Lecithin-dependent haemolysin (LDH) of Vibrio puruhuemolyticus was purified from Escherichia coli C600 transformed with a plasmid (pHL591) ligated with a 1.5 kb DNA fragment of V. puruhuemolyticus. The final preparation comprised two LDH proteins with different molecular masses which were immunologically crossreactive and had the same enzymic activity. The LDH was a phospholipase hydrolysing both fatty acid esters of phospholipid, i.e. it hydrolysed phosphatidylcholine (PC) to lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) and then LPC to glycerophosphorylcholine (GPC). From this point of view, LDH should be classified as a phospholipase B.Phospholipase B, however, does not usually show haemolytic activity, because the intermediate (LPC), which is the actual haemolytic agent, is immediately hydrolysed to the final product (GPC). On the other hand, LPC formed by LDH action was comparatively stable, because the rates of the two reactions catalysed by LDH, PC to LPC and LPC to GPC, are almost the same. This is the reason that LDH shows haemolytic activity. Therefore, LDH of V. parahuemolyticus is an atypical phospholipase to be designated as phospholipase A2/lysophospholipase.

Gastric cancer concomitant with pregnancy is rare. In order to determine the clinical problems and practical guidelines on this particular subject, 61 Japanese patients were analyzed for clinical features and the results of obstetric and surgical treatment corresponding to the time of detection of the gastric cancer during the gestational period. The data indicated a limitation in diagnostic approaches caused by pregnancy and difficulty in saving both the mother and the fetus. Only 20 (58.8%) of the pregnant women underwent both obstetric treatment for the fetus and surgical treatment for gastric cancer. Fifty-nine of the gastric cancer cases (96.7%) were advanced and resectability was consistently low (47.5%). The patients who received gastrectomy had a high incidence of hospital death (22.7%) and a poor prognosis--21.1% 3-year survival. Based on the authors' cases of both early and advanced gastric cancer associated with pregnancy, the importance of early detection by gastroendoscopy is emphasized.

The CRP/Alb ratio was strongly associated with poor prognosis in patients who underwent surgery for AEG and UGC.