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Biomedical subjects

H Okano

Publications and source records attributed to H Okano.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

HLA-DRB1*1502 allele, subtype of DR15, is associated with susceptibility to ulcerative colitis and its progression.

HLA-DRB1 allele typing was performed by the PCR-RFLP method on 59 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and 136 healthy controls. Phenotypic frequencies of HLA-B52 and DR2 were significantly increased among the UC patients, serologically. DNA typing of HLA-DRB1 revealed that the genotypic frequency of DRB1*1502 was higher in UC than in the controls (49.2% vs 17.6%; P < 0.0001). In the analysis of clinical parameters, 82.8% of patients bearing DRB1*1502 were treated with corticosteroids. DRB1*1501 and DRB1*1502 differ in only one amino acid at residue 86 (valine vs glycine), and 66% of the UC patients carried two glycines at position 86 in the HLA-DR beta-chain (vs 51% of control; P < 0.05). These observations suggest that the presence of Gly-86 in the HLA beta-chain and surrounding amino acid sequence of HLA-DRB1*1502 is strongly associated with susceptibility to UC.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Effects of exercise and amenorrhea on bone mineral density in teenage runners.

In order to elucidate whether exercise and calcium intake can offset bone loss due to hypoestrogenemia in teenage girls, the lumbar and femoral bone mineral density (BMD) in elite amenorrheic runners (group 1 (n = 8)) was compared with those in eumenorrheic athletes (group 2 (n = 15)) and two groups of eumenorrheic non-athletic subjects, group 3 (n = 14), and group 4 (n = 15). BMD was measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. The subjects in group 1 lived in the dormitory, and their calcium intake was controlled to > 1400 mg/day. The subjects in groups 1, 2 and 3 were age matched (16-17 years old), but the body weight of those in group 2 was significantly greater than that of others. The subjects in groups 1, 3 and 4 were weight matched, but group 4 subjects were older by 5 years (21.0 +/- 0.2 years old). The lumbar BMD of group 1 was 1.0460 +/- 0.0259, which was not statistically different from those in the other groups, while the femoral BMD of group 1 was significantly higher than those of groups 3 and 4 at trochanter. The lumbar and femoral BMD of group 2 was significantly higher than in groups 3 and 4, but was not statistically different from group 1. There were no significant differences in serum parathyroid hormone levels, but osteocalcin and calcitonin levels of group 1 were significantly lower than those of groups 2 and 3, and groups 2, 3 and 4, respectively, suggesting that the rate of bone formation is suppressed in amenorrheic runners.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

[Treatment of aspiration pneumonia with low-dose methylprednisolone and antibiotics].

Low-dose methylprednisolone and antibiotics were used to treat 30 patients with aspiration pneumonia, in a prospective, randomized, double-blind trial with placebo control. All patients received clindamycin phosphate 1200 mg per day. In addition, 15 patients received methylprednisolone 20 mg per day for three days and the other 15 patients received placebo according to the same schedule. In the methyl prednisolone group, CRP had decreased (p < 0.05) from 12.7 +/- 9.8 to 6.4 +/- 5.4 mg/dl day 4, neutrophil elastase had decreased (p < 0.05) from 402 +/- 304 to 231 +/- 64 micrograms/dl by day 4 and to 184 +/- 59 micrograms/dl by day 7, maximum body temperature had decreased (p < 0.01) from 37.9 +/- 1.1 to 36.8 +/- 0.6 degrees C by day 7, and the pneumonia score had improved (p < 0.01) from 11.8 +/- 3.0 to 8.6 +/- 2.4 by day 4. In the placebo group, there were no significant improvements by those days. We conclude that low-dose methylprednisolone therapy with antibiotics is effective against aspiration pneumonia.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

[A case of pulmonary blastoma coexisting with well-differentiated adenocarcinoma].

A 66-year-old man came to our hospital because of hemoptysis and fever. Chest radiograph and CT scan showed a large circumscribed shadow in the posterior segment of the right upper lobe. Bronchoscopy revealed bronchial compression and stenosis. The histopathological specimen obtained by transbronchial biopsy showed total necrosis, but cytological examination of the bronchial lavage specimen showed class 5 adenocarcinoma. Right upper lobectomy was done, and regional lymph nodes were removed. The resected tumor was found to be a pulmonary blastoma by histopathological examination. The main tumor was composed of malignant epithelial and mesenchymal elements with rhabdoid differentiation and chondroid tissue, the former of which looked like fetal lung tissue. This case is interesting, because the fact that the adenocarcinoma and pulmonary blastoma were close together may be related to the histogenesis of pulmonary blastoma.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1995

[A case of cilostazol-induced pneumonitis].

