Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H Taguchi.
Trisomy 4 in a Japanese patient with type M2 acute nonlymphocytic leukemia is reported. Karyotypic analysis was unsuccessful at diagnosis and complete remission lasted 4 years. The cytogenetic change was detected in the first and second relapses as the only chromosome abnormality. Unusual nuclear irregularities were found in many leukemic cells.
An indirect immunoperoxidase method capable of identifying an opportunistic fungus, Trichosporon beigelii, in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue has been developed. The authors studied autopsy materials from 19 patients with various fungal infections, including 3 patients with disseminated T. beigelii infection, 8 patients with localized or systemic candidiasis, 4 patients with invasive aspergillosis, 2 patients with pulmonary mucormycosis, and 2 patients with systemic cryptococcosis. T. beigelii could be successfully visualized in tissue sections from all three patients with this infection and a patient with systemic candidiasis who was found to have concomitant infection by T. beigelii. The capsule of Cryptococcus neoformans was also stained, indicating the presence of cross-reactive antigen between T. beigelii and C. neoformans. C. neoformans-absorbed antiserum was reactive with T. beigelii but not with other fungi, including C. neoformans.
A novel monoclonal antibody, designated D-213, was generated to human myeloid cell line PL-21. D-213 defined a 47-kD antigen which was specifically expressed in normal and leukemic cells of the myeloid lineage and in T-cell lines carrying human T-cell leukemia virus type I. This antibody was also reactive with adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) cells in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. D-213 would be useful for making an immunohistochemical diagnosis of ATLL in cases where serological or virological information is not available.
1. The somatotopic organization of nociceptive-specific (NS) and wide dynamic range (WDR) units in the nucleus ventralis posterolateralis (VPL) of the ventrobasal (VB) complex was studied. Experiments were carried out on adult cats anesthetized with urethane-chloralose. The recording sites of nociceptive units were marked by the electrophoretic deposition of pontamine sky blue from the recording microelectrode, and subsequently identified histologically in cresyl-violet stained sections. 2. It was found that NS units were located in the dorsal and ventral shell regions of the caudal VPL, whereas WDR units were located in a narrow zone of the shell region, just rostral to the NS zone. 3. NS units in the dorsal shell region had receptive fields on the contralateral dorsal surface of the body, whereas NS units in the ventral shell region had their receptive fields on the ventral aspect of the contralateral integument. 4. In the dorsal shell region, the contralateral body surface was represented in an orderly sequence. Units responding to noxious stimulation of the upper-most cervical dermatome were found in the most medial part of the shell region of the VPL, whereas those responding to stimulation of successively more caudal dermatomes were located more laterally, and in serial order. Units responding to noxious stimulation of the sacral dermatomes were thus found in the most lateral part. 5. In the ventral NS zone, the pattern was distorted by disproportionately large areas devoted to the fore- and hindpaw pads. In this region, therefore, NS units with receptive fields on the fore- and hindpaw pads were intermingled with other NS units that could have receptive fields located anywhere on the ventral body surface. It should be noted, however, that the remainder of the body surface was still represented in an orderly sequence; cervical dermatomes being represented medially, with successively more caudal dermatomes being represented progressively more laterally. 6. A similar somatotopic pattern was recognized in the distribution of the low-threshold centers of the receptive fields of WDR units.
