We examined the clinical features of 14 men (mean age 72 years) with postoperative enteritis caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The patients had all undergone surgery for the treatment of digestive diseases and had received antibiotic prophylaxis consisting of an extended-spectrum cephem. Diarrhea appeared a mean of 3.3 days postoperatively and lasted for 5 days on average. In severe cases organ insufficiency was involved. Coagulate-positive staphylococci were the predominant organisms isolated from watery diarrhea. In 13 of 14 patients, coagulase type II isolates producing enterotoxins A, C and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) with enterotoxin A, C, and 1st genes were isolated. These strains were sensitive to vancomycin and arbekacin; however, they were highly resistant to many other antibiotics. We also investigated the effects of a glucocorticoid hormone and gamma globulin on production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) obtained from healthy volunteers. TNF-alpha and IL-2 production was enhanced by TSST-1 and the supernatant of Iscove-modified dulbecco medium, in which coagulase type II isolates producing enterotoxins A, C and TSST-1 with enterotoxin A, C were cultured for 24 h. Both glucocorticoid hormone and gamma globulin suppressed TNF-alpha and IL-2 production, thus suggesting that these drugs may be effective in treating postoperative MRSA enteritis.

Nuclear DNA content in eight surgically resected mucin-producing pancreatic tumors (MPPT) consisting of two mucinous intraductal adenocarcinomas (MIDAC), two mucinous intraductal adenomas (MIDA), one mucinous cyst-adenocarcinoma (MCAC), and three mucinous cystadenomas (MCA) were measured by flow cytometry using paraffin-embedded tissue samples. The technique of Shutte was used for the preparation of paraffin-embedded tissue into single dissociated nuclei, while the method of Vindelov was used for staining the isolated nuclei with propidium iodine. Clinicopathologically, the four patients with MIDAC or MIDA were all male and had cystic lesions with a dilated pancreatic duct at the head of the pancreas, while the four patients with MCAC or MCA were all females and had cystic tumors at either the body or tail of the pancreas. All eight patients with MPPT had no metastasis to the regional lymph nodes and were all still alive without recurrence. In an analysis of nuclear DNA content, seven of eight patients had DNA diploid tumors while one patient with a MIDAC perforating the duodenum and choledochus had a DNA aneuploid tumor. Thus, these findings suggest that DNA diploid patterns in MPPT might be associated with a favorable prognosis in MPPT although some patients whose MPPT invaded the surrounding organs might have DNA aneuploid tumors.

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