A 73-year-old man had been treated with cilostazol for antithrombotic therapy after a myocardial infarction. Seventy days after the start of cilostazol therapy, he developed dyspnea, dry cough, and fever. He was admitted to our hospital on April 13, 1923. Chest radiography and CT revealed a ground glass appearance. All drugs except isosorbide dinitrate were discontinued and he was treated with steroids under the presumptive diagnosis of drug-induced pneumonitis. Steroid therapy was effective. The result of a lymphocyte stimulation test was positive for cilostazol. Based on the above findings, cilostazol-induced pneumonitis was diagnosed. To our knowledge, there have been no previous reports of cilostazol-induced pneumonitis.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

[A case of pulmonary tuberculosis associated with triple cancer].

A 76-year-old man came to our hospital complaining of bloody sputum and anterior chest pain. He had undergone operations for rectal cancer six years previously and for gastric cancer nine months previously. His chest X-ray film showed a mass shadow in the left lower field and a small nodular shadow in the right middle field. After treatment with antibiotics and antituberculosis drugs, symptoms and laboratory findings improved and left mass shadow on the chest X-ray film began to resolve. Adenocarcinoma of the lung was diagnosed after a transbronchial lung biopsy from the right S3a. An operation was scheduled for two months later, but a new mass shadow appeared in the right lower field. Right upper lobectomy with mediastinal lymph node dissection and partial resection of the right S9 was done. The surgical specimens revealed well-differentiated adenocarcinoma from the right S3a and tuberculosis from the right S1, S2, and S9. A recent increase in multiple cancers has been noticeable, but cases of triple cancer concurrent with tuberculosis are rare. When chest-radiographic abnormalities unrelated to the original tumor occur in lung cancer patients, a second primary cancer should be considered. It is also important to determine if they are caused by intra-lung metastases or by some other condition, such as exacerbation of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1995

[Clinical evaluation of cefpodoxime proxetil, a new oral cephem, in the treatment of respiratory tract infections with the special reference to community-acquired Streptococcus Pneumoniae infections].

The clinical usefulness of cefpodoxime proxetil (CPDX-PR) was investigated in the treatment of pneumonia and chronic airway infections occurring in patients first visiting our outpatient clinic or those being treated at the outpatient clinic. CPDX-PR was orally administered twice a day after meals at a dose of 100-200 mg for acute respiratory tract infections and at a dose of 200 mg for chronic respiratory tract infections. Excellent, good, fair, and poor responses were observed in 20, 33, 10, and 3 of 66 patients (4 with acute bronchitis, 27 with pneumonia, and 35 with acute exacerbation of chronic airway infection), respectively, demonstrating an 80.3% efficacy rate (53/66). Causative organisms, including Streptococcus pneumoniae, were all eradicated from the patients whose causative organisms were examined over time, although 2 of the patients were superinfected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. There were no serious adverse reactions or abnormal changes in laboratory test results. It was concluded that CPDX-PR could be used as a first-choice drug for the treatment of respiratory tract infections at an outpatient clinic, and that this drug should acquire greater importance in particular consideration of recent increases in infections with S. pneumoniae.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

[Two cases of peripartum cardiomyopathy].

Two cases of peripartum cardiomyopathy, a rare type of dilated cardiomyopathy, are reported. A 36-year-old woman developed congestive heart failure 1 month after delivering her third child. Cardiac catheterization revealed diffuse hypokinesis of the left ventricle and an ejection fraction of 28%. The second study, 20 months later, demonstrated an ejection fraction of 46%. Endomyocardial biopsy showed mild interstitial edema. A 42-year-old woman developed toxemia during pregnancy. She delivered her second child at 38 weeks of gestation. Two weeks later, she developed congestive heart failure. Cardiac catheterization demonstrated diffuse hypokinesis of left ventricle with an ejection fraction of 40%. Endomyocardial biopsy revealed dense fibrosis. Follow-up angiography performed 8 months later showed similar findings with an ejection fraction of 34%. These two cases suggest the importance of evaluation of endomyocardial biopsy to determine the degree of interstitial fibrosis that may reflect the prognosis for patients with peripartum cardiomyopathy confirmed by measurements of ejection fraction.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

[Histological evaluation of bronchial tissue from elderly individuals with bronchial asthma].

