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Biomedical subjects

I Kawai

Publications and source records attributed to I Kawai.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

[About musicogenic epilepsy (author's transl)].

A case of musicogenic epilepsy or psychomotor seizures supervening whenever the patient hears a certain tune is presented. Nearly 70 cases of musicogenic epilepsy have been documented so far. The findings in these cases including those encountered by ourselves may be summarized as follows: Musicogenic epilepsy is more common among middle-aged persons. In an unexpectedly large proportion of cases the cause is unknown. Among the organic causes, head injury is of the highest incidence. It is quite unlikely that brain bumor is responsible. There is no dementia or mental retardation as in some forms of reflex epilepsy. The seizure is overwhelmingly of the psychomotor type. The EEG pattern often suggests temporal lobe epilepsy. There seems to be no cerebral dominance. Different kinds of music can be the inducer, ranging from those primarily intended to stimulate the sense to those appealing to affect. The activating mechanism of the condition still remains obscure. In the strict sense of the word, the condition cannot be termed reflex epilepsy.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1977

A case of musicogenic epilepsy.

1) A case of musicogenic epilepsy or psychomotor seizures supervening whenever the patient hears a certain tume has been presented. 2) The EEG features of the seizure are such as are often seen in psychomotor seizures. 3) Auditory evoked response may be left out of consideration. 4) There is no appreciable relationship between the disease and the life history of the patient. The attempt of our patient to cure herself by making use of conditioned reflex proved to be a failure. The patient is more liable to the disease when she is on the strain while hearing a tune. 5) Our consideration of the mechanism of the disease has led to the presumptive conclusion that hyperacusis, conditioned reflexes and the impact of life history may be involved, and the fragility of the memory function of the temporal lobe underlie the genesis of the disease.

Aged↗
PubMed1976

On the Lennox syndrome with the onset in puberty.

The cases of the Lennox syndrome which began at the age between 14 and 16, namely in puberty, were reported. The first case, a 22-year-old woman, was attacked with grand mal seizure at the age of 15, and one year later "Juchzer" (ref. Doose) appeared. This continued for two years, and then astatic seizures appeared. The second case, a 20-year-old woman, was attacked with grand mal seizure at the age of 14, and soon after astatic seizure appeared. Thus both are closely related with grand mal seizures. The first case is idiopathic, and the intelligence developed normally till the onset of the Lennox syndrome. but after that it became disturbed. The second case is residual state of arsenic toxicosis, and so the intelligence was already disturbed before the onset. On EEG both of them at first showed diffuse slow waves of high voltage, and in several years after the appearance of the Lennox syndrome, slow spike-waves were found. On therapy, scarcely no beneficial effects were noted by conventional antiepileptics, and by nitrazepam only the temporal beneficial effect was obtained. The symptoms of our cases are generally similar to the Lennox syndrome in infancy. Though we observed only two cases, we presented our cases as the Lennox syndrome with late onset.

Adult↗
PubMed1971

Some observations on electroencephalograms of myoclonus epilepsy.

Electroencephalographic observations of four cases of myoclonus epilepsy are reported. A feature in EEG findings was that spikes became more prominent in the later stage of illness. Photic stimulation had a distinct activating effect on producing paroxysms, and an increase in number of paroxysms depended not on the frequency of stimulus but on the intensity. A sleep EEG showed ill-formed humps and sigma rhythm with infrequent paroxysms. It is suggested that these observations might be due to a disturbance in the function of subcortical structures.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Oculoclonic status epilepticus.

Continuous oculoclonic status epilepticus occurred for 90 min in a 4-year-old girl. The seizure consisted of continuous contralateral horizontal nystagmus concurrent with left occipital spike discharges, occasional vomiting and no loss of consciousness. Oculoclonic status epilepticus may be a variant form of versive status epilepticus.

Anticonvulsants↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Visual cognitive disturbance during spike-wave discharges.

Cognitive functions of patients showing slow spike-wave discharge in EEG without obvious absence seizures were investigated using tachistoscopic stimuli triggered by spike-waves. Response times obtained during spike-waves and during non-spike-waves were compared for three tests (tapping, simple reaction, and morphological discrimination). We present one case of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in which the test results could be statistically confirmed. The tapping test was interrupted by the occurrence of spike-waves. Response times during spike-waves were more delayed than during non-spike-waves in both the simple reaction tests and morphological discrimination tests. The differences in response times measured during spike-waves and during non-spike-waves were significantly greater in the morphological discrimination test than in the simple reaction test. The positive correlation between the length of spike-waves and response time in the discrimination test was significantly more pronounced than in the reaction test. These results were also confirmed in two other patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. We conclude that spike-wave discharges may impair cognitive processing more intrinsically than motor functions.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Status epilepticus characterized by repetitive asymmetrical atonia: two cases accompanied by partial seizures.

Two cases of discontinuous status epilepticus (SE) characterized by repetitive asymmetrical atonic episodes associated with diffuse but asymmetrical spike waves are reported. Both patients also had partial seizures and interictal rolandic discharges. Dynamic EEG topography was performed to investigate the location or propagation of each ictal discharge overlying the scalp during status and showed immediate bilateral spread of discharges originating from a primary epileptogenic focus from a rolandic area.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Interleukin-2 as a modulator of 5-fluorouracil in hepatic arterial immunochemotherapy for liver metastases.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hepatic arterial infusion of interleukin-2-based immunochemotherapy has yielded a high response rate (> 75%) in patients with unresectable liver metastases. In order to clarify the mechanisms that underlie the apparent benefit of combination treatment, the role of IL-2 as a modulator of 5-fluorouracil metabolism was investigated. METHODOLOGY: A single dose of 5-fluorouracil (50 mg/kg) with or without IL-2 (3500 Japan Reference Units/kg) was given via the hepatic artery to rats bearing liver metastases. Thirty minutes later samples of liver metastatic foci or surrounding normal liver tissue were removed for the measurement of thymidylate synthase, thymidine kinase and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase activity, and 5-fluorouracil content. RESULTS: 5-fluorouracil levels in tumor were significantly higher than in normal liver. Although the addition of IL-2 reduced 5-fluorouracil levels in both tumor and normal liver tissues by the activation of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase, the ratio of tumor/normal liver 5-fluorouracil levels was unchanged. Both thymidylate synthase and thymidine kinase activities were significantly inhibited in tumor tissue when the combination of 5-fluorouracil and IL-2 was administered. CONCLUSIONS: IL-2 increases 5-fluorouracil cytotoxicity through the inhibition of thymidylate synthase/thymidine kinase activities in the hepatic arterial infusion.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A new preoperative immunochemotherapy for the treatment of locally advanced esophageal cancer.

A promising preoperative immunochemotherapy regimen for locally advanced esophageal cancer is herein described. A 67-year-old man suffering from severe dysphagia was diagnosed with unresectable esophageal cancer at initial examination because of a tumor of 11 cm in length and suspicion of trachea invasion. Neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy was undertaken for the down-staging. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) (3.5 x 10(5) Japan reference units), nedaplatin (7 mg/m2) and 5-FU (300 mg/m2) were administered intravenously daily for 5 days a week for three weeks. The gross findings of a barium esophagogram and esophagoscopy revealed significant tumor regression in both size and shape. The patient underwent an esophagectomy through a laparotomy followed by a right thoracotomy. The surgical specimens were serially sectioned and examined microscopically. All of the surgical margins were clear (upper and lower margins as well as the adventitia), and there was no evidence of lymph node metastasis. The surgical specimen revealed neoplastic squamous ghost cells surrounding significant lymphocyte infiltration. This appears to be a unique feature of this particular neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy.

Aged↗