BACKGROUND: This study was undertaken to evaluate the clinical value of photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) with intravesical and oral instillation of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) (ALA-PDD), and transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) guided by ALA-PDD (PDD-TURBT) for nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer. METHODS: Of all 210 cases, 75 underwent PDD with intravesically applied ALA, and 135 cases underwent PDD with orally applied ALA. Diagnostic accuracy was evaluated by comparing the level on images of ALA-induced fluorescence with the pathological result. PDD-TURBT was performed in 99 completely resectable cases corresponding to 210 ALA-PDD cases. To evaluate the abilities of PDD-TURBT, survival analysis regarding intravesical recurrence was retrospectively compared with the historical control cases that underwent conventional TURBT. RESULTS: The diagnostic accuracy and capability of ALA-PDD were significantly superior to those of conventional endoscopic examination. Moreover, 72.1% of flat lesions, including dysplasia and carcinoma in situ, could be detected only by ALA-PDD. The recurrence-free survival rate in the cases that underwent PDD-TURBT was significantly higher than that of conventional TURBT. Moreover, multivariate analysis revealed that the only independent factor contributing to improving prognosis was PDD-TURBT (hazard ratio, 0.578; P ¼ .012). Regardless of the ALA administration route, there was no significant difference in diagnostic accuracy, ability of PDD, or recurrence-free survival. All procedures were well tolerated by all patients without any severe adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: This multicenter study is likely to be biased, because it is limited by the retrospective analysis. This study suggests that regardless of the ALA administration route, ALA-PDD and PDD-TURBT are remarkably helpful in detection and intraoperative navigation programs.

Seawater has been used for thalassotherapy and atopic dermatitis for a long time in medical treatment. However, there are still many obscure points in the scientific evidence about the effective of medical treatment.Deep seawater at depths between about 500 m and 1000 m circulates around the world. 1) Deep seawater is known to have such characteristics as being clean and rich in mineral components compared to surface seawater, [2][3][4] and application has been attempted in many fields. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] In health food and medical fields, deep seawater has been processed into drinking water, and various beneficial effects have been suggested, but they have not been confirmed scientifically. In particular, differences between surface and deep seawater remain unqualified.We reported previously that deep seawater was effective for hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis prevention. 12)In this study, we prepared drinking water samples containing the same amounts of major mineral constituents Na, K, Ca, and Mg, with hardness of 1200, by filtering with a semipermeable membrane using surface and deep seawater collected in the sea area of Muroto, Kochi Prefecture, known for the up-flow of deep seawater, and examined the effects of the drinking water samples on the prevention of a typical lifestyle-related disorder, hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS AnimalsMale Japanese white rabbits weighing 1.8 to 2.0 kg (Shimizu, Kyoto, Japan) were used in this study. These animals were acclimatized on a 12 h light/dark cycle in a humidity-and temperature-controlled facility and allowed free access to food and water for 1 week before the experiment.Deep and Surface Seawater Deep seawater pumped up from a depth of 374 m off Muroto Cape (Kochi, Japan) was separated into desalinated water and concentrated by a semipermeable membrane. Various concentrations of water (with sodium eliminated etc.) were added to the desalinated water, and deep seawaters were prepared. (hardness of about 1200; Muroto Marinefood Corporation, Odanikokufun Corporation) The surface seawater of the Muroto Cape ocean space was taken and same process was performed to prepare the drinking water (hardness of about 1200; Kochi Prefectural Deep seawater Laboratory).The mineral-ingredient content of each drinking seawater is shown in Table 1.Administration of Deep or Surface Seawater Cholesterol fed rabbits were divided into three groups and medicated with 150 ml/d of deep seawater, surface seawater and distilled water in a water-supply bottle ad libitum, and fed * To whom correspondence should be addressed. Murotomisaki-cho, Muroto, Kochi 781-7101, Japan: c Muroto Marinefood Corporation; 3507-5 Murotomisaki-cho, Muroto, Kochi 780-8123, Japan: and d Odanikokufun Corporation; 939-4 Takasu, Kochi, Kochi 780-8123, Japan. Received July 13, 2004; accepted September 9, 2004; published online September 10, 2004 Using surface and deep seawater collected in the sea area of Muroto Cape (Kochi, Japan), desalinated drinking samples of about 1200 hard...

