In the course of a screening program for phosphatidylinositol kinase inhibitors, we discovered novel inhibitors, echiguanines A and B, from the culture broth of a Streptomyces strain MI698-50F1 (FERMP-11563). The structures of echiguanines A and B were revealed to be N-(2-amidinoethyl)-2-amino-4-hydroxy-7H-pyrrolo[2,3- d]pyrimidine-5-carboxamide and N-(3-aminopropyl)-2-amino-4-hydroxy-7H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine- 5-carboxamide, respectively, by nmr spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. Echiguanines A and B inhibited phosphatidylinositol kinase of the A431 cell membrane with IC50's of 0.04 microgram/ml and 0.11 micrograms/ml, respectively. Echiguanine A is the most potent inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol kinase so far discovered.

1-Phosphatidylinositol 4-Kinase↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Capability of questionnaire of social and psychological factors to predict coronary heart disease and stroke.

It is well known that the incidence of stroke is higher in Japan than in the US, and that, conversely, the incidence of heart disease is higher in the US than in Japan. To clarify this fact, a socio-cultural investigation is indicated. This study was therefore conducted from that viewpoint. A questionnaire was devised and a survey conducted to investigate the effect of social, cultural, and psychological factors on coronary heart disease and stroke. The survey was based on the hypothesis that cultural differences between Japan and the US contribute heavily to differences in the incidence of stroke and heart disease between the two countries. The questionnaire was analysed and correlated with physical examination findings, using Hayashi's quantification method type II. Discrimination between two distinct groups for each disease was clear and the predictive capability of the questionnaire was thus ascertained. In this report we concentrated on use of the prediction table use of sample data, and prediction of the probability of abnormality.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of cimetidine and pentagastrin on surgical repair of gastric mucosa.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this work is to evaluate the repair of mucosal epithelium at the critical time of the beginning of reepithelization of stomach wound. METHODOLOGY: Structural and ultrastructural evaluation of rat gastric mucosa repair was carried out with administration of placebo, cimetidine and pentagastrin in different groups of rats (Rattus norvegicus albinus) during the first 7 post-operative days. Following 48 hours of starvation and anesthesia by ethyl ether inhalation, the animals were submitted to laparotomy exposing the stomach. A fusiform gastric resection measuring 5 mm in length was performed in the fundus stomach wall. The surgical wound was sutured in 2 plans: muscular tunic and visceral serosa. The abdominal wall was also sutured in 2 plans: parietal serosa-abdominal musculature and skin. During 6 consecutive post-operative days, the placebo group rats received 1 ml of distilled water intragastrically; those of the cimetidine group 10 mg/kg of cimetidine; and, animals of the pentagastrin group, 250 micrograms/kg of pentagastrin by intraperitoneal injection. On the 7th post-operative day, rats were killed and fragments of the stomach wall containing transverse section of surgical wound were collected and processed for light microscopy and electron microscopies. RESULTS: At the beginning of gastric mucosal wound reepithelization cimetidine has better effect than that of pentagastrin. CONCLUSIONS: Comparative mucosal morphology showed that cimetidine tends to accelerate the beginning of reepithelization of granulation tissue while pentagastrin delays reepithelization due to alteration of protective mucus and a provoking increase of granulation tissue.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Morphological evaluation of ethylic damage on gastric mucosal repair after surgery.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The damage caused by either yeasted or distilled alcoholic beverages on repair of gastric mucosa is not totally clear. The aim of this work was to verify morphologically the effect of ethylic damage on the initial repair of gastric surgery. METHODOLOGY: Eighteen albino rats equitably were divided into an experimental group receiving a placebo (EGpl), experimental group receiving fermented ethanol (EGfe) and experimental group receiving distilled ethanol (EGde). All of the rats were submitted to standardized gastric surgery of the fundic wall. During the first 6 post-operative days, 1 ml of distilled water to EGpl, 1 ml of ethanol 11.8% to EGfe and 1 ml of ethanol 43% to EGde were intragastrically administered on a daily basis. All of the animals were killed on the 7th post-operative day and fragments of fundic mucosa at the site of suture were adequately processed and a comparative observation was carried out through light and electron microscopies. RESULTS: Both, low (wine) and high (whisky) concentrations of ethanol in the alcoholic beverage produced mild and severe erosion, respectively, on the gastric superficial lining epithelium. CONCLUSIONS: The severe erosion of the epithelium was counterbalanced by an explosive secretion of gastric mucus caused by the high concentration of ethanol, but reepithelization of surgical repair, either of EGfe or EGde was slower than of EGpl.

Alcohol Drinking↗