FECAL PROGESTERONE METABOLITES IN POSTPARTUM SIBERIAN FLYING SQUIRRELS.

The Siberian flying squirrel ( Pteromys volans) produces up to two litters a year. To deliver second litters in breeding season, P. volans may have a postpartum estrus similarly to that of a variety of small mammals.

Effective Management of Atrioventricular Interval for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation That Developed After DDDR Pacemaker Implantation in a Sick Sinus Syndrome Patient.

A 68-year-old man with sick sinus syndrome (SSS) was referred to our department for pacemaker implantation. After implantation of a pacemaker with rate-responsive dual chamber (DDDR) mode and minimized ventricular pacing (MVP) functions, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) repeatedly developed. Pacemaker memory showed that the intrinsic atrioventricular (AV) (atrial pacing-ventricular sensing [Ap-Vs]) interval was paradoxically prolonged during rate-responsive atrial single-chamber (AAIR) mode rapid pacing because of MVP.

[A case of portal-systemic shunt-through inferior mesenteric vein and right internal iliac vein-encephalopathy cured by balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration].

We encountered a case of portal-systemic shunt encephalopathy cured by balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (B-RTO). A 73-year-old man had been observed for membranous nephropathy at our hospital since 1987. There was no past history of liver dysfunction.

Clinicopathological study of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in Japan: the risk factors for fibrosis.

Background/aims: We evaluated patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and compared the clinical and pathological features to identify the risk factors for NAFLD with severe fibrosis.

Methods: One hundred and eighty-two patients with biopsy-confirmed NAFLD from various medical centres were recruited into this study.

Results: The variables that were significantly associated with severe steatosis were male gender (mild:severe=36%:53%, P=0.

Role of growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor 1 and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 3 in development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Background And Aims: Pituitary dysfunction including growth hormone (GH) deficiency may be associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Since the relationships among GH, IGF-1, IGFBP-3, and development of NAFLD without hypopituitarism are unclear, we examined the role of these hormones in the development of NAFLD based on clinical, laboratory and liver histology data.

Patients And Methods: A total of 55 consecutive patients (20 males and 35 females) with NAFLD.

Gene profile analysis of colorectal cancer cell lines by cDNA macroarray.

In order to identify high-risk groups of patients with cancer, understanding the mechanisms of invasion and metastasis from the viewpoint of gene expression is required; in particular, the changes in gene expression as tumours gain the ability to metastasise. Using a rat model of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), we determined the expression profiles of CRC cells that metastasised to the liver and the lung. In the hepatopulmonary metastasis model, metastasising ability increased with successive transplanted cell line generations.

Present status of hepatitis virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan: a cross-sectional study of 1019 patients.

The present study was designed to determine the frequency of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. We examined the clinical features of 1019 patients with HCC who visited our hospitals between January and December 1999. The ratio of men to women was 709 : 310, and the peak incidence of HCC was in the seventh decade of life in both men and women.