A new capacitance pletysmograph to monitor respiration in unrestrained small animals was developed. It measures the change of electrical capacitance between the animal and a surrounding fixed electrode. The output of this device is stable and proportional to the change of capacitance.
In the balloon model, there was high correlation between the changes of volume and capacitance. In comparing signals of a capacitance pletysmograph with signals of a pneumotachograph in four guinea-pigs, their tracings were very similar and their phases correlated well.
In bronchial histamine challenge tests, attacks were precipitated in eleven out of twelve cases. In four of them, simultaneous monitoring with a pneumotachograph was done. Prior to the attack, which was recognized by eye, flat end-expiratory phases appeared in all the provoked cases. Hysteresis was observed in the X-Y tracing of the volume integrated from the flow vs. capacitance. In the course of the attacks, paradoxical changes in the end-expiratory phases and increments of hysteresis were observed.
The onset and grading of asthmatic attacks could be distinguished precisely with this system. Comparison with the pneumotachograph was useful to analyse the mechanism of the asthma attack in the experimental model.

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Association constants of antiDNPIgE and IgG were comparatively measured by the methods of equilibrium dialysis and antiglobulin precipitated antibody.
SD mice were immunized with DNP-Ascaris and pertussis vaccine and boosted on day 5. On the 8 th day, they produced antiDNPIgE antibody. After fractionation of the serum in phosphate buffer, the 0.005M fraction contained IgG, and the 0.035M fraction contained IgE antibody. Purified IgG antibody was obtained through DNP-CM cellulose column chromatography. The association constant of this purified antibody was 1.25 × 10⁷ l/mol on equilibrium dialysis and 1.3 × 10⁷l/mol using antiblobulin precipitated antibody method. Using the antiglobulin method, the measured association constant of the sample IgG fraction was 1.9 × 10⁷ l/mol, while that of the IgE fraction was 1.0 × 10⁷ l/mol. The heterogeneity indices of IgG and IgE were 0.7 and 0.9 respectively.
In conclusion, in terms of Fab affinity, antiDNPIgE is almost the same as antiDNPIgG.

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One hundred and six patients with Graves' disease who had been treated with methylmercaptoimidazole (MMI) were examined. The 3-hour and 24-hour thyroidal ¹²³I uptake after T₃ administration (75μg/day for, 2 weeks) were measured (post T₃ uptake). In the 38 patients whose post T₃ 24-hour uptake was below 35%, treatment was stopped and the T₃ suppression test was then repeated after 1, 3 and 12 months. During the one-year follow up, 26 remained well, while 12 relapsed within 6 to 12 months.
We observed a good correlation between the post T₃ 3-hour and 24-hour uptake.
Most of the 38 patients produced a marked overshoot of post T₃ 3-hour and 24-hour uptakes at one month. Twenty of 38 patients showed negative 24-hour T₃ suppression at one month. In the post T₃ 3-hour uptake, 14 of 60 patients showed negative suppression at one month after withdrawal of MMI. Retrospective analysis indicated that there was no significant change in thyroid parameters and thyroid stimulators.
The mechanism of overshoot phenomenon is probably independent of thyroid stimulators. It is tempting to assume that an intrathyroidal mechanism changes and induces the high uptake after T₃ administration.

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The changes in clinical features and pathogenesis of intractable asthma over two decades were clarified in this study. There has been an increase in older intractable asthmatics, the age of onset has advanced, and the duration of asthma has become shorter compared with 20 years ago.
Intractable asthmatics were classified into 16 types according to the 4 factors of allergy, aspirin sensitivity, heredity, and respiratory infection. The clinical features of 57 cases of intractable asthma were studied with respect to the 4 factor groups and their classification. The result showed that respiratory infection occurred more often in intractable asthma than in non-intractable asthma, and that fewer cases of intractable asthma have allergy compared with non-intractable asthma.
MAST for 26 allergens showed that the positive ratio in intractable asthma was lower than it in non-intractable asthma. Chest X ray photographs, CT scan photographs and complications were examined in intractable asthma. Many organic abnormalities in the lung and complications such as diabetes mellitus were often observed, and such abnormalities induced respiratory infections with consequent asthmatic attacks in the intractable asthmatic patients. Thus infectious factor occurs predominantly in their classification.