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According to the report of the Health and Welfare Ministry's research committee on brain death (1985), "brain death is defined as an irreversible cessation of the total brain function including brain stem." However, in brain death patients, whether the hypothalamic function which belongs to the brain stem function has completely ceased or not is unknown. In order to evaluate the hypothalamic function in brain death patients, the blood levels of the pituitary hormones and hypothalamic hormones were measured, and anterior pituitary stimulation test with triple bolus injection (TRH 500 micrograms, LH-RH 100 micrograms, regular insulin 0.3-0.7 unit/kg) was performed. The subjects were 13 brain death patients whose clinical states fully satisfied the criteria proposed by the committee. 1) The average blood levels of anterior pituitary hormones in these brain death patients were within normal range, and that of growth hormone was more than the twice of the normal level. 2) The blood anterior pituitary hormones were detectable in almost all cases even several days after the diagnosis of the brain death. 3) LH reserve was maintained in three cases. FSH reserve was maintained in three cases. Prolactin reserve was maintained in two cases. TSH reserve was maintained in one case. 4) Blood ADH (antidiuretic hormones) were detectable in 7 cases out of 9 cases. The blood ADH level of one case, in particular, was rather high (above 10 pg/ml). 5) Histopathologically anterior pituitaries were examined in three autopsy cases. The central necrotic areas were observed in all cases, but normal pituitary tissues existed peripherally. And all anterior pituitary hormones could be recognized immunohistochemically. 6) The blood levels of the hypothalamic hormones (GRF, CRF, LH-RH) were measured in four cases. The hypothalamic hormones were detectable in all cases. In one case, the levels of GRF were within normal range even 9 or 15 days after the diagnosis of brain death.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Relationship between urinary sodium excretion and urinary excretion of calcium, uric acid, oxalate, phosphate and magnesium was analyzed in 93 ambulatory patients with urolithiasis. There was a significant correlationship between urinary sodium excretion and urinary excretion of calcium, uric acid, oxalate (only in male stone formers), phosphate and magnesium, respectively. Under a salt restricted diet (NaCl 3-5 gm/day) for 3 days, urinary sodium excretion of 16 inpatients with urolithiasis was reduced remarkably together with significant reduction of urinary excretion of calcium, uric acid and oxalate. Urinary excretion of phosphate and magnesium showed no change. From these findings we conclude that restriction of sodium intake is an effective treatment for prevention of stone recurrence.
Relationship between stone formation and crystal formation in urine was studied. Crystals in the sediments of early morning urine in 238 stone formers and the same numbers of non-stone formers were examined by light microscopy. Almost all crystals found in the early morning urine were composed of calcium oxalate both in stone formers and in non-stone formers. The frequency of calcium oxalate crystal formation was slightly higher in stone formers than in non-stone formers, but, no significant difference was noted. On the other hand, the urine containing calcium oxalate crystals of the stone formers had significantly lower specific gravity than that of the non-stone formers. Calcium oxalate crystals in the urine were formed significantly more frequently in the recurrent or bilateral male stone formers than in male unilateral stone formers without previous stone history. Frequency of calcium oxalate crystal formation was not influenced by urinary excretion of calcium, oxalate, uric acid, phosphate and magnesium. These finding led us to the conclusion that it was clinically useful to measure urinary specific gravity in which calcium oxalate crystals were formed in predicting the risk of stone formation.
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Correlation of the composition of the urinary calculi with urine pH, especially of diurnal variation, and composition of urinary excretion was studied. Urine pH in the patients with uric acid stones was constantly low and urinary pH in the patients with apatite and struvite stones was always high. Diurnal variation was not observed. In patients with pure calcium oxalate stones, however, urinary pH was low in the early morning, increased during the daytime, and was lowered at night. In the patients with mixed calcium oxalate-phosphate stones, a similar diurnal variation in urinary pH was found, but the urinary pH in the early morning was significantly higher in the patients with mixed calcium oxalate-phosphate stones than in those with pure calcium oxalate stones. Urinary tract infection did not influence these differences in urinary pH. Urinary excretion of calcium in the patients with mixed calcium oxalate-phosphate stones was significantly higher than that in those with pure calcium oxalate stones. No other correlations were observed between composition of the urinary calculi and urinary excretion of calcium, oxalate, uric acid, phosphate or magnesium. From these findings we conclude that urinary pH and urinary calcium are the most important factors determining the composition of the urinary calculi.
Neurons receiving cardiac sympathetic afferent input were studied in the nucleus ventralis posterolateralis (VPL) of the cat thalamus. Animals were anesthetized with urethan-chloralose. Units in the VPL were classified into 3 classes; low-threshold mechanoreceptive (LTM), nociceptive specific (NS) and wide dynamic range (WDR) units. Units driven by electrical stimulation of the left inferior cardiac nerve (ICN) were not included in the population of LTM units, but 43.5% of NS units and 68.8% of WDR units were excited by this stimulation. Units exclusively responsive to cardiac sympathetic afferents were not found. Both NS and WDR units were located in the shell region of the caudal VPL. NS units responsive to cardiac sympathetic afferents had a circumscribed cutaneous receptive field in the area corresponding to tactile dermatomes C5-T13. WDR units receiving cardiac sympathetic afferent input had at least a part of their receptive fields in the same area. These results suggest that the shell region of the caudal VPL constitutes a thalamic link in a cardiac pain pathway, and that cardiac and cutaneous pain systems share a common projection locus in the VPL.
