No abstract

A total of 23 patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma were treated with a combination of moderate-dose methotrexate (MDMTX), 250 mg/m2 i.v., with folinic acid rescue and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 600 mg/m2 i.v. Therapy was given every 7 days for 4 courses and then at 14-day intervals. All patients were evaluable for response. No complete responses occurred, but five patients (22%) had partial remissions (95% confidence limit, 5%-39%). The median duration of remission was 6 months, with a median survival of 11 months amongst responding patients. In all, six patients (26%) had stable disease for a median period of 5 months. The overall median survival was 6 months. Therapy was generally well tolerated, with principal toxicities consisting of neutropenia, nausea and vomiting, mucositis and diarrhoea. In terms of activity or survival in advanced gastric carcinoma, the combination of moderate-dose MTX and 5-FU does not appear to offer an advantage over single-agent therapy.

Nine patients with advanced gastric carcinoma have been treated with a programme of chemotherapy as the first stage of management with the objective of reducing tumour extent and viability in preparation for subsequent surgery where teasible. In eight patients the chemotherapy was given by intraarterial infusion into the coeliac axis, and the remaining patient was given intravenous chemotherapy. Most patients gained symptomatic improvement, including pain relief, and in seven patients tumour regression was achieved. In six patients tumour regression was followed by gastrectomy. Residual tumour was found in five of these six patients, and was not found in one.

Licking rates as a function of age were assessed in six female and one male infant Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) over a 20-day period. The data supported previous research by showing that infant and adult gerbil lick rates differ. The magnitude of these differences was small, and did not contradict the lick rate invariance hypothesis. In contrast to previous data, however, lick rate variability was relatively constant over time.Since observed that rats drink at a constant rate of six to seven licks/sec, numerous investigators have provided experimental support for this "invariance hypothesis," noting that lick rates are apparently constant regardless of age , sex , fluid deprivation level , or type of fluid ingested . However, recent research with the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) has suggested that infant and adult lick rates differ within this species. found the lick rates of 26-day-old gerbils to be slower and more restricted in range than those of adult gerbils. Subsequently, , investigating the development of lick rates in infant Mongolian gerbils in a longitudinal study, reported that infant gerbil lick rates were both faster and slower than adult lick rates before the age of 35 days. After this age, the lick rates of infant and adult gerbils were virtually identical. These investigators also found that lick rate variability diminished after age 35 days. The present experiment was undertaken as a systematic replication of the findings of and was intended to identify more accurately the period at which infant lick rates develop the characteristics of adult lick rates. METHOD SubjectsOne male and six female experimentally naive Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) served as subjects. All animals were 31 days old at the start of testing and, prior to that time, had received all fluids via nursing. The gerbils were maintained on Purina pel1eted Lab Chow during the experiment. Apparatus and ProcedureEach gerbil was individually housed in. a clear plastic lab cage measuring 18.0 cm wide, 29.0 cm long, and 12.5 cm high, with approximately .5 cm of San-i-cel used as bedding material. Four plastic cages, identical to the home cages, were used as experimental chambers. The test cages were modified by placing a hardware cloth cover, with a bottle holder of the same material mounted at one end, over the cage. A plastic water bottle with a Wahmann stainless steel drinking tube was inveFted in the bottle holder to allow the tube to extend approximately 2 cm into the cage. The tube was coated with Formvar, a Dupont insulating material, to insure that tongue-fluid contacts were not contaminated by nose-tube or body-tube contacts. The tube orifice, 1 mm in diam, was positioned approximately 8 cm above a 5.5 x 11.5 cm metal drinking platform. The drinking platform was elevated 3.0 cm above the cage floor. The platform and drinking tube comprised the two sides of a drinkometer circuit. Tongue-fluid contacts activated a transistorized relay circuit capable of sensing 50 impulses/sec. The relay c...