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Biomedical subjects

A Watanabe

Publications and source records attributed to A Watanabe.

At least 883 records · Page 49Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Frequency of hypomagnesemia in hospitalized patients receiving digitalis.

We examined the frequency of hypokalemia and hypomagnesemia in patients receiving digitalis. Serum sodium, magnesium, and potassium levels were determined in 136 serum samples sent to the laboratory for digoxin assay. Hyponatremia (less than or equal to 130 mEq/L) occurred most frequently (21%), followed by hypomagnesemia (less than or equal to 1.25 mEq/L) in 19%, hypokalemia (less than or equal to 3.5 mEq/L) in 9%, and hypermagnesemia (greater than or equal to 2.25 mEq/L) in 7%. The twofold frequency of hypomagnesemia (19%) contrasted with hypokalemia (9%) indicates that clinicians are more attuned to avoiding hypokalemia than hypomagnesemia in patients receiving digitalis. Because hypokalemia and/or hypomagnesemia may contribute to the toxic effects of digitalis, our observation suggests that hypomagnesemia may be a more frequent contributor than hypokalemia to induction of toxic reactions to digitalis. Routine serum magnesium determination in patients receiving digitalis, who often are also receiving potent diuretics, may assist in identifying additional patients at risk for the toxic effects of digitalis.

Digitalis Glycosides↗
PubMed1985

[Clinical evaluation on combination therapy of antibiotics and a gamma-globulin preparation (SM-4300) in the field of pediatrics].

Ten cases of bacterial infections, showing no or insufficient response to antibacterial chemotherapy, were treated with a new intravenous human gamma-globulin (SM-4300). SM-4300 was administered intravenously (68-172 mg/kg/day) once a day for 1-3 days. SM-4300 was effective in 6 out of 8 pneumonia cases and also in 1 out of 2 septicemia cases. In none of the 10 cases, any side effects were observed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Serum amino acid levels in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Serum amino acid concentrations in cirrhotic patients with and without hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were investigated. Elevation of serum aromatic amino acids (AAA) and methionine levels observed in cirrhotic patients without malignancy was not apparent in cirrhotic cases with HCC, and thus the ratio of branched chain amino acids (BCAA) to AAA was not so diminished in the latter cases. Development of hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhotic patients with HCC led to only a slight change in the serum aminogram characteristic of hepatic failure. In patients who underwent operations, tissue amino acid compositions of hepatocellular, gastric, and colon cancers were compared with each other and their respective surrounding epithelia. Amino acid contents in the tumor tissue were generally higher than those in the respective nontumorous parts, especially in the case of HCC. The methionine, tyrosine, and phenylalanine contents in HCC were much higher than in cirrhotic or normal liver. Serum aminograms in rats with ethionine-induced HCC were similar to those in cirrhotic patients with HCC. Amino acid contents in HCC were much higher than those in the surrounding cirrhotic liver tissue of rats. Serum and liver tyrosine and isoleucine contents rose significantly in rats 5 to 6 weeks after the initiation of a 0.25% ethionine-containing diet. After the 20th week of the experiment, by which time well-differentiated HCC had developed, liver tyrosine and isoleucine contents increased whereas serum isoleucine concentrations decreased. The results suggest that the serum amino acid patterns characteristic of cirrhotic patients with HCC may result from the increased consumption of amino acids by HCC. Determinations of the amino acid levels are also useful for estimating the prognosis and discovering imminent hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhotic patients with HCC.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

In vitro translation of infectious flacherie virus RNA in a wheat germ and a rabbit reticulocyte system.

Infectious flacherie virus is an insect picornavirus isolated from the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Its RNA was found to act as an efficient mRNA in a wheat germ extract and a rabbit reticulocyte lysate translation system. In either system the sum of molecular weights of translation products far exceeded the coding capacity of the virus genome, which suggests the occurrence of proteolytic cleavage of large primary products to smaller polypeptides as reported for other picornaviruses and/or premature termination of translation. The highest molecular weight product of 200 000 (polyprotein-like product) could be translated in both systems. One of the antigenic products common to both systems had a molecular weight of 130 000, which corresponds to the sum of molecular weights of the four major viral proteins. Another product, which comigrated with viral protein 0, the largest viral structural protein in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, also showed antigenicity. Peptide mapping of these polypeptides showed that the two in vitro systems translated the same cistron in the viral RNA and that the smaller polypeptide was a part of the 130 000 Da product.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Two cases of dural arteriovenous malformation occurring after intracranial surgery.

