The aim of this study was to explore the effects of nutritional manipulations on the occurrence and progression of age-related pathologic lesions in male Fischer 344 rats. The following nutritional regimens were studied: (a) ad libitum feeding, (b) food restriction initiated at 6 weeks of age, (c) food restriction initiated at 6 months of age, (d) food restriction limited to a period of early life (6 weeks to 6 months of age), (e) protein restriction without caloric restriction. The major age-related lesions observed were chronic nephropathy, cardiomyopathy, and neoplasia. Food restriction initiated at 6 months of age was as effective as food restriction initiated at 6 weeks of age in slowing the progression of chronic nephropathy and cardiomyopathy and in delaying the occurrence of neoplasia. Food restriction limited to early life was much less effective. Protein restriction in the absence of caloric restriction did not delay the occurrence of neoplasia, but it did retard chronic nephropathy and cardiomyopathy, although much less effectively than caloric restriction involving a similar level of protein restriction.

Lymphangioma of the oesophagus is exceedingly rare. Seven cases (including our present case) have been reported in the world and are reviewed.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is considered to be effective to improve the outcomes in patients with advanced gastric cancer. We encountered three patients who were confirmed as showing pathological complete response (pCR) following gastrectomy after NAC. Two patients had clinical stage III gastric cancer, while the third had clinical stage II gastric cancer. The first two patients received NAC with four courses of paclitaxel plus cisplatin while the third patient received four courses of S-1 plus cisplatin. All of the patients were treated by D2 gastrectomy after the NAC, and remain alive without recurrence. While several phase II/III clinical trials of gastric resection after NAC for advanced gastric cancer have reported pCR rates of around 2%, we obtained a pCR rate of as high as 20% (3/15) in our series. This difference might conceivably be explained by the difference in the number of NAC cycles. Therefore determination of the optimal number of NAC cycles may be needed to obtain an optimal pCR rate and further improvement of the outcome.

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