Genomic organization and chromosomal localization of the mouse pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) gene.
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Animals↗
Biomedical subjects
A Miyata
Publications and source records attributed to A Miyata.
PACAP augments nitric oxide synthesis in rat vascular smooth muscle cells stimulated with IL-1 alpha.
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Animals↗
Urocortin, a member of the corticotropin-releasing factor family, in normal and diseased heart.
In the present study we investigated the form of expression, action, second messenger, and the cellular location of urocortin, a member of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) family, in the heart. Urocortin mRNA, as shown by quantitative RT-PCR analysis, is expressed in the cultured rat cardiac nonmyocytes (NMC) as well as myocytes (MC) in the heart, whereas CRF receptor type 2beta (CRF-R2beta), presumed urocortin receptor mRNA, is predominantly expressed in MC compared with NMC. Urocortin mRNA expression is higher in left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy than in normal LV, whereas CRF-R2beta mRNA expression is markedly depressed in LV hypertrophy compared with normal LV. Urocortin more potently increased the cAMP levels in both MC and NMC than did CRF, and its effect was more potent in MC than in NMC. Urocortin significantly increased protein synthesis by [(14)C]Phe incorporations and atrial natriuretic peptide secretion in MC and collagen and increased DNA synthesis by [(3)H]prolin and [(3)H]Thy incorporations in NMC. An immunohistochemical study revealed that urocortin immunoreactivity was observed in MC in the normal human heart and that it was more intense in the MC of the human failing heart than in MC of the normal heart. These results, together with the recent evidence of urocortin for positive inotropic action, suggest that increased urocortin in the diseased heart may modulate the pathophysiology of cardiac hypertrophy or failing heart, at least in part, via cAMP signaling pathway.
Animals↗
Kamegainema cingulum (Linstow, 1902) n. gen., n. comb. (Nematoda: Dracunculidae), a subcutaneous parasite of cryptobranchids (Amphibia: Caudata).
The monotypic Kamegainema n. gen. is proposed for Filaria cingula, a subcutaneous parasite of cryptobranchids. Examination of female specimens recently collected from the Japanese giant salamander, Andrias japonicus, revealed that it belongs to Dracunculidae. Kamegainema is closest to Protenema Petter and Planelles, 1986, the only other dracunculid genus known from Amphibia, but is readily distinguished by having prominent cuticular bosses. Kamegainema cingulum is redescribed.
Animals↗
Human T-lymphotropic virus type I provirus and T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia.
T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL) is a rare type of post-thymic T-cell neoplasm, the etiology of which is unknown. Patients with T-PLL have been found to be seronegative for human T-lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I), and their leukemia cells do not retain monoclonally integrated HTLV-I provirus. Recently, we have demonstrated the presence of defective HTLV-I provirus by polymerase chain reaction in the DNA extracted from peripheral blood cells or affected lymph nodes of T-PLL patients. Although there is a possibility, from our observation, that an alternative mechanism is operating in HTLV-associated leukemogenesis, it is still unknown whether and how HTLV-I can contribute to the leukemogenesis of T-PLL. In this review, we describe controversial issues and discuss a role of HTLV-I in the leukemogenesis of T-PLL.
Cell Transformation, Viral↗
[Epirubicin-based combination chemotherapy combined with G-CSF for the elderly patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma].
We devised a new epirubicin-based combination chemotherapy (Epi-COP) regimen for the patients with elderly non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and have treated 30 patients aged 66 years and older who had measurable diseases. In Epi-COP therapy, epirubicin was used as a substitute for doxorubicin in the CHOP regimen, and some dose modifications were made for the other agents. Combined modality treatment (CMT; chemotherapy plus radiotherapy) was adopted for 9 patients with localized disease. Complete response was obtained in 21 of all the 30 patients (70%), 8 in 9 (89%) of the CMT group and 13 in 21 (62%) of the patients with chemotherapy only (chemotherapy group). The median follow up time is 350 days, ranging from 2 to 77 months. The 2 year survival rate was 56% in all patients, 67% in the CMT group and 52% in the chemotherapy group. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) was administered when the leucocyte count decreased below 2,000/microliter, and 16 patients received it in the first course. The regimen could be repeated every three weeks in most cases. Although we encountered two early deaths, the overall toxicity level seemed to be acceptable. Even when we take account of the small number of patients and the short observation period, it might be concluded that Epi-COP was effective in inducing a good remission rate with moderate toxic effect in elderly patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and CMT should be adopted if it is localized. A randomized comparative study with the CHOP regimen is necessary.
