Two patients with recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma close to the diaphragma, underwent TAE following decollateralization using silicone rubber sheeting with thoracotomy. The patients suffered from severe liver cirrhosis. Laparotomy was not carried out for the preservation of hepatic function. After wrapping therapy, serum AFP level was reduced to almost the normal range in one case, but in another case to half because of bilateral lung metastasis. The maximum serum level of postoperative serum total bilirubin in these 2 cases was 2.0 mg/dl and 1.6 mg/dl, respectively. We think wrapping therapy with thoracotomy is readily applicable for patients with severe cirrhosis.
Aspartame, a dipeptide L-a-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methvl ester: a sweetener, tends to crystallize from an aqueous solution as extremely fine needles (or fibres) with diameters of 10wm or less, unsuitable for industrial process operations.Crystals obtained by a new industrial crystallization method (
The water-extract from "Bezoar bovis", a drug used in Chinese traditional medicine, was examined for its ability to alter the beating pattern of spontaneously contracting cultured embryonic mouse myocardial cells following changes in extracellular calcium (Ca2+). Incubation of the cells with medium containing low Ca2+ concentration (0.4 mM) caused the number of beating cells and beating rate to decrease and the number of arrhythmic cells to increase. By contrast, the number of beating cells decreased while beating rate and the number of arrhythmic cells increased at high Ca2+ (20 mM). Addition of Bezoar bovis extract to the medium attenuated the response to varying Ca2+ concentration. One of the major constituents of Bezoar bovis extract, taurine, was effective in protecting against the abnormal beating pattern induced by high Ca2+. Since beta-alanine, an inhibitor of taurine transport, antagonized the protective effects of both Bezoar bovis and taurine, it is likely that the effect of Bezoar bovis is partially mediated by taurine.
