Copper deficiency-induced pancytopenia after taking an excessive amount of zinc formulation during maintenance hemodialysis.

Erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) has been recognized as an effective way in the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease, but we sometimes see intractable hemodialysis (HD) patients. The causes of ESA-resistant anemia in HD patients include deficiency of trace elements. We report the case of an 89-year-old male who developed pancytopenia after taking an excessive amount of zinc formulation for ESA-resistant anemia during maintenance dialysis.

Relationship of aging and nutritional status to innate immunity in tube-fed bedridden patients.

Background And Objectives: Aging and malnutrition are known to influence immune functions. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of aging and malnutrition to innate immune functions in tube-fed bedridden patients.

Methods And Study Design: A cross-sectional survey was performed in 71 tube-fed bedridden patients aged 50-95 years (mean age±SD, 80.

Long-term enteral immunonutrition containing lactoferrin in tube-fed bedridden patients: immunological and nutritional status.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy and safety of a novel immune-enhancing enteral formula, Prem-8, which contains lactoferrin as an immunonutrient.

Design, Setting, Patients: A multicenter, randomized controlled trial was conducted in 5 hospitals in Japan, and 71 tube-fed bedridden patients with serum albumin concentrations between 2.5 and 3.

Regulatory mechanism of silkworm hemocyte adhesion to organs.

Circulating hemocytes in the body fluid of the silkworm are increased during the larval-larval molting period. We investigated hemocyte adhesion to organs mediating the selectin-selectin ligands during the feeding period and the larval-larval molting period using the lectin staining method, sugar chain digestion test with glycoside hydrolases, and the hemocyte adhesion inhibition test using monosaccharides. The results of these tests suggested that the selectin ligand involved in hemocyte adhesion was the Sialyl Lewis x-type, and the structure was changed from the feeding period to the larval-larval molting period.

Roles of the ether oxygen in hydration of tetrahydrofuran studied by IR, NMR, and DFT calculation methods.

We studied the concentration dependence of nu(C-H)'s in IR and (1)J(C,H) in NMR for binary water-tetrahydrofuran (THF) mixtures and found different trends for the two types of CH(2) groups in the five-membered ring. The changes of the nu(C-O) spectra showed that complexes of THF associated with water are formed, in which the number of water molecules increases with the water concentration. We suggested that hydration proceeds through the formation of 1:1, and 1:2 complexes of [THF:water] up to X(H(2)O) approximately 0.

Preservation of segment 4 inferior by distal middle hepatic vein reconstruction combined with extended right hepatectomy after portal vein embolization in a patient with a huge initially unresectable HCC.

An extended hepatectomy combined with preoperative portal venous embolization can offer curative resection in patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. However, hypertrophy of the future remnant liver is occasionally unsatisfactory after portal venous embolization in some patients to remove the initially unresectable tumor. In these patients, hepatic venous reconstruction to preserve hepatic parenchyma may contribute to the possibility of resection.

Celiac axis occlusion of a patient undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy after distal gastrectomy.

In patients with celiac axis occlusion, performance of pancreaticoduodenectomy involves sacrifice of the gastroduodenal artery which results in a risk of hepato-pancreato-biliary and other organic ischemia. Celiac axis occlusion does not recently seem an uncommon finding in cases of pancreaticoduodenectomy but diagnosis of celiac axis occlusion may be difficult in patients with former abdominal surgery. The present case report shows a patient with pancreatic head adenocarcinoma, in whom a preoperative diagnosis of celiac axis occlusion was not proved because of displacement of the celiomesenteric arterial branches based on former distal gastrectomy with Kocher's maneuver.

A patient undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy in whom involved common hepatic artery anomalously arising from the superior mesenteric artery was removed and reconstructed.

Identifying anatomical variations of the celio-mesenteric arterial branches is important when performing pancreaticoduodenectomy. A relatively rare variation is the common hepatic artery entirely originated as a branch of the superior mesenteric artery. This type of variation is termed hepatomesenteric trunk type common hepatic artery, in which an accessory left hepatic artery arising from the celiac trunk is absent.

[Multicenter comparative study of the recurrence-inhibitory effect of oral fluoropyrimidine drugs in patients with colorectal cancer following curative resection].

HCFU and UFT were reported effective in adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer. This investigation was planned as a randomized study to compare the usefulness of combination therapies with mitomycin C (MMC)+HCFU and MMC+UFT as postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer following curative resection, in terms of survival rate, recurrence rate, and adverse drug reactions. A total of 501 patients consisting of 252 patients with stage III/IV colon cancer (Colorectal Cancer Handling Rules, 4th Ed.

[Evaluation of hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy for liver metastasis of colorectal cancer using a side-hole catheter].

In our department forty cases of hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy using a side-hole catheter were analyzed with liver metastasis of colorectal cancer from December 2000 to December 2003. This easily placed catheter is able to inject the agent effectively from the side hole. The efficacy of high dose 5-FU (1,000 mg/m2/week) of hepatic artery injected chemotherapy was evaluated.

Low phosphorus tolerance mechanisms: phosphorus recycling and photosynthate partitioning in the tropical forage grass, Brachiaria hybrid cultivar Mulato compared with rice.

The Brachiaria hybrid cv. Mulato is well adapted to low-fertility acid soils deficient in phosphorus (P). To study the grassy forage's mechanisms for tolerating low P supply, we compared it with rice (Oryza sativa L.

[Final results of a randomized clinical trial of adjuvant intraportal chemotherapy for colorectal cancer: Intraportal Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer Group].

The purpose of the present multi-center collaborative study was to elucidate the efficacy of intraportal chemotherapy with the combination of 5-FU and MMC for the prevention of liver recurrence after resection for colorectal cancer. A total of 125 patients with Stage II, III, and IV colorectal cancer were enrolled in this study between June 1993 and December 1995. Of them, 45 patients were randomized to a portal group: 10 mg/body of mitomycin one shot portal infusion, before and after 500 mg/m2 of 5-FU per 24 h for 7 days portal infusion followed by administration of oral 5-FU.

Influence of perioperative blood transfusion on the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer receiving anticancer chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: The deleterious effect of blood transfusions on survival has been reported in patients with cancers of various organs. However, it remains unclear whether there is any adverse effect of blood transfusion when the patients are administered anticancer drugs after surgery for gastric cancers.METHODS: Data from patients with gastric resection for advanced gastric cancer were retrospectively analyzed to determine the influence of perioperative blood transfusion on the survival rate.