Aged↗
[Clinical and experimental observation of glistening in acrylic intraocular lenses].
PURPOSE: To study whether the glistening on implanted acrylic intracular lenses increases or not. METHOD: 1. Prospective study: We studied the glistening on 49 implanted acrylic intraocular lenses, particularly the time of appearance and increase after glistening appeared. 2. EXPERIMENT: We kept an intraocular lens immersed in saline solution at 50 degrees centigrade for two hours and then moved this lens into saline solution at 35 degrees centigrade, and observed this lens during immersion. RESULTS: 1. Prospective study: Glistening was present in 28 eyes (57%), and appeared from 2 to 16 months postoperatively. A few months after appearance it become stable and did not increase further. 2. EXPERIMENT: On the 10th day after observation, we could see glistening on the lenses. The points of glistening were 10 microns or less in size, and did not change during 60 days of observation. CONCLUSION: The glistening in acrylic intraocular lenses seemed to become stable a few months after appearance. This our experimental method is useful, because it gives us glistening similar to clinical cases in a short time.
Acrylates↗
[A case of familial juvenile gouty nephropathy associated with a right renal tumor].
We present a case of familial juvenile gouty nephropathy which was associated with a right renal tumor that was found incidentally. The patient was a 27-year-old woman who initially presented with acute gouty arthritis at the age of twenty years. Her mother and her sister had been attacked with acute gouty arthritis in their early twenties. Progressive deterioration in the renal function was noted in the three family members who had experienced gouty attack. Her mother was maintained on hemodialysis. As image diagnoses could not rule out malignancy in her right renal tumor, in situ non-ischemic enucleation of the right renal tumor using a microwave tissue coagulator(Microtaze) and a renal biopsy were performed. The pathological diagnosis of the renal tumor was tubulopapillary adenoma, and the renal biopsy showed minimal change in the glomeruli and tubules. The post-operative course was uneventful. The serum creatinine and creatinine clearance before and three months after the operation were 2.4 mg/dl and 2.6 mg/dl, 36.7 ml/min and 32.5 ml/min, respectively. The renal biopsy findings that glomerular and tubular changes were minimal and there was no tissue precipitation of uric acid or sodium urate, and the fact that her renal function decreased progressively despite the treatment of hyperuricemia suggested strongly that renal function might have deteriorated due to unknown factors other than hyperuricemia.
Adenoma↗
Decreases in Ikaros activity correlate with blast crisis in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia.
Gene targeting studies in mice have shown that the lack of Ikaros activity leads to T-cell hyperproliferation and T-cell neoplasia, establishing the Ikaros gene as a tumor suppressor gene in mice. This prompted us to investigate whether mutations in Ikaros play a role in human hematological malignancies. Reverse transcription-PCR was used to determine the relative expression levels of Ikaros isoforms in a panel of human leukemia/lymphoma cell lines and human bone marrow samples from patients with hematological malignancies. Among the cell lines examined, only BV-173, which was derived from a chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patient in lymphoid blast crisis, overexpressed the dominant-negative isoform, Ik-6. In 9 of 17 samples of patients in blast crisis of CML, Ikaros activity had been reduced either by drastically reducing mRNA expression (4 of 17) or by overexpressing the dominant-negative isoform Ik-6 (5 of 17). Significantly, expression of Ikaros isoforms seemed normal in chronic phase CML patients and patients with other hematological malignancies. In some cases, overexpression of the dominant-negative Ik-6 protein was confirmed by Western blot analysis, and Southern blot analysis indicated that decreases in Ikaros activity correlated with a mutation in the Ikaros locus. In summary, these findings suggest that a reduction of Ikaros activity may be an important step in the development of blast crisis in CML and provide further evidence that mutations that alter Ikaros expression may contribute to human hematological malignancies.
Adult↗
A hemodynamic evaluation of propofol/fentanyl compared with isoflurane/fentanyl anesthesia in coronary artery bypass grafting.
