Surgical treatment for rectal cancer with abnormally expanded inferior mesenteric vein resulting from pancreatic arteriovenous malformations.

A 52-year-old Japanese man presented for evaluation and treatment of rectal cancer. Screening computed tomography revealed pancreatic arteriovenous malformations (P-AVMs) and abnormally expanded inferior mesenteric vein (IMV) that resulted from P-AVMs. One-stage surgery for rectal cancer was dangerous so we first performed distal pancreatectomy to cure P-AVM and thus normalize the abnormally expanded IMV. After the operation, the IMV was occluded by the thrombi, and then the IMV became normal. We could perform safely radical laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer. This is the first case report of P-AVMs combined with rectal cancer.

Porcelain veneer bonding to enamel with plasma-arc light resin curing.

The resin bond strength of plasma-arc curing in restorative dentistry was investigated in comparison to halogen-light curing with respect to two kinds of thickness, shade and opacity of porcelain laminate veneers. The bond strength of the light-cured resin was evaluated by shear tests and SEM observations of the fracture surfaces, and the results were interpreted in terms of the degree of resin polymerization. It was found that plasma-arc curing for 6 s was sufficient to obtain bond strengths similar to those of specimens polymerized with halogen light for 40 s, whereas the plasma-arc curing time needed to be doubled to 12 s in order to achieve similar failure patterns for a darker-shade porcelain of 2 mm thickness. The bond strength achieved by plasma-arc curing was found to be relatively unaffected by the shade or opacity of porcelain.

Developmental Changes of Ecdysteroids in the Eggs of the Silkworm, Bombyx mori.

Ecdysteroids were studied in relation to embryonic development and diapause of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. The majority of the ecdysteroids was found to be in the conjugated form, and minor part, in the free form. In the developing eggs, 2-deoxyecdysone, 2-deoxy-20-hydroxy-ecdysone and 3-epi-ecdysone were found to have the free ecdysteroid form as well as the conjugated ecdysteroid form. Ecdysone and 20-hydroxyecdysone almost exclusively had the conjugated form. The concentration of ecdysteroids in the embryo was higher than that in yolkplasm in the early embryonic stages. During the embryonic diapause, the concentration of free ecdysteroids decreased to a low level while the conjugated form maintained the original level.

POLYOL ACCUMULATION IN IN VITRO SYSTEMS OF BOMBYX EGGS.

The mechanism of polyol accumulation in diapausing Bombyx eggs, conversion of [6-14 C] glucose-6-phosphate into polyols and other neutral sugars was investigated in in vitro reaction systems. When a crude homogenate or a press juice of the eggs was incubated with [6-14 C]glucose-6-P, the labelled trehalose, sorbitol and glycerol accumulated in the reaction mixture. In the press juice incubation system of developing eggs at day 1, 14 C-sorbitol was detected in appreciable amounts, but it decreased rapidly with the development of the embryos. When the press juice was prepared from eggs in diapause, the formation of 14 C-sorbitol was 3-5 times greater in eggs at early stages (day 2 to day 4) than in developing eggs.

BIOSYNTHESIS OF ECDYSONE IN THE ISOLATED ABDOMEN OF THE SILKWORM, BOMBYX MORI.

During pupal-adult development of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, the ecdysone titer changes, exhibiting two maxima in the females: one on the second day of pupal development and the other just before adult emergence. During the second maximum, ecdysone accumulates in the ovaries. It also accumulates in isolated abdomens, which were prepared just after pupal ecdysis and induced to initiate adult development by injection with ß-ecdysone. Several lines of evidence suggest that ecdysone is synthesized in the ovary itself.

EFFECT OF ECDYSONE ON THE OVARIAN DEVELOPMENT OF BOMBYX SILKWORM.

From the ligation experiments, it is indicated that the secretion from prothoracic glands during early pupal period induces the ovarian development in female pupa of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. The exogenous ß-ecdysone injected into isolated pupal abdomen also induces the initiation of the ovarian development.

CONJUGATED ECDYSONE IN THE EGGS OF THE SILKWORM, BOMBYX MORI.

A high activity of molting hormone (ecdysone) was detected in the extract of unfertilized, diapausing and developing silkworm eggs. The active substance in the diapause eggs behaved as a highly polar molecule at partitioning between n-butanol and water, and also in TLC. The majority of the activity seems to be due to a conjugated ecdysone, since the polar active substance was changed to a less polar substance upon treatment with "snail enzymes".

CYCLIC NUCLEOTIDE-DEPENDENT PROTEIN KINASES FROM SILKWORM EGGS: OCCURRENCE OF TWO CYCLIC NUCLEOTIDE-DEPENDENT PROTEIN KINASES, CHANGES IN THEIR ACTIVITIES AND LEVELS OF CYCLIC NUCLEOTIDES DURING DEVELOPMENT OF THE EGGS.

Two cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein kinases, designated as protein kinase-I and -II, were obtained from the eggs of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Protein kinase-I is highly dependent on cGMP, whereas protein kinase-II is dependent on cAMP. In developing non-diapause eggs, the level of cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein kinase activity is quite high but that in the diapause eggs is not. The developmental changes in the two protein kinases and the level of cyclic nucleotides were also studied during the development of the eggs.