Nearest-neighbour distribution of distances in crystals from extended X-ray absorption fine structure.

Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) is a powerful probe of the distribution of nearest-neighbour distances around selected atomic species. We consider here the effect of vibrational disorder in crystals. The potential of EXAFS for the accurate evaluation of the coefficient of bond thermal expansion and its temperature dependence is discussed, with the aim of stimulating and facilitating the comparison with the results from total scattering experiments. The meaning of the distribution asymmetry in crystals and its connection with the effective potential anharmonicity and the bond expansion is quantitatively explored by comparing the results for a number of different systems. The extent of the relative atomic vibrations perpendicular to the bond direction and the perpendicular to parallel anisotropy are correlated with the extent of lattice negative thermal expansion as well as with the ionic mobility in superionic crystals.

Comparison by carcinoembryonic antigen doubling time of hepatic injection and infusion for unresectable hepatic metastasis from colorectal cancer.

This study explored the efficacy of hepatic arterial therapy, comparing both injection and infusion of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in prolonging the survival of 92 patients with recurrent unresectable hepatic metastasis from colorectal cancer. With respect to pretreatment carcinoembryonic antigen doubling time (CEA-DT), 56 patients were treated with intra-arterial injection, and 36 with intra-arterial infusion. In 21 patients with a CEA-DT of less than 40 days, the cumulative survival of patients treated with arterial injection was significantly longer than that of patients treated with arterial infusion. In 45 patients with a CEA-DT of 40-80 days, the survival curves of patients did not differ from each other. Of the remaining 26 patients with a CEA-DT of more than 80 days, those treated using arterial infusion had an excellent prognosis, in contrast to those treated using arterial injection, with statistical significance. CEA-DT may be useful when choosing a chemotherapy regimen, and may help to accurately establish the prognosis of patients with unresectable hepatic metastasis from colorectal cancer.

A methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphism is associated with expression of p16 in human lung cancer.

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is a critical enzyme in the folate cycle. Reduced MTHFR activity induces DNA hypomethylation and stability, which may protect the tumor suppressor gene p16INK4. We examined the association between MTHFR polymorphism and expression of p16INK4. The frequency of the MTHFR genotypes were 21 Ala/Ala, 29 Ala/Aal, and 7 Val/Val. Expression of p16INK4 was 26.2 +/- 26.8% in the Val/Val genotype and 11.2 +/- 16.6% in the other genotypes (p=0.46) as examined by immunostaining, and excluding four specimens that were overstained. These results suggest that folate metabolism can affect carcinogenesis through the expression of p16INK4.

[A case of retroperitoneal fibrosis with special emphasis on diagnosis using the magnetic resonance imaging].

A case of idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis (RF) is reported. MRI showed a low signal intensity on T1 and heterogeneous signal intensity on T2-predominant image. Although this could be demonstrated either in malignant RF or early stage of non-malignant RF, differentiation from malignancy was made from the quick response to steroid therapy.

[Congenital arteriovenous malformation of the kidney: report of two cases--detection by digital subtraction angiography with carbon dioxide].

Two cases of arteriovenous malformation of the kidney were reported. The first case was a 19-year-old female, complaining of right flank pain and gross hematuria. Right selective renal arteriography revealed a 2 x 1.5 cm large cisoid type arteriovenous malformation at the most distal region of the lower branch of the renal artery. Transcatheter embolization, using Gelfoam and absolute ethanol, was successfully done, which was confirmed with repeated digital subtraction angiography with carbon dioxide (CO2-DSA). The second patient was a 55-year-old female with past history of right idiopathic renal bleeding, complaining of right flank colicky pain and gross hematuria. Right selective renal arteriography was done without any pathological findings, while CO2-DSA documented an arteriovenous malformation in the hilar region. Transcatheter embolization was not done, because the malformation seemed to be proximally located. Thus CO2-DSA was thought to be a reliable method in the diagnosis of arteriovenous fistula.

[A case of renal pseudotumor caused by pyelonephritis].

