Changes in blood pressure and heart rate after exercise, left ventricular wall thickness, ejection fraction and left ventricular mass were examined by echocardiography before and at the 8th week administration of captopril (37.5－75.0 mg/day) in 11 patients with essential hypertension. The blood pressure showed a gradual and significant decrease from the second week of captopril administration, but the heart rate remained unchanged. No changes were observed in the blood pressure or heart rate after exercise, nor before, during and after the administration of captopril. In the echocardiographic examinations, the wall thickness decreased significantly from 12.1 ± 2.1 mm before administration to 10.6 ± 1.5 mm at the 8th week of' administration in the interventricular septum, from 11.2 ± 1.8 mm to 10.1 ± 1.5 mm in the left ventricular posterior wall, and the left ventricular mass in parallel decreased from 266 g to 218 g. In 7 patients, whose wall thickness was 12 mm or more, the thickness of the septum decreased significantly from 13.9 ± 1.2 mm to 11.7 ± 2.1 mm and that of the left ventricular posterior wall from 12.6 ± 1.5 mm to 10.6 ± 1.8 mm. Captopril administration produced regression of cardiac hypertrophy in patients with essential hypertension within a period of only 8 weeks.

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Data on ventilatory function with particular reference to forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expired volume in one second (FEV₁), and FEV₁ expressed as percentage of FVC (FEV₁%FVC) were obtained in 1413 healthy Tanzanian school children aged between 8 and 18 years. All subjects were nonsmokers and had neither symptoms nor history of cardiopulmonary diseases. Subjects in this study were significantly smaller in stature (P<0.05) and had smaller FVC and FEV₁ (P<0.001) compared to values reported in children of comparable age and stature in the west. Lung volumes could best be described as a power function of standing height (y=a.H^b). The power derived from ln FVC on ln H were 3.39 and 3.24 for boys and girls respectively, while the power derived from ln FEV₁, on ln H were 3.11 and 3.03 for boys and girls respectively. Constructed prediction formulae gave FEV₁ and FVC which showed good agreement with FEV₁ and FVC computed from prediction equations based on a similar mathematical model for black children in the Caribbean.

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The effect of ethylene glycol on rat hepatic microsomal cytochrome P-450 was studied in vitro and in vivo. The destruction of cytochrome P-450 was not seen in vitro. The addition of 1 mM NADPH also did not change. When ethylene glycol was added to drinking water at a concentration of 1.0% for 7 days, there was no change in the contents of microsomal protein, cytochrome P-450, b₅ and heme. While NADPH-cytochrome C reductase activity of the exposed group did not change, NADH-ferricyanide reductase activity increased significantly.

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A compartment model of carcinogenesis which describes separately the process of smoking-related lung cancer and that of smoking-unrelated lung cancer is presented. This model is well fitted to the equation representing the lung cancer incidence rate of the British physicians' cohort. The compartment model is shown to agree with the frozen type of incidence curve among ex-smokers. This model is biologically plausible in the context of the mechanism of carcinogenesis. For planning public health policies in a community and for health education based on smoking data, we calculated the change of risk after the cessation of smoking.

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Glycogenosis Type Ⅲ is characterized by a deficiency of debranching enzyme (amylo-1,6-glucosidase, E.C. 3. 2. 1. 33) in most tissues. Low activity of liberating glucose from limited dextrin in the biopsied muscle can be demonstrated in a patient with this disease. We cultured fibroblasts from a skin biopsy from a patient with debrancher deficiency and examined the metabolism of glycogen in these cultured fibroblasts. Debrancher activity in the postmitochondrial supernatant obtained from these fibroblasts showed a good concentration dependent manner but had approximately half of that from normal human fibroblasts (YH-1). Although the enzymatic activity of debrancher in the cultured fibroblasts from the skin was reduced essentially to the same levels as observed in muscle biopsy, little glycogen granules were accumulated in the cytoplasm of these fibroblasts as revealed by either light- or electron-microscopic observation. The fibroblasts obtained in the present study may be useful for the analysis of molecular mechanism of the debrancher deficiency disease, glycogenosis Type Ⅲ.

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We report a case of juvenile type Ⅲ glycogenosis that was confirmed by histopathological and biochemical studies. The histopathological findings consisted of vacuoles, periodic acid-Schiff positive materials, type 2B fiber deficiency, mildly positive acid phosphatase reaction and intensely positive non-specific esterase reaction. It is suggested that the enzyme reactions may be related to membrane-bound sacs containing glycogen.

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We present two adult autopsy cases with malignancy, in which unusual proliferation of the pancreatic endocrine cells was observed. Histopathological examination revealed extensive proliferation of the pancreatic endocrine cells throughout the pancreata in both cases. The islets of the pancreas were enlarged with irregular contours. An admixture of the islet cells, acinar cells and ductular epithelial cells was also observed. Immunohistochemically, these islets were composed of the endocrine cells of various types, i.e. A-, B-, D- and PP-cells, and they showed a predominance of PP-cells. Clinically, endocrine hyperfunction of the pancreas was not detected in either cases. Although this histological change may be described as endocrine cell hyperplasia or dysplasia, the close connection of the islet cells, acinar cells and ductular epithelial cells might rather suggest metaplastic change of the acinar or ductular cells into the islet cells under unknown stimuli.

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We experienced a patient in whom coronary spasms were induced by an ergonovine provocation test during coronary angiography at the sites of coronary artery ectasia. The patient was a 45-year-old male with chest pain at rest, which promptly disappeared when given sublingual nitroglycerin. Similar attacks occurred frequently even with the administration of drugs after admission, but no significant changes were observed in electrocardiography (ECG) during the attacks or by repeated Holter ECG. The results of exercise ECG and provocation tests such as Valsalva maneuver, hyperventilation, and cold pressor test were negative. Coronary angiography showed ectatic changes in the left coronary artery, and the coronary spasms were induced by ergonovine administration at the ectatic portion of the left anterior descending artery and left circumflex artery, and right coronary artery with chest symptoms similar to those observed during spontaneous attacks. However, there were no significant changes in ECG. This rare case suggests an involvement of spasms in the pathogenic mechanism of myocardial ischemia in coronary artery ectasia.

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BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) is utilized widely as an index of water quality. However, nitrification is a cause of significant errors in measuring BOD, particularly when a large population of nitrifying organisms are existing in water such as effluents from biological treatment plants. In this case, the use of a nitrification inhibitor is recommended, but it is not used commonly. In order to investigate the amount of nitrogenous oxygen demand (NOD) which is caused by nitrification, BOD with and without inhibitor was measured as samples in the Kitakyushu area. About 70 percent of BOD from the effluents of biological treatment plants was NOD. In the case of influent of biological treatment plant and river waters, 0-39 percent of NOD was contained in BOD.

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