Metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma to bone in a liver transplant patient four years after liver transplantation: report of a case.
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Biopsy↗
Biomedical subjects
A Endo
Publications and source records attributed to A Endo.
An objective comparison of four digital intra-oral radiographic systems: sensitometric properties and resolution.
OBJECTIVES: To compare the sensitometric properties and resolution of four digital intra-oral radiographic systems. METHODS: Three CCD-based systems were evaluated, RVG-4 (Trophy Radiologic, Paris, France) CDR (Schick Technologies Inc, Long Island, NY, USA) and Dixel (Morita, Kyoto, Japan) and a photostimulable phosphor system (Digora, Soredex-Orion, Helsinki, Finland). The sensitometric properties were determined by measuring the gray levels at increasing exposures without making any gray-scale adjustments. MTF was measured using images of a 10 microns width slit inclined to the long and short axes of the detectors. RESULTS: The CCD-based systems showed a linear relationship between exposure and gray level although there were some differences in sensitivity. In RVG-4, the gray level saturated at a lower exposure. Digora showed a logarithmic relationship at uniform exposure. However, there was a linear relationship when it was exposed below the calibration dose. The MTF was highest with RVG-4 and the lowest with the Digora. CONCLUSIONS: Each system has its own specific properties; RVG-4 has the highest resolution with the narrowest latitude, whereas Digora has the wider latitude but the lowest resolution.
Absorptiometry, Photon↗
Augmented response in plasma brain natriuretic peptide to dynamic exercise in patients with left ventricular dysfunction and congestive heart failure.
OBJECTIVES: We have previously demonstrated that patients with symptomatic congestive heart failure (CHF), but not with asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction (LVD), have augmented plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) response to exercise. Plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) response to exercise is less extensively studied. The aim of this study was to determine whether responses of plasma BNP during exercise normalized for exercise workload are altered in patients with LVD and CHF. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty-nine patients with LVD, 32 patients with CHF (NYHA classes II-III) and 27 age-matched control subjects were studied. Ventilatory, plasma ANP and BNP responses were assessed during symptom-limited cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Plasma natriuretic peptide levels were measured at rest and immediately after peak exercise. The increment in plasma BNP was divided by the increment in oxygen uptake (VO2) from rest to peak exercise, and this ratio [BNP exercise ratio: (peak BNP - rest BNP)/(peak VO2 - rest VO2)] was compared amongst the three groups. RESULTS: Peak VO2 (Control, LVD and CHF: 28.2 +/- 1.7, 21.1 +/- 1.8, 16.2 +/- 0.6 ml, min(-1) kg(-1), respectively), anaerobic threshold and peak workload became smaller as heart failure worsened. Resting and peak plasma ANP levels were significantly higher only in CHF, whilst resting and peak plasma BNP levels displayed a significant and continuous increase from normal subjects to LVD and CHF. The ANP exercise ratio (1.25 +/- 0.36, 2.61 +/- 0.57, 7.72 +/- 1.65, ANOVA P = 0.0002) was significantly higher only in patients with CHF, whilst the BNP exercise ratio (0.35 +/- 0.10, 2.60 +/- 0.69, 4.98 +/- 0.97, ANOVA P = 0.0001) was significantly higher in patients with LVD and became progressively higher in patients with CHF. CONCLUSIONS: These data showed that the BNP exercise ratio, an exercise plasma BNP response normalized with exercise workload, was augmented in patients with LVD, and became progressively higher in CHF, suggesting that an augmented exercise BNP ratio exists early in the course of developing CHF.
Anaerobic Threshold↗
Physiologic significance of nitric oxide and endothelin-1 in circulatory adaptation.
BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present paper was to evaluate the physiologic significance of nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin (ET)-1 in circulatory adaptation in the neonate. METHODS: The serum levels of NO metabolites (NOx; the sum of nitrites and nitrates) and the plasma level of ET-1 were determined in 14 healthy full-term infants at 0-6 h, 24 h and 5 days after birth. We measured the heart rate, the mean systemic blood pressure and the mean pulmonary arterial pressure, estimated by pulsed Doppler echocardiography, at each time point. RESULTS: The serum concentration of NOx was lowest at birth and increased with age. The plasma concentration of ET-1 was highest at birth and decreased with age. The ratio of NOx to ET-1 was inversely related to the estimated mean pulmonary arterial pressure in the early neonatal period. The ratio of NOx to ET-1 was not correlated with the systemic blood pressure. CONCLUSION: Increased NO synthesis and decreased production of ET-1 during the early neonatal period may contribute to the decrease in pulmonary arterial pressure.
Adaptation, Physiological↗
Cardiac and plasma catecholamine responses to exercise in patients with type 2 diabetes: prognostic implications for cardiac-cerebrovascular events.
BACKGROUND: Patients with diabetes mellitus have an altered exercise plasma catecholamine response, which may be related to the abnormal sympathoadrenal function and autonomic neuropathy. Presence of autonomic neuropathy is associated with poor prognosis, but relationship between exercise plasma catecholamine and prognosis has not been investigated. This study determined if altered plasma catecholamine response to exercise was associated with cardiac-cerebrovascular events. METHODS: Forty patients with type 2 diabetes without apparent macrovascular complications and 30 control subjects performed treadmill exercise with serial measurements of plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine. Clinical, exercise, and catecholaminergic variables considered relevant to the cardiac-cerebrovascular events were examined by Cox regression model. Analysis of 24-hour heart rate variability was performed in a subgroup of patients. RESULTS: During 7.2 years, 8 patients, but no control subjects, had events (3 myocardial and 5 cerebral infarctions). Compared with Event(-) patients, Event(+) patients had: (1) orthostatic hypotension; (2) lower peak exercise heart rate; (3) lower plasma norepinephrine immediately after exercise; and (4) lower plasma epinephrine at peak exercise. High frequency components in heart rate variability analysis were diminished in Event(+) patients. Multivariate analysis showed that peak heart rate (P = 0.04) and plasma epinephrine at peak exercise (P = 0.03) were independent predictors of subsequent events. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that chronotropic incompetence and lower plasma epinephrine response to exercise are associated with high risk of cardiac-cerebrovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Catecholamines↗
Hypocapnia under hypotension induces apoptotic neuronal cell death in the hippocampus of newborn rabbits.
We investigated the adverse effect of hypocapnia on the neonatal rabbit brain. Two-week-old Japanese white rabbits were assigned to three groups, hyperventilation (H group), ischemia (I group), or hypocapnia with ischemia (HI group) and then subjected for 1.5 h with simultaneous measurement of the mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) and intracranial Hb concentration changes. Marked reductions of PaCO2 and MABP were induced in the hyperventilation-loaded groups and the ischemia-loaded groups, respectively. The intracranial oxyhemoglobin and total Hb concentrations decreased slightly in the H group and markedly in the I and HI groups after the start of experimental protocols, although there were no statistical differences between the I and HI groups. Animals were killed at 24 h after experiments and then subjected to pathologic examination. Damaged neurons with shrunken cell bodies and nuclear changes were found on light microscopic examination, mainly in the pyramidal cell layer of the subiculum and cornu ammonis 1. The numerical density of damaged neurons was significantly higher in the HI group than those in the H or I groups (p < 0.05). These damaged neurons were positive on DNA nick end labeling. A DNA ladder was detected on electrophoresis with a DNA sample extracted from hippocampal tissue in the HI group, but not in the other two groups. On electron microscopic examination, not only condensation of the nucleus but also disruption of mitochondria and the cell membrane were detected. These results suggested that hypocapnia under hypotension might cause neuronal cell death in the hippocampus of neonatal rabbit. Not only ischemia but also a metabolic change induced by hypocapnia might contribute to this apoptotic neuronal cell damage.
Animals↗
Enhancement of fibrinolytic activity of vascular endothelial cells by chaetoglobosin A, crinipellin B, geodin and triticone B.
