Ureteral disturbance following various treatments of cervical carcinoma was statistically analyzed and definitely less favorable results were obtained from operative therapy. In the future, operative ...therapy will naturally require detailed preoperative examination and confirmation of stage 0 or I a by conization to minimize (individualize) the operative insult. Since not all the institutions performing radiation therapy have been able to obtain results comparable to those of surgery, more effective methods of irradiation without side effects should be developed. It is, however, about time to reexamine whether or not the rate of operation close to 70 % is correct or not. Comparison of these two methods, moreover, is possible only by those of us who have had many experiences with the Okabayashi's operation, as Kobayashi pointed out.
Leptin, the obese (ob) gene
product, is an adipocyte-derived satiety factor that is involved in the
regulation of food ingestion and body weight. To investigate
glucocorticoid regulation of leptin ...synthesis and secretion in humans,
we measured plasma leptin levels in patients with Cushing’s syndrome
with adrenal or pituitary adenoma and in patients with iatrogenic
Cushing’s syndrome. Plasma leptin levels in patients with Cushing’s
syndrome were significantly elevated compared to those in nonobese
healthy subjects and obese subjects without any metabolic or endocrine
diseases at a given percentage of body fat by analysis of covariance.
In patients with adrenal or pituitary adenoma, after the tumor
resection, plasma leptin levels were reduced, with a concurrent
decrease in plasma cortisol levels. With no significant changes in body
weight, plasma leptin levels were also elevated significantly in lean
healthy volunteers 24 h after the admistration of 1 mg
dexamethasone. Dexamethasone potently induced ob gene
expression and leptin secretion in the organ culture of human adipose
tissue. The data demonstrate that glucocorticoids act, at least in
part, directly on the adipose tissue and increase leptin synthesis and
secretion in humans.
It has been reported that the Trp 64 Arg mutation of the human β
3-adrenergic receptor (β
3-AR) gene is related to an earlier age of onset of non—insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and ...features of insulin resistance and weight gain in morbidly obese patients. However, such findings have not been consistent in varying ethnic populations. In the present study, we investigated the frequency of the Trp 64 Arg mutation of the human β
3-AR gene in Japanese control subjects (n = 253) and in NIDDM (n = 314) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) patients (n = 100). We compared the frequency of the mutation with the body-mass index (BMI) in these groups and with the metabolic clearance rate (MCR) of glucose in the NIDDM patients. A Trp 64 Arg mutation was observed in 36.7%, 31.6%, and 37.0% of the control, NIDDM, and IGT subjects, respectively. The frequency of the homozygotes for the mutation was 4.3%, 4.8%, and 3.0%, respectively. Neither the genotype frequency (
Trp
Arg
,
Arg
Arg
) nor the frequency of the mutated allele was significantly different among the three groups. The BMI of the subjects with the mutation was not significantly higher than that of the subjects without the mutation in each group. Furthermore, the allele frequency (A) was not different among the subjects with different BMIs (BMI < 22.0, 22.0 ≤ BMI ≤ 26.4, BMI > 26.4) in each group. In a separate group of NIDDM patients, the MCR of the subjects with intermediate BMIs (22.0 ≤ BMI ≤ 26.4) with the mutation tended to be lower than that of those without the mutation. In addition, the MCR of the subjects with the mutation in this group was significantly lower compared with that of those with a BMI less than 22. These results indicate that the Trp 64 Arg mutation of the β
3-AR gene may not contribute to the development of NIDDM or be a determinant of obesity in the Japanese population. However, the mutation may contribute to insulin resistance in NIDDM patients with an intermediate BMI.
Intensified conventional insulin therapy using human ultralente insulin (U-HM) and human actrapid insulin (Novo pen system'I) was tried in 10 diabetic patients poorly controlled with conventional ...therapy. 1) Both fasting plasma glucose (211±27 vs. 125±12 mg/dl, p<0.01) and hemoglobin A1 (12.5±0.4 vs. 10.6±0.4%, p<0.01) levels decreased after about 2 months of intensified conventional insulin therapy. 2) With this regimen the circadian profile of free insulin concentraion became more physiological with an increase in free insulin level after each meal. Improvement of circadian variation of plasma glucose was also found. 3) There was a good correlation between the dose of U-HM and free insulin concentration at 3 a.m. (r=0.793, p<0.05) and between the dose of U-HM and basal infusion rate (0-8 a.m.) determined by an artificial pancreas (r=0.782, p<0.05). These results indicate that intensified conventional insulin therapy using the pen system and U-HM may provide the proper amount of insulin both postprandial (by the pen system) and in the basal state (by U-HM) and be a useful method for the treatment of patients poorly controlled by conventional insulin therapy.
103 patients had a second-look operation in the course of management of cancer of the ovary. Patients were stratified according to three indications: (1) resection of the residual tumor following ...chemotherapy, (2) evaluation of the disease with intents to stop chemotherapy and assess signs of recurrence or persistence, and (3) surgical indication. The first group consisted of 34 patients. In 30 of 34 patients in this group, complete or incomplete removal of the residual tumor was possible, and the survival curves indicated that removal of the residual tumor during the second look operation improved the survival rate. The second group consisted of 50 patients. No evidence of disease was found in 35 of the 50 patients in this group. Four patients with negative second-look operations developed recurrences, and 3 patients died from the disease.
