The effect of intraventricular (IVT) infusion of a subpressor dose (6.25 or 12.5ng/kg/min) of angiotensin II (AII) on the pressor responses to intravenous (IV) infusion of All were studied in pentobarbital anesthetized rats. This study was undertaken to determine whether the central iso-renin angiotensin system alters pressor responsiveness to IV infused AII. Pressor responses to IV infusion of AII were potentiated by concurrent IVT infusion of a subpressor dose of AII. IVT pressor doses of AII decreased plasma renin activity, however, IVT subpressor doses of AII did not.
These results suggest that the central iso-renin angiotensin system plays an important role in pressor responsiveness to IV AII and that the potentiation of IV AII is not related to decreases in endogenous AII as a result of IVT administered AII.

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Serum colony-stimulating activity (CSA) levels were determind in 10 normal individuals and 18 patients with aplastic anemia. CSA was assayed by the agar single layer culture technique using bone marrow cells of the ddN female mice as a source of CFU-C. Number of colonies produced after 7 days' incubation of the bone marrow cells at 37°C, in a humidified atmosphere flushed with air containing 10 % CO₂ was regarded as CSA. CSA was not verified in all sera from 10 normal individuals, while CSA was significantly increased in sera from 15 out of 18 patients with aplastic anemia of clinical stage less than II.
No significant CSA was detected in serum from a patient with aplastic anemia in complete remission (clinical stage III) similarly to normal individuals.
In patients with aplastic anemia, CSA levels was not significantly correlated to any of the follows : clinical stages, Hb levels, granulocyte or monocyte counts in peripheral blood.
In two patients treated with both androgen and prednisolone, CSA levels tend to be less than that of the other patients treated with androgen alone. Otherwise, it is noted in these patients that various types of treatment seems to show no significant effect on CSA levels.
CSA-stimulating activity (CSA-SA) was verified in sera both from normal individuals and patients with aplastic anemia. There was no significant difference in levels of CSA-SA between normal individuals and patients with aplastic anemia.
From these results, the significance of CSA and CSA-SA in the regulation of in vivo granulopoiesis in aplastic anemia was discussed.

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Estracyt (Estradiol-3N-Bis- (2-chloroethyl) -Carbamate-17β-phosphate), a conjugate of estradiol-17β and nitrogen mustard, has been reported to be used successfully in the treatment of advanced prostatic cancer. In this paper we investigated the mechanism of this compound and the following results were obtained.
1. Estracyt had strong antiprostatic effect in male rats (reduction of prostatic weights and nucleic acid contents). Equivalent amounts of the two main components of Estracyt, nitrogen mustard and estradio1-17β-phosphate, were not able to mimic this antiprostatic effect of Estracyt.
2. A dose of 100 mg of Estracyt per kg of body weight injected intraperitoneally daily for 4 days revealed antiandrogenic effect. On the other hand, equivalent amounts of the two main components of Estracyt were not able to show any antiandrogenic effect at all.
3. Administration of Estracyt to intact rats for 7 days significantly reduced serum gonadotropins levels.
4. In order to clarify the mechanism of direct effect of Estracyt, we performed some experiments, using ³H-Estramustine of high specific activity. The following results were obtained.
a) ³H-radioactivity was accumulated selectively in the ventral prostate of castrated male rat after the administration of ³H-Estramustine. Estramustine and its metabolites were retained in the ventral prostate for longer time.
b) The uptake of ³H-radioactivity was found almost in the cytosol fraction and not in the purified nuclei fraction at all. These results strongly suggested that there existed the mechanism of retention of Estramustine and its metabolites in the cytosol of rat ventral prostate.
c) The sucrose density gradient analysis showed that Estramustine binding protein in the cytosol of ventral prostate have sedimentation coefficient of 3 to 4 S.