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We prepared a depot preparation of LH-RH agonist (PLAC), using the polymer of DL-lactic acid as a biodegradable carrier. In this study, we investigated the long term hormonal effect of administration of PLAC in men with prostate cancer. Serum levels of LH, FSH, testosterone and LH-RH agonist were measured by RIA for up to 96 weeks. The serum LH-RH agonist level kept relatively constant during the first 6 weeks and was still detectable at 8 weeks after implantation. From this result, it was decided that PLAC was administered subcutaneously every 8 weeks, and treatment continued until the disease progression. On the first day of the first implantation of PLAC, large increases in both serum LH and FSH levels were observed. The LH and FSH levels began to fall on the second day, reaching the initial values after 7 day and 3 days, respectively. Thereafter the LH levels continued to reduce and remained low up to the 13th implantation. On the other hand, the FSH levels showed a trend to return to the pretreatment levels, unlike the basal LH levels which remained suppressed throughout PLAC therapy. The testosterone fell into the castrate levels at 3 weeks after the fist implantation and then maintained the same level for up to 96 weeks. In this study, we observed that the pattern of the FSH response was different from that of LH. The FSH level measured at 3 hours after each implantation, gradually increased with every additional implantation, reaching the pretreatment value at the 13th implantation. This phenomenon was not observed with the LH levels and this suggested that the mechanisms of LH and FSH synthesis and release were not affected to the same degree by the LH-RH agonist treatment.

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We studied the localization of the prostate and the urinary bladder in normal male Wistar rats by ultrasound.
The prostate was located in the middle and slightly to the dorsal side of the pelvic cavity on the transverse and longitudinal planes. It showed an isoechoic sonogram.
The urinary bladder was located cranial to the prostate on the longitudinal plane and in the middle of the pelvic cavity. It was identified easily and showed a cystic pattern. The seminal vesicles were located to the right and left of the urinary bladder and showed cystic patterns.
Ultrasound was thought to be useful for the identification of these structures.

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Aortic lesions from hypertensive rats (SHR) fed a high fat diet (10% lard, 1 % cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid) for 1-1.5years were studied by electron microscope. The rats used in this study were the same as those used in a previous report (Kitakanto Med. J., 40, 1990). Intimal thickening consisting of fine granular and fibrillar (“basement membrane-like”) materials was seen. Foam cells, blood mononuclear cells and processes of the medial smooth muscle cells were found in the intima. Giant “ghost bodies” were noticed in the thickened intima and the media of the aortas. Intracellular and extracellular ghost bodies were found in both intimal and medial muscle cells. They were considered to be derived from smooth muscle cytoplasm. Hypercholesterolemia and hypertension caused smooth muscle injury and formed the “ghost bodies”.

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Aortography by means of radial artery inject on is an useful method for the diagnosis of some kinds of congenital heart diseases in infancy because it is a safe, simple, and non-invasive technique. We have performed aortography by means of radial artery injection in 43 (29 male, 14 female) patients at Gunma Children's Medical Center for 8 years from 1982. A radial artery was cannulated by a 22 or 24 gauge angiocath percutaneously, and a non-ionic contrast medium, iohexol (Omnipaque^R 350, 1.02.0ml/kg of body weight), was injected into the radial artery in 2 seconds. We diagnosed aortic arch anomalies in 28 patients (interrupted aortic arch type A in 5 patients, type B in 7 patients, coarctation of the aorta in 9 patients, hypoplastic left heart syndrome in 4 patients, vascular ring in 3 patients), ductus-dependent congenital heart diseases associated with pulmonary atresia in 13 patients (Tetralogy of Fallot in 7 patients, tricuspid atresia in 2 patients, pure pulmonary atresia in 1 patient, single ventricle in 1 patient, asplenia syndrome in 1 patient, polysplenia syndrome in 1 patient) and patent ductus arteriosus in 2 patients. There were no severe complications from this procedure.

