We report a case of acute pancreatitis with diabetic ketoacidosis associated with increased serum myoglobin concentration, acute renal failure, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. A 49-year-old man suffering from diarrhea, vomiting, and somnolence was admitted to the hospital. He had had flu-like symptoms for 4 days prior to the onset of these symptoms. He was a habitual drinker and had been consuming 360 ml-900 ml of the drink "shochu" (distilled spirits containing 28% alcohol) daily for 30 years. Laboratory data on admission revealed elevated serum levels of pancreatic enzymes, including amylase, trypsin, lipase, pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor (PSTI), phospholipase A2 (PLA2), and elastase-1, as well as elevated levels of glucose (373 mg/dl), ketone bodies (3675 mumol/l), and myoglobin (229.8 ng/ml). Treatment with subcutaneous insulin and intravenous administration of electrolyte fluid and the systemic protease inhibitor, gabexate mesilate, was begun immediately. Early after the initiation of treatment, there was an increase in serum creatinine (4.9 mg/dl), and thromobocytopenia (15000/microliters) was observed. The patient completely recovered from renal failure and acute pancreatitis, but required insulin therapy. Alcohol ingestion and dehydration are thought to have played a major role in the triggering of the acute pancreatitis. We examined the relationship among acute pancreatitis, diabetic ketoacidosis, and hypermyoglobinemia in the literature.

A 44-year-old man with von Recklinghausen's disease was admitted to our hospital presenting with left hypochondralgia. Computed tomography showed a large mass at the body and tail of the pancreas, with metastatic liver tumors. Endoscopic retrograde pancreatography revealed an obstruction of the main pancreatic duct at the body. In the course of the illness, the patient's serum calcium concentration increased gradually to 13.6 mg/dl, although bone scan with 99mtechnetium demonstrated no accumulation in the bones. Serum levels of parathyroid hormone related-protein and tumor necrosis factor were also elevated. Based on these findings, he was diagnosed as having pancreatic cancer with liver metastases and humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy associated with von Recklinghausen's disease. Postmortem examination revealed a solid tumor, measuring 6.0 x 6.0 x 8.0 cm, in the body and tail of the pancreas. Histologically, the tumor was moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. The association of von Recklinghausen's disease with malignant neurogenic neoplasms is well established, whereas the association with non-neurogenic malignant neoplasm is considered to coincidental. Our current case suggests a possible relationship between von Recklinghausen's disease and pancreatic cancer.

Consistent account is provided of strongly anisotropic properties in thermodynamics of MgB 2 under magnetic field H using approximate analytic solution in the quasiclassical formalism. With the strength of the pairing interactions and the Fermi velocities of two bands as fitting parameters, it is possible to reproduce in wide regions of the phase diagram the H-and temperature dependences of relevant quantities such as the zero-energy density of states (ZEDOS), two energy gaps, the specific heat and the Hc2 anisotropy. It is demonstrated that the velocity ratio of two bands affects considerably the low-field behavior of the ZEDOS and energy gaps. The ratio also affects the high-temperature behavior of the Hc2 anisotropy. The anisotropy of the coherence length in the σ band depends weakly on H and T , whereas the coherence length in the π band remains isotropic even in the presence of the inter-band coupling.

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