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6-Mercaptopurine-resistant sublines of L 1210 v/c murine leukemia cell were obtained by in vivo and in vitro treatment with 6-mercaptopurine. They were classified into high and low resistant sublines. The resistance level was maintained in the high resistant sublines even after serial subcultures in drug-free medium. The resistance of the low resistant sublines was unstable and was lost during subcultures. Comparison of [¹⁴C] 6-mercaptopurine uptake revealed that the uptake by sensitive cells was about 10 times higher than by the high resistant cell lines; the uptake by low resistant cell lines was intermediate between sensitsive and high resistant cells. The level of hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase in the two types of resistant subline and a sensitive line was the same. These and the [¹⁴C] 6-mercaptopurine and [¹⁴C] guanine incorporation data lead us to suggest that alterd cell membrane permeability may be an important factor in the expression of resistance. The level of adenine and cytosine-D-arabinofuranoside incorporation was the same in all three types of sublines, suggesting that the altered permeability was specific for 6-mercaptopurine.

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1. In order to determine the incidence of the cardiac involvement in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), electrocardiographic, mechanocardiographic and echocardiographic studies were carried out on 92 patients.
2. Electrocardiographic abnormalities were found in 31 of 92 cases (34 %). A slight left axis deviation from 0 to-30°, sporadic ventricular premature beats and T wave changes were frequent findings.
3. Although the systolic pressure was significantly higher in the presence of electrocardiographic abnormalities, electrocardiographic findings has no obvious relationship with the cardiothoracic ratio, heart rate, hemoglobin concentration or the result of RA test.
4. The preejection period/left ventricular ejection time ratios measured in 10 patients were almost the same as in the normal subjects, although the values tended to be greater in the cases with increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate and/or low hemoglobin concentration.
5. Echocardiography revealed evidences of pericardial effusion in 3 of 11 cases, while routine electrocardiograms and chest x-ray films were not contributory. The usefulness of echocardiography to detect a cardiac involvement in RA was suggested.

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An improved assay method for urinary polyamines using an automated amino acid analyzer was developed. Three ml of human urine was hydrolyzed in 6N HC1 at 110°C for 24 hrs. 1, 6-Diaminohexane (200 n moles) was added to serve as internal standard.The hydrolysates were evaporated to dryness at 60°C and then 3.5 ml of 50 mM EDTA (pH 7.0) was added. The supernatants were applied on the column (9×40mm) of Dowex 50W-X8 (H⁺) and amino acids were washed out with sodium phosphate buffer and HCl after the method of Inoue and Mizutani (1973). The polyamines were eluted with 6N HCl. The eluates were evaporated to dryness and then 0.5 ml of distilled water was added. The polyamines in aqueous extracts were analyzed by an automated amino acid analyzer. Amino acids and other ninhydrin-positive contaminants were first removed by the citrate buffer (pH 5.25) containing 0.5 M KCl. Polyamines and some biogenic amines were then eluted by the citrate buffer (pH 5.25) containing 1.6 M KCl.
Putrescine, spermidine, 1, 3-diaminopropane and cadaverine were found in all the urine samples analyzed. Spermine and histamine was detected only in some normal subjects and cancer patients. Urinary excretion of putrescine and spermidine in terms of μ moles per gm. creatinine was significantly increased in patients with advanced breast cancer. A ninhydrin-positive peak which eluted just before cadaverine was observed in some patients with breast cancer. The diagnostic significance of this unknown substance remains to be elucidated.

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Acute anisakiasis of stomach is caused by visceral larva migrans of anisakis larvae in the third stage. All patients of this disease have partaken of fresh raw fishes infested by anisakis larvae. In Gunma Prefecture, an inland area, acute anisakiasis of stomach has never occurred in the past, because of difficulty in supplying fresh raw fishes.
Currently, the development of transportation has made it easy to supply fresh raw fishes, therefore, the opportunity of eating them has increased in number, even in Gunma Prefecture. We have experienced two cases of acute anisakiasis of stomach in a short period in such an inland as Gunma Prefecture.
We should bear anisakiasis in mind in facing a patient with violent abdominal colics at the night after eating fresh raw fishes.
The endoscopy is considered to be the best method in making the diagnosis and treatment of acute anisakiasis of stomach, because anisakis larval nematode could be easily searched and removed by endoscopical operation of forceps.

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