A case of renal pseudotumor due to pyelonephritis is reported. A 70-year-old female was admitted to our hospital for the evaluation of right renal mass in pyelogram. She had had episodes of pyelonephritis many times. Computed tomography (CT) revealed poorly marginated low density mass that exhibits inhomogenous enhancement with contrast medium. Angiography showed an avascular mass. On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the mass was isointensity or slightly low intensity on T1 weighted scan, while it showed low intensity on T2 weighted scan. The patient died from small cell carcinoma in the lung two years later. Autopsy was performed and no malignancy was found in the kidney. MRI was useful to differentiate such inflammatory change from renal tumor, which is mostly high intensity on T2 weighted scan.

[Combined resection of the aortic wall in T4 lung cancer under the assistant devices].

Radical operation for T4 lung cancer is technically difficult. We report here 3 cases of T4N0M0 lung cancer involving aorta or left subclavian artery which was successfully operated on. We could carry out combined aortic resection more safely and speedy under the assistant devices, such as Anthrontube and Biomedicus Centrifugal Pump. Even T4 lung cancer having aortic invasion with N0 disease can be operated on and be expected long-term survival using these assistant devices.

[Maximum tolerated dose of tegafur in rats].

Maximum Tolerated Dose of Tegafur was estimated by per-oral administration in male Donryu rats. Tegafur was administered for 24 weeks at respective doses of 90 mg, 120 mg and 150 mg/kg/day. Six of 10 (60%) died during the treatment in those groups administered with 120 mg and 150 mg/kg/day, respectively. The cause of death of these rats was severe pneumonia. All 10 of the group given 60 mg/kg/day survived until end of the administration and were sacrificed for histological examination of organs. These rats showed apparent suppression of body weight gain compared with controls (p less than 0.001). Slight inflammation of the lungs was observed in all rats, congestion of the liver and local degeneration and necrosis of the liver cells in a few rats and cellular degeneration of bone marrow in one rat. There was no remarkable change in the digestive tract, kidney, thymus or reproductive organs. Accordingly, the Maximum Tolerated Dose of Tegafur was determined to be 90 mg/kg/day.

[Preoperative intra-arterial injection of mitoxantrone for locally advanced breast cancer].

Mitoxantrone (MIT) is a new anthraquinone anti-cancer agent. We successfully treated 3 patients with locally advanced breast cancer, including two inflammatory breast cancers, by pre-operative arterial injection of MIT. The treatment protocol was MIT 12 mg/m2 injected into both the internal mammary and the subclavian artery with oral administration of 5' DFUR 1,200 mg/day. In two cases of inflammatory breast cancer, the redness of skin was immediately reduced after the first course. After 2 courses, all tumors were decreased over 50% in size. Standard radical mastectomy could be carried out on all patients. Preoperative arterial injection of MIT might be the treatment of choice for locally advanced breast cancer. This preliminary result encourages further study.

[Clinical study on the effect of intra-arterial injection of mitoxantrone-lipiodol emulsion for hepatocellular carcinoma].

To investigate the effect of intra-arterial injection of mitoxantrone emulsified with ethiodized oil, forty-eight patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were evaluated. After the treatment, ten of the patients underwent hepatectomy. In the thirty-eight unresected cases, there were 15 (39%) partial responses, which continued 1.2 to 11.8 months (mean, 5.8 months). The 1- and 2- year survival rates were 67% and 38%, respectively. The response rate was higher in cases with tumor under 5 cm in diameter. In the remaining 10 resected cases, the necrotic areas in main nodules ranged from 65% to 100% (mean, 85%). This treatment might be applied effectively to patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma.

[Intra-arterial injection therapy of mitoxantrone for locally advanced breast cancer].

Mitoxantrone (MIT) is a new anthraquinone anticancer agent. We treated 14 patients with locally advanced breast cancer, 3 of which were inflammatory breast cancers, by pre-operative arterial injection of MIT. The treatment protocol was MIT 12 mg/m2 injected into both the internal mammary and the subclavian arteries with oral administration of 5'-DFUR 1,200 mg/day for 20 days. After 2 courses, all tumors were decreased over 50% in size. Down-staging was obtained in all of 8 cases. Mastectomy could be carried out on all patients, without microscopically residual tumor cells. Preoperative arterial injection of MIT might be the treatment of choice for locally advanced breast cancer to perform down-staging, however the survival benefit has remained equivocal. These preliminary results are encouraging to further studies.

Local structure of silver clusters in the channels of zeolite 4A.

