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Biomedical subjects

F Sasaki

Publications and source records attributed to F Sasaki.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources

Effect of anti-alpha-fetoprotein serum on human hepatoblastoma.

There is no definitive treatment of hepatoblastoma. Except for radical resection, the prognosis of unresectable cases remains pessimistic. Therefore, the development of new anticancer drugs for this tumor is urgently needed. Using the human hepatoblastoma cell line (c-HB-3) we demonstrated that horse anti-alpha-fetoprotein containing serum suppressed proliferation of the hepatoblastoma cells. This effect was dependent on the duration of exposure and the concentration of anti-alpha-fetoprotein serum.

Animals↗

Measurement of lung density in congestive heart failure by computed tomography.

The computed tomography (CT) number within the region of interest (ROI) was used as a parameter to assess lung density in patients with congestive heart failure. Thirty-eight patients with valvular heart disease (VHD) and 34 patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) were studied. Based on the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification, 24 VHD patients were in class I or II (VHD I-II) and the other 14 were in NYHA class III or IV (VHD III-IV). Eighteen patients with IHD were in NYHA class I or II (IHD I-II) and 16 were in class III or IV (IHD III-IV). The CT number was measured bilaterally at the upper, middle and lower levels of the chest and compared with the corresponding values in 21 normal subjects (Group N). In a preliminary study on Group N, the CT numbers were insensitive to the size of the ROI, but were closely related to its location. In clinical applications, the mean values of the CT numbers in all six lung fields increased in the order of IHD I-II, to VHD I-II, IHD III-IV and VHD III-IV. Except for patients in IHD I-II, they were significantly larger than in Group N. The relationship between the CT number and the systolic and mean pulmonary arterial pressures and the pulmonary capillary wedge pressure were evaluated in 36 patients. Significant correlations were obtained in all six lung fields (r = 0.65-0.78, p less than 0.001). The results suggest that measurement of lung density by CT is useful for the quantitative evaluation of the severity of disease in patients with congestive heart failure.

Adult↗

Identification of cells by backscattered electron imaging of silver stained bulk tissues in scanning electron microscopy.

Anuran tadpole tail muscle was stained en bloc by a modified light microscope silver stain for light microscopy and freeze-fractured in liquid nitrogen after partial dehydration with ethanol. The fractured specimens were observed in both secondary electron and backscattered electron modes in a scanning electron microscope. Since the cell nuclei specifically stained with silver provided high contrast against the unstained background due to atomic number contrast of backscattered electron image, various cells were easily identified by a comparison of secondary electron images and compositional images of backscattered electron signals.

Animals↗

The 1976-1977 rubella epidemic in Fukuoka city in southern Japan: epidemiology and incidences of complications among 80,000 persons who were school children at 28 primary schools and their family members.

From 1975 to 1977, a nationwide rubella epidemic occurred in Japan. This epidemic provided the last chance for the observation of natural rubella and its epidemiology without the influence of mass-vaccination for rubella and before changes in the epidemic pattern of rubella in the 1980's in Japan. Epidemiological and clinical data were obtained by questionnaires on school children in 28 selected primary schools and their family members (a total of 80,221 persons) in Fukuoka in southern Japan during the 1976-1977 rubella epidemic. At the end of 1975 the rubella epidemic was mainly in the western part of Fukuoka city and then it spread to the eastern part. After a break during the summer of 1976, the epidemic restarted in 1977 mainly in the eastern part with few cases in the western part. Rubella was identified clinically in 14,322 cases (18%) during the 1976 epidemic, the incidences in various age groups being as follows: children of below 6 years of age, 28%; primary school children, 37%; junior and senior high school students, 30%; adults of 18 to 30 years of age, 8%; adults of over 30 years of age, 1%. The incidence in primary school children in 1977 was 18%. Of the 14,322 cases of clinical rubella in 1976, 3 with encephalitis, 9 with purpura and 1,843 with joint complaints (pain and/or swelling of joints) were recorded. Rubella encephalitis was estimated to have occurred in 1 in 4,700 cases with clinical rubella, and purpura in 1 in 1,500 cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

[Size reduction of a nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma after bromocriptine therapy: case report].

