Clinical pilot studies on pre-operative hyperthermic tumour ablation for advanced breast carcinoma using an 8 MHz radiofrequency heating device.

The multimodality treatment approach for advanced breast cancer provides survival advantages with decreased locoregional and distant recurrences, but these intensive anti-tumour treatments cause severe myelosuppression. Thus, in this study, the usefulness of pre-operative anti-tumour treatment without myelosuppression was investigated. Nine patients with advanced breast carcinoma underwent pre-operative hyperthermic tumour ablation (HTA) using an 8 MHz radiofrequency (RF) heating device (Thermotron RF-8) combined with a grounded needle electrode. The patients had a mean age of 58.3+/-13.9 years and included four patients with stage IIIA, two with stage IIIB and three with stage IV cancer. The target temperature was over 50 degrees C. They tolerated pre-operative HTA therapy well with no early or late complications. The initial mean tumour size was 122.1+/-71.5 cm3 and the post-HTA tumour size was 82.2+/-63.4 cm3; the reduction rate was significant (p = 0.000 293). After the pre-operative HTA, all patients underwent surgery with Level III nodal extirpation. Post-operatively, no locoregional recurrence was observed. Microscopic examination of the primary focus showed complete coagulation necrosis expanding for a diameter of 3.5-5.0 cm. Taken together, the pre-operative HTA was a safe, well-tolerated and effective treatment, achieving tumour reduction as well as complete coagulation necrosis that resulted in a large volume of destruction in breast cancer tissue.

Transient mitral regurgitation following vagal stimulation-induced ventricular arrhythmia in rabbits: a color Doppler echocardiographic study.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: Cervical vagal stimulation in rabbits frequently causes systolic murmur with bigeminy due to premature ventricular contractions. The bigeminy disappears in a few minutes, but the systolic murmur persists for a few days. Peculiar lesions of the mitral valves, mitral annulus and papillary muscles, and an increase in left atrial weight, frequently develop in a week. In this study, color Doppler echocardiography was used to examine whether the systolic murmur was due to mitral regurgitation. METHODS: Echocardiographic monitoring was carried out in anesthetized rabbits restrained in the supine position. RESULTS: Doppler echocardiography and phonocardiography showed systolic murmur at 6 h, three days, and at one, two, three and four weeks after vagal stimulation. At 6 h after stimulation, phonocardiography showed systolic click and late systolic murmur; Doppler echocardiography showed marked mitral regurgitation. The systolic murmur and mitral regurgitation were attenuated and the papillary muscle was swollen three days after vagal stimulation. Following stimulation, mitral regurgitation disappeared within one week, and papillary muscle swelling improved after three weeks. CONCLUSION: Doppler echocardiography confirmed that systolic murmur caused by vagal stimulation in rabbits was due to mitral regurgitation.

A cDNA clone encoding an IgE-binding protein from Brassica anther has significant sequence similarity to Ca(2+)-binding proteins.

Thirteen cDNA clones encoding IgE-binding proteins were isolated from expression libraries of anthers of Brassica rapa L. and B. napus L. using serum IgE from a patient who was specifically allergic to Brassica pollen. These clones were divided into two groups, I and II, based on the sequence similarity. All the group I cDNAs predicted the same protein of 79 amino acids, while the group II predicted a protein of 83 amino acids with microheterogeneity. Both of the deduced amino acid sequences contained two regions with sequence similarity to Ca(2+)-binding sites of Ca(2+)-binding proteins such as calmodulin. However flanking sequences were distinct from that of calmodulin or other Ca(2+)-binding proteins. RNA-gel blot analysis showed the genes of group I and II were preferentially expressed in anthers at the later developmental stage and in mature pollen. The recombinant proteins produced in Escherichia coli was recognized in immunoblot analysis by the IgE of a Brassica pollen allergic patient, but not by the Ige of a non-allergic patient. The cDNA clones reported here, therefore, represent pollen allergens of Brassica species.

[An infradian rhythm of weight increment velocity in patients with Crohn's disease during nutritional therapy].

We examined the rhythm of weight velocity in eight patients with Crohn's disease. In this paper we used the spline smoothing technique to study the cycle in the weight increment velocity curves derived from individual data during nutritional therapy. As a result of the weight measurement at four-day intervals, an infradian rhythm with the average cycle of 9.6 +/- 0.7 was recognized in all of the subjects in terms of the weight increment velocity. This rhythm was especially conspicuous in three adolescent patients with serious nutritional lesion. The cycle of the rhythm was unaffected by any of the following factors: energy intake, contents of nutritional therapy, medical examination during the period. Our findings of a common cycle in the process of convalescence from a low nutritious stage in patients with Crohn's disease suggest that, in others as well, the weight increment velocity might have an infradian rhythm with a kind of inherent periodicity.

[A case of alder (Alnus sieboldiana) pollinosis and its prevalence among the residents of a densely forested area].

The first patient with alder (Alnus sieboldiana Matsumura) pollinosis in Japan visited our clinic in April 1987. The patient was a 54 year old housewife who had lived in Kobe at the foot of Mt. Rokko since 1972, and had been suffering from the pollinosis for three years. In 1988, prevalence studies of A. sieboldiana in densely planted area close to the patient's house were performed using pollen count, immunological examinations and a population survey by questionnaire. A remarkably high prevalence rate of the pollinosis was demonstrated.

Preliminary crystallographic study of Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor (adzuki bean) and its complex with trypsin.

Preliminary crystallographic studies of a Bowman-Birk type protease inhibitor, AB-I, from adzuki beans (Phaseolus angularis) 'Takara,' and its complex with trypsin were carried out. AB-I, MW 9100 with 82 amino acid residues, crystallizes in a trigonal space group, P3121 (or P3221), with the following unit cell dimensions: a = 68.7, c = 99.7 A. The asymmetric unit contains two dimer molecules. Structure analysis at 5 A resolution revealed the rough appearance of the dimer. The complex between AB-I and trypsin also could be crystallized in a tetragonal space group, P41212 (or P43212), with the unit cell dimensions, a = 55.4 and c = 181.5 A, and Z = 8. The crystallinity seems to be much better than that of the crystals of the inhibitor alone. The other type of inhibitor from adzuki bean, AB-IIa, was also crystallized.