Significance of full-thickness chest wall resection as a local treatment for sternum metastasis of breast cancer

Bone metastasis of breast cancer generally tends to be multiple. However, breast cancer frequently metastasizes to the sternum as solitary metastasis. Resection of the sternum was reported to be an effective surgical technique for sternum metastasis which could not be remarkably improved by chemo-endocrine therapy and locoregional recurrent breast cancer invading the skin. A first patient was diagnosed with sternum metastasis invading the skin 44 months after radical mastectomy for breast cancer of stage II. A second patient had breast cancer of stage IV simultaneously with metastases to the sternum and the lung. Only the lung metastasis was successfully controlled by chemo-endocrine therapy, but the sternum metastasis was progressive, following radical mastectomy. Both patients manifested solitary bone metastases and underwent full-thickness chest wall resection. The defect of the chest wall was reconstructed with the mucocutaneous flap using the dorsal latissimus muscle in case 1 and with the abdominal rectus muscle in case 2. Twenty months after the resection of the sternum, the first patient suffered from supraclavicular lymph node metastasis, and the multidisciplinary treatment including radiation therapy was indicated. This therapeutic procedure was effective, and the patient survived for 63 months after resection of the sternum. The second patient has made good progress for six months in maintaining complete remission with chemo-endocrine therapy. These findings suggested that surgical resection was a useful local treatment for solitary sternum metastasis.     

Localization and quantitation of active renin in monkey kidney by radioinhibitor binding and in vitro autoradiography

We developed an in vitro autoradiographic method to localize and quantify active renin in primate tissues. Active renin in monkey kidney sections was labeled with the primate specific renin inhibitor, 3H-CGP29287, and quantitated with autoradiography and computerized densitometry. Microscopic emulsion autoradiography was carried out to clarify the detailed localization of the binding. Non-specific binding to aspartyl proteases other than renin was blocked using 1 mumol/L of N-acetyl-pepstatin. To assess the usefulness of this procedure, binding of 3H-CGP29287 was examined both by film and emulsion autoradiography in the kidneys of monkeys (Macaca fuscata) that were given chronically either an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (trandolapril), an angiotensin II receptor antagonist (E4177), or vehicle. 3H-CGP29287 was found to bind very selectively to the juxtaglomerular apparatus (JGA) under control conditions. In monkeys treated with trandolapril or E4177, 3H-CGP29287 binding was increased in proportion to the increase in renal renin concentration determined enzymatically; in these kidneys, emulsion autoradiography revealed radioinhibitor binding extending far from the JGA. The potency of a series of unlabeled renin inhibitor in competing for 3H-CGP29287 binding in the autoradiographic system closely paralleled their potencies, as determined in inhibiting renin by an enzymatic assay. This technique permits specific labeling of the catalytic site of renin in the monkey kidney sections.     

Morphological analysis of germ cell apoptosis during postnatal testis development in normal and Hsp 70-2 knockout mice

Ideomotor apraxia, disordered movement execution to command, commonly follows left-hemisphere damage, implying left-hemisphere dominance for certain kinds of movements. To delineate this dominance we used different command modalities to elicit meaningful movements and tested imitation of nonsense movements. Twenty-seven patients with unilateral hemispheric stroke and 10 age-matched controls were evaluated. Patients with left-hemisphere damage performed both meaningful and nonsense movements poorer than the other study groups; thus, the meaningfulness of the movements is irrelevant for the left-hemisphere motor dominance. The performance varied, however, with the command modality and movement type. Based on this and earlier studies we posit that the left-hemisphere motor dominance is determined by the artificiality of the test situation (it concerns movements performed to command and out of the natural context) and increased spatial and temporal complexity of the demanded movements. No association between the lesion locus within the left hemisphere and the severity of the ideomotor apraxia was found.     

Fabrication of high quality Nb/AlOx-Al/NbJosephson junctions. III. Annealing stability ofAlOx tunneling barriers

For pt.II see ibid., vol.2, p.84 (1992). Changes in current-voltage characteristics of Nb/AlO_x-Al/Nb Josephson junctions due to annealing are studied. The surface of the Nb counterelectrode was plasma-nitrided to clarify the effects of oxygen diffusing from it. From anodization profiles, it was confirmed that surface nitridation protects the tunneling barrier from oxygen diffusion. Surface nitridation improved the junction stability for long annealing. The decrease in critical current at initial annealing was found to be independent of nitridation. The annealing stability of AlN _x barrier junctions, compared to that of AlO_x barrier junctions, was measured, and it was concluded that the decrease at initial annealing is due to changes in the AlO_x barrier itself     

Filler reinforcement in electron beam-cured hard paint films

Filler effect on the dynamic mechanical properties of electron beam (EB)-cured hard paint films has been studied. Introducing TiO₂ particles resulted in modulus reinforcement. However, degree of reinforcement was lower compared with that for conventional thermosetting polymers. Although the degree of reinforcement for thermosetting polymers was reported to be greater when the filler-polymer interaction was stronger, the storage moduli of the present composites containing TiO₂ with different surface treatments showed no significant difference. Temperature dependence of the relative modulus and reduced damping can be explained by the particle agglomeration theory. The relative modulus showed no increase and the reduced damping showed no decrease by increasing temperature, respectively. This indicates that the present polymer is hard enough to exert large forces on the agglomerates to destroy them. It is also noted that stress relaxation around a particle will not be involved in increasing temperature, as the cross-linking was carried out at room temperature. Lower filler reinforcement compared with thermosetting polymers can be partly attributed to the particle agglomeration theory.     

