The sky blue method as a screening test to detect misplacement of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube at exchange.

Background: During tube exchange for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), a misplaced tube can cause peritonitis and death. Thus, endoscopic or radiologic observation is required at tube exchange to make sure the tube is placed correctly. However, these procedures cost extensive time and money to perform in all patients at the time of tube exchange.

A Ligand for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma inhibits human cholangiocarcinoma cell growth: potential molecular targeting strategy for cholangioma.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) ligands have an antitumor effect. The aim of this study was to clarify whether PPARgamma ligands could inhibit the growth of human cholangiocarcinoma cells. PPAR( expression in HuH-28 and HuCCT1 cells (intrahepatic bile duct carcinoma) was determined using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

A nuclear receptor-mediated choleretic action of fibrates is associated with enhanced canalicular membrane fluidity and transporter activity mediating bile acid-independent bile secretion.

Fibrates are commonly used lipid-lowering agents that act via PPARalpha, a member of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily. The mechanism(s) of fibrate-induced changes in the hepatic canalicular membrane and bile lipids are still unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of fibrates on hepatic lipid metabolism and to assess the hepatocellular cytoprotective effect on hepatocyte canalicular membrane.

Histologic characteristics of skin cancer in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: background incidence and radiation effects.

Skin cancers, though rare in Japan, have reportedly been on the rise, but little else is known about epidemiologic features of different histologic types of skin cancer. The Life Span Study cohort, which consists of 93,700 atomic-bomb survivors, many of whom were exposed to negligibly low radiation doses, and 26,600 people not exposed to radiation, enables a population-based study of spontaneous as well as radiation-related cancer risk. Skin tumor incident cases diagnosed between 1958 and 1987 were ascertained by linkage to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tumor registries augmented by searches of other data sources.

Impaired gallbladder mucosal function in aged gallstone patients suppresses gallstone recurrence after successful extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy.

Background: Absorption of water, as well as emptying of bile, are important functions of the gallbladder. We studied the changes of gallbladder function with age in gallstone patients and their influence on the outcome of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL).

Methods: (i) A total of 123 consecutive patients with complete stone clearance by ESWL were examined.

Tumors of the nervous system and pituitary gland associated with atomic bomb radiation exposure.

Background: The risk of developing nervous system tumors following exposure to ionizing radiation is not well quantified. We characterized the incidence of nervous system tumors among atomic bomb survivors as a function of radiation dose.

Methods: Tumors of the nervous system and pituitary gland diagnosed between 1958 and 1995 among 80 160 atomic bomb survivors were ascertained using the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tumor registries, medical records, and death certificates.

Skin tumor risk among atomic-bomb survivors in Japan.

Objectives: Elevated risks of skin cancer following high doses of ionizing radiation have long been known. Recent reports on atomic-bomb survivors indicate that nonmelanoma skin cancer can be induced at low to medium doses. We studied atomic-bomb survivors to determine the effects of radiation on specific histologic types of skin cancer and to describe the dose-response relationship.

Tumorigenicity study of ferric citrate administered orally to mice.

Ferric citrate (FC) was orally administered at concentrations of 0.12 (maximum tolerated dose) or 0.06% in the drinking water to male and female B6C3F1 mice.

Lack of tumorigenicity of aminopyrine orally administered to B6C3F1 mice.

To test the tumorigenic potential of aminopyrine, an antipyretic analgesic, it was administered in drinking water at levels of 0 (control), 0.04 and 0.08% to 50 male and 50 female B6C3F1 mice for 100 weeks, and the mice were subsequently maintained without aminopyrine for a further 4 weeks.

Tumorigenicity study of sodium erythorbate administered orally to mice.

Sodium erythorbate (SE) was administered at concentrations of 0, 1.25, or 2.5% (maximum tolerated dose, MTD) in the drinking-water to groups of 50 male B6C3F1 mice respectively.

Duodenal gangliocytic paraganglioma with lymph node metastasis in a 17-year-old boy.

A case of duodenal gangliocytic paraganglioma (DGP) in a 17-year-old boy is presented. In this case a lymph node in the peripancreatic region was involved by a metastatic tumor. A review of the literature on DGP indicates that this case represents the youngest patient and is the second case of DGP with metastasis.

Hepatocellular tumorigenicity of butylated hydroxytoluene administered orally to B6C3F1 mice.

Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), a preservative widely found in food as a food additive, was orally administered at concentrations of 1% and 2% of the diet to B6C3F1 mice for 104 consecutive weeks. Treated animals underwent a 16-week recovery period prior to pathological examination. In male mice administered BHT, the incidence of mice with either a hepatocellular adenoma or a focus of cellular alteration in the liver was increased in a clear dose-response relationship.

Early cancer and related lesions in the bronchial epithelium in former workers of mustard gas factory.

The bronchial epithelium in stepwise transverse sections was examined histologically in 66 male autopsy cases, composed of the groups of 19 mustard gas (MG) ex-workers with lung cancer, 17 MG ex-workers with non-lung cancer, 10 non-MG lung cancer cases, and 20 non-MG non-lung cancer cases. Foci of moderate or severe atypical cellular lesion or dysplasia, or of carcinoma in situ (CIS) in total slides of each group, were counted as 146 in 3,485, 72 in 2,226, 70 in 3,797, and 18 in 4,611, respectively. The relative frequency of moderate or severe dysplasia and CIS in MG exposed non-lung cancer cases resembled that found in lung cancer cases of both MG and non-MG exposed.

Tumorigenicity study of disodium glycyrrhizinate administered orally to mice.

Disodium glycyrrhizinate (DG) was administered at concentrations of 0.15 (maximum tolerated dose), 0.08, 0.

Central pontine myelinolysis accompanied by multifocal pseudocalcifications.

A 44-year-old diabetic female became unconscious one month prior to death due to acute suppurative meningitis. Although cerebrospinal fluid findings normalized with the administration of antibiotics, the status of unconsciousness did not improve and she expired. Examination of the brain revealed a small, relatively ill-defined, demyelinated lesion in the central part of the anterior pons, with which hypertrophied astrocytes, lymphocytes, macrophages phagocytizing disintegrated myelin were present.