The Ag K-edge EXAFS measurements have been carried out at 50 K for fully Ag+-exchanged zeolite 4A (Ag-4A) dehydrated at different temperatures under vacuum. In the Fourier transforms of the EXAFS oscillation the two distinct peaks appear around 2.2 A and 3.0 A, and a shoulder around 2.8 A. The structural parameters (distance, coordination number and root mean square displacement) were derived by a three-shell (two Ag-O contacts and Ag-Ag contact) curve-fitting analysis. It is found that a silver cluster is formed with Ag-Ag distance 2.82+/-0.02 A and coordination number 4.9+/-0.2. When the silver cluster is formed 6 Ag0 atoms and 8 Ag+ ions are arranged in a cubic closed-packed manner in the cage of the Ag-4A zeolite. The 8 Ag+ ions and 6 Ag0 atoms are confined in the framework of oxygens at distances of 2.28+/-0.02 and 2.88+/-0.02 A, respectively.

Determination of dissociation energy for ligand exchange reaction from EXAFS.

EXAFS (extended X-ray absorption fine structure) experiments were performed at several different temperatures for a series of 3d transition metal ions (Cr3+, Fe3+, Fe2+, Ni2+, Co2+, Zn2+) in aqueous solutions. Anharmonic EXAFS analyses, which include up to third order cumulant, were carried out to study on the metal-oxygen bonding potential. According to the model in which the dissociation process is dominant for the ligand-water exchange reaction, the dissociation energy has been first evaluated from EXAFS in solution phase.

Path-integral approach to Debye-Waller factors in EXAFS, EELS and XPD for cubic and quartic anharmonic potentials.

In this paper thermal effects in extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) due to atomic vibration in cubic and quartic potentials are studied by use of Feynman's path-integral approach. This approach can be applied to strongly anharmonic systems where the cumulant analyses break down. It is closely related to the well known classical approach which is only valid at high temperature. The phase of the thermal factor plays an important role both in EXAFS and XPD analyses for the asymmetric potential with strong anharmonicity. At low temperature the cumulant expansion up to the second order for the thermal damping function agrees well with the self-consistent result, but up to higher orders should be taken into account for the phase function. At high temperature the result from self-consistent calculations shows the characteristic behaviour: the thermal damping function is negative in the high-k region for both strongly and weakly anharmonic systems. The cumulant approximation cannot reproduce this behaviour. For the strongly anharmonic systems the quantum result shows qualitatively different behaviour from the classical approximation at low temperature: the former does not show the negative values even in the high-k region, while the latter shows the phase inversion in the amplitude.

Processess of revascularization between the jejunal submucosal vessel and implanted epiploic vascular pedicle.

Revascularization between the proper submucosal vessels of the jejunum and the epiploic vessels implanted in the submucosal layer of the jejunum was experimentally studied by a panoramic montage technique of micro-angiograms in dogs. A vascular network was found between the implanted epiploic vessel and the submucosal vessels of the jejunum two weeks after the operation and the anastomosis was completed six weeks after the operation. The communicating blood vessels transformed themselves into a "fork" shape.

Longer survival and fewer metastases by levamisole and tegafur in 1, 2-dimethylhydrazine-induced murine colonic cancers.

The anticancer effects of levamisole, tegafur and their combination were experimentally compared in rats on the 1, 2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced colonic cancers. DMH at 20 mg/kg of body weight was injected subcutaneously to Donryu rats once a week for 24 weeks long. Nineteen weeks after the start of DMH administration, early colonic cancers were induced and, 28 weeks after, they developed into advanced cancers with distant metastases. From 19 weeks after the start of DMH injection, subcutaneous administration of levamisole at the dose of 2 mg/kg, oral administration of tegafur at 90 mg/kg and their combination were given to the rats daily for nine weeks. The animals were sacrificed 28 weeks after the start of DMH administration. Tegafur was effective, but levamisole with or without tegafur was not effective against early cancer. From 28 weeks after the start of DMH injection, levamisole, tegafur and their combination were administered to the rats daily for four weeks. All of the rats were necropsied when they died. The survival rate and mean survival days were significantly higher and longer in the levamisole groups than in the control rats (p less than 0.05). The incidence of distant metastases was also significantly lower in the levamisole groups than in the control group.