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Biomedical subjects

K Asayama

Publications and source records attributed to K Asayama.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

New age-adjusted measure of body fat distribution in children and adolescents: standardization of waist-hip ratio using multivariate analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To explore a new anthropometric index of body fat distribution adjusted for ages ranging from 6-15 y in both boys and girls. DESIGN: Sex, age, and 11 anthropometric variables were subjected to principal component analysis. Based on these results, we developed a new anthropometric index, namely an age-adjusted measure of body-fat distribution. This index was evaluated statistically for suitability of use in epidemiological surveys. SUBJECTS: Japanese children, including obese and nonobese subjects, in one elementary and one junior high school in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan: 508 boys and 549 girls whos ages ranged from 6 y 1 mon-15 y. MEASUREMENTS: Measurements included the height (Ht), body weight, circumference of the waist, hip and thigh. Body mass index, the ratios of the waist, hip or thigh to the Ht, waist-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-thigh ration were calculated. RESULTS: The first principal component (PC 1) accounted for 49.8% of the total variation, and was interpreted as an indicator of the general size on an individual. PC 2 accounted for 25.9%, and was interpreted as a shape measure that indicates body fat distribution. Calculation of WHR/Ht, a parameter that represented PC 2 adjusted by PC 1, gave an highly robust linear regression equation for age by gender. The residuals from the regression line for WHR/Ht deviated from normal distribution only in the boys, whereas the mean residual was nearly zero and distribution of the residuals was similar in three age subgroups by gender, supporting the use of the common standard deviation score in all age groups as an indicator of body fat distribution. CONCLUSION: The common standard deviation score of WHR/Ht can serve as an epidemiological index of body fat distribution adjusted for ages between 6 and 15 y.

Adipose Tissue↗

[Labor status of anesthesia in general hospitals in Japan Committee on Human Resources, the Japan Society of Anesthesiology].

AIMS: Investigating the labor by anesthetists in general hospitals with more than 600 beds during the month of September 1995. METHOD: Using MS/EXCEL spread sheet soft wear, we have analyzed daily OR anesthesia activities in 33 hospitals based on personal attendance of anesthesiologists. We defined anesthesia performing hours i.e. actual working hours as the time between the onset and the end of anesthesia for each anesthetist. RESULTS: An average number of monthly anesthesia cases was 961 in the first 10 hospitals we surveyed. We obtained two frequency graphs on weekly 5-day working 138 anesthetists whose anesthesia performed, and their occupied hours were as shown in fig. 1 and 2. for those who worked other less than 5 days per week, they showed the shorter hours on the frequency distribution graph as shown in fig. 3 to 7. The 5-day working anesthetists have spent more than 5 hours giving anesthesia in the 93.2% of all anesthesia times in the first 10 hospitals, while 28.1% of the times in the last 10 hospitals. There were an average of 11.6 operating tables, in the first 10 hospitals. And we have analyzed ratios of the number of 5 day working persons to the number of operating tables. The ratio was 0.86 in the first 10 hospitals, while 0.21 in the last 10 hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: There must be overwork of 5-day working anesthetists, who are working for too many hours for anesthesia. It is necessary to have better quality service in the OR.

Anesthesia↗

Pathological characterization of astrocytic hyaline inclusions in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

To clarify the pathological characteristics of astrocytic hyaline inclusions (Ast-HIs) in patients with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS) with neuronal Lewy-body-like hyaline inclusions (LBHIs), eight autopsies on members of four different families, including two long-term surviving patients with clinical courses of over 10 years, were analyzed. Ast-HIs were found only in the two long-term surviving patients who belonged to different families and to different races. Ast-HIs were ultrastructurally composed of 15- to 25-nm granule-coated fibrils that had immunoreactivities to superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) and ubiquitin. Approximately 50% of the Ast-HIs expressed alpha B-crystallin, metallothionein, glutamine synthetase, and tubulin (alpha and beta) at various intensities. Some Ast-HIs reacted with antibodies to tau protein, S-100 protein, and heat shock protein 27. The Ast-HIs were not stained for glial fibrillary acidic protein. Our results suggest a cooperative role of superoxide dismutase 1, ubiquitin, and cytoskeletal proteins in the formation of granule-coated fibrils (namely, Ast-HIs) and provide evidence that Ast-HIs are formed in certain long-surviving familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients with neuronal Lewy-body-like hyaline inclusions.

