Effects of Aflatoxin B1 and Poor-Protein Diet In Hamsters Infected with Opisthorchis viverrini

Forty-two  male Syrian Golden hamsters, maintained on a 5.3% protein diet, were experimentally infected with 50 metacercarine of Opisthorchis viverrini. An oral dose of 0.05 mg aflatoxin B1 was then administered to each animal once weekly for 12 weeks and the low protein diet further maintained for a subsequent period of 6 months. Histopathological examination of the livers revealed bile ductular proliferation, dilatation of larger bile ducts with granuloma formation and pseudopapillary epithelial proligeration associated with nuclear pleomorphism, hyperchromicity and pasudostratifica tion of the lining columnar cells. Atypia of hepatocytes  was pronounced within the hepatic lobules in 64% of the hamsters. Some livers also had focal hyperplasia of Kupffer cells and parenchymal architectural alteration due to fibrous tissue proliferation within the hepatic parenchyma and around portal areas. The epidemiology of primary hepatic epithelial tumours in Thailand is discussed with particular reference to the contributory roles of endemic liver fluke infestation , low-protein diet and widespread contamination of food by aflatoxin. 

Physiological Study and Roles of Surgical Management in Patient with Rectal Prolapse*

  This Report is a part of learning during which the author (VV) was studying in Gastrointestinal Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh under the Grant of Ananthamahidol Foundation.         The clinical and manometric features and surgical course of thirty patients with rectal prolapse treated by polyvinyl sponge rectopexy were reviewed. The female : male ratio was 14 : 1 ; the highest incidence is in the sixth and seventh dexades. Twenty patients had associated anorectal incontinence. 50% of the women had previous hysterectomy and / or pelvic floor repair for uterine prolapse and five women had urinary incontinence. More than 30% of the patients had a significant history of mental illness. Ten patients had previously had fourteen other surgical procedures for rectal prolapse. Five patients required further surgery, three by postanal repair. Maximum resting and squeeze anal canal pressures were signigicantly reduced only in rectal prolapse associated with anorectal incontinence.          Treatment by minor surgical procedures in the elderly and psychiatric patients leads to high reoperation rates. Prior manometric and electrophysiological assessment of the pelvic floor may further improve their management and clinical outcome.