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Biomedical subjects

A Watanabe

Publications and source records attributed to A Watanabe.

At least 1,045 records · Page 58Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Familial juvenile polyposis of the stomach.

Innumerable polyps of the stomach were recognized in a 13-yr old girl. She had no extragastric polyps on roentgenographic and endoscopic studies. Her elder brother received a subtotal gastrectomy because of gastric polyposis at 14 yr of age. Their mother died of gastric cancer at 37 yr of age. Only these three subjects in this family had unusual brown hair and were low in normal intelligence. Polyps produced chronic and severe loss of both blood and protein, which resolved after a subtotal gastrectomy at 18 yr of age. Macroscopic and histologic observations of polyps in the resected stomach confirmed the diagnosis of juvenile polyposis. Both siblings are now in good health. Classification of this hereditary syndrome as a newly recognized entity, familial juvenile polyposis of the stomach, is proposed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Serum amino acids in hepatic encephalopathy--effects of branched chain amino acid infusion on serum aminogram.

Encephalopathic patients with cirrhosis of the liver consistently showed elevated levels of the aromatic amino acids, phenylalanine, tyrosine and free tryptophan as well as methionine in serum, whereas levels of the branched chain amino acids, valine, leucine and isoleucine, were depressed. Comatose patients with fulminant hepatitis had markedly elevated levels of all amino acids, the results being greatly different from those of cirrhotic patients. Molar ratios of (valine + leucine + isoleucine)/(phenylalanine + tyrosine) decreased both in cirrhotics with and without encephalopathy and in cases with fulminant hepatitis. Infusion of a commercially available L-amino acid solution in a cirrhotic patient induced a strikingly abnormal aminogram documented in hepatic encephalopathy. Therefore, effects of branched chain amino acid infusion on the deranged amino acid pattern were primarily studied for the purpose of improvement in hepatic encephalopathy by normalization of serum amino acid patterns. Elevated levels of the aromatic amino acids and methionine could be apparently depressed in a cirrhotic patient by this type of infusion but not in a case of fulminant hepatitis probably because of the poor utilization of these amino acids in severely impaired liver.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Regulatory mechanisms of alpha-fetoprotein production in injured rat liver.

The role of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-suppressing factor(s) in the increased production of AFP in liver injury was investigated with carbon tetrachloride and ethionine-treated rats. Elevated concentrations of serum AFP induced by these treatments decreased upon administration of prednisolone. However, injections of methionine and adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP), which significantly accelerated the rapid fall of serum AFP levels after birth, produced no such effects on increased AFP levels in hepatic injury. This ineffectiveness of methionine and ATP may suggests that their metabolisms are impaired in the injured liver.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1978

[Anterior pituitary function in patients with cerebrovascular diseases with special reference to TSH secretion in response to TRH administration (author's transl)].

TSH secretion in response to TRH was studied in patients with cerebrovascular diseases in order to elucidate the influence of cerebrovascular lesions on the hypothalamus-anterior pituitary function. Blood specimens were obtained before and at intervals of 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 90 and 120 minutes after the intravenous administration of 500 microgram of TRH. Serum TSH was measured using the RIA method. In 20 normal subjects, the serum TSH level before TRH administration was 1.0 +/- 1.4 microunits/ml (MEAN +/- SD). Following the intravenous administration of TRH, serum TSH increased and reached the maximum level of 9.0 +/- 2.3 microunits/mil at 30 minutes and returned near to the original level at 120 minutes. The response was the same for both male & female patients. In 17 patients with cerebral hemorrhage, the response of serum TSH to TRH was variable, including the types of excess, delayed or low response besides the normal response. In severe cases, cases of acute phase and male patients, a marked variability in the response was observed. In 8 patients with cerebral infarction, a low response of serum TSH to TRH was observed in all cases. There was no difference of the response with regard to severity of the diseases, duration after onset or sex difference of the patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Chronic Niemann-Pick disease with sphingomyelinase deficiency in two brothers with mental retardation.

Clinical, biochemical, and electron microscopic studies are presented in two brothers with Niemann-Pick disease. The clinical features include hepatosplenomegaly and mental retardation without any other neurological signs. Roentgenograms of the chest showed bilateral diffuse reticular infiltration. The amounts of sphingomyelin and cholesterol in liver were increased, and sphingomyelinase activities in both liver and skin fibroblasts were markedly reduced in Case 1. Numerous foam cells and myelin figures were observed in the liver, kidneys, bone marrow, and lymph nodes on electron microscopical examination. These cases were regarded as a variant of Niemann-Pick disease from our investigations as they have mental retardation as an exceptional symptom when they are diagnosed as type B.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Regulation of rat alpha-fetoprotein production by methionine and adenosine 5'-triphosphate.

