Opsins in the Cephalic and Extracephalic Photoreceptors in the Marine Gastropod .

AbstractThe marine gastropod has a pair of ocular photoreceptors, the stalk eyes, on the tip of its stalk near the head, as well as several extracephalic photosensory organs. The retinas of the stalk eye consist of two morphologically distinct visual cells, namely, the type I cells equipped with well-developed microvilli and the type II cells with less developed microvilli. The extracephalic photosensors comprise the dorsal eye, dermal photoreceptor, and brain photosensitive neurons.

Stress doses of glucocorticoids cannot prevent progression of all adrenal crises.

Adrenal crises (ACs) sometimes progress rapidly and can be fatal. The aims of the present study were to reveal whether stress doses of glucocorticoids (SDGs) can prevent progression of severe ACs and to suggest a method of prevention, through analysis of its clinical features. We studied 24 severe ACs (nine patients) that occurred after diagnosis of primary or secondary adrenal insufficiency, retrospectively.

Gonadal Function in 15 Patients Associated with WT1 Gene Mutations.

Denys-Drash syndrome (DDS) and Frasier syndrome (FS) are caused by mutations of the WT1 gene. These disorders are characterized by renal disease, abnormality of male sex differentiation, and Wilms' tumor and gonadoblastoma. There have been few reports on gonadal function in a large series of patients with mutations of the WT1 gene.

Noninvasive detection of alterations in chromosome numbers in urinary bladder cancer cells, using fluorescence in situ hybridization.

Background: Bladder cancers have a high potential for recurrence and sometimes become invasive even in superficial cases. In this process, gene mutations in tumor suppressor genes such as p53, on chromosome 17, or p16, on chromosome 9, are thought to be important. In order to investigate whether the detection of alterations in chromosome number might be used as an alternative to invasive techniques for the assessment of clinical bladder cancer, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was employed to analyze chromosome numbers in a series of patients.

Low vertebral cancellous bone density in peripubertal girls with Turner's syndrome and boys with hypogonadism.

Objective: To characterize the changes of vertebral cancellous bone density in children with hypogonadism.

Study Design: Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) values of vertebral cancellous bone in 21 girls with Turner's syndrome, 12 boys with hypogonadism, and 46 age-matched controls (24 boys, 22 girls) were studied. The subjects were divided into the following subgroups by the age (year) at the time of the measurement: A.

Molecular analysis of mechanisms regulating drug sensitivity and the development of new chemotherapy strategies for genitourinary carcinomas.

The emergence of drug-resistant tumors during treatment remains one of the major obstacles in cancer chemotherapy. Overexpression of P-glycoprotein encoded by the multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene or multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) (or both) and decreased expression of DNA topoisomerase II are responsible for expression of the multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotype. The expression of P-glycoprotein is also often observed in untreated cancers showing spontaneous MDR, such as renal cell carcinoma.

Accumulation of intracellular platinum is correlated with intrinsic cisplatin resistance in human bladder cancer cell lines.

We investigated the mechanism of intrinsic resistance to cisplatin in human transitional cell cancer (TCC) using 7 human bladder cancer cell lines, which were derived from untreated TCC of the urinary bladder. The sensitivity to cisplatin was different from cell line to cell line, and a 15-fold difference was observed between the most sensitive line and the most resistant line. No significant correlation was observed between the content of intracellular glutathione and the resistance to cisplatin.

[Clinicopathological analysis of transition zone cancer of the prostate: the clinical significance of coexistent non-transition zone cancer foci].

Background: Dominant cancer of transition zone origin of the prostate (TZ cancer) has been frequently detected, because ultrasound-guided systematic biopsies have been generalized. In cases of TZ cancer, we attempted to determine clinical significance of coexistent non-TZ cancer foci.

Materials And Methods: Twenty cases with TZ cancer who underwent radical prostatectomy or cystoprostatectomy were clinicopathologically evaluated using step-sectioned specimens.

Presence of ganglia within the prostatic capsule: ganglion involvement in prostatic cancer.

Background: The presence of ganglia within the prostatic capsule (capsular ganglia) is a poorly understood phenomenon. If cancer invasion into or around ganglia is identified in a needle biopsy specimen, such a finding may be diagnosed as an extraprostatic extension. In this study, the presence of capsular ganglia was clarified.

Prophylactic intravesical instillation chemotherapy against recurrence after a transurethral resection of superficial bladder cancer: a randomized controlled trial of doxorubicin plus verapamil versus doxorubicin alone. The Kyushu University Urological Oncology Group.

