─ 79 ─ 【Objective】Gastric cancer patients have high proportions of malnutrition, which may become much deteriorated after gastrectomy. As we know, malnourished subjects have high risk of morbidities and mortality. Oral Nutritional Supplements (ONS) is a potential supplement, which may restore the nutritional status of gastric cases. In this study, we study the role of ONS in gastric cancer cases after gastrectomy. 【Methods】We designed one prospective randomized international study, enrolling the gastric cancer cases in National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) and The University of Tokyo Hospital. Tokyo University studyONS group was orally-administrated 400kcal per day liquid diet in addition to usual diet for 12 weeks postoperatively. The primary end-point was change of body weight. The second end-points included change of nutritional characteristic, body composition (fat and muscle), and QOL (EORTC QLOQ-C30)． 【Result】There were 113 patients in this study, including 40 total gastrectomy (TG) and 73 distal gastrectomy (DG). For TG, body weight loss at ONS group (n=23) was significantly less than at c o n t r o l g r o u p (n = 1 7). A m o n g t h e b o d y components for TG, muscle loss at ONS group showed borderlinely significant less at ONS group compared with control group. However, there were no significance differences in body weight loss between ONS (n=41) and control group (n=32) receiving DG. 【Conclusion】The nutritional status of TG group was significantly worse than DG group. ONS therapy is useful for TG group to decrease the loss of body weight. Postoperative use of ONS therapy in TG cases may be advised to improve postoperative nutritional status. Arterialized vein grafts often fail due to intimal hyperplasia (IH), which remains a serious concern for patients after arterial bypass surgery, due to a lack of pharmacological agents that prevent IH. Hydrogen gas potently protects organs and cells from many insults via its antiinflammatory, antiapoptotic, and antioxidant properties. We investigated the efficacy of the oral administration of hydrogen-rich water (HW), a feasible approach for hydrogen intake, for prevention of IH. The inferior vena cava was excised from donor rats, stored in cold Ringer solution for 2 hours, and placed as an interposition graft in the abdominal aorta of syngeneic Lewis rats. HW for drinking was generated by immersing a magnesium stick in tap water (Mg + 2H2O → Mg (OH) 2 + H2). Beginning on the day of graft implantation, recipients were given either regular tap water (RW), HW, or HW that had subsequently been degassed. mRNA levels were quantitated by real-time RT-PCR. Smooth muscle cell migration in culture was assessed using A7r5 cells. Six weeks after grafting, the grafts in the rats given RW or degassed HW had developed IH. However, IH was significantly suppressed in rats given HW. One week after grafting, upregulation of the mRNAs for ICAM and endothelin receptor? A in the vein grafts was attenuated in the rats receiving HW. In culture, hydrogen treatment for 24 hours red...

In the present study expression of estrogen receptor subtype -(ER α) and -(ER ) in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and olfactory bulb was investigated and compared between neonatal (1 ~ 3-days-old) and adult (250 ~ 350g) rats, using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). No ERa transcripts were detectable in the adult cerebellum and olfactory bulb, whereas very weak expression of ERa was present in the adult cerebral cortex. No significant difference in ERb transcripts was detectable between the neonatal and adult rats. While transcripts for both ER subtypes were co-expressed in these brain areas of neonatal rats, although ERa expression was significantly weaker than ER . Even in the cerebral cortex known to contain both ER subtypes in adult rats, ERa transcripts in neonatal rats were much higher than in adult. These observations provide evidence for the existence of different expression patterns of ER /ER transcripts in these three brain areas between the neonatal and adult rats, suggesting that each ER subtype may play a distinct role in the regulation of differentiation, development, and functions of the brain by estrogen.

Many epidemiologists have agreed that a refined estimate of the incubation period of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) would need a sample size of about 200 cases and appropriate statistical methods enabling the inclusion of cases with defined periods of exposure. However, no such studies have been reported so far. Besides, determinants of the SARS incubation period remain unclear. In this study, 209 probable SARS cases with documented episodes of exposure between March 1 and May 31, 2003, in mainland China were included. A nonparametric method was used to analyze these data with defined periods of exposure to obtain the refined estimate of the SARS incubation period. Furthermore, the authors also explored the influence of various factors on the SARS incubation period by analysis of variance, linear regression analysis, and analysis of covariance. The estimates of mean and variance of the SARS incubation period were 5.29 days and 12.33 days(2), respectively; 90% of patients would have an incubation period of less than 11.58 days with a probability of 0.8, and 99% of patients would have an incubation of less than 22.22 days with a probability of 0.9. The affected area showed a highly significant effect on the incubation period (p < 0.001), but the contact pattern, occupation, gender, and age did not.

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