Cardiorespiratory function as assessed by exercise testing in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Exercise testing was used to examine 19 cardiorespiratory diabetes mellitus patients, aged 32-68 years (body mass index, 27.8 +/- 4.8 kg/m2), and 16 healthy volunteers, aged 23-57 years (body mass index, 22.7 +/- kg/m2). A graded cycling exercise test was done, monitoring gas exchange, ventilation and heart rate. Values were significantly higher in the non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients than in the controls for fasting blood glucose (P < 0.01), glycosylated haemoglobin (P < 0.01), body weight (P < 0.05) and body mass index (P < 0.05). The exercise testing produced values that were significantly lower in the patients with NIDDM than in the controls for percentage oxygen uptake (P < 0.05), maximum load (P < 0.05), maximum metabolic equivalent (P < 0.01) and maximum oxygen uptake per unit body weight (P < 0.01). Ventilatory capacity and forced expiratory volume at 1 sec did not differ significantly in the two groups. These results suggest that general fitness is diminished due to reduced cardiorespiratory function in patients with NIDDM.

[A case of gastric cancer in which long-term administration of 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5'-DFUR) proved effective].

A patient with gastric cancer (mucinous adenocarcinoma), classified as Borrmann Type 4, refused surgery and a chemotherapy regimen was applied. 5'-DFUR (5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine) was administered orally at 1,200 mg/day for 23 weeks, for a total dosage of 110.8 g. The patient showed marked remission: the tumor nearly disappeared, distensibility reappeared from the central region of the corpus ventriculi to the incisura angularis, and only small protrusions classified by Yamada's criteria as Type I, remained on the anterior and posterior wall and pars pylorica of the lesser curvature. Side effects were slight anorexia and diarrhea. These could be avoidable by temporal interruption of administration or dosage reduction, to allow long-term treatment. This case can be considered to be one example in which 5'-DFUR proved effective against gastric cancer.