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Blood samples taken from children with non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH) (n=11, Group 1) and from children with malignant disease and a history of frequent blood transfusions (n=39, Group 2) were tested for the presence of antibodies to C100-3 and the RNA sequences of hepatitis C virus (HCV). The antibody was studied in all cases. The RNA was studied by means of the polymerase chain reaction in all cases of Group 1 and 23 cases of Group 2. Both antibody and RNA were detected in two out of the eleven children in Group 1, both of whom had received blood transfusions several months prior to the test. Neither antibody nor RNA was detected in the remaining cases in Group 1.
Antibody was positive in two out of the 39 Group 2 children, and RNA was positive in five out of 23. In Group 2, no cases were positive for both tests. An increase in blood GPT level was noted in all cases of Group 2 with positive results.
In conclusion, HCV infection is relatively rare in children of NANBH. There is a considerable discrepancy between the presence of antibody to C100-3 and the presence of RNA sequences.

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From January 1984 to August 1990, 5 cases of perforated gastric cancer were treated in Tano General Hospital. We compared these cases clinicopathologically with 72 cases reported recently in Japan.
1) 18.5% of cases of upper gastrointestinal perforation were due to perforated gastric cancer.
2) Statistically, the male/female ratio is reported as being 2 to 1, but our cases were all male.
3) The main symptom was nonspecific abdominal pain, and only 27% of 59 cases were accurately diagnosed before operation.
4) One fourth of 51 cases had prior examination such as fibrescopy and barium roentgenogram.
5) The macroscopic types of the perforated cancers (64 cases) were Borrmann 2 (17), 3 (32), 4 (6), and early cancer (9).
6) The sites of perforation were mainly on the anterior wall of the corpus (24), the antrum (20), and on the lesser curvature of the antrum (8).
7) There was no difference in frequency of perforation between histologically differentiated and undifferentiated tumors.
8) At operation, the cancer was liable to be judged more advanced than on histological staging.
9) 10 cases out of 59 survived more than three years. The incidence of death within a month after operation was very high at 25.4%, due to cases being far advanced, and patients being elderly compared with those with peptic ulcer.

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The case of 41 year-old man with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and severe type V hyperlipidemia is reported. On admission, the fasting plasma glucose was 157 mg/dl and Hb A_1c 9.8%. The serum total cholesterol was 638 mg/dl, triglyceride 2, 779 mg/dl, apoprotein (apo) A-I 174 mg/dl, apo A-II 86.9 mg/dl, apo B 475 mg/dl and apo E 28.2 mg/dl. Agar gel electrophoresis revealed increased chylomicron and beta lipoprotein. The serum apoproteins were normalized by diet therapy. However, the oral administration of 75 g of olive oil induced a marked increase in the serum triglyceride even with good control of the diabetes by appropriate diet. We postulate that insufficient chylomicron receptor may be responsible for the abnormalities of serum lipids in this patient.

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A case of breast carcinoma forming multiple cysts is presented. The patient was a 67-year-old female with multiple tumors in the right breast. Mammography showed dense tumor shadows with microcalcification. Echography revealed multiple cysts with intracystic protrusion. Furthermore, the tumors were displayed as hot region by thermography. A radical mastectomy was performed after excision of the tumors. The cut surface of the tumors showed multiple cysts with a protrusion. Light microscopically, several cysts showing proliferation of intracystic papillo-tubular carcinoma were observed. From these findings, we considered that the cystic tumors in this case might be a special type of intracystic carcinoma of the breast. Generally, intracystic carcinoma of the breast is considered to arise from malignant transformations of an intraductal papilloma or a benign cyst wall. However, we speculated that the tumors of the present case were formed of the obstruction of ducts by an intraductal carcinoma.

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