Expression of cyclooxygenase-2, P-glycoprotein and multi-drug resistance-associated protein in canine transitional cell carcinoma.

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and multi-drug resistance-associated protein (MRP) are considered important tumor-associated proteins in humans and dogs. In the present study, we immunohistochemically evaluated the expression of these proteins in canine patients with transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). Of 52 cases, 30 (57.7%) were positive for COX-2, 40 (76.9%) for P-gp, and only 10 (19.2%) for MRP. In addition, 27 samples (27/52, 51.9%) were positive for two markers, while 3 (5.7%) and 5 (9.6%) cases were positive and negative, respectively, for all three markers. No significant correlations were seen for COX-2 and P-gp on Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney's test, but a significance was seen on Spearman's rank correlation analysis using the IHC scoring system (P=0.043). These results suggest that P-gp expression is induced by overexpression of COX-2 in canine patients with TCC.

Studies on the psychosomatic functioning of ill-health according to Eastern and Western medicine 5. Psychosomatic characteristics of anxiety and anxiety-affinitive constitution.

In successive studies of the psychosomatic functioning of ill-health according to Oriental and Western medicine in medical students, we established the existence of the psychosomatic characteristics we have provisionally termed the anxiety-affinitve constitution at the core of ill-health. Therefore, we conducted this research because our previous investigation showed this constitution included a high complexity of respiratory movement and eye movement with a significant correlation to the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). We examined the correlation between the STAI and somatic function of 88 medical students to identify the psychosomatic characteristics of anxiety and the anxiety-affinitive constitution. These tests included STAI, fractal (EEG, EOG, plethysmogram, respiratory curves, and EMG) and non-fractal (accelerated plethysmogram) dimension analyses, and malocclusion (based on Angle's classification). In particular, EOG, plethysmogram, and respiratory curves are known to have close association with trait anxiety. We were able to discover the correlation between (1) trait anxiety and thoracic and abdominal respiratory movements, and malocclusion (Class III), and (2) the correlation of state anxiety with thoracic respiratory movement, horizontal eye movement, a plethysmogram and an EEG-Pz (in males only). In subsequent study the relation between thoracic dominance and state-trait anxiety and between abdominal dominance and state-trait anxiety should be assessed to develop this research regarding the psychosomatic characteristics of anxiety and the anxiety-affinitive constitution. Further, it is essential to create an anxiety-affinitve constitution index based on multi-regression analysis.

Comparison of the therapeutic efficacy of oral doses of fluconazole and itraconazole in a guinea pig model of dermatophytosis.

The therapeutic efficacy of orally administered fluconazole (FLCZ) and itraconazole (ITCZ) in a guinea pig model of dermatophytosis was compared, using the infection intensity of local skin tissue as an index. After Trichophyton mentagrophytes infections had been established in the test animals, the antifungal agents were administered once per day for 14 days. FLCZ had a dose-dependent therapeutic effect and significantly ameliorated infections at doses of 10 and 20 mg/kg per day (both P < 0.01) compared with the untreated control group. The pathogen could not be cultured from previously infected skin tissue from 11% of the animals treated with FLCZ at 10 mg/kg per day, and from 20% of the animals treated with FLCZ at 20 mg/kg per day. The therapeutic efficacy of FLCZ was approximately equal to that of ITCZ administered at the same doses. These results suggest that FLCZ may be a useful treatment for dermatophytosis.

[In vitro and in vivo activities of sulopenem compared with those of imipenem and cephalosporins].

The in vitro and in vivo antibacterial activities of sulopenem (CP-70,429),a new parenteral penem antibiotic, were compared with those of imipenem (IPM), flomoxef, cefuzonam (CZON) and cefotaxime. Sulopenem possessed broad-spectrum activities against Gram-positive bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria. Antibacterial activities of sulopenem against methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus pneumoniae were equivalent to or somewhat superior to those of IPM. Against members of the family Enterobacteriaceae, sulopenem was 4- to 260-fold more active than reference antibiotics with broad-spectra. In a killing kinetics study for Haemophilus influenzae, sulopenem showed a 99.9% decrease of viable cells after 8 hours at a concentration of 0.20 micrograms/ml. This effect was obtained at a concentration 8-fold lower than that of IPM. The protective effects of sulopenem in murine experimental systemic infections were superior to those of imipenem/cilastatin. In murine experimental mixed infection with Escherichia coli and Bacteroides fragilis, sulopenem had lower ED50, in other words stronger antimicrobial activities than IPM. The therapeutic effect of sulopenem are related well with its MIC value. In guinea pigs experimental lung infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae, sulopenem was more effective than CZON or cefotiam.

Avian erythroblastosis virus isolated from chick erythroblastosis induced by lymphatic leukemia virus subgroup A.

A new strain of avian erythroblastosis virus (AEV), designated "AEV-H," was established by serial passages of a field isolate of avian lymphatic leukemia virus subgroup A [LLV(A)] in chicks from a White Leghorn flock of line 151 chicks. One stock of AEV-H contained 10(4) focus-forming units/ml virus and 10(9) tissue culture infective dose/ml LLV(A). All of the chicks that received ip inoculations of 0.2 ml AEV-H developed erythroblastosis complicated by fibrosarcoma 16-24 days (approximately equal to 17.7 days) after inoculation. Pathologic changes of erythroblastosis were macroscopically observed, mainly in such visceral organs as the liver, spleen, and bone marrow. In addition, microscopic changes were observed in the lung, kidney, ovary, and heart. Pathologic changes of fibrosarcoma were so conspicuous that they were recognizable by the naked eye in the pancreas and in the serous membrane of the intestine.