In order to find out a reliable marker for predicting malignant of hydatidiform mole, changes of hCG titer in urine and cell-mediated immunity were monitored in 10 molar patients before and after the evacuation.
In the present study, 4 out of 10 patients were diagnosed as successively malignant trophoblastic disease at least 4 weeks or more after the evacuation on the basis of high urinary hCG level and following PAG.
Between successive and non successive trophoblastic disease, a significant difference was found in the response of DNA synthesies of peripheral lymphocytes to PHA measured by the micro whole blood culture method.
On the other hand, sera obtained from the patients with successive change suppressed more significantly the DNA synthesies of healthy volunteer's lymphocyte than sera from the patients without successive change.
This immunosuppressive effect was already observed even at the state of mole in utero.
The results might suggest the immunosuppressive effect of sera could discriminate successive changes of hydatidiform mole markedly faster than hCG titer, hence a newer and reliable method for predicting a prognosis of the molar pregnancy was proposed.

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Thymus humoral factor (THF) has been described to have an ability of differentiating the precursor T-cells (PTC) into mature lymphocytes endowing T-cell characteristics. The present study concerned itself with the examination of an effect of calf THF on T-cell differentiation in 54 patients with uterine cervical cancer and 21 healthy volunteers. In this study an increment of responding capacity of lymphoid cells to concanavalin A (Con A) was measured to test the differentiation-inducing ability of THF in vitro.
The result was expressed as % increase of Con A response of the calf THF-treated group to that of the non-treated. The % increase was 8.0±7.7% in healthy volunteers, 25.3±20.4% in patients in Stage 0, 25.4±15.2% in Stage I, 11.8±13.0% in Stage II and 3.8±11.7% in Stage III-IV. The % increase was found to be elevated significantly in patients with Stage 0 and I (p<0.01), in spite of little decrease in lymphocyte and T-cell count in unit volume of peripheral blood. Meanwhile, that was no longer observed in patients with advanced cancer (Stage III and IV).
These results might indicate that the calf THF-sensitive cells, which are able to be differentiated into T-cells by the factor, accumulated in the peripheral blood of patients with early cancer due to depressed production of THF in the thymus. In addition to the depressed THF production, PTC production in bone marrow also might appear to decrease in later stages.

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To clarify the initiation and duration of follicular steroidogenesis at various follicular components in relation to follicle development, 50 human ovaries were histochemically studied with 16μ Ethick cryostat sections. The activities of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3βHSD), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and monoamine oxidase (MAO) were examined by Wattenberg's, Rudolph-Klein's and Glenner's methods, respectively. Follicles were classified according to their diameter and the thickness of granulosa cell layers with the semi serial cross-sections. In the theca internal layer, 3βHSD and G6PDH start to reveal their activities when the follicle grows up around 1mm in diameter and has 3-10 layers of granulosa cells. In granulosa cells of the follicle over 10mm in diameter and 7-20 granulosa layers, there observed weak to moderate activities of 3βHSD and G6PDH. The localization and intensity of MAO activity were similar to those of 3βHSD. From these results it is indicated that steroidogenesis began in the follicle around 1mm in diameter, and progesterone secretion had already begun in the granulosa layers of the follicle 10-15mm in diameter before ovulation. MAO in human ovary seems to be deeply involved in sex steroid production.

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In recent years the self-collecting method of smear taking has become popular in Japan, for the early detection of carcinoma of the cervix, and in mass screening. However, most doctors think that the selfcollecting method's diagnostic accuracy rate for malignancy is far lower than that of ordinary methods, such as professional scraping in outpatients' clinics. This study sets out to decide which cytologic technique is more accurate, and what per cent of false negative results arise from them individually.
In 1972 in the outpatients' clinic of the Center for Adult Diseases in Osaka, the authors examined about 3886 cases for possible uterine cancer. Those finally diagnosed as such numbered 273. -If we say “negative” regarding doctor-taken smear, but the case is diagnosed within a year as CIS, then we judge it to be false negative. But if it is not diagnosed as CIS until after a year has passed from the first diagnosis, we do not call it false negative. With invasive carcinoma, if within 2 years the case is diagnosed as invasive carcinoma, we say it is false negative, but if after 2 years it is diagnosed as invasive carcinoma, we do not call it false negative. -According to this criterion, false negative cases among the 273 for carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma of the cervix numbered 33, and true positive numbered 121.
We applied the same criterion to 6943 self-collecting smears performed from 1973 through 1976. Those finally diagnosed as uterine cancer numbered 180. Final diagnosis of false negative among them for carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma of the cervix were 3, and true positive 34.
According to the formula false negative rate (%)=false negative cases/true positive cases+false negative cases×100, We found that the rate of false negative cases in the outpatients' clinic was 21.4% and that with the selfcollecting method it was 8.1%.
Only from the examination of such cases can we get the true false negative rate. If we compare only the statistics, then it looks as if the physician-scraped collection technique is worse than that of the selfcollecting smear method. Of course outpatients' clinic cases are sometimes very difficult to diagnose, and need further examination. But on the other hand, the self-collecting smear method usually allows only one chance in a year for examination, and if diagnosed as negative when actually they are positive, can lead to most serious consequences.
It is difficult, therefore, to make a flat statement regarding which technique is altogether more valuable. However, the authors would like to say as a kind of reassurance that the self-collecting smear method is not as unreliable as it is generally held to be in the early detection of cervical cancer.

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