Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E Yano.
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Renal function studies were done on asymptomatic hyperuricemic subjects and normouricemic controls matched as to age, sex and blood pressure. Abnormal urinary sediments and proteinuria were found more frequently in asymptomatic hyperuricemic subjects than in the controls. In addition, the maximal osmolar concentrating ability of urine was markedly reduced in the asymptomatic hyperuricemic subjects. There was no difference in renal function measured by phenolsulfonphthalein excretion between the groups. Our results suggest that hyperuricemia alone may contribute to renal tubular impairment.
Renal urate excretion was studied in two familial, one suspected familial, and two isolated cases of hypouricemia due to a renal defect. All had very low plasma urate concentrations. In four cases, the urate clearances were approximately the same as the creatinine clearances, and in one case reduced to about one-third. In all cases the urate clearances were minimally diminished by both pyrazinamide and probenecid. This renal response to the drugs is probably due to and isolated tubular defect in the reabsorptive transport mechanism of urate. Following intravenous administration of uric acid, one patient excreted uric acid in the urine more rapidly than a normal subject. In this patient, uric acid secretion from renal tubules was clearly demonstrated during infusion of uric acid. In de novo synthesis of purine, no definite abnormalities were found by incorporation of glycine-15N to uric acid.
In 1967, Kawasaki, in Japan, first described a new syndrome affecting infants and young children-an acute, febrile illness with mucocutaneous involvement associated with swelling of cervical lymph nodes. The prognosis is usually good but recently it has become evident that 1-2 percent of the patients die suddenly from acute heart failure. Infantile polyarteritis (nodosa-like arteritis) accompained by coronary aneurysm and thrombosis has been noted in postmortem examinations. Twenty patients surviving the illness were examined by coronary angiography; 12 of the 20 had abnormal coronary angiograms; seven patients had coronary aneurysms. Complete regression of the coronary aneurysms was proved in two patients at subsequent angiography. One patient developed mitral regurgitation as a result of papillary muscle dysfunction. One had a coronary aneurysm without symptoms two years after the onset of illness.
A 28-year-old man was found to have hypouricaemia (plasma uric acid, 0.40 to 1.25 mg/100 ml). The 24-hour urinary urate excretion on a low purine diet was 690 mg, a value higher than the mean value of 419 mg for gouty Japanese patients. Urate clearance was 88.5 ml/min--approximately the same as the endogeneous creatinine clearance. The ratio of urate clearance to creatinine clearance was scarcely altered by pyrazinamide, but diminished by probenecid (from 69.2% to 52.4%). No other renal tubular abnormalities were detected. The findings in this subject may be accounted for by a nearly complete tubular defect in reabsorptive transport mechanisms of urate. A survey of his family revealed at least three similarly affected persons, who were all from consanguineous marriages. The hypouricaemia was transmitted as an autosomal trait.
The mutagenicities of 37 mono-nitrobenzene derivatives, i.e. the ortho, meta, and para isomers of nitrotoluene, nitrophenol, nitroaniline, nitroanisole, nitrobenzaldehyde, nitrobenzyl chloride, nitrobenzonitrile, nitroacetophenone, nitrophenetol, nitrobenzoic acid, nitrophenylacetic acid, and nitrocinnamic acid and p-nitrothiophenol, were tested in the Ames test and rec assay. The rec assay gave more positive results than the Ames test. The para-substituted nitrobenzene derivatives were always positive in the rec assay as were all but 2 in the Ames test, while 5 out of 12 ortho and meta derivatives were mutagenic in the Ames test. The results of the present study, combined with those of the previous study, are discussed with special reference to the structure-mutagenicity relationships.
The authors undertook a cross-sectional study of the potential adverse health effects of air pollution in Bangkok, Thailand. During 1998 and 1999, the authors administered lung function spirometry tests and a Thai version of the American Thoracic Society's Division of Lung Diseases (ATS-DLD) respiratory questionnaire to 78 male traffic police and 60 male nontraffic police in Bangkok, as well as to 68 male general police in Ayutthaya province, a rural area in Thailand. No consistent trend of decreased pulmonary function was observed in traffic police. The authors controlled for age, height, and smoking index, after which mean levels of forced expiratory volume in 1 sec and maximal expiratory flow rate in 25% of vital capacity (V25) were significantly lower in Bangkok police than in Ayutthaya police. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms among Bangkok police was slightly higher than among Ayutthaya police. Multiple regression analysis identified age and workplace as statistically significant factors that contributed to the values of forced expiratory volume in 1 sec and V25. This study provided some evidence of an increase in prevalence of obstructive changes in the peripheral airways among traffic police in Bangkok.