The transplantation of experimental ovarian tumors induced by chemical carcinogenetic materials to rats and their sensitivity to carcinostatics were discussed.Among the rats of the same series to ...which tumors were tried to transplant subcutaneously, sarcoma was successfully transplanted in 2 lineages; one is in the 52nd generation and another is in the 44th generation at present.The tumors could be transplanted to both male rats and female rats of the same series, but the transplantation rate was different in early generations. Tumor formation was seen not only by transplanting tumor cells subcutaneously but by injecting them intraperitoneally.The sensitivities of the transplanted tumors to various carcinostatics were tested and Mitomycin C was found to have a surviving effect.
A meta-analysis was applied to the published case-control studies of ovarian cancer in order to examine the association of tubal sterilization and induced abortion with ovarian cancer. Among 65 ...case-control studies published between 1981 and 1991, six articles reported the numbers of women who underwent tubal sterilization and four articles reported the numbers ofwomen undergoing induced abortion in both cases and their controls. The test for combinability of these 6 or 4 odds ratios revealed that these odds ratios were combinable in terms of tubal sterilization or induced abortion. It was shown that tubal sterilization was significantly associated with a reduced risk for ovarian cancer (the summary odds ratio=0.55, 95% confidence interval or 95% CI 0.45-0.68), even after excluding nulliparous women from the analysis (the summary odds ratio=0.52, 95% Cl 0.36-0.74), and that induced abortion was also related to a decreased risk for ovarian cancer (the summary odds ratio=0.81, 95% Cl 0.63-1.04 based on the 4 combinable odds ratios; the summary odds ratio= 0.64, 95% Cl 0.46-0.89 based on the 2 studies in Asian countries). Several etiological inferences were made with regard to these findings, and some proposals for further research were addressed in ovarian cancer epidemiology. J Epidemiol, 1992; 2 : 111-118.
Japan has low crime rate according to crime statistics and a victim survey as well. Japan seems to be a safe country as far as the crime rate is concerned. This does not mean that there is no need of ...the discussion on safety in criminology. Two reflective questions are raised : (1) Is there any unsafe element in the social structure of Japan's contemporary society? (2) Does the introduction of the concept of safety in criminology make an impact on the nature of criminology? The former question is relevant to the subject of empirical researches. Safety is the world-taken-for-granted for most Japanese people including lawyers and criminologists. Some prudent criminologists hold that this world-taken-for-granted should be changed to the world-inviting-an-exploration. The safety of Japan should be revisited. For an answer of the latter we have to hold a theoretical discussion on the concept of safety and a merit or demerit of the introduction of this concept into criminology. There are slight differences of meaning among prevention of crime, reduction in crime, and safety from crime. The safety is a more value-oriented concept than both the prevention and reduction, though all preventive measures are not accepted in terms of the liberty of the people. The safety from crime is defined as a sum of resources and efforts invested in avoiding personal danger of crime. That danger, however, extends to those occurring in various aspects of our modern life. Note that criminologists who pose political and cultural problems in their discussion should make mention of the danger of economic inequality, oppression, rejection of freedom, and loss of fairness. The use of the safety will stimulate a broad and important discussion on a liberal or conservative way of thinking about social control. The use of the safety concept will also help the criminology shift from "a criminal-centered or the governing-class-centered disciplille" to "the one for support for victims, consumers, and the people." Criminology must be concerned with people's quality of life as well as a breach of criminal laws. The following three articles indicate what three authors presented at a symposium on Safety and Its Price in the 1990 annual meeting of the Japanese Association of Sociological Criminology. In the first paper Mr. Kawabe takes a careful look at the state of the Japanese juvenile delinquency and calls attention to the delinquency problems in the public housing area. The second article by Mr. Kiyonaga deals with foreign laborers and crime in Japan and suggests not to eradicate delinquency and crime but to manage the community to keep the people in safety. Mr. Morita, in the last, evaluates the concept of safety as a promising guideline in criminology and proposes a new model of society based upon people's safety and well-being.
It is very interesting to know the distribution of Streptomyces in natural environment. Several investigators, such as Waksman and Curtis (1916)1), Conn (1917)2), Jensen (1930)3) and Johnston ...(1947)4) have reported on the distribution of Streptomyces in the soil. However, very little is known about the distribution of Streptomyces classified on the basis of morphological types. Recently, we have collected soil samples from 3 areas near Osaka and isolated totally 848 strains of Streptomyces: 277 strains from 23 soil samples collected from Shioya, Kobe city, 431 strains from 24 soil samples collected from Minō Park, Osaka Prefecture, and 140 strains from 18 soil samples collected from Abuyama, Osaka Prefecture.The purpose of this report is to present the result of classification of the isolates based on our classification system (1959)5), 6).
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