Four fungal metabolites, chaetoglobosin A (CGA), crinipellin B (CPB), geodin (GE) and triticone B (TTB), were found to enhance fibrinolytic activity of bovine aortic endothelial cells. Plasmin generation on the cells was elevated 2- to 4-fold when treated with these agents at a concentration of 3 approximately 100 microM. These effects were dependent on plasminogen and inhibited by anti-urokinase antibody. The effect of CGA, but not of CPB, GE and TTB, was abolished by cycloheximide. In a cell-free system, plasmin and urokinase activities as well as urokinase-catalyzed plasminogen activation were not enhanced by these agents. CGA, but not others, induced the production of urokinase in endothelial cells. CPB and GE accelerated plasminogen activator inhibitor- 1 (PAI-1) inactivation, and TTB caused direct, reversible inhibition of PAI-1. Thus, induction of urokinase by CGA and inhibition of PAI-1 by CPB, GE and TTB may, at least partly, account for the elevation of fibrinolytic activity of endothelial cells.
Animals↗
[Brain lesion in congenital myotonic dystrophy].
Congenital myotonic dystrophy (CMyD) affects the brain, causing mental changes and psychomotor retardation. However, the pathophysiology of the brain dysfunctions in CMyD remain to be clarified. We described two cases of CMyD with brain abnormalities. Case 1 was diagnosed as having ventricular dilation at 17 days after birth, and died at 3 years and 6 months. Case 2 was diagnosed as having ventricular dilation at birth, and died at 1 year and 3 months. Pathologically, both cases showed remote hypoxic ischemic brain damage and leptomeningeal glioneuronal heterotopia (LGH). In our patients, the white matter changes may have been caused by perinatal asphyxia, and LGH by embryological abnormalities. Taken our data and those of previous reports together, it is suggested that cerebral abnormalities in CMyD are ascribed to both hypoxic ischemic changes and histogenetic abnormalities.
Asphyxia Neonatorum↗
Altered purine and glycogen metabolism in skeletal muscle during exercise in patients with heart failure.
Plasma levels of ammonia and hypoxanthine (HX) can be indices of purine nucleotide degradation. The present study determined if patients with heart failure (HF) have altered exercise plasma ammonia and HX levels relative to the peak work rate performed. Blood lactate, plasma ammonia, and plasma HX levels were measured in 59 patients with HF (New York Heart Association [NYHA] classes I:20, II:21, and III:18) and 21 controls at rest and after a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test. The peak work rate (normal and NYHA I, II, and III, 163+/-11, 152+/-9, 94+/-5, and 69+/-5 W) and peak oxygen uptake ([VO2] 32.3+/-1.7, 25.1+/-0.9, 18.6+/-0.5, and 14.1+/-0.6 mL/min/kg) decreased as the NYHA functional class increased. The increment from rest to peak exercise (delta) for lactate ([(delta)lactate] 6.1+/-0.3, 4.8+/-0.4, 4.6+/-0.3, and 2.9+/-0.3 mmol/L), (delta)ammonia (132+/-14, 119+/-20, 94+/-13, and 32+/-6 microg/dL), and (delta)HX (33.5+/-3.4, 24.9+/-4.7, 20.6+/-3.0, and 9.9+/-1.2 micromol/L) was progressively smaller as HF worsened. The ratio for (delta)lactate to peak work rate (0.037+/-0.003, 0.032+/-0.004, 0.049+/-0.003, and 0.042+/-0.005) was higher in classes II to III HF, while the ratio for (delta)ammonia to peak work rate (0.81+/-0.14, 0.78+/-0.16, 0.99+/-0.11, and 0.47+/-0.11) was significantly lower in class III HF. In summary, patients with HF exhibited a smaller ammonia response with a higher lactate response to exercise when normalized with the peak work rate. These results suggest there may be an altered purine and glycogen metabolism during exercise in skeletal muscle in patients with HF.
Ammonia↗
Cytokine analysis of cerebrohepatic organ interaction in porcine liver transplantation from brain-dead donors.