The occurrence of post-operative dural arteriovenous malformation (AVM) has rarely been proved angiographically. The authors report two such cases: in one, a pure dural AVM was located in the region of the cavernous sinus and in another a mixed pial and dural AVM was found in the posterior fossa. The literature about pathogenesis is reviewed.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1984

Pleomorphism of hepatic regeneration.

The pleomorphism of hepatic regeneration was studied in acute liver injury and partial hepatectomy of rats. Increases in 3H-thymidine incorporation into the liver DNA fraction and in liver ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity were observed similarly in acute liver injury and following a two-thirds partial hepatectomy in normal rats. However, the increase in serum AFP levels was significant only in carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-treated rats, and the portal-peripheral vein difference in plasma glucagon concentrations was great only in rats that underwent a partial hepatectomy. The weight of the remaining liver increased rapidly following a 67% hepatectomy in normal rats, but not in cirrhotic rats, of which three of five died within 6 days. Increases in liver prostaglandin E levels, 14C-orotate incorporation into the liver RNA fraction and hepatic ODC activity were observed up to 10 h following a partial hepatectomy of normal liver but not after similar removal of cirrhotic liver. Three kinds of hepatic regeneration, i.e., normal and pathologic regeneration following surgical removal of either normal or injured liver and repair of liver damage following chemically induced liver deficiency, were proposed from the observations.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Characteristic features of plasma amino acid, plasma pancreatic glucagon, serum insulin concentrations in cirrhotic patients with histories of chronic alcohol consumption.

Plasma amino acid, plasma pancreatic glucagon and serum insulin levels were simultaneously measured in cirrhotic patients with (drinkers) and without a history of alcohol drinking (non-drinkers), as compared to those in alcoholics without liver disease. Clinical characteristics in drinkers and non-drinkers, such as the extent of liver dysfunction, which may affect plasma amino acid levels, were strictly matched. Plasma pancreatic glucagon levels in the drinker group were much higher than those in the non-drinker group. In the former group, the elevated plasma pancreatic glucagon levels were correlated (p less than 0.05) to total amino acid levels (the sum of 20 kinds of L-amino acid concentrations) and, elevated AAA concentrations leading to a diminished BCAA/AAA ratio. Drinkers with histories of hepatic encephalopathy presented grossly elevated glucagon levels and severely abnormal aminograms similar to those observed in hepatic insufficiency.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Thylakoid membranes: the translational site of chloroplast DNA-regulated thylakoid polypeptides.

Stromal ribosomes and those bound to thylakoid membranes were prepared from intact spinach chloroplasts which were purified on Percoll gradients. The products of read-out translation of these ribosomes supplemented with an Escherichia coli extract were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Striking similarity was found between the polypeptides labeled in the read-out translation of the chloroplastic ribosomes and those synthesized in isolated chloroplasts. Among the polypeptides translated on thylakoid-bound ribosomes, apoprotein of chlorophyll-protein complex I, alpha and beta subunits of coupling factor 1, and 32,000-Da membrane polypeptide were identified from their mobility on the polyacrylamide gel. The large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase and other several stromal proteins were translated exclusively from stromal ribosomes. However, when the translation was programmed in cell-free systems from either E. coli, wheat germ, or rabbit reticulocytes by RNAs isolated separately from stroma and thylakoids, no qualitative difference was found between the products from those RNAs. These results suggest that thylakoid-bound ribosomes are the main sites of synthesis of thylakoid proteins and stromal-free ribosomes are that of stromal proteins, and that thylakoids and stroma contain mRNAs for the stromal and the thylakoid proteins, respectively, in a form not functioning in the chloroplasts.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1984

Serum alpha-fetoprotein in fulminant hepatitis and hepatic regeneration following partial hepatectomy.

The pleomorphism of hepatic regeneration was studied in 10 patients with fulminant hepatitis and 7 with hepatocellular carcinoma, liver cyst, and abscess who underwent partial hepatectomy. Serum AFP levels did not increase significantly following partial hepatectomy. All of four patients who survived fulminant hepatitis had high serum AFP levels with a peak either during or before hepatic encephalopathy. Serum AFP levels decreased rather gradually during the enlargement of the atrophic liver. The observations proposed two kinds of hepatic regeneration, hepatic regeneration following surgical removal of liver and repair of liver damage following virally and probably chemically induced liver deficiency.

Adult↗