Background/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify the effectiveness of interventions for breast cancer patients with psychological distress by a clinical psychologist on the basis of the contents of the interventions and counseling. Methods: The participants were 20 inpatient and outpatient women aged from 33 to 73 years who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The interventions were conducted on the basis of patients' complaints about anxiety and/or depression or by a medical doctor's request. The interventions employed unstructured, one-on-one interviews. Each interview usually lasted no more than 60 minutes. Results: The 20 cases were classified into the following categories: (1) 15 general (nonpsychiatric) cases, consisting of (1-1) 9 cases at the cancer-notification and progressive-therapeutic stages and (1-2) 6 cases at the progressive-relapse stage; and (2) 5 specific (psychiatric) cases, consisting of (2-1) 3 cases at the cancer-notification and progressive-therapeutic stages and (2-2) 2 cases at the progressive-relapsestage. As for the general cases, interventions were found to be effective in all 9 cases at the cancer-notification and progressive-therapeutic stages but in only 2 of 6 cases at the progressive-relapse stage. In specific cases, effective interventions were found at the cancer-notification, the progressive-therapeutic, and the progressive-relapsestages. Conclusion: This study suggested that interventions for breast cancer patients by a clinical psychologist are effective. The psychological interventions had two roles: to assess the patients properly and to interview the patients as purposefully as a medical team member would.

Oxygen uptake and cardiorespiratory parameters were measured during submaximal and maximal work in flume swimming, bicycling and treadmill running, in order to compare physiological responses of swimmers to those three types of exercise. Subjects were divided into three groups according to the level of swimming training, i, e., 5 less trained water polo players (group A), 5 male well trained college swimmers (group B) and 14 male elite swimmers (group C) .
V_2max during swimming in group A (3.11 1/min) was 5% lower than during bicy cling, while those in group B (3.63 1/min) and C (4.12 1/min) were 9% and 11% higher, respectively. Comparing with running, Vo_2max during swimming was 19% lower in group A, and was about the same in group B.
V_E and V_E/ Vo₂ were lower during submaximal and maximal swimming compared with bicyling and running, in all groups except the maximal work of group C. Lower V_E during swimming resulted from lower f as well as lower V_T. The difference in V_A between during swimming and during running, bicycling was small compared with that in V_E.
Q during swimming increased almost linearly with Vo₂ in all groups. At a given Vo_2submax, Q was about the same in three types of exercise. Q during maximal swimming in group A (19.7 1/min) and B (21.3 1/min) were similar compared with bicycling, but were 16% and 11% lower compared with running, respectively. Q_max during swimming in group C (23.8 1/min) was 5% higher compared with bicycling.
HR increased almost linealy with Vo₂ in all exercise. At a given Vo_2submax, HR was 4-5 beats/min less during running than during bicycling, and was 10-20 beats/min less during swimming than during those two types of exercise. HR_max was lower during swimming compared with bicycling or running in all groups. A similar Q at submaximal work during three types of exercise resulted from higher SV and lower HR in swimming.

Purpose: Most studies have investigated the differences in postgastrectomy quality of life (QOL) based on the surgical procedure or reconstruction method adopted; only a few studies have compared QOL based on tumor location. This large-scale study aims to investigate the differences in QOL between patients with esophagogastric junction cancer (EGJC) and those with upper third gastric cancer (UGC) undergoing the same gastrectomy procedure to evaluate the impact of tumor location on postoperative QOL. Methods: The Postgastrectomy Syndrome Assessment Scale-45 (PGSAS-45) questionnaire was distributed in 70 institutions to 2,364 patients who underwent gastrectomy for EGJC or UGC.A total of 1,909 patients were eligible for the study, and 1,744 patients who underwent total gastrectomy (TG) or proximal gastrectomy (PG) were selected for the final analysis. These patients were divided into EGJC and UGC groups; thereafter, the PGSAS-45 main outcome measures (MOMs) were compared between the two groups for each type of gastrectomy. Results: Among the post-TG patients, only one MOM was significantly better in the UGC group than in the EGJC group. Conversely, among the post-PG patients, postoperative QOL was significantly better in 6 out of 19 MOMs in the UGC group than in the EGJC group. Conclusions Tumor location had a minimal effect on the postoperative QOL of post-TG patients, whereas among post-PG patients, there were definite differences in postoperative QOL between the two groups. It seems reasonable to conservatively estimate the benefits of PG in patients with EGJC compared to those in patients with UGC.