We studied morphologic and morphometric characteristics of the bronchial walls in lungs obtained at autopsy form elderly patients who had had bronchial asthma. Thirteen patients (age at time of death 57 to 98 years; average, 81 years) were divided into three groups: AS, died of severe asthma attack (n = 4); AC, admitted with asthma symptoms but died of other diseases (n = 6); and NA, died of other diseases and had had no asthma symptoms in the year before death (n = 3). Lungs from ten non-smokers with no history of bronchial asthma or other lung disorders were used as control. Transverse sections of segmental and subsegmental bronchi were prepared, and four quantities were analyzed: 1) the ratio of total bronchial gland area to total area of the bronchial wall (Yamanaka index), 2) the thickness of the basement membrane, 3) the thickness of the smooth muscle bundle, and 4) the ratio of luminal area to total area of the bronchial wall (bronchial dilation ratio). In the AS group, the Yamanaka index and the thickness of the smooth muscle bundles and of the basement membrane were significantly greater than those in the control group at both the segmental and subsegmental levels, with massive eosinophil infiltration into the bronchial walls. Furthermore the bronchial dilation ratio at the subsegmental level correlated closely with the Yamanaka index. Thickness of the smooth muscle bundle seemed to be most representative of the severity of asthma symptoms. In conclusion, morphometric findings of bronchial walls in elderly patients with asthma symptoms seem to be similar to those in their younger counterparts.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1994

Cloning of a Drosophila melanogaster homologue of the mouse type-I bone morphogenetic proteins-2/-4 receptor: a potential decapentaplegic receptor.

The Drosophila melanogaster (Dm) decapentaplegic (dpp) gene product plays an essential role during several stages of Dm development. The DPP protein is a member of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily and an orthologue of mammalian bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP-2 and -4). Recently, a cDNA clone encoding the mouse Ser/Thr kinase receptor specific for BMP-2/-4 (mTFR11) was isolated. Here, we describe the deduced primary structure, the cytogenetic position and expression pattern of the Dm homologue of mTFR11 (DTFR), a putative DPP receptor. The cytogenetic position of the Dm dtfr gene was mapped to 25D. DTFR has striking homology to mTFR11, especially in the cytoplasmic domain (approx. 63%), including a Ser + Gly-rich box that is characteristic of type-I receptors for the TGF-beta superfamily. Although the amino acid (aa) sequence of the extracellular domain is less conserved than that of the cytoplasmic domain, the extracellular domains of these two molecules were more homologous (approx. 27%) to each other than any other receptors for the TGF-beta superfamily. The spacing of Cys residues in the extracellular domain, which is considered crucial to ligand specificity, is highly conserved in these two receptors. During Dm embryonic development, its expression pattern changes in a dynamic fashion with high levels of expression in mesoderm and midgut, with some relation to dpp mutant phenotypes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

repo encodes a glial-specific homeo domain protein required in the Drosophila nervous system.

We report the identification of a Drosophila locus, reversed polarity (repo). Weak repo alleles were viable but affected glia in the optic lobe, resulting in a reversal in polarity of the electrophysiological to light in the adult. Strong repo alleles caused defects in embryonic glia and resulted in embryonic lethality. Expression of repo appeared to be specific to glia throughout development. In the adult visual system, repo was expressed in laminal glia, medullar glia, and subretinal cells; in the embryo, repo was expressed in nearly all of the identified glia in the central and peripheral nervous systems except midline glia. The repo gene encoded a homeo domain protein suggesting that it might be a transcriptional regulator of genes required for glial development.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

The function of argos in regulating cell fate decisions during Drosophila eye and wing vein development.

The Drosophila argos gene, which encodes a secreted protein with an EGF motif, is involved in several developmental processes regulating cell-cell interactions such as eye morphogenesis. Loss-of-function mutations in the argos gene cause an increase in the number of photoreceptor cells and cone cells, impaired retinal projections to the optic lobe, and the formation of extra veins. We show here that ubiquitously expressed argos product restored all these loss-of-function phenotypes. Overexpression of argos in the wild-type background resulted in the reduced number of photoreceptor cells, cone cells, and pigment cells, which are phenotypes opposite to those of the loss-of-function mutants. The argos gene is expressed in developing wing veins. Ubiquitous argos expression caused loss of veins in a dose-dependent manner. This phenotype was enhanced by the loss-of-function rhomboid mutation, implying the possibility that argos and rhomboid play key roles in a common pathway for normal wing vein formation. We propose that argos acts as an inhibitory signal for cellular differentiation in the developing eye and wing.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Glial cell degeneration and hypomyelination caused by overexpression of myelin proteolipid protein gene.