Adult↗

Immunolocalization of cellular glutathione peroxidase in adult rat lungs and quantitative analysis after postembedding immunogold labeling.

To determine the distribution of cellular glutathione peroxidase in rat lungs, the tissues were stained immunohistochemically. Quantitative analysis was performed in certain cell types of alveolar linings, after the ultrathin sections were stained by a postembedding immunogold technique. Immunoblot analysis revealed that homogenates of rat liver, heart, and lungs all gave a single band. Under the light microscope, the following tissues were stained intensely: epithelial cells, smooth muscle cells and glands of bronchi and bronchioles, type II alveolar cells, and alveolar macrophages. Under immunoelectron microscopy, type II alveolar cells and macrophages were abundant in mitochondria. The mitochondria, nucleus, and cytoplasm of macrophages were labeled almost twice as densely as the respective compartments of type II alveolar cells. Within cell types, the mitochondria were labeled twice as densely as the nuclei. The other particles were less than half as densely labeled as the nuclei. The labeling was slightly less dense in the cytoplasm than in the nucleus. The present study revealed that glutathione peroxidase occurred predominantly in the epithelial linings and metabolically active sites in rat lungs. The tissues that were previously found to be rich in superoxide dismutases were also rich in glutathione peroxidase.

Animals↗

Immunohistochemical localization and quantitative analysis of cellular glutathione peroxidase in foetal and neonatal rat tissues: fluorescence microscopy image analysis.

To quantitate the developmental changes in selenium-dependent cellular glutathione peroxidase during the perinatal period, tissue sections from foetal (day 12 to day 22) and neonatal (day 6) rats were stained immunohistochemically using specific polyclonal antiserum. The intensity of the staining was quantified by fluorescence microscopy image analysis. There was a general trend of enriched glutathione peroxidase in the epithelial linings and metabolically active sites. Significant fluorescence was detected in cardiomyocytes, hepatocytes, renal tubular epithelium, bronchiolar epithelium and intestinal epithelium at day 15. The intensity increased in a stepwise manner thereafter. The overall increase in the intensity of staining in the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs and intestine was 1.5-, 2.3-, 1.6-, 1.7- and 3.0-fold, respectively. The phase of most rapid increase occurred during the foetal period in the liver, intestine and heart. In the kidneys and lungs, glutathione peroxidase increased significantly during foetal life, and to a similar extent postnatally. These results suggest that the intracellular H2O2-scavenging system develops during the foetal period as an essential mechanism for living under atmospheric oxygen conditions. The late development observed in the kidneys and lungs is consistent with the relative biological immaturity of these organs in full-term neonates.

Animals↗

Intense superoxide dismutase-1 immunoreactivity in intracytoplasmic hyaline inclusions of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with posterior column involvement.

This report concerns retrospective immunohistochemical and immunoelectron microscopic studies on superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1) in intracytoplasmic hyaline inclusions (IHIs) of the anterior horn cells of three patients with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with posterior column involvement. All of the patients were members of the American "C" family. Almost all of the IHIs, present in the soma and cordlike swollen neurites of some affected neurons of the three patients, were intensely stained by an antibody to human SOD1. By contrast, the cytoplasm of anterior horn cells of the ALS patients and of ten control individuals reacted only weakly with the antibody or not at all. Immunoelectron microscopy revealed that the granule-associated thick linear structures that composed the IHIs were intensely labeled by the antibody to SOD1. The IHIs were also positively stained by antibodies to ubiquitin and phosphorylated neurofilament protein, with the distribution of immunoreactivity resembling that seen with the anti-SOD1 antibody. The DNA analysis disclosed a single-site GCC to GTC substitution at codon 4 (Ala4 --> Val) in the SOD1 gene from the brain samples of the patients and from the peripheral blood of their family members. Our results suggest that SOD1 is a component of IHIs and may interact with Ubiquitin and neurofilament protein, and point to the possibility that the presence of intense SOD1 immunoreactivity in the IHIs may be of relevance in processes involving structurally altered SOD1 molecules encoded by the mutated gene.

