTRSACT This experiment was conducted to determine optimum levels of dietary crude protein for productivity and egg quality in laying hens during early stage. A total of seven hundred and twenty 24-wk-old Hy-Line Variety Brown layers were randomly assigned to 4 experimental diets varying with 16%, 17%, 18%, and 19% CP and fed the diets for 12 wks. There were no significant differences in egg production, daily egg mass and feed intake among experimental diets. Although no difference was found on egg weight among experimental diets, decreasing levels of dietary crude protein tended to reduce the egg weight. Haugh unit and egg shell quality were not affected by different levels of dietary crude protein. Although there was no difference on yolk color among experimental diets, increasing levels of dietary crude protein slightly reduced the yolk color. It is concluded that laying hens did not need more than 16% CP to maximize egg production.(Key words : dietary crude protein levels, egg production, early stage, egg quality, laying hens)

This research was conducted to compare the meat characteristics of Korean native duck and imported commercial duck. The Korean native ducks and imported commercial ducks (broiler duck: Grimaud) were raised under identical rearing and feeding conditions for 8 wk and 6 wk, respectively. At the end of the rearing period, ten ducks from each group were slaughtered, and breast and leg meat were obtained 24 h after slaughtering for analyses of meat characteristics. The results showed that the breast of Korean native ducks contained lower moisture and fat, and higher protein and water holding capacity (WHC) than those of imported commercial ducks (p

Microstructure evolution of Ni-based oxide dispersion-strengthened alloy powders with milling time is investigated. The elemental powders having a nominal composition of Ni-15Cr-4.5Al-4W-2.5Ti-2Mo-2Ta-0.15Zr-1.1Y2O3in wt % were ball-milled by using horizontal rotary ball milling with the change of milling velocity. Microstructure observation revealed that large aggregates were formed in the early stages of ball milling, and further milling to 5 h decreased particle size. The average crystalline size, estimated by the peak broadening of XRD, decreased from 28 nm to 15 nm with increasing milling time from 1 h to 5 h. SEM and EPMA analysis showed that the main elements of Ni and Cr were homogeneously distributed inside the powders after ball milling of 5 h.

Aim Brain metastasis is infrequent in colorectal cancer patients, and the prognosis is poor. In this retrospective study survival and prognostic factors were determined in patients with brain metastasis from colorectal cancer. Method Between 1997 and 2006, 39 patients with brain metastasis from colorectal cancer who survived more than 1 month were identified. Data were collected with regard to patient characteristics, location and stage of the primary tumour, extent and location of metastatic disease, and treatment modalities used. Results Most (79.5%) patients had pulmonary metastases before brain metastasis, and the brain was the site of solitary metastasis in only one patient. The most frequent symptom was weakness [18 (43.6%) patients]. Overall median survival was 5.0 months and the 1- and 2-year survival rates were 21.8 and 9.1%, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed uncontrolled extracranial metastases (P = 0.019), multiple brain lesions (P = 0.026), bilateral brain metastases (P = 0.032) and serum carcinoembryonic antigen levels greater than 5 ng/ml (P = 0.008) to be poor prognostic factors. The median survival after the diagnosis of brain metastasis was significantly longer in patients who underwent surgical resection (15.2 ± 8.0 months) than in those treated by other modalities (P = 0.001). Treatment modality was the only independent prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with brain metastases from colorectal cancers (P = 0.015). Conclusion Aggressive surgical resection in selected patients with brain metastases from colorectal cancer may prolong survival, even in the presence of extracranial metastatic lesions.

Fermented Chlorella vulgaris CBT(®) was evaluated for its effects on egg production, egg quality, liver lipids and intestinal microflora in laying hens. One hundred and eight Hy-line Brown layers (n = 108), 80 wk of age, were fed a basal diet supplemented with CBT(®) at the level of 0, 1,000 or 2,000 mg/kg, respectively for 42 d. Egg production was measured daily and egg quality was measured every two weeks. Five eggs from each replicate were collected randomly to determine egg quality. Egg production increased linearly with increasing levels of CBT(®) supplementation (p

It has been observed that the forming limit curve at fracture (FLCF) of steel sheets, with a relatively higher ductility limit have linear shapes, similar to those of a bulk forming process. In contrast, the FLCF of sheets with a relatively lower ductility limit have rather complex shapes approaching the forming limit curve at neck (FLCN) towards the equi-biaxial strain paths. In this study, the FLCFs of steel sheets were measured and compared with the fracture strains predicted from specific ductile fracture criteria, including a criterion suggested by the authors, which can accurately describe FLCFs with both linear and complex shapes. To predict the forming limit for hydro-mechanical deep drawing of steel sheets, the ductile fracture criteria were integrated into a finite element simulation. The simulation, results based on the criterion suggested by authors accurately predicted the experimetal, fracture limits of steel sheets for the hydro-mechanical deep drawing process.

