Interethnic differences in debrisoquin and mephenytoin hydroxylation have been compared between normal white (n = 183) and Japanese (n = 100) subjects with the 8-hour urinary metabolic ratio of debrisoquin and the urinary S/R enantiomeric ratio of mephenytoin to identify extensive (EM) and poor (PM) metabolizers. In white subjects the frequency of PMs was 8.7% and 2.7% for debrisoquin and mephenytoin, respectively. In contrast, in Japanese subjects no PMs of debrisoquin were identified, while the incidence of PMs of mephenytoin was 18%. These substantial differences (P less than 0.001) in polymorphic distributions of oxidative drug metabolizing ability have implications for interethnic efficacy and toxicity of drugs and other xenobiotics that are metabolized by the involved cytochrome P-450 isozymes.

Gene alterations in TERT promoter, TP53, CTNNB1, and HBV integration were closely associated with HCC development, and mutations in TERT promoter are related to poor prognosis. These results are useful for understanding the underlying mechanism of hepatocarcinogenesis, diagnosis, and predicting outcomes of patients with HCC.

Pain is an unpleasant sensation, and at the same time, it is always subjective and affective. Ten healthy subjects viewed 3 counterbalanced blocks of images from the International Affective Picture System: images showing painful events and those evoking emotions of fear and rest. They were instructed to imagine pain in their own body while viewing each image showing a painful event (the imagination of pain). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared cerebral hemodynamic responses during the imagination of pain with those to emotions of fear and rest. The results show that the imagination of pain is associated with increased activity in several brain regions involved in the pain-related neural network, notably the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right anterior insula, cerebellum, posterior parietal cortex, and secondary somatosensory cortex region, whereas increased activity in the ACC and amygdala is associated with the viewing of images evoking fear. Our results indicate that the imagination of pain even without physical injury engages the cortical representations of the pain-related neural network more specifically than emotions of fear and rest; it also engages the common representation (i.e., in ACC) between the imagination of pain and the emotion of fear.

During cardiopulmonary bypass, a significant increase in the concentration of unbound propofol occurred without alteration in the total propofol concentration in blood. The effect of the changes of propofol's protein binding on its kinetics was consistent with the predictions based on the well-stirred model of hepatic elimination for an intravenously infused high-clearance drug. Our finding on propofol pharmacokinetics may be the first example demonstrating the theoretic prediction of the well-stirred model.