The rebound tachycardia, transient increase in heart rate (HR) that was observed immediately after the cessation of hypoxia was investigated. Whether the cardiovascular responses induced by hypoxia depend on species difference is also discussed. Wistar rats were chronically instrumented for measurements of arterial blood pressure (ABP), HR and renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA), and then subjected to hypocapnic (Hypo), isocapnic (Iso) or hypercapnic (Hyper) hypoxia. Iso did not affect mean ABP (MAP) or HR, whereas Hypo decreased MAP and increased HR, and Hyper increased MAP and decreased HR. RSNA increased in each hypoxia. After the cessation of Iso and Hyper, HR transiently increased and then returned to that of the control. This HR response did not parallel the changes in RSNA, suggesting that "rebound" tachycardia is not due to a sympathetic but rather a parasympathetic mechanism. Although it has been generally believed that cardiovascular responses to systemic hypoxia depend on the species, there was little difference between the results observed in this study and those in previous studies under similar experimental conditions. Accordingly, we suggest that the cardiovascular responses to systemic hypoxia do not depend on species difference but rather on differences in experimental design.

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It is well known that stress affects the central nervous system (CNS), neuroendocrinoimmune system and other peripheral organs such as the gastrointestinal tract. However, the process of adaptation or recovery after acute stress reactions in these systems or organs during prolonged stress has not yet been adequately investigated. To clarify the process of adaptation or recovery in these systems and organs after acute stress reactions, the time course of these responses during a single long-duration restraint stress (RTS) was studied. The expression of c-fos in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) region of the brain was induced and reached a peak at 0.5 hours for c-fos mRNA and 4 hours for c-fos protein (Fos), but disappeared at 2 hours for mRNA and 16 hours for Fos during continuous RTS. The activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis during stress resulted in rapid increases in the plasma levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone (CORT). Whereas the increase in ACTH was transient, the rise in CORT was maintained throughout the duration of the stress. A rapid significant decrease after stress exposure and following a slow and complete or partial recovery were observed in a number of total white blood cells (WBC), lymphocytes (LYM), helper T cells (Th) and cytotoxic/suppressor T cells (CTL/Ts). A gastric ulcer was found in 1/6 and 6/6 rats at 8 hours and 16 hours RTS, respectively. These results suggest that adaptive changes may occur in c-fos expression in the PVN, ACTH release and immune response, but not for CORT release, following acute stress reaction during long-duration RTS. In addition, any associated organic damage, such as gastric ulceration, was also suggested to possibly be progressive according to the duration of RTS.

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Wistar male rats were exposed to 2000 ppm of methyl bromide gas for one hour (single exposure experiment) or 300 ppm of the gas for 6 hours a day, 3 days a week for 4 or 8 weeks (repeated exposure experiment) to investigate the metabolism of inhaled methyl bromide. After the exposure was completed, the bromine ion concentration in serum was measured up to 60 days. The serum bromine ion concentration was determined by a headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after converting bromine ion to methyl bromide by adding dimethyl sulfate in the serum samples. In the single exposure experiment, the bromine ion concentration decreased quickly within one day after the end of the exposure, and then began to decrease gradually. In the repeated exposure experiment, on the other hand, the bromine ion concentration decreased almost exponentially. A two-compartment model was applied to analyze the clearance rate of bromine ion. The biological half time of serum bromine ion was 9.1 days for the single exposure and 5.4 days for the repeated exposure. The amount of cytochrome P450 (CYP) in liver microsomes was measured after the end of exposure. CYP in liver was not significantly different after the repeated exposure but it decreased after the single exposure.

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Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a common disorder that follows a chronically relapsing course. Many clinical trials have proven the efficacy of H₂-blockers in the long-term management of chronic relapsing PUD. On the other hand, 30% of patients with duodenal ulcer (DU) receiving maintenance therapy with H₂-blockers experience ulcer recurrence yearly. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is now recognized as the major cause of PUD. We estimated the cost-effectiveness of H. pylori eradication in comparison to maintenance therapy with H₂-blocker in a 1-year period at a company occupational health clinic. Ninety-nine with PUD tested for H. pylori were positive. Forty-nine patients received H. pylori eradication, and the remaining 50 patients were treated with ranitidine (RAN) 150 mg for 1 year according to their demands. H. pylori was successfully eradicated in 42 patients (86%), and 41(98%) of these 42 patients remained free of symptoms for the remainder of the study period. The lifetable probability of ulcer recurrence during 1 year was significantly lower for patients who received eradication (6.1 %) compared with those who received RAN alone (24.0%). The total cost for H. pylori eradication was lower than that for maintenance therapy along our study design (102,664 yen vs 150,356 yen). A decision tree was illustrated and the total cost were calculated by using sensitivity analysis. When we used baseline probabilities in sensitivity analysis, the total cost for eradication was lower than that for maintenance therapy (104,647 yen vs 154,468 yen). H. pylori eradication is cost-effective therapy for patients with PUD in comparison to maintenance therary with RAN at an on-site occupational health clinic in Japan.

