Impact of cigarette smoking cessation on plasma α-klotho levels.

Smoking cessation reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and improves clinical outcomes. We studied the effect of smoking cessation on plasma levels of α-klotho, which is an antiaging protein. We treated 28 smokers (male:female = 23:5, 46 ± 12 years) with varenicline (n = 14) or a transdermal nicotine patch (n = 14) as part of a 12-week smoking cessation program (the VN-SEESAW Study).

Impact of metabolic disorders on prostate cancer growth: Androgen and insulin resistance perspectives.

Background: A high prevalence of cancers in metabolic disorders, like metabolic syndrome (MetS) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), recently has been noted, including prostate cancer (PC), which is androgen-sensitive. However, the pathological relationship among testosterone and insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 signaling in relation to MetS and T2DM with PC remains unclear.

Methods: Papers were reviewed, including those by the authors.

Investigation of beta(2)-adrenoceptor subtype selectivity and organ specificity for bedoradrine (KUR-1246), a novel tocolytic beta-adrenergic receptor stimulant.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the beta-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR) selectivity, organ specificity and efficacy of delaying the onset of spontaneous delivery of bedoradrine (KUR-1246), a novel uterine relaxant.

Methods: beta-AR selectivity was evaluated in terms of the amount of cyclic adenosine monophosphate produced by bedoradrine, ritodrine and isoprenaline in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing human beta(1)-, beta(2)-AR or beta(3)-AR. Inhibition of contractions of the atrium, trachea and proximal colon by bedoradrine were compared with those of the uterus in pregnant rats using an organ bath method.

Antimicrobial resistance in clinical isolates of Neisseria subflava from the oral cavities of a Japanese population.

A recent study indicated that Neisseria subflava, one of the commensal Neisseria species, may play an important role in the emergence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains with chromosomally mediated resistance to penicillin or cephalosporin by the horizontal genetic exchange of penA genes encoding the target site for penicillin or cephalosporin. The present investigation examined the antimicrobial susceptibility of 45 isolates of N. subflava from the oral cavities of Japanese men and women to various agents used for the treatment of gonococcal infections.

[Surgical treatment of complicated retinal detachment].

Treatment of retinal detachment advanced markedly during the 20th century. The surgical approach to rhegmatogenous retinal detachment was first established by Joules Gonin, and treatment of traction retinal detachment by vitrectomy was developed by Robert Machemer. Although favorable outcomes are obtained in most cases of retinal detachment using current vitreoretinal surgical techniques, several special types of complicated retinal detachment can be refractory to treatment.

[Malignant lymphoma: REAL classification to new WHO classification].

The Revised European-American Classification of Lymphoid Neoplasms(REAL) proposed in 1994 represented a new paradigm for the classification of lymphomas. This classification emphasized that each disease was a distinct entity, defined by a constellation of clinical and laboratory features, i.e.

Tumor growth suppression by a mouse/human chimeric anti-CEA antibody and lymphokine-activated killer cells in vitro and in SCID mouse xenograft model.

The mouse/human chimeric antibody Ch F11-39, recently generated by ourselves, shows the same high specificity and affinity for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) as those of its parental mouse monoclonal antibody. Ch F11-39 is capable of mediating antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) with human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL). Interleukin-2 (IL-2) modulates the function of immunocytes, in particular inducing lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells and enhancing ADCC.

[Clinicopathological study of the fundic varices--blood vessel structure in gastric paries].

The structures of blood vessels in 18 cases with fundic varices (FV) were studied by injecting gelatin-added barium into varicose vessels of resected specimens. There was no direct connection outside the gastric paries between the inflow path and the outflow path of FV. Just outside the gastric paries, the outflow path was not branched.

[Analysis of relationship between personality and emesis gravidarum in pregnant women].

The relationship between personality types and the symptoms of emesis gravidarum in pregnant women was analyzed by means of the Cattel personality test (revised by Nishizono) performed in early and mid pregnancy. Personality types were classified into five from cyclothymia A to schizothymia E. As for emesis, the patients were also classified into three groups, severe (35), mild (41) and none (19), according to the severity and duration of the symptoms.

[Regulatory mechanisms for the spontaneous contractile force and frequency of the rat portal vein].

By the extracellular recording technique, the action potentials and spontaneous contractions of the isolated rat longitudinal portal vein strips were simultaneously recorded in the presence of varying concentrations of electrolytes, various vasoactive agents, and hormones, and the mechanisms regulating the force and frequency of spontaneous contraction of the vascular smooth muscle were investigated. A longitudinal stretch (-200% of the initial length), a higher [K+]0 (-30 mM), a lower [Na+]0, epinephrine, acetylcholine or ouabain increased both force and frequency of the phasic contractions. A lower [Na+]0 or ouabain raised basal tone of the muscle in addition to the above effects.

Lymph nodes in incipient adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma with Hodgkin's disease-like histologic features.

Lymph nodes were examined from four patients with incipient adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma (ATLL) who had mild lymphadenopathy, fatigue, no or a few atypical lymphocytes in their peripheral blood, and integrated proviral human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type I (HTLV-I) DNA in the nodes. The HTLV-I DNA was detected by southern blot analysis and/or polymerase chain reaction in the lymph nodes of all cases. The nodal architecture was preserved.

Involucrin in well-differentiated adenocarcinoma of the lung. Comparison with adenocarcinomas of different organs.

Using immunoperoxidase stain for involucrin, 50 well-differentiated adenocarcinomas of the lung were compared with similarly well-differentiated adenocarcinomas of other organs, 30 from the stomach, 30 from the colon, 12 from the pancreas and 12 from the prostate. Thirty (60%) adenocarcinomas of the lung were positive for involucrin; in 24 of 30 cases from 10% to more than 60% of tumor cells were positive and in the remaining 6 cases a few cells were positive. The positive cells included columnar or cuboidal tumor cells as well as some squamoid tumor cells.