Pryce type I interlobar pulmonary sequestration with anomalous return to the left inferior pulmonary vein

A 50-year-old woman was examined because of chest discomfort. Chest X-ray films disclosed a tumorous shadow behind the heart. Chest computed tomography (CT) scans revealed a mass connected to the descending aorta, with increased blood flow in the left basal segment. The patient was admitted for further examination. Chest CT scans and cardioscintigrams were very useful as diagnostic tools, but the final diagnosis was made on the basis of angiography. An anomalous tortuous artery ran from the descending aorta into the left basal segment and returned to the left inferior pulmonary vein. The left pulmonary arterial trunk had no basal branch (A8-A10). A loop corresponding to the superior vein (V6) ran beneath the anomalous tortuous artery. To our knowledge, this is the second case of Pryce type-I interlobar pulmonary sequestration with anomalous return to the left inferior pulmonary vein to be reported in Japan. A left inferior lobectomy was performed. Histological finding from the excised tissues showed prominent interstitial fibrosis, atypical adenomatous hyperplasia, and atherosclerosis. Following surgery, the patient's PaO2 increased from 80.4 Torr to 95.8 Torr, suggesting that left inferior lobectomy was an appropriate treatment.     

Ionic graft copolymerization. V. Graft copolymerization of β-propiolactone onto the trunk polymers containing carboxylic acid,sulfonic acid,and other salts

β-Propiolactone (βPL) was graft-copolymerized onto styrene–divinylbenzene copolymers containing various carboxylates or sulfonates, composed of anions and cations having different electronegativities. In parallel, the mechanism of polymerizations of βPL by relatively neutral catalysts was studied in comparison with the behaviors of graft copolymerizations. In the graft copolymerization onto the trunk polymer containing various carboxylates, a lower electronegativity of countercation favors a higher anionic polymerization activity and the order of rate of polymerization coincides with that of anionic activities of catalysts. On the other hand, in the case of trunk polymer containing sulfonates, a higher electronegativity of countercation favors a cationic polymerization activity, and the order of rate of polymerization coincides with that of cationic activity of catalyst. The order of grafting efficiency at fixed total conversion coincides almost with that of anionic activity. The comparatively higher grafting efficiency in the grafting onto trunk polymer containing carboxylic acid might support an anionic graft copolymerization mechanism by carboxyl anion. The two following mechanisms were proposed for the initiation of the polymerization by the trunk polymer containing sodium sulfonate, in which acrylic acid is transformed from βPL.     

Kinetic analysis of crystallization of zeolite beta synthesized by direct heating

To quantitatively investigate the initial crystallization of zeolite beta synthesized by direct heating, the extent of the reaction was precisely evaluated by X-ray diffraction measurements and Rietveld structural refinement, and a kinetic analysis of crystallization was performed using the Avrami-Erofe'ev equation. The activation energy for crystallization was lower than that for hydrothermal synthesis. Reaction and synthesis time curves revealed that the initial zeolite beta crystallization consisted of three stages. The first was an induction period with nucleation by the generation of building units and the formation of an initial coordinated structure. The second stage was crystal growth by a diffusion-controlled reaction, and the third stage involved slowing down of crystallization by the limitation of dehydrocondensation. These stages could be analyzed by calculation of the rate constant and Avrami exponent for each stage.     

Dimeric C34 Derivatives Linked through Disulfide Bridges as New HIV-1 Fusion Inhibitors

C34, a 34-mer fragment peptide, is contained in the HIV-1 envelope protein gp41. A dimeric derivative of C34 linked through a disulfide bridge at its C terminus was synthesized and found to display potent anti-HIV activity, comparable with that of a previously reported PEGylated dimer of C34REG. The reduction in the size of the linker moiety for dimerization was thus successful, and this result might shed some light on the mechanism of the suppression of six-helix bundle formation by these C34 dimeric derivatives. Addition of a Gly-Cys(CH₂CONH₂)-Gly-Gly motif at the N-terminal position of a C34 monomeric derivative significantly increased the anti-HIV-1 activity. This moiety functions as a new pharmacophore, and this might provide a useful insight into the design of potent HIV-1 fusion inhibitors.     

Ionization efficiency of evolved gas molecules from aerosol particles in a thermal desorption aerosol mass spectrometer: Laboratory experiments

Thermal desorption aerosol mass spectrometers (TDAMSs) with electron ionization are widely used for quantitative analysis of aerosol chemical composition, and the ionization efficiency of evolved gas molecules from aerosol particles is an important parameter for such analysis. We performed laboratory experiments using a custom-made TDAMS to investigate the key factors affecting ionization efficiency. Ammonium chloride (NH₄Cl) and ammonium iodide (NH₄I) were used as test compounds because their thermal decomposition products are expected to be simple (dominated by ammonia (NH₃) and hydrogen halide (HX)). The ion signals originating from NH₃ and HX were measured by altering the position of the ionizer relative to the vaporization point. The ratio of ion signal from NH₃ to that from HX increased with increasing divergence angle of evolved gas plumes, which suggests that the angular distribution of gas molecules could be an important factor affecting the ionization efficiency.

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