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Journal Article↗
A case of Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense infection successfully treated by oral administration of Gastrografin.
A diphyllobothriid cestode infection found in a 54-year-old male residing in Oita, Japan, was successfully treated by oral administration of Gastrografin in combination with a intramuscular injection of Vagostigmin. The strobila expelled was 6.14 m long with a scolex, and morphologically identical with Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense except unusual ovaries of which posterior horns were confluent in each proglottid. This is the first case of treatment of cestode infection by oral administration of Gastrografin.
Administration, Oral↗
Clinical characteristics in patients with anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess clinical characteristics, including co-morbid personality disorders in patients with both anorexia nervosa (AN) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in comparison with age- and sex-matched patients with OCD. METHODS: Fifty-three female patients with AN were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of a current diagnosis of OCD, as assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Patient version (SCID-P). Twenty-one women (40 %) who met the DSM-III-R criteria for both AN and OCD were compared with 23 female patients with OCD, using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and the SCID Axis II disorders. RESULTS: There were no significant differences on the mean Y-BOCS severity scores between these groups. However, AN patients with OCD were significantly more likely than OCD patients to have obsessions with need for symmetry or exactness and ordering/arranging compulsions, whereas both aggressive obsessions and checking compulsions tended to be more frequently identified in OCD patients compared with AN patients with OCD. AN patients with OCD were significantly more likely than OCD patients to meet the criteria for obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that there are some differential characteristics of the OCD symptomatology between these disorders, although many patients with AN manifest significant impairment from primary OCD symptoms with similar magnitude in severity to that found in OCD patients.
Adult↗
Prevalence and symptomatology of comorbid obsessive-compulsive disorder among bulimic patients.
This study sought to assess the prevalence and symptomatology of comorbid obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) among Japanese subjects who met the DSM-III-R criteria for bulimia nervosa (BN). The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Patient Version was used to distinguish 26 BN patients with concurrent OCD from 52 BN patients without OCD. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms in BN subjects with concurrent OCD were evaluated using the Japanese version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. There were no differences in the prevalence of concurrent OCD between BN subjects with and without a lifetime history of anorexia nervosa. Among BN subjects with concurrent OCD, symptoms related to symmetry and order were most frequently identified, followed by contamination and aggressive obsessions, and checking and cleaning/washing compulsions. Bulimia nervosa subjects with concurrent OCD were more likely than subjects without OCD to have more severe mood and core eating disorder psychopathology. Comorbid OCD is a common phenomenon in Japanese bulimics (33%) similar to that suggested in BN subjects in the Western countries. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms related to symmetry and order were most frequently observed in BN subjects with concurrent OCD, which was a similar finding to that reported among restricting anorexic subjects.
Adult↗
Usefulness of measurement of Lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of alpha-fetoprotein as a marker of prognosis and recurrence of small hepatocellular carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE: Lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP-L3%) is a recently described marker of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and its usefulness has been demonstrated in many studies. We evaluated the usefulness of serial measurement of AFP-L3% as a marker of prognosis and recurrence after treatment of small HCC. METHODS: AFP-L3% was measured before and after initial treatment in 60 patients with small HCC (maximum diameter < or = 2 cm). AFP-L3% was taken as the ratio of AFP-L3 to total AFP and multiplied by 100%, and levels > or = 10% were considered positive. Outcomes and recurrence were compared between patients AFP-L3%-negative after initial treatment (Group A, n = 43) and patients who were AFP-L3%-positive after initial treatment (Group B, n = 17). RESULTS: Before treatment, AFP-L3% was positive in 14 (23.3%) of the 60 patients. The cumulative survival rate of Group A was significantly longer (p = 0.0091) than that of Group B. The recurrence rate was significantly higher in Group B (p = 0.0104) than in Group A. When recurrence was limited to intrahepatic metastasis, the recurrence rate was significantly higher in Group B (p = 0.0064). However, the recurrence rate of multicentric occurrence did not differ significantly between Groups A and B. CONCLUSIONS: Measurement of AFP-L3% after treatment may be useful for understanding prognosis and recurrence of HCC.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular↗
Neurally mediated syncope and arrhythmias: a study of syncopal patients using the head-up tilt test.