Purpose: We investigated whether verapamil (VR), a known chemosensitizing agent of P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance, could enhance the preventative effect of doxorubicin (Adriamycin, ADM) on both intravesical recurrence and disease progression after transurethral resection (TUR) of superficial bladder cancer.

Methods: The patients were randomized into two groups: one group received an intravesical instillation of ADM (30 mg) plus VR (15 mg) after TUR of superficial bladder cancer (19 times over 1 year), and the other group received ADM alone on the same treatment schedule. The nonrecurrence rate, the incidence of disease progression at the first recurrence and the side effects were compared over a median follow-up of 38.

Application of microwave tissue coagulator in partial nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma.

Purpose: At partial nephrectomy there is a risk of excessive blood loss, which necessitates transfusion and also results in renal function deterioration when a vascular clamp is used. We evaluated the usefulness of a microwave tissue coagulator for partial nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma.

Materials And Methods: Partial nephrectomy was performed without renal pedicle clamping using a microwave tissue coagulator in 4 patients with a small kidney tumor.

Enhanced expression of gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase and glutathione S-transferase genes in cisplatin-resistant bladder cancer cells with multidrug resistance phenotype.

Purpose: To elucidate the mechanisms of cisplatin resistance in human bladder cancer.

Materials And Methods: After continuous exposure of KK47 cells to cisplatin, two resistant sublines, KK47/DDP10 and KK47/DDP20 were established. The glutathione content, glutathione S-transferase activity, and intracellular platinum concentration were measured while the expression of various drug resistance-related genes was examined.

Establishment of two human renal cell carcinoma cell lines with different chemosensitivity.

Two cell lines, SKR1 and NKK1, were established from renal cell carcinomas (RCC) with different histopathologic characteristics: SKR1 from grade 3, solid type, pleomorphic cell type carcinoma in a 66-year-old male and NKK1 from grade 2, alveolar type, clear cell carcinoma in a 49-year-old female. Electron microscopic study showed the presence of microvilli on cell surface and desmosome-like structures between cells in both lines. Doubling time and plating efficiency of SKR1 were 28 h and 37%, respectively, whereas those of NKK1 were 45 h and 22%, respectively.

Establishment and characterization of two human bladder cancer cell lines.

Two cell lines, SNK57 and NKB1, were established from human bladder cancer: SNK57 from a transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) in a 73-year-old female and NKB1 from a residual TCC following MEC (methotrexate, farmorubicin and cisplatin) chemotherapy in a 64-year-old female. Doubling time of SNK57 and NKB1 cells was 24 hours and 45 hours, respectively. The chromosome number of both cell lines was 100 percent anueploid with a mode of 43 chromosomes for SNK57 and 107 for NKK1.

Non-P-glycoprotein-mediated atypical multidrug resistance in a human bladder cancer cell line.

A human bladder cancer cell line resistant to adriamycin (ADM), T24/ADM9 has been established in vitro by exposing T24 parent cells to progressively higher concentrations of the drug over a period of 12 months. The T24/ADM9 cells were found to be 9 times more resistant to ADM than the T24 parent, and showed various degrees of cross-resistance to an ADM derivative, vinea alkaloids and a DNA topoisomerase II (Topo II)-targeting agent, etoposide. No significant differences was observed in the cellular accumulation of ADM between the T24/ADM9 and T24 parent cells.

Cancer occurrence among dyestuff workers exposed to aromatic amines. A long term follow-up study.

Background: Although the occupational exposure to some aromatic amines is recognized to cause bladder carcinoma, the long term effect of such exposure on the risk for disease, including other malignant tumors, remains unknown.

Methods: A total of 442 dyestuff workers exposed to one or more substances including benzidine (BZ), beta-naphthylamine (beta-N), alpha-naphthylamine (alpha-N), and dianisidine were followed completely until December 1992 (average time since first exposure, 39.4 years).

Proteolytic activity of IGFBP-3 in various clinical conditions during childhood studied by means of western immunoblotting.

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) have 6 types of binding proteins (IGFBPs), and IGFBP-3 is the major IGFBP in human sera. A proteolytic enzyme for IGFBP-3 has recently been reported to be present in human and animal pregnant sera. Although the physiological significance of a pregnancy-associated IGFBP-3 protease remains to be established, the proteolysis could result in lowering the affinity for IGFs, thereby enhancing their delivery to target tissues by increasing free IGFs in the circulation.

