[Long-Term Survival with Distal Pancreatectomy and Postoperative Chemotherapy in a Patient of Pancreatic Invasive Ductal Adenocarcinoma of the Tail with Peritoneal Dissemination].

A 68-year-old man was referred to our hospital for detailed examination of the pancreatic tail tumor. The tumor was diagnosed as the pancreatic invasive ductal adenocarcinoma and the distal pancreatectomy was scheduled. During surgery, a 2 mm white nodule was observed on the posterior wall of the stomach.

IgA-producing lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma carrying the chromosomal abnormality t(8;14).

IgA-producing lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (LPL) is rare and IgH/c-myc translocation is rare in LPL. This is the first report of a case of IgA-producing LPL carrying t(8;14). An 86-year-old woman presented inguinal and intra-abdominal lymph node swelling, and lytic bone lesions in the lumbar vertebrae.

Coconut atrium in long-standing rheumatic valvular heart disease.

Background: Complete calcification of the left atrium (LA) is called "coconut atrium", which decreases the compliance of LA, leading to the elevation of LA pressure that is transmitted to the right-side of the heart. The pathogenesis of LA calcification in patients with rheumatic heart disease is unknown; however, possible mechanisms include chronic strain force in the atrial wall and inflammation. We report here a patient with long-standing rheumatic valvular heart disease with coconut atrium.

Epigenetic Alteration by DNA Promoter Hypermethylation of Genes Related to Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) Signaling in Cancer.

Epigenetic alterations in cancer, especially DNA methylation and histone modification, exert a significant effect on the deregulated expression of cancer-related genes and lay an epigenetic pathway to carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Global hypomethylation and local hypermethylation of CpG islands in the promoter region, which result in silencing tumor suppressor genes, constitute general and major epigenetic modification, the hallmark of the neoplastic epigenome. Additionally, methylation-induced gene silencing commonly affects a number of genes and increases with cancer progression.

Simple quantitative analysis of asbestos body using the sediment of formalin injected into surgically resected lung cancers.

A simple screening method for quantitatively analyzing asbestos bodies that can be carried out even in community hospitals, is needed in order for laborers and neighborhoods in the vicinity of asbestos factories to apply for compensation for asbestos-related injury. Eighty-eight consecutive cases of surgically resected primary lung cancer were analyzed for asbestos bodies using two methods, and the correlation between them was statistically examined. The first was the conventional technique using lung tissue digestion and phase-contrast scanning, and the second was the authors' method using light microscopy to scan the sediment of formalin-injected lung specimens.

Telomerase activity and hTERT mRNA in development and progression of adenoma to colorectal cancer.

Telomerase activity and hTERT mRNA expression are upregulated in colorectal cancer. Whether they are inherent in colorectal adenomas, premalignant lesions to cancer, however, remains to be elucidated. We examined telomerase activity by the fluorescence-based telomeric repeat amplification protocol method and analyzed the level of hTERT mRNA by real-time polymerase chain reaction in 74 surgically obtained neoplasms from 29 patients.

Adenosquamous cell carcinoma arising from the papilla major.

A 47-year-old man was admitted to hospital with complaint of general fatigue. Shortly before the admission a suspected obstructive jaundice was diagnosed at a local hospital. On admission, the physical examination was significant for jaundice; total bilirubin was 6.