Understanding the causes of syncope in patients with arrhythmia is important in determining the therapeutic interventions. Neurally mediated syncope (NMS) was evaluated in 55 patients with various arrhythmias. The head-up tilt test with or without isoproterenol infusion induced NMS in 41 (74%) patients. When these patients was categorized into 3 types, depending on the development of syncope, vasodilatation was significant in a majority of patients. In 46% of patients with tachyarrythmias, NMS was accompanied by an increase in extrasystole. It was concluded that the evaluation of vasodilatation is important for the preventive strategy of NMS in patients with arrhythmias and that NMS may induce arrhythmias.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗
[Total intravenous anesthesia for two patients complicated with myotonic dystrophy].
Total intravenous anesthesia with propofol, fentanyl and ketamine (PFK) was given to two patients complicated with myotonic dystrophy. Case-1: A 42-year-old female underwent a hemithyroidectomy. Anesthesia was induced slowly with intravenous ketamine 20 mg and propofol 60 mg. Her tracheal intubation was performed smoothly without any muscle relaxants. Anesthesia was maintained with propofol infusion of 5 mg.kg-1.h-1, ketamine infusion of 0.3 mg.kg-1.h-1 and fentanyl 200 micrograms in total. She regained consciousness 20 minutes after the end of propofol infusion, and 15 minutes later, her trachea was extubated without any troubles. Case-2: A 41-year-old female underwent a removal of left parotid tumor. Anesthesia was induced slowly with ketamine 40 mg and propofol 100 mg intravenously. Anesthesia was maintained with propofol infusion of 5-10 mg.kg-1.h-1, ketamine infusion of 0.5 mg.kg-1.h-1 and fentanyl 350 micrograms in total. No muscle relaxant was used through the surgical procedure. Emergence from anesthesia was observed 10 minutes after the end of propofol infusion and her trachea was extubated. When a nasogastric tube was pulled out, her respiration stopped suddenly and she was intubated again only for two hours without any troubles. In both cases their serum CPK levels and rectal temperatures were very stable. PFK method would be a choice for patients with myotonic dystrophy.
Adult↗
[Comparison of Tandem-R PSA and Markit-M PA in the diagnosis of prostate cancer].
The Tandem-R PSA (TR) assay was compared with the Markit-M PA (MM) assay in the diagnosis of the prostate cancer. In patients with a serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) level higher than the cut-off values measured by either the TR assay or the MM assay (4.1 ng/ml and 3.7 ng/ml, respectively), or a suspicious digital rectal examination, sextant biopsy of the prostate was performed. Among 227 patients undergoing biopsy, 64 patients were diagnosed as having prostate cancer. There was a significant difference of serum PSA values between patients with and without prostate cancer in either assay. There was no significant difference between the assays with respect to diagnosing according to prostate cancer using receiver operating characteristic analysis. The correlation between TR and MM in 150 men with a serum Tandem-R PSA below 10 ng/ml was Y = 1.12X + 3.745 (R = 0.68, p < 0.001). The correlation coefficient for the relationship between TR and MM was only 0.68, indicating a poor correlation. Four of the 15 patients with MM values below 4.0 ng/ml calculated by transformation from MM to TR values had prostate cancer. This suggested that conversion of MM values to TR values in the low PSA range presents problems.
Aged↗
Six new nematodes of the Heligmonellidae (Trichostrongylina) collected from endemic murines of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Nematodes in Odilia and Paraheligmonelloides (Trichostrongylina: Heligmonellidae) are first recorded from Sulawesi, Indonesia, with 6 new species from the small intestine of endemic murines: Odilia sulawesiensis n. sp. and Odilia moatensis n. sp. from Rattus xanthurus; Odilia mamasaensis n. sp. and Odilia maxomyos n. sp. from Maxomys musschenbroekii; Paraheligmonelloides eropeplios n. sp. from Eropeplus canus; Paraheligmonelloides paruromyos n. sp. from Paruromys dominator. The 6 species are readily distinguished from congeners in the arrangement and number of the synlophe ridges, dilatation of cuticle, shape of the bursa copulatrix and the spicules, and length ratio of the spicules or the ovejector to body. The intestinal heligmonellid fauna of Sulawesi rats shows affinity to both Sundaland and Australian representatives, reflecting dispersal and speciation history of the nematodes and their hosts.
Animals↗