In recent years, deep-sea water has been applied not only in food production but in industry and the medical field in an attempt to utilize its properties, 1) its wealth of inorganic materials, its purity and mineral content, which have attracted attention.2) In particular, various minerals in their characteristic dissolved states, including indispensable trace elements abundant in deep-sea water have demonstrated their usefulness and attracted attention in each field, and various applications have been tried. 3)A major problem of insufficient minerals caused by the recent westernization of lifestyles and eating habits, has resulted in so-called lifestyle-related illnesses such as hyperlipemia, hypertension, and diabetes. 4) In order to prevent or treat these illnesses, it is important to adjust disorders in body functioning. However, although deep-sea water contains minerals used in the treatment of lifestyle-related illness and the production of health food, there is no scientific proof of its usefulness.To examine the lifestyle-related illness, hyperlipemia, in which eating habit disorders are considered to particularly influence the development of symptoms, we medicated normal rabbits with deep-sea water (desalinated water, hardness 28, 300, and 1200) simultaneously with cholesterol loading, and examined its preventive effect on hyperlipemia. Furthermore, prepared hyperlipemia rabbits 5) carrying the same cholesterol load as normal rabbits, were administered deep-sea water, and its medical treatment effect on hyperlipemia was examined. MATERIALS AND METHODS AnimalsMale Japanese white rabbits weighing 1.8 to 2.0 kg (Shimizu, Kyoto, Japan) were used in this study. These animals were maintained on a 12 h light/dark cycle in a humidity-and temperature-controlled facility and allowed free access to food and water for 1 week during acclimatization before the experiment.Deep-Sea Water Deep-sea water pumped up from a depth of 374 m off Muroto Cape (Kochi, Japan) was desalinated and concentrated by reverse osmosis. Various concentrations of water with eliminated sodium etc. were added to the desalinated water and deep-sea water samples of varying hardness (28, 300, 1200) were prepared. The mineral ingredient content of each deep-sea water sample is shown in Table 1.Administration of Deep-Sea Water Normal rabbits were divided into four groups and administered 150 ml/d of deep-sea water (desalinated water, hardness 28, 300, and 1200) in a water supply bottle ad libitum, and fed normal food (CR-3, Clea, Osaka, Japan) for 4 weeks ( Table 2). It was confirmed that the rabbits consumed the water each time.Cholesterol-loaded rabbits were similarly divided into four groups and were each administered deep-sea water, and fed a 1% cholesterol-containing diet (CE-2, Clea, Osaka, Japan) for 4 weeks ( Table 2).Hyperlipemia rabbits fed a 1% cholesterol diet for 4 weeks and with a raised total cholesterol (T-Cho) level before this experiment, were similarly divided into four groups, admin- * To whom correspondence should be addresse...

The purpose of this study was to examine whether vitamin E supplementation in humans would attenuate an increase of serum enzymes as an indirect marker of muscle damage following a sudden large increase in the running distance in a 6-day running training or not. A randomized and placebo-controlled study was carried out on fourteen male runners who were supplied vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol 1200 IU x day(-1); E) or placebo (P) 4 weeks prior to (T1) and during 6 successive days of running training (48.3 +/- 5.7 km x day(-1), means +/- SD). Resting venous blood samples were obtained before maximal treadmill running, at T1, the day immediately before (T2), the next day (T3), and three weeks (T4) after the running training. Serum levels of alpha-tocopherol, lipid peroxidation products (thiobarbituric acid; TBA), creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and LDH isozyme 1-5 were quantitatively analyzed. No significant difference was found in maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and maximal heart rates following the exhaustive exercise between the P and E group during the experiments. Vitamin E supplementation significantly increased serum alpha-tocopherol (p<0.001) and decreased TBA levels (p < 0.001) compared with pre-supplementation levels. Although serum CK and LDH activities increased significantly at T3 in either group, significantly lower CK (p < 0.05) and LDH (p < 0.001) levels were observed in the E group compared with the P group. The ratio of LDH1 to LDH2 (LDH1/LDH2) decreased significantly at T3 in either group compared with the T1 levels, since there was no significant difference in the LDH1/LDH2 between the P and E group throughout the experiments. These results indicate that vitamin E supplementation can reduce the leakage of CK and LDH following 6 successive days of endurance running. The protective effect of vitamin E against free radicals probably inhibits free-radical-induced muscle damage caused by a sudden large increase in the running distance.

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