Expression of multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP), MDR1 and DNA topoisomerase II in human multidrug-resistant bladder cancer cell lines.

The acquisition of the multidrug resistance phenotype in human tumours is associated with an overexpression of the 170 kDa P-glycoprotein encoded by the multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene, and also with a 190 kDa membrane ATP-binding protein encoded by a multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) gene. Human bladder cancer is a highly malignant neoplasm which is refractory to anti-cancer chemotherapy. In order to understand the mechanism underlying multidrug resistance in bladder cancer, we established three doxorubicin-resistant cell lines, T24/ADM-1, T24/ADM-2 and KK47/ADM, and one vincristine-resistant cell line, T24/VCR, from human bladder cancer T24 and KK47 cells respectively.

Clinical information on serum IGFBP-3 levels and IGFBP-3 proteolytic activity in childhood.

In this review paper, three pieces of clinical information in childhood are presented: (1) IGFBP-3 may replace GH provocation tests in the diagnosis of GH deficiency (GHD); (2) IGFBP-3 levels are regulated by IGF-I levels in a short period, and (3) ratio of free IGF-I to total IGF-I is high in serum of early infancy, similarly to serum of pregnancy, only partially owing to the presence of IGFBP-3 proteolytic activity. Each paper will be published soon.

Treatment of advanced hormone-refractory prostate carcinoma with a combination of etoposide, pirarubicin and cisplatin.

A total of 20 patients with hormone-refractory prostate carcinoma entered a pilot study of combination chemotherapy based on the EAP (etoposide, Adriamycin and cisplatin) regimen, in which Adriamycin was replaced by pirarubicin, a less cardiotoxic derivative of Adriamycin. The response was assessed by criteria modified from those of the National Prostatic Cancer Project: prostate-specific antigen was employed instead of acid phosphatase. Of 18 evaluable patients, 6 achieved a partial response, 5 had stable disease, and in 7 the disease had progressed during therapy; thus, the overall response rate was 33.

Effect of MPL 9000 extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy on renal hemodynamics and urine flow: assessment by 99mTc-DTPA renal scintigraphy.

The effect of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) with an MPL9000 lithotriptor on renal hemodynamics and urine flow was investigated by 99mTc-DTPA renal scintigraphy. In the first-pass scintigrams obtained within 1 min after injection of 99mTc-DTPA, there was no significant change in the time to the maximum radioactivity level and the maximum radioactivity ratio at 1 day before ESWL and 1 day or 1 month after ESWL. However, analysis of 30-min scintigrams showed that urinary clearance of radioactivity was delayed in the treated kidney 1 day after ESWL, particularly in the region targeted by shock waves, despite the absence of overt urinary tract obstruction by residual stone fragments.

Metallothionein expression is correlated with cisplatin resistance in transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary tract.

Metallothioneins (MTs) are small cysteine-rich, metal-binding proteins involved in resistance to heavy-metal toxicity, and are known to bind cisplatin. Several experiments suggest possible involvement of MT in cellular resistance to cisplatin. To investigate the relationship between MT expression and cisplatin resistance in urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), immunohistochemical staining for MT was performed in 31 untreated TCCs of the urinary tract.

Hypopituitarism with invisible pituitary stalk: two case reports of males with micropenis suggesting fetal onset of hypopituitarism.

The presence of hypopituitarism and invisible pituitary stalk on a magnetic resonance image (MRI) is commonly attributed to birth trauma. Two patients with severe hypopituitarism and invisible pituitary stalk are presented. One was born by breech delivery, the other by Cesarean section.

Clinical utility of insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 in the evaluation and treatment of short children with suspected growth hormone deficiency.

We have shown previously that serum insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) levels have good predictive value for complete, but not partial, growth hormone deficiency (GHD). In this study, we compare IGFBP-3 levels in short children previously divided into groups on the basis of their post-stimulation GH levels. Complete GHD (N = 59) included those children with peak post-stimulation GH < 5 micrograms/l.

Increased expression of DNA topoisomerase I gene and collateral sensitivity to camptothecin in human cisplatin-resistant bladder cancer cells.

We established three cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (cisplatin)-resistant cell lines, T24/DDP5, T24/DDP7, and T24/DDP10, by the stepwise exposure of T24 human bladder cancer cells to increasing concentrations of cisplatin. The resistance to cisplatin of T24/DDP5, T24/DDP7, and T24/DDP10 cells was 2.2-, 5.