No abstract

Objective To determine the cause of outbreak mimicking food poisoning, we studied the toxic polyamine contents of the food and analyzed the clinical characteristics of the affected eight patients.Patients and Methods Eight cases of histamine poisoning which occurred in tuberculous patients after dinner in our hospital were analyzed by clinical and biochemical methods. We examined the contents of four representative toxic polyamines, histamine, putrescine, cadaverine and tyramine, of the each food of the dinner and their serum concentrations of the monoamine oxidase (MAO), one of histaminases, using radioimmunoassay.Results The allergy-like symptoms such as flushing, headache, palpitation, itching, wheezing, dyspnea and diarrhea appeared from 20 minutes to two hours after ingestion in those eight patients taking isoniazid (INH), although the other 378 inpatients had no symptom. The histamine content of the ground saury paste was increased to 32 mg/100 g of food, however, the toxic level of food poisoning is less than 50 mg/100 g of food. All eight patients were taking INH, and their serum concentrations of MAO were decreased.Conclusion We concluded that this accident was the histamine fish poisoning. We speculated that those allergy-like symptoms were due to both the increased histamine in the food made with the saury under poor storage conditions and the patients' reduced histaminase activities due to INH. We should perceive possible adverse effects depending on the interactions between certain drugs and food. (Internal Medicine 44: 1133-1136, 2005)

Antitumor effect of our Candida utilis glucomannan preparation (YPS) was evaluated in two syngeneic transplantable tumors ; the Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL) in C57BL/6 (B6) mice and the 3-methylcholanthrene (MCA)-induced fibrosarcoma in C3H/He mice. YPS inhibited preferentially the 3LL pulmonary metastases only when optimal dosage was given at an earlier stage ; 7 daily intraperitoneal (i.p.) doses of 100 mg/kg per dose from the next day of tumor inoculation (1 X 10 /mouse, subcutaneously, s.c.) substantially reduced the number of metastatic nodules, yielding the inhibition ratio 54% on day 21. However, the same treatment delayed until day 8 markedly facilitated the metastatic spread (-105%). Postsurgical-adjuvant therapy with YPS (10 daily i.p. doses of 100 mg/kg per dose from the next day of surgery) was effective in improving the survival rate with no evidence of metastatic growth on day 200, even though the amputation of the tumor-bearing legs was performed after the pulmonary metastases had been established (on day 20). In the MCA-fibrosarcoma model, YPS treatment from day 3 (10 daily doses of 100 mg/kg per dose) was effective in prolonging the survival period. The 3LL local tumor was affected only marginally and temporarily, while the MCA-tumor was not at all.Lewis lung carcinoma ; MCAfibrosarcoma ; antimetastatic effect ; antitumor glucomannan ; Candida utilisIn our previous studies (Kumano et al. 1973(Kumano et al. , 1981, the antitumor yeast glucomannan preparation YPS originally found in this laboratory (Oka et al. 1969) was confirmed for its prophylactic effect against the chemically induced tumor production in mice. The present study was carried out to answer the question whether YPS is also capable of inhibiting any syngeneic tumors or not. Evaluation was made in the 3LL in B6 mice and in the MCA-fibrosarcoma in C3H/He mice. As will be described herein, a dose-and timing-dependent

No abstract

An autopsy case of ACTH-producing thymic carcinoid with Cushing's syndrome is reported. The patient was a 63-yr-old man with multiple bone metastases from an undetermined primary site. Hyperpigmentation was observed at the terminal stage. The plasma levels of ACTH, cortisol, chromogranin A, and urinary 17-hydroxy-corticosteroids were extremely high, and ectopic ACTH-producing neuroendocrine tumor was diagnosed. In addition, plasma CRH was high. Autopsy revealed that the patient had primary thymic carcinoid with extensive metastases. Remarkable hyperplasia of the adrenal cortexes and Crooke's hyaline degeneration of the pituitary gland were consistent with Cushing's syndrome by ectopic ACTH production. There were multiple CRH-producing cells without degenerative changes in the hypothalamus. The tumor cells were immunoreactive to ACTH, CRH, and the cleavage enzyme PC2. POMC messenger ribonucleic acid and PC2 messenger ribonucleic acid were detected in the tumor cells by an in situ hybridization method. Expression of PC2 was considered to induce hyperpigmentation by producing alpha MSH. Despite hypercortisolism and ectopic production of CRH by the tumor cells, hypothalamic CRH cells were not atrophic. This case is a good example to demonstrate the correlation between CRH and the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis as well as hyperpigmentation in Cushing's syndrome.