Aged↗

Immunohistochemical study on superoxide dismutases in spinal cords from autopsied patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

A role mutations in the superoxide dismutase (SOD)-1 gene in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been discussed. To investigate immunohistochemical alterations of SOD in the spinal cord affected with the disease, we examined 3 patients with SOD1 mutation-associated family with ALS, 20 patients with sporadic ALS and 10 control individuals. Lewy body-like hyaline inclusions (LBHIs) were seen in the anterior horn cells of all the familial patients and 10 of the 20 sporadic patients, while skein-like inclusions (SIs) and Bunina bodies (BBs) were present in the 20 sporadic patients but not in the familial patients. The primary antibodies used for immunostaining were rabbit antisera raised against human SOD1 and SOD2. The anti-SOD1 antibody reacted strongly with all LBHIs of each familial patient and with some LBHIs of each sporadic patient. The cytoplasm of morphologically intact and degenerated spinal cord neurons as well as spheroids seen in the cases examined was only weakly stained by the antibody to SOD1 or not at all. The reactive astrocytes displayed weak to moderate staining for SOD1. The anti-SOD2 antibody strongly immunolabeled the reactive astrocytes and microglia. LBHIs of both familial and sporadic ALS were negatively stained for SOD2. Spinal cord neurons and spheroids of each case exhibited no significant SOD2 immunoreactivity. Neither antibodies reacted with SIs nor BBs. These results indicate that SOD1 may be involved in the formative process of LBHIs especially in familial ALS but not always in that of SIs or BBs, and imply that SOD2 may have no connection with any of these ALS-related abnormal structures.

Adult↗

Increased activity of plasma cholesteryl ester transfer protein in children with end-stage renal disease receiving continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

The activity of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) was assayed in sera of children and adolescents on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) by coincubating lipoprotein-deficient samples with exogenous donor and acceptor lipoproteins. Serum levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein B and apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 ratio were increased, while the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level was decreased. The CETP activity in children on CAPD exceeded that in either adults or control children, and was correlated with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, and total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 ratios. The CETP activity in CAPD patients may be due to increased synthesis in response to a protein loss in the dialysis fluid and may exacerbate atherosclerosis.

Adolescent↗

[The earlier detection of myocardial damage in open heart surgery using serum human heart fatty acid-binding protein].

Human heart fatty acid-binding protein (HH-FABP), which is a low molecular weight protein and abundant in the cytoplasm of myocardial cells, is reported to be released into the circulation shortly after the onset of acute myocardial damage. However, the changes in serum HH-FABP levels in open heart surgery have not been elucidated. To determine whether HH-FABP enables the earlier detection of myocardial damage caused by ischemia-reperfusion in open heart surgery, we measured the serial levels of serum HH-FABP, CK-MB and Troponin T (TnT) at every 15 min for 48 hours after reperfusion in 10 adult patients with coronary artery bypass graft. The serum HH-FABP levels reached the peak within 60 min after reperfusion (mean +/- SD; 49 +/- 7 min), and this was significantly (p < 0.001) earlier than CK-MB (212 +/- 108 min) and TnT (244 +/- 150 min). The peak value of serum HH-FABP had a significant correlation to the peak value of serum CK-MB or TnT (r = 0.815, p = 0.02; r = 0.925, p = 0.0001, respectively). These results indicate that serum HH-FABP enables the earlier detection of myocardial damage than the other markers in the patients with open heart surgery.

Adult↗