Simultaneous and equimolar injections of methionine and adenosine 5'-triphosphate significantly accelerated the rapid fall of rat serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) concentrations after birth. The results were compared with those obtained by administrations of prednisolone and adult tissue extracts. Correlations between a methionine-related metabolic event(s) and the repression of AFP synthesis were discussed.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1978

Risk of systemic infections associated with umbilical vessel catheterization.

The purpose of the present study is to determine the risk of infections associated with umbilical vessel catheterization. During a period of recent four years, 97 catheters were inserted into the umbilical vessels of 94 newborn infants in a newborn nursery. Thirty percent of the catheter tips were colonized upon removal with pathogens (11%) and contaminants. The rate of catheter colonization was not dependent on sex, gestational age, birth weight and duration of catheterization. Bacteria were isolated from blood specimen drawn via the catheter upon removal in one patient, but blood sample from peripheral artery and catheter tip yielded no organisms in this patient. One patient (1%) was found to be septicemic while the catheter was in place. Culture of the catheter tip and blood drawn via the catheter proved unreliable in the diagnosis of subsequent systemic infection. Judicious surveillance for systemic infection by peripheral blood culture is necessary.

Bacterial Infections↗
PubMed1978

Intracellular pH and plateau duration of internally perfused squid giant axons.

The effects of changing the intracellular pH on the action potential duration and other electrophysiological properties were studied in squid giant axons perfused intracellularly with TEA(tetraethylammonium)-containing solutions and under Ca-Na bi-ionic conditions. The duration of the action potential plateau, produced by TEA, was markedly decreased with acidic intracellular solutions and increased with alkaline intracellular solutions. The normalized duration, d, was calculated by dividing the plateau duration by that of the standard intracellular pH of 7.3, and plotted against the intracellular pH. The curve could be expressed by the formula log [d/(D-d)] = n(pH-pK') where D is the saturated value of d, n a constant and pK' the value of pH at which d becomes D/2. The values selected for D and n were 2.6 and 1.4, respectively. The pK' was found to be 7.5. Lowering of the extracellular pH to 6.2 only slightly changed the plateau duration. Voltage clamp analysis revealed that acidic intracellular solutions decreased the size of the inward current and the slope conductance which were measured at the late period of the depolarizing clamping pulse. Alkaline intracellular solutions increased the size of the inward current and the slope conductance measured at this late period. Intracellular perfusion with a low pH solution also shortened the duration of the Ca-Na bi-ionic action potential. It is argued that the remarkable generality of the pH effect on the plateau duration implies the existence of a common mechanism of formation of the plateau under widely differing experimental conditions.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1978

An approach to nutritional therapy of hepatic encephalopathy by normalization of deranged amino acid patterns in serum.

A mixture with essential and nonessential amino acids high in branched chain amino acids and low in aromatic amino acids (Fischer solution), and another synthetic mixture of branched chain amino acids containing 3 amino acids associated with the urea cycle (Hep-OU) were infused to control subjects and patients with severe hepatic disease. Alterations in serum aminograms, blood ammonia levels and electroencephalograms following the infusion were studied and compared with those obtained by a commercially available amino acid mixture. Short-term or continuous infusion of a commercially available amino acid solution to cirrhotic patients caused an increase in methionine, phenylalanine and tyrosine and a decrease in branched chain amino acids. These post-infusion results were similar to the patterns seen in hepatic encephalopathy. In cirrhotic patients, infusion of Fischer solution which contains small quantities of methionine and phenylalanine produced an increase in the concentrations of these 2 amino acids, probably because of impaired utilization by the injured liver. No marked alterations in serum aminograms, however, were observed in cirrhotic patients either immediately after, or 3 h after, the end of the Hep-OU infusion. Reduction of methionine, tyrosine and phenylalanine levels and elevation of the molar ratio of (valine + leucine + isoleucine)/(phenylalanine + tyrosine) were significant. The infusion of Hep-OU to patients with liver cirrhosis or subacute hepatitis resulted in clinical and neurological improvements and the restoration of the molar ratio of branched chain amino acids/aromatic amino acids.

Amino Acids↗