Fermented Chlorella vulgaris was examined for its effects on growth performance, cecal microflora, tibia bone strength, and meat qualities in commercial Pekin ducks. A total of three hundred, day-old male Pekin ducks were divided into three groups with five replicates (n = 20 ducklings per replicate) and offered diets supplemented with commercial fermented C. vulgaris (CBT(®)) at the level of 0, 1,000 or 2,000 mg/kg, respectively for 6 wks. The final body weight was linearly (p = 0.001) increased as the addition of fermented C. vulgaris into diets increased. Similarly, dietary C. vulgaris linearly increased body weight gain (p = 0.001) and feed intake (p = 0.001) especially at the later days of the feeding trial. However, there was no C. vulgaris effect on feed efficiency. Relative weights of liver were significantly lowered by dietary fermented C. vulgaris (linear effect at p = 0.044). Dietary fermented C. vulgaris did not affect total microbes, lactic acid bacteria, and coliforms in cecal contents. Finally, meat quality parameters such as meat color (i.e., yellowness), shear force, pH, or water holding capacity were altered by adding fermented C. vulgaris into the diet. In our knowledge, this is the first report to show that dietary fermented C. vulgaris enhanced meat qualities of duck meats. In conclusion, our study indicates that dietary fermented C. vulgaris exerted benefits on productivity and can be employed as a novel, nutrition-based strategy to produce value-added duck meats.

This study was conducted to compare growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of 4 breeds of local chicken. A total of 480 1-d-old chicks were distributed to 16 pens, with 4 treatments of breed, 4 replicates and 30 chicks per pen. Three Korean local breeds of white-mini broiler, Hanhy-up-3-ho, and Woorimatdag, and a breed of silky fowl were raised under identical rearing and feeding conditions for 31-d, 37-d, 36-d, and 59-d, respectively. The BW and feed consumption on a pen basis were weekly measured for all pens, and ADFI, ADO and gain:feed were calculated for each pen. The ADFI and ADO of 3 breeds of Korean local chicken were greater than those of silky fowl (p

This paper describes the results of an extensive study on the seismic behavior of a viscoelastically damped structure under mild and strong earthquake ground motions. Shaking-table studies were conducted on a 2/5-scale five-story steel model with added viscoelastic (VE) dampers under various ambient temperatures, damper-placement cases, and earthquake intensities. Three types of VE dampers distinguished by dimensions and viscoelastic materials designed to provide the structure with similar damping ratios at room temperature were used. Analytical studies were carried out to predict the equivalent damping ratios and seismic response of the viscoelastically damped structure. Experimental results show that the VE dampers are effective in attenuating seismic structural response under mild and strong earthquake ground motions. Numerical results show that the structural damping and structural response with added VE dampers can be easily and accurately calculated by the proposed analytical methods. The methods are readily available to practical applications.

Two methods for fabrication of azimuthally symmetric long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) with CO2 laser are presented. These methods are based on symmetric exposure of the laser beam and rotation of the fiber, and the measured polarization-dependent losses (PDL) are comparable to that of the normal fiber. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 41: 188–190, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20088

Brain metastasis is infrequent in colorectal cancer patients, and the prognosis is poor. In this retrospective study survival and prognostic factors were determined in patients with brain metastasis from colorectal cancer.Between 1997 and 2006, 39 patients with brain metastasis from colorectal cancer who survived more than 1 month were identified. Data were collected with regard to patient characteristics, location and stage of the primary tumour, extent and location of metastatic disease, and treatment modalities used.Most (79.5%) patients had pulmonary metastases before brain metastasis, and the brain was the site of solitary metastasis in only one patient. The most frequent symptom was weakness [18 (43.6%) patients]. Overall median survival was 5.0 months and the 1- and 2-year survival rates were 21.8 and 9.1%, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed uncontrolled extracranial metastases (P = 0.019), multiple brain lesions (P = 0.026), bilateral brain metastases (P = 0.032) and serum carcinoembryonic antigen levels greater than 5 ng/ml (P = 0.008) to be poor prognostic factors. The median survival after the diagnosis of brain metastasis was significantly longer in patients who underwent surgical resection (15.2 ± 8.0 months) than in those treated by other modalities (P = 0.001). Treatment modality was the only independent prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with brain metastases from colorectal cancers (P = 0.015).Aggressive surgical resection in selected patients with brain metastases from colorectal cancer may prolong survival, even in the presence of extracranial metastatic lesions.