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The English verb "lose" appears in the double object construction. However, there is a striking difference in meaning between the construction examples with "central" verbs such as "give" and "send" and the construction examples with "lose". While the former profiles the meaning "to cause the referent of the indirect object to receive or have the referent of the direct object", the latter has the meaning "to cause the referent of the indirect object no longer to have the referent of the direct object." Moreover, "lose" has developed the ditransitive use, by way of causativization. While many ditransitive verbs are three-argument verbs and have an agent in its lexical meaning, "lose", in its central usage, is a two-argument verb. Therefore, it appears that there is no "inherent" argument which functions as a subject of the causativized double object construction. This paper inquires into how the use of "lose" in the double object construction is licensed in the frame of an analysis put forward by Goldberg's Construction Grammar approach (1995). I also make some comments on Nakamura's network model (2001) which is well-developed and effective, especially in dealing with "peripheral" verbs which are discussed in this paper.

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We analyzed the outcome of 30 patients who underwent surgery (40 operations) for pulmonary metastases of colorectal cancer. Overall 5-year survival rate was 56%. There were no significant differences in survivals 5 years after the first surgery on the basis of potential prognostic factors: disease free interval, number of pulmonary metastases and size of metastatic lesion. Three patients with recurrent pulmonary metastases after the first resection underwent repeated resections and are alive 23, 58 and 62 months after the first pulmonary metastasectomy, respectively. Pulmonary resection for metastases from colorectal cancer prolonged the survival of patients, even those with bilateral lesions or recurrent metastases. These results confirm that pulmonary resection for metastatic colorectal cancer is a potentially curative therapy.

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This descriptive study reports the results of a systematic survey on occupational safety and health hazards and risks to exposed workers at companies co-operating with a medical university, and investigates the effective methods for their management. Varieties of works at all these co-operating companies have been categorized into 14 types of businesses. The survey was performed in two-fold; an individual interview of managers and a comprehensive inspection of workshops, and a questionnaire to all workers (response rate 95.9%). All of the co-operating companies were small-scale enterprises with less than 50 employees. The occupational safety and health risks to be controlled were accidental contact with biomedical wastes, heat in the kitchen, laundry and boiler room, unfavorable ventilation at workplace close to medical facility, and physical fatigue of guards and janitors. A higher number of occupational health physicians and a higher rate of health examinations were observed compared to other small-scale enterprises in Japan. About 80% of all workers were conscious of working on the premises of medical facilities. To improve the occupational safety and health activities of co-operating companies, we propose the use of professionals at the medical university, the promotion of joint activities among the co-operating companies, and the strengthening of mutual connection and coordination between the co-operating companies and the medical university.

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Clara cells localized in the bronchiole are thought to play a key role in lung remodeling. Clara cell secretory protein (CCSP), which is specifically produced by Clara cells, inhibits pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemotaxis of fibroblasts, and acts as phospholopase A₂ inhibitors, and may also inhibit inflammation and fibrosis in the lung. This could be a biomarker of interstitial pneumonitis. Proliferation of Clara cells and neuroendocrine cells at airway epithelial injury may act as progenitor cells during the repair process.

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Eleven cases of sporotrichosis treated in our clinic were statically evaluated and two cases suffered by farmers are presented. In urban areas, because of the great popularity of gardening, patients with sporotrichosis are increasing among gardeners. Because sporotrichosis is an occupational skin disease, enlightenment of farmers and gardeners regarding the importance of prevention of skin injury as a route to infection during farm work or gardening is neccesary. In addition, dermatologists have to spread information regarding the fungal infections to the public.

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Two surgical cases of synchronous double esophageal and gastric cancer, both of which revealed a superficial type were investigated. The first case was a 58 years old man, who was found to have an abnormal gastric shadow on mass screening. Gastrointestinal examination revealed a synchronous double cancer of the esophagus (Mt〜Lt, m) and stomach (L, m). An endoscopic mucosal resection was performed on the gastric cancer and after 3 weeks a blunt dissection on the esophageal cancer was performed and the gastric tube was reconstructed. The second case was a 65 years old man, who was found to have an ulcerative esophageal tumor (Ut, type 2) and a gastric tumor (M, 0 - Ⅱ c) at the anterior wall of the upper body on gastrointestinal examination for a complaint of hematemesis. A subtotal esophagectomy and a lymph node dissection was performed in which reconstruction was made by using a gastric tube avoiding the gastric cancer lesion. We also reviewed previous reports of 22 cases that had synchronous superficial esophageal and gastric cancer, and discussed the indications and methods of operation.

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