[A Case of Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor Producing Esophageal Carcinoma].

The patient was a 42-year-old man who presented with dysphagia.Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a protruding lesion in the lower thoracic esophagus.Pathological analysis of the lesion showed squamous cell carcinoma.

[Two Cases of Gastric Endocrine Cell Carcinoma].

The first patient was a man in his eighties who visited our department because of anemia. Gastrofiberscopy revealed a bleeding submucosal tumor, approximately 50mm in diameter, in the cardia ofthe stomach. Considering that he underwent coronary-artery bypass surgery and received 3 oral antithrombotic medicines, his bleeding tendency was so high that we decided to choose partial gastrectomy.

Irbesartan enhances GLUT4 translocation and glucose transport in skeletal muscle cells.

Irbesartan, an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker has been reported to alleviate metabolic disorder in animal studies and human clinical trials. Although this effect may be related to the ability of irbesartan to serve as a partial agonist for the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ, the target tissues on which irbesartan acts remain poorly defined. As muscle glucose transport plays a major role in maintaining systemic glucose homeostasis, we investigated the effect of irbesartan on glucose uptake in skeletal muscle cells.

Size-specific catalytic activity of platinum clusters enhances oxygen reduction reactions.

Colloidal platinum nanoparticles with diameters of 2-5 nm on carbon supports are currently regarded as the best catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. However, the particle size is limited by the conventional preparation methods that are used to synthesize small platinum particles; the inherent activity of ultrasmall nanoparticles has not yet been revealed. We present a practical synthesis for ultrafine subnanometre platinum clusters using a spherical macromolecular template with no disorder in molecular weight or structure.

Synthesis and properties of a novel phenylazomethine dendrimer with a tetraphenylmethane core.

[structure: see text] A new type of phenylazomethine dendrimer with a tetraphenylmethane core was synthesized by a convergent method. The properties of the dendrimer were confirmed by thermal, rheological, TEM, and AFM measurements. A stepwise radial complexation was clearly observed with SnCl(2).