Bromocriptine therapy may cause regression of prolactinomas and GH producing adenomas, but there is only few reports about the effect of bromocriptine against nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas and there is no reports about its histopathological changes. We report a nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma, which remarkably regressed during and following bromocriptine therapy. A 47-year-old man developed blurred vision on January 20, 1981. He was pointed out of bitemporal hemianopsia and of his left palor optic fundus. His endocrinological condition was panhypopituitarism and no hypersecreting hormones were found. Cranial computerized axial tomography showed huge dumbbell shaped high density mass extending from the enlarged intrasellar area to the floor of the third ventricle. On treatment with bromocriptine, 5 mg daily for 3 days, his visual acuity and field was remarkably improved. Treatment was continued with gradually increased doses of bromocriptine to 15 mg and so, remarkable shrinkage of tumor size about 50% was seen by computerized axial tomography by a month. In addition, by eight months, the tumor reduced to 22%. Transsphenoidal surgery revealed centrally necrotic tumor mass surrounded by peripheral fibrous one. Because of fibrous and hemorrhagic tumour, we could not remove it totally. The pathological specimen was examined by light and transmission electron microscopy. The tumor was diffuse-type chromophobe adenoma partially intersected by hypertrophied fibrous interstitial materials. Some tumor cells were stained faintly eosinophilic. The cytoplasms were shrunken and the tumor cells were clumped. The immunostaining of tumor was negative to all anterior pituitary hormones. The intracytoplasmic organellae, for example, rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, were scanty but prominant deformed mitochondria and small secretary granules (the size of about 90-150 nm) were found by transmission electron microscope. We think that the tumor cells had various responsiveness to this drug and the one extreme was destruction of the nucleus, the irreversible change, and the other extreme was some cytoplasmic reduction, the reversible change. The histopathological changes were almost the same as those of prolactinomas treated with bromocriptine. In conclusion, the mechanism of shrinkage of nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas treated with bromocriptine is unclear but it is worth while treating inoperable or recurrent large nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas with bromocriptine.

Adenoma↗

Electron-microscopical study of the operculum in anuran tadpole after extirpation of the right forelimb during metamorphosis.

The process of histolysis and fenestration of the skin of the prospective opercular perforation region of Rana japonica after extirpation of the right forelimb was observed during metamorphosis by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Epidermal cells of the belly of the tadpole, including the operculum, are extremely similar in their ultrastructure. Epidermal cells of the prospective opercular perforation region during metamorphosis become thin and vacuolated especially around the nucleus perhaps by autolysis, associated with lysosomal activity. The histolysis and formation of the perforation of the operculum occurs in the complete absence of forelimb. Macrophages containing phagosomes and lymphocytes or other blood cells are almost always found in the intercellular epidermis. Necrotic epidermal cells progressively separate by cleft formation and slough off without cornification.

Animals↗

Tail muscle hydrolases during metamorphosis of the anuran tadpole. I. Histochemical studies.

Naphthylamidase, beta-glucuronidase and trimetaphosphatase have been studied histochemically in the tail muscles of Rana catesbeiana, Rana japonica and Xenopus laevis tadpoles. During the early stages of growth, tadpole tail muscles showed very low activity of these hydrolases, whereas during the prometamorphic and metamorphic stages, they exhibited a marked increase in enzyme activity. This was localized in the subepidermal and subnotochordal mesenchymous tissue and in the myoseptum, i.e. between the muscle bundles.

Acid Anhydride Hydrolases↗

Seroepidemiologic studies on rubella in Fukuoka in southern Japan during 1965-1981: rubella epidemic pattern, endemicity and immunity gap.

The epidemiology of rubella in most areas of Asia has not been defined. In Fukuoka city in southern Japan, rubella epidemics occurred in 1956-58, in 1966 and in 1976-77. During the first halves of the 1960s and 1970s, neither epidemic nor endemic clinical rubella occurred. Rubella mass vaccination for girls of 14 years of age started in 1978. Rubella seroepidemiologic studies were performed in 1965, 1974, 1978-79 and 1981 in Fukuoka city. Current studies indicated that children of 6-10 years of age during the epidemics of 1956-58, 1966 and 1976-77 were infected with rubella in 72%, 37% and 57% of cases, respectively. Just before the epidemics of 1966 and 1976-77 100% of the children under nine years of age had no antibodies to rubella indicating absence of recent outbreaks. Whereas 95% of the population (young women of 15-18 years of age in 1981) which participated in the rubella mass vaccination programme since 1978 have rubella Hl antibodies, 46% of the nonparticipating population (19-23 years of age in 1981) remains susceptible to rubella. These facts indicate that rubella epidemics occurred in 1956-58, 1966 and 1976-77, that the magnitude of each epidemic was different, and that there were intervals without endemicity in the inter-epidemic periods. However, after the nation wide rubella epidemic in 1975-77, endemic rubella continued, and rubella epidemics again occurred in 1980-82. The unique rubella epidemic pattern in Japan may be changing in the 1980s to that which existed in most areas of the world where rubella was endemic with periodic increased incidence of epidemicity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