Hypothermic effects on gas exchange performance of membrane oxygenator and blood coagulation during cardiopulmonary bypass in pigs.

Introduction: Whether hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass could attenuate both blood coagulation and platelet activation compared to normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass remains elusive.

Methods: Biocompatibility of a polymer-coated cardiopulmonary bypass circuit was comparatively assessed by plasma proteomics between juvenile pigs undergoing hypothermic (23°C) cardiopulmonary bypass and those undergoing normothermic (37°C) cardiopulmonary bypass (n = 6, respectively). Plasma samples were taken three times: 5 minutes after initiation of cardiopulmonary bypass (T5, before cooling), just before declamping and rewarming (Tc), and just before termination of cardiopulmonary bypass (Trw, 120 minutes).

Polymer-coated cardiopulmonary bypass circuit attenuates upregulation of both proteases/protease inhibitors and platelet degranulation in pigs.

Introduction: Interaction of blood with a cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuit activates the coagulation-fibrinolysis, complement and kinin-kallikrein systems that are mainly supported by proteases and their inhibitors.

Methods: Biocompatibility of a new polymer-coated (SEC-coated) CPB circuit was globally evaluated and compared with that of a non-coated CPB circuit by quantitative proteomics, using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification labeling tandem mass spectrometry. Plasma samples were taken three times (5 min after initiation of CPB, just before declamping and just before termination of CPB) in 12 pigs undergoing 120 min of CPB with the SEC-coated CPB circuit or a non-coated CPB circuit (n = 6, respectively).

Hypothermia produces rat liver proteomic changes as in hibernating mammals but decreases endoplasmic reticulum chaperones.

Hypothermia is used in the clinic for protection of organs such as the brain against ischemic injury during aortic/complex congenital cardiac surgery or post-resuscitation encephalopathy. The principal mechanism of hypothermic protection is suppression of metabolism, however, the pleiotropic effects of cooling are incompletely understood. Here, we used a rat model system to evaluate metabolic changes induced by deep hypothermia.

Questionnaire survey regarding the current status and controversial issues concerning reconstruction after gastrectomy in Japan.

The Japanese Society for the Study of Postoperative Morbidity after Gastrectomy conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey to clarify the current status of reconstruction after gastrectomy. One hundred and forty-five institutions (66%) responded to the survey. The questionnaire dealt with the reconstruction after a distal gastrectomy, pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (PPG), total gastrectomy, and proximal gastrectomy.

Gastrointestinal cancer metastasis and lymphatic advancement.

The role of angiogenesis in the growth of solid tumors is well established, but the role of lymphatic vessels and the relationship between lymphangiogenesis and tumor spread are less clear. Recently, the molecular pathway that signals lymphangiogenesis and specific markers for lymphatic endothelium have been discovered; however, the lymphatic pathway of cancer metastasis is only partly clarified. Several investigators from the mid 20th century indicated the existence of lymphatico-venous communications, and some observed the retrograde filling of lymph flow and lymphatico-venous communication in obstructive lymphopathy.

Association of gastric and intestinal phenotypic marker expression of gastric carcinomas with tumor thymidylate synthase expression and response to postoperative chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil.

Purpose: It is well known that both gastric and intestinal phenotypic markers are expressed in gastric carcinomas, irrespective of their histological type. In the present study, the associations among phenotypic marker expression of gastric carcinomas, tumor thymidylate synthase (TS) expression, and the chemotherapeutic response to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) were examined.

Methods: The gastric and intestinal phenotypic marker expression of the tumor was determined by the combination of the expression of human gastric mucin (HGM), MUC6, MUC2, and CD10, and was evaluated in comparison with tumor TS expression in 137 advanced gastric carcinomas in 137 patients (75 with postoperative chemotherapy with 5-FU and 62 without postoperative chemotherapy).