Myelin proteolipid protein (PLP), the major myelin protein in the CNS, has been thought to function in myelin assembly. Thus, mutations within the gene coding for PLP (Plp) cause hypomyelination, such as the jimpy phenotype in mice and Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease in humans. However, these mutants often exhibit premature death of oligodendrocytes, which form CNS myelin. To elucidate the functional roles of Plp gene products in the maturation and/or survival of oligodendrocytes, we produced transgenic mice overexpressing the Plp gene by introducing extra wild-type mouse Plp genes. Surprisingly, transgenic mice bearing 4 more Plp genes exhibited dysmyelination in the CNS, whereas those with 2 more Plp genes showed normal myelination at an early age (3 weeks after birth), but later developed demyelination. Overexpression of the Plp gene resulted in arrested maturation of oligodendrocytes, and the severity of arrest was dependent on the extent of overexpression. Overexpression also led to oligodendrocyte cell death, apparently caused by abnormal swelling of the Golgi apparatus. Thus, tight regulation of Plp gene expression is necessary for normal oligodendrocyte differentiation and survival, and its overexpression can be the cause of both dys- and demyelination.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Musashi, a neural RNA-binding protein required for Drosophila adult external sensory organ development.

A family of neural RNA-binding proteins has recently been described in both vertebrates and invertebrates. We have identified a new member of this family, the Drosophila musashi (msi) locus, which is required for development of adult external sensory organs (sensilla). In contrast with wild-type sensilla, which contain two outer support cells, the msi mutation typically results in the appearance of extra outer support cells. The msi putative RNA-binding protein is localized to the nucleus and appears to be expressed in all cells in each sensillum and predominantly in neurons during embryogenesis. We propose that the msi protein regulates sensillum development by controlling the expression of target genes at the posttranscriptional level.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Differential induction of adult and fetal globin gene expression in the human CML cell subline KU-812F/33.

Various chemicals which are known to have positive effects on differentiation of some erythroid cell lines were tested on a human chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line, KU-812F. Succinic acid, 5-azacytidine, daunomycin, and hemin showed a positive effect. Among them, hemin and 5-azacytidine were the most effective inducers for erythroid differentiation of KU-812F cells. Dimethylsulfoxide, cytosine arabinofuranoside, and sodium n-butyrate showed no effect. In addition, subclone KU-812F/33 derived from the KU-812F cell line showed differential expression of the beta- and gamma-globin genes in the presence of either 2 microM 5-azacytidine or 40 microM hemin. Hemoglobin synthesis in differentiated KU-812F/33 cells was analyzed by isoelectric focusing gel electrophoresis, and S1 mapping analysis of beta- and gamma-globin mRNA was performed. After treatment with 5-azacytidine, the beta-globin gene expression was predominantly enhanced (18.75-fold higher level of beta-globin mRNA). After treatment with hemin, the most notable increase was in the gamma-globin gene expression (1.83-fold higher level of gamma-globin mRNA), while no increment of beta-globin was observed.

Azacitidine↗
PubMed1994

Leukotriene A4 hydrolase in human skin.

The biochemical properties and immunohistochemical localization of leukotriene (LT) A4 hydrolase were investigated in human skin. The activity of LTA4 hydrolase, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of LTA4 to LTB4, the most chemotactic compound known, was detected in the 100,000 x g supernatant of homogenates of human epidermis and a transformed epidermal cell line (HSC-1). No significant LTA4 hydrolase activity was detected in human whole skin or dermis. The enzymatic properties of LTA4 hydrolase isolated from human keratinocytes and peripheral leukocytes were similar. Their activities were inhibited by bestatin and captopril, and they were completely absorbed by anti-human LTA4 hydrolase antibody. By immunoblotting analysis using this antibody, LTA4 hydrolase was detected as a 70-kDa protein in human epidermis and HSC-1 and was found to be similar to the enzyme detected in peripheral mononuclear leukocytes. In human dermis, LTA4 hydrolase was barely detected by Western blotting. On the other hand, LTA4 hydrolase was demonstrated in the cytoplasm of keratinocytes in the epidermis, and in fibroblasts, infiltrating and endothelial cells in the dermis of normal human skin by immunohistochemical analysis using the immunoperoxidase method. These results suggest that LTB4 can be generated from LTA4 by LTA4 hydrolase in keratinocytes as well as fibroblasts, infiltrating and endothelial cells in the dermis of human skin.

Blotting, Western↗