Although various immunohistological markers have been investigated to assess the aggressive characteristics of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the role of membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) has not been well established.To clarify the precise role of MT1-MMP in BCC, MT1-MMP expression was studied in various histological subtypes of BCC.High-risk subtypes of BCC were compared by assessing the expression of β-catenin and MT1-MMP. The tissue microarray technique was used for immunohistochemical staining. Fifty-eight samples were divided into six subtypes (10 nodular, 12 mixed, nine infiltrative, eight morphoeiform, 10 micro-nodular and nine basosquamous). Overall, the 10 nodular BCC samples were classified as low-risk BCC and the remaining 48 samples were classified as high-risk BCCs.β-Catenin immunoreactivity was increased in the high-risk BCCs compared with the low-risk (nodular) BCC (P0·001). Nuclear β-catenin immunoreactivity was increased at the invading front of mixed BCC tumour islands compared with the upper portion of the lesion (P 0·01). For the mixed BCC (P0·01), infiltrative BCC (P0·001), morphoeiform BCC (P0·001), micronodular BCC (P0·001) and basosquamous (P0·001) carcinoma, β-catenin immunoreactivity was increased at the invading front compared with nodular BCC. MT1-MMP immunoreactivity was increased in the high-risk BCCs compared with the low-risk (nodular) BCC (P0·01). The membranous MT1-MMP immunoreactivity was increased at the invading front of mixed BCC tumour islands compared with the upper portion of the lesions (P0·01). For the mixed (P0·01), infiltrative (P 0·05), morphoeiform (P 0·05), micronodular (P0·05) and basosquamous (P0·05) BCC, MT1-MMP immunoreactivity was also increased at the invading front compared with nodular BCC.The results of this study suggest that MT1-MMP might be a novel marker for high-risk BCC. In addition, expression of both β-catenin and MT1-MMP was increased in high-risk BCC tumour cells, indicating that these two proteins may play an important role in locally invasive and highly destructive growth behaviour of high-risk BCCs.

To measure the electron temperature (T(e)) and electron density (n(e)) profiles in the Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) device for the KSTAR third campaign (September 2010), we designed and installed a Thomson scattering system. The KSTAR Thomson scattering system is designed as a tangential Thomson scattering system and utilizes the N-, L-, and B-ports. The N-port is designed for the collection optics with a cassette system, the L-port is the laser input port, and the B-port is the location of the beam dump. In this paper, we will describe the final design of the KSTAR Thomson scattering system.

The first plasma with target values of the plasma current and the pulse duration was finally achieved on June 13, 2008 in the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR). The diagnostic systems played an important role in achieving successful first plasma operation for the KSTAR tokamak. The employed plasma diagnostic systems for the KSTAR first plasma including the magnetic diagnostics, millimeter-wave interferometer, inspection illuminator, H(alpha), visible spectrometer, filterscope, and electron cyclotron emission (ECE) radiometer have provided the main plasma parameters, which are essential for the plasma generation, control, and physics understanding. Improvements to the first diagnostic systems and additional diagnostics including an x-ray imaging crystal spectrometer, reflectometer, ECE radiometer, resistive bolometer, and soft x-ray array are scheduled to be added for the next KSTAR experimental campaign in 2009.

Seismic response characteristics of a 25scale steel frame structure with added viscoelastic dampers are studied experimentally. The major emphasis is placed on the ambient temperature effect. It is...

There is increasing interest in the impact energy absorbing ability of lightweight sandwich and similar materials. This is for reducing the unladen weight of transporters to achieve improved operational performance with better fuel economy and lower other direct operating costs. These requirements very much relate to the increasing demand for more transportation systems and the need for increased safety as traffic congestion rises. Two safety needs are to reduce the risk of penetration into the cabin space when impacts occur and to lower the deceleration rate for the occupants. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact energy absorbing ability of sandwich materials that have different skin and honeycomb cores. This was for different impact conditions as simulated by drop-weight and constant velocity impact experiments. These studies assess the energy absorbing damage at all stages of the impact and relate this to the impact conditions in terms of size and shape of impact contact surface and closing velocities. Also, determined were the retained integrity of the sandwich materials at different stages of the impact up to and after it has been penetrated.