Androgens play a central role in prostate cancer pathogenesis, and hence most of the patients respond to androgen deprivation therapies. However, patients tend to relapse with aggressive prostate cancer, which has been termed as hormone refractory. To identify the proteins that mediate progression to the hormone-refractory state, we used protein-chip technology for mass profiling of patients' sera. This study included 16 patients with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer who were initially treated with androgen deprivation therapy. Serum samples were collected from each patient at five time points: point A, pre-treatment; point B, at the nadir of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level; point C, PSA failure; point D, the early hormone-refractory phase; and point E, the late hormone-refractory phase. Using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, we performed protein mass profiling of the patients' sera and identified a 6 640-Da peak that increased with disease progression. Target proteins were partially purified, and by amino acid sequencing the peak was identified as a fragment of apolipoprotein C-I (ApoC-I). Serum ApoC-I protein levels increased with disease progression. On immunohistochemical analysis, the ApoC-I protein was found localized to the cytoplasm of the hormone-refractory cancer cells. In this study, we showed an increase in serum ApoC-I protein levels in prostate cancer patients during their progression to the hormone-refractory state, which suggests that ApoC-I protein is related to progression of prostate cancer. However, as the exact role of ApoC-I in prostate cancer pathogenesis is unclear, further research is required.
Aged ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal ; therapeutic use ; Apolipoprotein C-I ; analysis ; blood ; isolation & purification ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Line ; Disease Progression ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Prognosis ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Protein Array Analysis ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is 1 of the 2 major phenotypes of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which afflicts millions of individuals throughout the world with debilitating symptoms that impair function and quality of life. Further, IBD often affects women during childbearing age. Indeed, UC activity frequently increases during pregnancy, and the medications used to induce remission may adversely affect the health of the mother and the unborn child. We report successful induction of a remission in a UC case who experienced a flare-up in the first trimester of pregnancy. Upon relapse, she was treated with steroids and adsorptive granulomonocytapheresis (GMA) with the Adacolumn plus tacrolimus. This combination therapy induced a stable remission that was maintained during her entire pregnancy. She gave birth to a healthy child at 36 weeks of pregnancy with no maternal or fetal complications. Our experience indicates that GMA, as a non-drug therapeutic intervention with a favorable safety profile, plus tacrolimus might be a relevant treatment option for patients with active IBD during pregnancy. A future study of a large cohort of pregnant patients should strengthen our findings.
Child ; Cohort Studies ; Colitis, Ulcerative* ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Mothers ; Parturition ; Phenotype ; Pregnancy Trimester, First ; Pregnancy* ; Quality of Life ; Recurrence ; Steroids ; Tacrolimus* ; Ulcer*

An aortoesophageal fistula is a critical condition with high operative mortality. A case of aortoesophageal fistula following thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair is reported. The patient was a 72-year-old man complaining of dysphagia who underwent stent grafting for a saccular aneurysm of the descending aorta that was compressing the esophagus four months earlier. Endoscopic examination showed perforation of the aneurysm into the esophagus with severe stenosis. The aneurysmal sac was filled with thrombus. Aortography demonstrated a type I endoleak from the lesser curvature of the aortic arch, draining into the aneurysmal sac. The patient was afebrile with moderate elevation of C-reactive protein, and the white blood cell count was normal. The patient underwent closure of the aneurysmal entry with healthy aortic wall and replacement of the descending aortic aneurysm with a prosthetic graft. The graft was isolated from the fistula by an omental flap. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful. Computed tomography performed 4 years after the surgery showed shrinkage of the aneurysmal sac. The patient has had a healthy life for 9 years since the operation.