A heat shock element is located in the 5'-flanking region of the rat heme oxygenase gene (HO gene). The incubation of rat glioma cells at 42 degrees C or with hemin at 37 degrees C increased the levels of heme oxygenase mRNA within 1 h and produced a maximum at 3 h (at least a 20-fold increase). In both treatments, the heme oxygenase activity started to increase after a lag period of about 1 h and reached a maximum value at 5 h. There was an apparent additive effect of both treatments on the heme oxygenase induction. Studies with actinomycin D and cycloheximide suggested that both heat shock and hemin acted at the transcriptional level to induce heme oxygenase. Therefore, we analyzed the transient expression of chimeric fusion genes harboring the promoter of the rat HO gene ligated to the Escherichia coli gene gpt in rat glioma cells and in K1735 mouse amelanotic melanoma cells. The 5'-flanking region of the rat HO gene bearing the heat shock element conferred the heat inducibility of gpt RNA production in both cell lines; however, hemin treatment did not induce gpt RNA. These results indicate that rat heme oxygenase is a heat shock protein and that hemin induces heme oxygenase through a different mechanism from heat shock.
Heme oxygenase, an essential enzyme of heme catabolism, is inducible by its substrate heme, by heavy metals, and by various other substances. To study the molecular mechanisms of the induction of heme oxygenase, we isolated the heme oxygenase gene from a rat genomic DNA library using cloned cDNA as hybridization probes and determined its complete nucleotide sequence. The gene is composed of 6830 nucleotides, and is organized in four introns and five exons. The transcription initiation site was identified by S1 nuclease mapping analysis. Using HeLa cell lysate, we confirmed that the transcription of cloned heme oxygenase gene is initiated accurately at the assigned initiation site. In the 5'-flanking region of the heme oxygenase gene, we found several potential binding sites for different transcription factors: a transcription factor Sp1, a positive regulator for the control of amino acid synthesis (GCN4), a heat shock transcription factor, and a metal-dependent transcription factor. Furthermore, the intron 1 contains the sequence that shows about 65% homology to that of the neuronal identifier sequence, a possible enhancer element.
Samples of bathwater from 14 homes and 22 public bathhouses and sludge in drainpipes from 19 household bathrooms were plated out onto potato dextrose agar supplemented with chloramphenicol. Several media were used to study colony morphology of the isolates and the thermotolerance and alkaline tolerance of each isolate were examined. Eleven sludge samples produced 12 isolates of Exophiala jeanselmei, 2 of E. dermatitidis and 1 of E. moniliae. Five household bathwater samples produced 2 isolates of E. jeanselmei, 4 of E. dermatitidis and 1 of E. alcalophila. One isolate of E. jeanselmei, 2 of E. dermatitidis, 3 of E. moniliae and 2 of unidentified Exophiala species were recovered from 6 samples of the bathwater dissolving 'Chinese medicine' in the bathtubs of public bathhouses. One isolate of E. jeanselmei was recovered from the 15 samples of bathwater from public bathhouses. Bathwater and sludge in bathroom drainpipes may be an important habitat of Exophiala species.
An ultrafiltration method (UF) for measuring free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3) using the Diaflow YM membrane (Centricon-10) is described. The results are compared with those by equilibrium dialysis (ED) and also by mathematical calculations derived from T4, T3, and binding protein concentrations. The precision with the UF method was excellent. The normal ranges of FT4 and FT3 by the three methods are all comparable. There was a high degree of correlation of FT4 or FT3 results by UF with those by ED and by calculation (r = 0.940-0.974, n = 161, P less than 0.001). FT4 and FT3 by all methods agreed well for hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and for patients with low T4-binding globulin. The mean FT3 in pregnancy was lower than the normal value for all methods, and FT4 concentrations by UF and calculation also decreased in late pregnancy. The mean FT4 by UF and ED in low T3 syndrome were significantly higher than in the normal controls, while the calculated FT4 was lower. The FT3 in low T3 syndrome distributed normal to subnormal in all methods. These results indicate that a) the UF method is a reliable reference method for measuring FT4 and FT3 concentrations; b) the UF results agree well with those by ED and also with theoretically derived values in subjects with thyroid diseases and TBG abnormalities; c) for patients with low T3 syndrome, the FT4 results obtained by UF and ED are similarly discrepant from the calculated results, implying the existence of binding inhibitor(s) which affect both UF and ED measurements.