The SM1311 family is an Ashkenazi family with dominantly inherited predisposition to colorectal adenomas and carcinomas and has a high-penetrance locus in chromosome 15q, with a multipoint logarithm of the odds score of 3.06 at marker D15S118. In the present study, we performed a high-density loss of heterozygosity study with 13 polymorphic microsatellite markers, including D15S118, spanning 15q15.3-q22.1, on 70 cases of the sporadic form of colorectal tumors. Our deletion mapping data showed a locus at D15S968 in chromosomal sub-band 15q21.1 may harbor a tumor suppressor gene in an area0.521 Mb in physical map distance defined by markers D15S514 and D15S222. THBS1, 0.185 Mb proximal to D15S968, is the nearest known gene to this specific narrow loss of heterozygosity region. Thus, we speculate that THBS1 might be the most probable candidate gene involved in colorectal cancer carcinogenesis.

The increased level of cytoplasmic beta-catenin through the mutations to either beta-catenin or adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) has been proposed as an important oncogenic step in various tumors. Gastric cancer showed frequent genetic alterations of the APC gene, and the risk for gastric cancer in familial adenomatosus polyposis patients is 10 times higher than that in the general population. These findings raise the possibility that mutations of beta-catenin may also be associated with the development of gastric cancer. We detected seven somatic mutations in a portion of exon 3 encoding for the glycogen synthase kinase 3beta phosphorylation consensus region of the beta-catenin gene in 43 gastric cancers. All of these mutations were missense mutations, of which five are in the highly conserved aspartic acid 32 and two are in serine 29; all of these seven mutations were detected exclusively in intestinal-type gastric cancers (7 of 26; 26.9%), but not in the diffuse-type (0 of 17). We concluded that disruption of the APC/beta-catenin/T cell factor-lymphoid enhancer binding factor pathway might play an important role especially in the development of intestinal-type gastric cancer.

Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and nitric oxide (NO ⋅) are thought to mediate lower esophageal sphincter (LES) relaxation. Transverse muscle strips from the opossum LES were used to test this hypothesis. Electrical field stimulation (EFS) produced a biphasic LES relaxation: a rapid component during the stimulus was more prominent at lower stimulus frequencies, and a sustained component was more prominent at higher frequencies. N ω-nitro-l-arginine and hemoglobin inhibited the rapid component but affected the sustained component less. Exogenous VIP decreased LES tone. A number of purported VIP antagonists blocked neither VIP-induced nor EFS-induced relaxation of the LES. The calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonist CGRP-(8—37) did not alter EFS-induced LES relaxation. EFS-induced relaxation of opossum LES muscle is biphasic, and the initial, rapid component of the relaxation is mediated primarily by NO ⋅. The mediator of the sustained component was not identified.

A sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the determination of aloesin in plasma was developed. After solid-phase extraction from plasma and derivatization of aloesin and compound AD-1, which was prepared from aloesin as a internal standard, with 9-anthroylnitrile in the presence of quinuclidine, the derivatives were separated on a inertsil ODS-3 column using acetonitrile/methanol/water (3:1:6) as a mobile phase, and detected fluorimetrically at 460 nm with excitation at 360 nm. The detection limit of aloesin was 3.2 ng/ml in plasma (S/N = 3).

4035 Background: Although tumor markers are known to be associated with tumor burden and/or aggressive biology, any association of such markers with patient survival has not previously been determi...

To understand growth regulation of the endometrium by studying the effect of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1) on human endometrial stromal cell proliferation in vitro.Endometrial stromal cells from human endometrium were separated and purified and placed in culture. Fresh and first- and sixth-passage cells were incubated with IL-1 (0.025, 0.25, and 2.5 ng/mL) for 24, 48, and 72 hours, respectively. Proliferation as a function of DNA synthesis was assessed by measuring 3H-thymidine incorporation. Experiments were then repeated in the presence of indomethacin to determine whether IL-1 effects were dependent upon prostaglandin synthesis. We evaluated overall growth by adding IL-1 to cell cultures of sixth-passage stromal cells every 3 days and by performing cell count studies.Interleukin-1 beta significantly inhibited 3H-thymidine uptake in freshly explanted endometrial stromal cells at all doses in a dose-dependent manner; a 44% inhibition was seen at 2.5 ng/mL IL-1 after 72 hours of incubation. In first- and sixth-passage cells, 3H-thymidine uptake was inhibited only at intermediate and high doses of IL-1. Cell count studies showed that sixth-passage cells were significantly inhibited by IL-1 after 23 days of growth (22%; P less than .01). Adding indomethacin did not affect inhibition of growth.Interleukin-1 beta inhibits growth of normal human endometrial stromal cells in vitro and does not appear to be mediated by arachidonic acid metabolites. This inhibition of growth may be important for maintenance of a normal endometrial phenotype.

4066 Background: Combination of capecitabine and cisplatin (XP) was active and tolerable in advanced gastric cancer (AGC). We added docetaxel (D) to XP regimen and performed a phase I / II study of...