The correlation between telomerase activity and antitumor effects was investigated in cell lines of human gastric (MKN-28, MKN-45, and MKN-74) and breast (T-47D, MCF-7, ZR75-1) cancers to evaluate ...the possibility of utilizing this enzyme to predict tumor response to chemotherapy.
After culture with various concentrations of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or doxorubicin (DOX) for 3 days, cell viability (trypan blue exclusion), cell cycle distribution (flow cytometry), and telomerase (TRAP-EZE) were measured.
Telomerase activity correlated significantly with the number of viable cells. After drug exposure, this activity decreased rapidly in a dose-dependent fashion in most cell lines. There was no correlation between telomerase activity and the distribution of cells in the cell cycle.
As the assay for telomerase activity is extremely sensitive and is virtually specific to cancer cells, this method may prove useful for the sensitivity testing of small specimens of human tumors.
In order to investigate the piezoelectric properties of composite films of 0.91Pb(Zn
1/3
Nb
2/3
)O
3
–0.09PbTiO
3
(PZNT) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) prepared by the sol-gel method in ...comparison with those of PVDF, copolymers of vinylidene fluoride and trifluoroethylene (P(VDF/TrFE)), and polyurea-5, the residual polarization
P
r
and the electromechanical coupling factor
k
33
were measured. The results verified that PZNT- and PVDF-composite-film (PZNT/PVDF film) manufacturing method can effectively realize a uniformly large area composite membrane. We obtained the apparent
P
r
of PZNT/PVDF film in
D
-
E
hysteresis measurements. The
k
33
value of the PZNT/PVDF film is about 0.08. The
k
33
value is approximately 1/4 that of the β-PVDF or P(VDF/TrFE) film.
As one of the applications of a technique for providing W/O/W-type multiple-phase emulsions, an attempt was made to prepare water-in-olive oil-in-water systems with soy lecithin, Span 80 and ...sucrose-fatty acid ester as a model for estable multiple-phase emulsions. The procedure tested was divided into two operations, as follows; (1) preparation of a water- in-olive oil emulsion stabilized by a mixture of soy lecithin and Span 80, and (2) mixing of the above emulsion with an aqueous solution of sucrose-fatty acid ester so as to prepare a W/O/W dispersion composed of aqueous compartments surrounded by the oil-phase layer. The results obtained suggest that the concentrations of soy lecithin and Span 80 in the oil phase are of critical importance to the formation of the W/O/W systems. Both components seem to cooperate in constituting an incorporated film at the olive oil/water interface in a mechanically stable form.
The cerambycid borers Callidiellum rufipenne (Motschulsky) and Semanotus bifasciatus (Motschulsky) infest coniferous logs in Japan, with the latter distributed in the north and at high altitudes, ...where both species occur sympatrically. Semanotus bifasciatus adults were active at low temperatures and very active after sunset, and less active but never inactive in the daytime, whereas C. rufipenne adults were usually active at high temperatures and almost only in the daytime. At an almost constant temperature, C. rufipenne adults were almost inactive at night, whereas S. bifasciatus adults showed only an obscure decline in activity in the morning. Of a horizontal log, the upper surface tended to be drier and lower surface wetter, and C. rufipenne larvae grew large if they were in the upper part of a log, whereas S. bifasciatus larvae grew large if in the lower part. Thus, the coexistence of these two species can be ascribed to two major segregation factors: adult segregation based on temperature and sunshine, and larval segregation associated with the moisture content of the wood.
The relationship between the titer of pemphigus antibody and the clinical course of the disease was investigated in 15 patients with various types of pemphigus. Although antibody titers generally ran ...parallel to fluctuations of the clinical course, the elevation of antibody titer appeared to follow the re-appearance or exacerbation of the lesions on 10 occasions in 6 patients, while it appeared to precede the latter only on 2 occasions in 2 patients. In addition, the disappearance of the antibody was considerably delayed after disappearance of skin lesions in 2 cases. These findings suggest that the pemphigus antibody is the result of skin damage, rather than the cause of pemphigus itself.