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Animals↗
Effects of subzero nonfreezing storage in UW solution on isolated hepatocytes and cultured sinusoidal endothelial cells of rat liver.
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Adenosine↗
Proteolysis of neuronal cell adhesion molecule by the tissue plasminogen activator-plasmin system after kainate injection in the mouse hippocampus.
Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is a serine protease that converts inactive plasminogen to the active protease plasmin and mediates extracellular metabolism. tPA is transcriptionally induced in the mouse hippocampus by pharmacological or electrical stimulation of neuronal activity and mediates excitotoxin-induced neuronal degeneration. Therefore, we hypothesized that tPA would be induced in the hippocampus after kainic acid (KA) injection into the lateral cerebral ventricle (LCV) and that the activated tPA-plasmin system would degrade the neuronal cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), which is a component of the extracellular matrix. In order to investigate this possibility, we first examined whether NCAM is a substrate for the tPA plasmin system by incubating mouse brain homogenates with tPA and plasminogen at 37 degrees C. Next, we examined the degradation of NCAM and the changes of tPA activity in the mouse hippocampus with immunohistochemical procedures and histological zymography after KA injection into both LCVs. As a result, we observed neuronal atrophy and a decrease of NCAM immunoreactivity along with an increase of tPA activity in the CA3 area of the hippocampus. These results suggest that activation of the tPA plasmin system after KA injection into the LCVs results in the degradation of NCAM in the CA3 area.
Animals↗
Neuronal degeneration and a decrease in laminin-like immunoreactivity is associated with elevated tissue-type plasminogen activator in the rat hippocampus after kainic acid injection.
Tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is a serine protease that converts the inactive precursor plasminogen to the active protease plasmin. In the central nervous system, tPA has been suggested to participate in plasticity, memory and the neuronal degeneration caused by excitotoxins, but its precise functions during these processes are still unclear. We show in this report that tPA antigen level and extracellular tPA activity increased in the hippocampus during the early stages of neuronal degeneration in the CA3 region following the injection of kainic acid (KA) into the lateral cerebral ventricles. The increase in tPA antigen level was transient and its peak was at 4 h after the injection. tPA activity was also increased 4 h after the injection, but it remained at a high level for more than 8 h. Histological zymography showed that the increase in tPA activity was mainly localized in the CA3 region. In the same region, the disappearance of interneuronal laminin-like immunoreactivity and atrophic changes in pyramidal neurons were observed 4 h after the injection of KA. These results suggested that such focal and transient increases in tPA synthesis and release, which result in the proteolysis of laminin through plasminogen activation, could be involved in the neuronal degeneration in the CA3 region after the injection of KA.
Animals↗
Hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy is linked to an enhanced catecholamine response to submaximal exercise.
BACKGROUND: The serial plasma catecholamine response to exercise has not been studied fully in relation to left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in patients with hypertension (HT). This study determined whether plasma catecholamine responses to exercise are altered in essential HT in the presence or absence of LVH. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Plasma noradrenaline (NA) and plasma adrenaline (A) were measured at rest, during and after treadmill exercise in 59 hypertensive subjects and 22 age-matched control subjects. Patients were divided into LVH(-) (n = 20) and LVH(+) (n = 39) stratified by left ventricular mass index [LVMI: control subjects, LVH(-), LVH(+): 114 +/- 4, 105 +/- 3, 151 +/- 3 g m-2]. RESULTS: Exercise time (9.9 +/- 0.6, 7.6 +/- 0.7, 7.3 +/- 0.6 min) was shorter in patients with HT. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressures were higher in patients with HT, and no difference was observed between LVH(-) and LVH(+) patients. Resting plasma NA was not different (157 +/- 16, 173 +/- 17, 167 +/- 14 pg mL-1), but plasma NA at stage I (300 +/- 30, 342 +/- 40, 469 +/- 40 pg mL-1) was higher in LVH(+) patients than in LVH(-) patients or control subjects. Plasma A response to exercise was similar among the three groups. There was a positive correlation (r = 0.38, P < 0.001) between LVMI and Deltaplasma NA at stage I in all subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with essential HT with LVH had augmented plasma NA response during submaximal exercise, whereas patients without LVH did not exhibit this augmentation. The positive correlation between LVMI and Deltaplasma NA suggested a possible association between the degree of cardiac hypertrophy and sympathetic activation during exercise.
