Between 1972 and 1995 a total of 251 patients with early gastric cancer underwent resection in our department of surgery. At the time of the operation 10.8% of the patients were proved to have lymph node involvement, and two already had distant metastases. A subtotal gastric resection was performed in 59.8% of cases (n = 150), a total gastrectomy in 33.8% (n = 85), and either a proximal or an atypical resection in 6.4% (n = 16). Since 1985 subtotal distal resection and total gastrectomy were accompanied by a systematic lymphadenectomy of compartments I and II. The overall postoperative morbidity was 18.3%, and the hospital mortality, 4.9%; it was only 1.6% within the last decade. Concerning these short-term results there were no statistically significant differences between the different surgical procedures. The cumulative overall 5-year-survival rate was 82.6%. There was no statistically significant influence of either the different surgical procedures or the histologic types according to the Japanese classification of early gastric cancer.

The ecological balance of rivers can be significantly disturbed by floods, increasing the supply of allochthonous material and energy to the fluvial planktonic food web. During spring flooding in the Elbe in 1999, various physicochemical (pH, conductivity, suspended particulate matter (SPM), particulate and dissolved organic carbon (DOC, POC), inorganic nutrients) and biological parameters (concentration of chlorophyll-a, abundance and biomass of bacteria) were studied in connection with the microbial self-cleaning capacity (dissolved and particle-associated extracellular enzyme activity of ten different enzymes). The pattern of dissolved and particulate material was found to differ greatly (regarding dilution and allochthonous input dynamics), with biological parameters displaying partly differing patterns owing to their bioactivity. Hydrolytic activity was detected for all the enzyme categories investigated, with especially high breakdown rates being determined for proteins containing leucine, arginine, and tyrosine. The overall activities of all the microbial extracellular enzymes studied proved to be dominated by the ectoenzymes ((62.8 ± 13.6) %) associated with particulate (particles, aggregates, and bacterial cell walls). The resulting ecological implications for microbial self-cleaning processes in rivers are discussed. Extrazelluläre Enzymaktivität in der Elbe während eines FrühjahrshochwassersDas ökologische Gleichgewicht in Flüssen kann durch Hochwasserereignisse, die zu einer erhöhten Zuführung von allochthonem Material und Energie zum planktonischen Nahrungsnetz führen, deutlich gestört werden. Im Verlauf eines Hochwassers in der Elbe im Frühjahr 1999 wurden verschiedene physikochemische (pH-Wert, Leitfähigkeit, Schwebstoffe (SPM), partikulärer und gelöster organisch gebundener Kohlenstoff (DOC, POC), anorganische Nährstoffe) und biologische Parameter (Chlorophyll-a-Konzentration, Abundanz und Biomasse von Bakterien) im Hinblick auf das Verhalten der mikrobiellen Selbstreinigungskraft (frei gelöste und mit Partikeln assoziierte extrazelluläre Enzymaktivität von 10 unterschiedlichen extrazellulären Enzymen) untersucht. Gelöste und partikuläre Stoffe zeigten ein voneinander deutlich unterschiedliches Verhalten (Verdünnungs-bzw. allochthone Eintragsdynamik), wobei biologische Parameter bedingt durch ihre Bioaktivität partiell abweichende Muster aufwiesen. Für alle untersuchten Enzymkategorien konnte eine hydrolytische Aktivität nachgewiesen werden, wobei für leucin-, arginin-und tyrosinhaltige Proteine besonders hohe Abbauraten bestimmt wurden. Die Gesamtaktivitäten aller untersuchten mikrobiellen extrazellulären Enzyme wurden von den mit partikulärem Material (Partikel, Aggregate, Bakterienzellaußenwände) assoziierten Ektoenzymen ((62.8 ± 13.6) %) dominiert. Die sich hieraus ergebenden ökologischen Implikationen bezüglich mikrobieller Selbstreinigungsprozesse in Flüssen werden diskutiert.

No abstract

In our hospital 35% of the patients undergoing resection for gastric carcinoma are over 70 years old. This group was divided into three age groups; clinico-pathological features, operative morbidity and mortality as well as long-term prognosis were compared with findings taken from a control group of subjects under 70 years old. No differences were noted in the distribution of the UICC stages and the incidence of early gastric cancer. The number of subtotal gastric resections was significantly higher in older patients. During the past 10 years the perioperative morbidity and mortality rates have decreased markedly and only minor differences in comparison with the control group have been recorded. However, the 5-year survival rate was significantly lower in the age group above 80 years old (13.7%) than in the control group (48.7%). Univariate analysis of prognostic factors showed the UICC stage, lymph node metastases, resection line involvement and the patient's age to be of significance. In contrast, in the multivariate analysis age was not of prognostic value.