Since the efficacy and the safety of aspoxicillin (ASPC, TA-058) have been established on adult patients and the need of ASPC use on pediatric patients was anticipated, we performed a 16 center study ...on the clinical utility of ASPC in pediatric patients. 1. Pharmacokinetics ASPC was intravenously administered to 45 patients at a dose of 10, 20 or 40 mg/kg by one shot. Serum concentrations of ASPC were dependent of dose levels, and maximum levels of 58.4-230.8 micrograms/ml and half-lives (beta) of 1.08-1.16 hours were observed. Urinary recovery rates were 62.7-67.2% in 6 hours. Results obtained upon drip infusions (0.5-1 hour) were similar to one shot injections. 2. Clinical results (1) Clinical effectiveness Of 318 evaluable patients including 175 boys and 143 girls, 18.2% were nurslings and 61% were young children under 4 years of age. One hundred eighty six patients from whom causative organisms were isolated were classified as A group. Among them were 5 patients suffered with sepsis, but the ASPC treatment eradicated all the bacteria but Salmonella java in 1 case. All of 4 patients with meningitis were cured and all causative organisms (3 cases with Haemophilus influenzae and 1 case with Gram-positive coccus) were eradicated. Cure rates were 90% for 130 patients with respiratory tract infection, 88.6% for 35 with urinary tract infection, 85.7% for 7 with skin soft tissue infection and 89.8% for all the A group patients. Meanwhile, no causative organisms were isolated from 132 patients (B group patients) but cure rate of 91.7% was obtained for this group. No statistical difference was observed between A and B groups. For all the patients (318), the cure rate was 90.6%. (2) Bacteriological effects Of 63 Gram-positive bacteria isolated as pathogens, 58 strains were eradicated. Of 117 Gram-negative bacterial, 101 were eradicated. The eradication rate on all 180 strains was 88.3%. Overall, ASPC showed excellent effects against Streptococcus. Among strains of Staphylococcus aureus, 18 of 20 strains were eradicated. Of 59 strains of H. influenzae, 52 were eradicated and 3 decreased. Among strains of Escherichia coli, 25 of 28 strains were eradicated. Of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 2 strains were decreased and one was unchanged. (3) ASPC was effective in 93.3% of 30 patients with serious infections and 79.2% of 72 patients with underlying diseases. Cure rates for patients with and without underlying disease were significantly different statistically (chi 2: P less than 0.005).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Since the efficacy and the safety of aspoxicillin (ASPC, TA-058) have been established on adult patients and the need of ASPC use on pediatric patients was anticipated, we performed a 16 center study ...on the clinical utility of ASPC in pediatric patients. 1. Pharmacokinetics ASPC was intravenously administered to 45 patients at a dose of 10, 20 or 40 mg/kg by one shot. Serum concentrations of ASPC were dependent of dose levels, and maximum levels of 58.4-230.8μg/ml and half-lives (A) of 1.08-1.16 hours were observed. Urinary recovery rates were 62.7-67.2% in 6 hours. Results obtained upon drip infusions (0.5 1 hour) were similar to one shot injections. 2. Clinical results (1) Clinical effectiveness Of 318 evaluable patients including 175 boys and 143 girls, 18.2% were nurslings and 61% were young children under 4 years of age. One hundred eighty six patients from whom causative organisms were isolated were classified as A group. Among them were 5 patients suffered with sepsis, but the ASPC treatment eradicated all the bacteria but Salmonella java in 1 case. All of 4 patients with meningitis were cured and all causative organisms (3 cases with Haemophilus influenzae and 1 case with Gram-positive coccus) were eradicated. Cure rates were 90% for 130 patients with respiratory tract infection, 88.6% for 35 with urinary tract infection, 85.7% for 7 with skin soft tissue infection and 89.8% for all the A group patients. Meanwhile, no causative organisms were isolated from 132 patients (B group patients) but cure rate of 91.7% was obtained for this group. No statistical difference was observed between A and B groups. For all the patients (318), the cure rate was 90.6%. (2) Bacteriological effects Of 63 Gram-positive bacteria isolated as pathogens, 58 strains were eradicated. Of 117 Gram-negative bacterial, 101 were eradicated. The eradication rate on all 180 strains was 88.3%. Overall, ASPC showed excellent effects against Streptococcus. Among strains of Staphylococcus aureus, 18 of 20 strains were eradicated. Of 59 strains of H. influenzae, 52 were eradicated and 3 decreased. Among strains of Escherichia coli, 25 of 28 strains were eradicated. Of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 2 strains were decreased and one was unchanged. (3) ASPC was effective in 93.3% of 30 patients with serious infections and 79.2% of 72 patients with underlying diseases. Cure rates for patients with and without underlying disease were significantly different statistically (x2: P<0.005). (4) Of 89 patients not cured by treatments with other antibiotics used for more than 3 days, 81 patients were cured with ASPC with the cure rate of 91.0%. Clinical responses were judged excellent for 46 patients and good for 35. All of 8 strains of S. aureus, 3 strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, 1 Streptococcus pyogenes, 1 13-Streptococcus, 12 of 13 H. influenzae and 5 of 6 E. coli were eradicated in these patients, thus eradication rate was 88.9%. (5) Side effects and abnormal laboratory values caused by ASPC were not apparent, thus similar to recent β-lactam antibiotics. Based on our study for dose levels and methods, we suggest a standard dose level of 20 mg/kg/dose 3 to 4 times daily via intravenous injection or drip infusion with the double dose permissible depending on the severity of symptoms.
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