Epinephrine↗
Two branches of the lupeol synthase gene in the molecular evolution of plant oxidosqualene cyclases.
Two new triterpene synthase cDNAs, named as OEW and TRW, were cloned from olive leaves (Olea europaea) and from dandelion roots (Taraxacum officinale), respectively, by the PCR method with primers designed from the conserved sequences found in the known oxidosqualene cyclases. Their ORFs consisted of 2274 bp nucleotides and coded for 758 amino acid long polypeptides. They shared high sequence identity (78%) to each other, while they showed only about 60% identities to the known triterpene synthases LUPI (lupeol synthase clone from Arabidopsis thaliana) and PNY (beta-amyrin synthase clone from Panax ginseng) at amino acid level. To determine the enzyme functions of the translates, they were expressed in an ERG7 deficient yeast mutant. Accumulation of lupeol in the cells of yeast transformants proved both of these clones code for lupeol synthase proteins. An EST (expression sequence tag) clone isolated from Medicago truncatula roots as a homologue of cycloartenol synthase gene, exhibits high sequence identity (75-77%) to these two lupeol synthase cDNAs, suggesting it to be another lupeol synthase clone. Comparatively low identity (approximately 57%) of LUP1 from Arabidopsis thaliana to either one of these clones leaves LUP1 as a distinct clone among lupeol synthases. From these sequence comparisons, now we propose that two branches of lupeol synthase gene have been generated in higher plants during the course of evolution.
Cloning, Molecular↗
Effects of hypoxic exercise conditioning on work capacity, lactate, hypoxanthine and hormonal factors in men.
1. Hypoxanthine is a purine degradation product and exercise plasma hypoxanthine can be an index of ATP supply-demand imbalance during exercise. The present study determined the effects of hypoxic exercise conditioning on work capacity, blood lactate, plasma hypoxanthine and various neurohormonal factors. 2. Blood lactate, plasma hypoxanthine and neurohormonal factors (catecholamines, renin-angiotensin system activity and natriuretic peptides) were measured at rest and after maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing (at sea level) both at pre- and post-hypoxic exercise conditioning in six males (40 +/- 2 years). The training protocol consisted of ergometer exercise twice weekly for 40 min in a hypobaric chamber (61.7-47.2 kPa) for 3 weeks. 3. Pulmonary function and haematological and echocardiographic parameters were not altered after hypoxic exercise conditioning. Work rate at peak exercise (264 +/- 10 vs 321 +/- 31 W; P = 0.10) tended to be increased and peak O2 pulse (15.0 +/- 1.0 vs 18.4 +/- 1.4 mL/beat; P < 0.05) increased after exercise conditioning. The double product during submaximal exercise decreased and systolic blood pressure at peak exercise increased after exercise conditioning. Resting and exercise neurohormonal factors were unchanged, except for reduced resting plasma adrenaline levels. Blood lactate at peak exercise (7.4 +/- 0.7 vs 4.8 +/- 0.5 mmol/L; P < 0.05) became lower and peak plasma hypoxanthine (43.2 +/- 5.7 vs 26.4 +/- 5.0 mumol/L; P < 0.1) tended to be decreased after exercise conditioning. 4. Hypoxic exercise conditioning tended to increase maximal power output with a decrease in exercise blood lactate and a trend towards a decrease in exercise plasma hypoxanthine. These data suggest that exercise conditioning under simulated altitude may improve ATP supply-demand imbalance during exercise with less anaerobiosis, which could contribute to enhanced endurance performance.
Adult↗
Ring chromosome 17 syndrome with monosomy 17 mosaicism: case report and literature review.
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Adolescent↗
Colonic stenosis after severe methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus enterocolitis in a newborn.
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Colonic Diseases↗