The clinicopathologic significance of mucus production by adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum was analyzed in retrospective study with stage matched non‐mucus producing control carcinomas. Mucinous carcinoma of the colon and rectum comprised 132 (15%) of 893 cases of colorectal carcinoma. The rectum was the most common site (33% of cases). While 120 mucinous cancers had a poorer five‐year survival than non‐mucinous tumors (34% vs. 53%, p <.005), these had a particularly bad prognosis in the rectum (18% 5 year survival vs. 49% for the non‐mucinous tumor controls, p <.005). The theoretical basis for this location‐dependent behavior is considered. From this study, distinctive clinico‐pathologic features emerge. There were seven documented cases of ulcerative colitis and 8 additional patients gave a history of “colitis”. An additional five patients had received prior pelvic irradiation. Of particular note was the fact that 31% of mucinous carcinomas were associated with villous adenomas, implying a histogenetic relationship. Moreover, this finding again emphasizes the neoplastic potential of the villous adenoma, especially in the rectum where the development of mucinous carcinoma is particularly ominous.

Methoxychlor (MXC) is currently used to protect agricultural products from insects. Previous studies show that MXC adversely affects the ovary, but the target cells were not revealed by those studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that MXC induces ovarian changes by adversely affecting the antral follicles and the ovarian surface epithelium in the mouse. To test this hypothesis, cycling female CD-1 mice (39 days) were dosed with MXC (8, 16, or 32 mg/kg/day), kepone (KPN, 8 mg/kg/day, positive control), or sesame oil (vehicle control) via intraperitoneal injection for 10 or 20 days. Estrous cyclicity was evaluated daily via vaginal lavage. After dosing, ovaries were collected for histological evaluation of follicle numbers, atresia, and surface epithelial height. The results indicate that at the 20-day time point, MXC (32 mg/kg) and KPN (8 mg/kg) increased the percentage of atretic antral follicles (n= 4-9,p

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