The chronic pulmonary effects of exposure to volcanic ash were investigated by conducting a cross-sectional epidemiological study of 2,006 women between 30 and 59 yr of age who lived in three areas subjected to different levels of airborne ash. In the three areas prevalences of chronic bronchitis and other respiratory symptoms were so low that volcanic ash did not seem to be a major cause of respiratory disease. In the highly exposed area, however, 9.9% of the women experienced symptoms of one or more respiratory diseases, while 6.4% of the women in the medium- and 5.4% of the women in the low-exposure area had these symptoms. Prevalences of each disease and symptom increased as total suspended particulate level increased, suggestive of an association of mild respiratory symptoms with volcanic ash.
The Mount Sakurajima volcano in Kyushu, Japan, is proximal to a large residential area, and it emits an enormous amount of volcanic ash during frequent eruptions. In our previous study, we investigated, for the first time, respiratory effects of chronic exposure to volcanic ash. The study demonstrated a low prevalence of respiratory symptoms, even in the area of highest exposure; only a slight excess prevalence of symptoms appeared to be associated with exposure to volcanic ash. To confirm the findings of our previous study, the prevalence study of chronic respiratory symptoms for residents was repeated in Kanoya and Tashiro, which are located 25 and 50 km, respectively, from the crater of Mt. Sakurajima. The concentration of suspended particulate matter in Kanoya frequently exceeded the national environmental quality standards and, during summer and winter, was 2-3 times higher than that found in Tashiro. Women who were 30-59 y of age and who had resided in Kanoya or Tashiro for more than 3 y completed a modified ATS-DLD questionnaire. The prevalence of nonspecific respiratory disease was low, i.e., 6.5% in Kanoya and 6.2% in Tashiro; similar prevalences were found in women who had never smoked. When we restricted the analysis to individuals without a history of occupational exposure to dusts and who had no exposure to passive smoking, there was a slightly higher prevalence of nonspecific respiratory disease in Kanoya than Tashiro, but the difference was not significant. Eye symptoms were equally prevalent in the two areas.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Researchers disagree about whether exposure to asbestos causes significant respiratory impairments and airway obstruction in the absence of radiographic asbestosis and smoking. To obtain confirmatory information, the authors examined pulmonary function of 208 nonsmoking female asbestos workers who did not have asbestosis and 136 controls. The authors observed an overall lower single-breath carbon monoxide diffusing capacity in the asbestos workers than in controls. In addition, significant decreases in percentage vital capacity, percentage forced vital capacity, and percentage mean forced expiratory flow during the middle half of the forced vital capacity were evident in the older workers. Logistic regression analysis revealed that asbestos exposure was associated with abnormal single-breath carbon monoxide diffusing capacity, vital capacity, and mean forced expiratory flow during the middle half of the forced vital capacity among the older workers. The age-related decline in vital capacity, forced vital capacity, and mean forced expiratory flow during the middle half of the forced vital capacity was significantly greater in the asbestos workers than the controls. The findings imply that asbestos-exposure per se contributes predominantly to restricted lung volume and reduced single-breath carbon monoxide diffusing capacity. Asbestos may also cause slight airway obstruction, especially in workers who are heavily exposed.
Two male patients with urate overexcretion and clinical gout in a family showed activity of phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP) synthetase in erythrocyte lysates (3.1-fold) greater than that found in normal subjects. Hemolysates from 5 female persons in this family contained (2.7-fold) increased enzyme activity suggesting X-linked dominant transmission of the abnormality. Increased maximal velocity of the enzyme, aberrant protein pattern in polyacrylamide electrophoresis, and increased thermolability in purified enzyme suggested that this enzyme is a mutant one. From these findings, it was assumed that the characteristics of this enzyme were different from 4 previously reported enzymes.