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Biomedical subjects

K Endo

Publications and source records attributed to K Endo.

1,054 records · Page 59Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Hormonal and dietary regulation of lysosomal cysteine proteinases in liver under gluconeogenesis conditions.

The activities of cathepsin B, L, J and H in rat liver were significantly increased by starvation if compared with normal diet rats. Furthermore, the activity of cathepsin L increased with glucagon treatment, and the activities of cathepsin L and H decreased significantly with insulin treatment. The changes in cathepsin B and J activities showed the same tendencies as those of cathepsin L and H, but the differences were not statistically significant. The changes in the activities of cathepsin B and L on starvation corresponded with the changes of enzyme protein amounts judged from Western blotting analysis. The levels of the lysosomal cysteine proteinases and amino acid deaminases in the liver changed in parallel with the hormonal and dietary conditions. The increases of alanine amino transferase activity (AAT) started from a much earlier stage than those of cathepsins under the starvation condition. Although administration of prednisolone caused marked induction of the deamination enzymes such as AAT, the levels of cathepsins in the liver were not changed.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Clinicopathological characteristics of stage 1 gastric cancer: comparison of macroscopic and microscopic findings.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Laparoscopic surgery or endoscopic mucosal resection for early stages of gastric cancer have been introduced recently in many regions. In such cases, a precise diagnosis is needed prior to treatment, since understaging of gastric cancer may lead to treatment failure and impairment of curability and prognosis. The clinicopathological features of understaged cases in macroscopic Stage 1 gastric cancer have not been clarified yet. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We examined 435 patients with intra-operative findings of macroscopic Stage 1 gastric cancer and compared clinicopathological features of 354 patients (Group A) with both macroscopic and histological stage 1 cancer and 81 patients (Group B) with macroscopic Stage 1 but histologically proven to be more advanced cancer. RESULTS: Among 435 patients with macroscopic Stage 1, there were 81 (18.6%) with histologically more advanced stages (44 of stage 2, 34 of stage 3, and 3 of stage 4). There were no statistical differences in age, sex, operative procedure, and extend of lymph node dissection between the groups. Carcinomas in the 81 Group B patients tended to have larger tumors (> 4 cm), located in the middle third and along the lesser curvature of the stomach, appeared to be Borrmann V type (unclassified type) and were histologically more often associated with undifferentiated type, INF-gamma, lymphovascular invasion, lymph node metastasis, and invasion into a layer deeper than submucosa, all of which resulted in significantly poorer prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-operative and intra-operative assessment of the stage for gastric cancer was not always accurate enough and about one fifth cases with macroscopic Stage 1 gastric cancer were understaged. Thus, we recommend gastrectomy plus radical lymphadenectomy (at least D2) for the treatment of choice, from the points of view of curability and prognosis when gastric carcinoma is associated with the above mentioned characteristics.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Elevated levels of serum and plasma metalloproteinases in patients with gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Levels of serum and plasma metalloproteinases, especially type IV collagenases are important factors related to metastasis and invasion in various human cancer. The clinical significance of serum matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2, 72 kDa type IV collagenase) and plasma matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9, 92 kDa type IV collagenase) was evaluated as possible tumor markers in gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The precursor form of MMP-2 (proMMP-2) in serum and the precursor form of MMP-9 (proMMP-9) in plasma were examined prior to surgery on 70 patients with gastric cancer, one-step sandwich immunoassay (EIA) was used and serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels were also examined in the same patients. Normal sera and plasma samples obtained from healthy individuals without cancer were used as controls. RESULTS: ProMMP-2 levels in patients (mean +/- standard deviation) with gastric cancer (602 +/- 200 micrograms/l) were significantly higher than levels (542 +/- 80 micrograms/l) in sera from 70 healthy individuals (P < 0.02). Plasma proMMP-9 levels (119 +/- 232 micrograms/l) in patients with cancer were also significantly higher than those (37 +/- 13 micrograms/l) in plasma (P < 0.004). On the other hand, there was no significant correlation between CEA and proMMP-2 levels, and between CEA and proMMP-9 levels. Neither proMMP-2 levels nor proMMP-9 levels significantly related to clinicopathologic features. CONCLUSIONS: Serum proMMP-2 levels and plasma proMMP-9 levels may serve as tumor markers, independent from known factors and CEA.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of breast-conserving therapy with mastectomy for treatment of early breast cancer.

The aim of this study was to compare the survival and recurrence rates of patients undergoing breast-conserving therapy with the rates of those undergoing mastectomy. Between August 1991 and June 1994, 229 patients were enrolled in this study, although one was later excluded because the tumor was histologically diagnosed as benign. A total of 119 patients with clinical stage TIS, I or II underwent breast-conserving therapy and 109 patients received mastectomy. Mastectomy was utilized more than breast-conserving therapy in the case of clinical stage II, greater age, larger tumor size or shorter distance between the tumor and the nipple. Twenty-seven patients (23.1%) of the 117 receiving breast-conserving surgery were surgical margin positive. There was no significant difference in the distance between the tumor and the nipple, tumor size or clinical stage in the incidence of surgical margin positive cases. Mean follow-up time of the breast-conserving therapy group and the mastectomy group was 42.4 and 39.7 months, respectively. There was no significant difference in the overall survival and disease-free survival between breast-conserving therapy and mastectomy. After adjustment for the clinical stage, there was no significant difference in the prognosis between breast-conserving therapy and mastectomy.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pentavalent technetium-99m dimercaptosuccinic acid uptake in primary amyloidosis: comparison with autopsy findings.

Pentavalent technetium-99m labeled dimercaptosuccinic acid (99mTc(V)-DMSA) scanning was performed on a 71-year-old woman with histologically confirmed primary amyloidosis. Definite uptake of the tracer was noted in the thyroid, liver, spleen, and kidney as well as in the heart. Three months later, she died of heart failure, and autopsy findings demonstrated diffuse deposits of AL-type amyloid in those organs that were consistent with the accumulation of 99mTc(V)-DMSA.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Ultrafast CT scoring system for assessing bronchopulmonary dysplasia: reproducibility and clinical correlation.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the reproducibility of the Ultrafast CT (UFCT) scoring system and assess its usefulness in monitoring clinical severity in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: UFCT scoring was done in 22 infants (15 boys and 7 girls aged 1 to 37 months) with BPD. A total of 258 lung fields were evaluated for the presence of hyperaeration, linear opacities, triangular subpleural opacities, and bronchovascular bundle distortion or thickening, and UFCT scores were given. Intraobserver and interobserver agreement and reproducibility of UFCT scores were statistically analyzed. In 12 patients, UFCT scores were linearly correlated with clinical severity scores based on respiratory dysfunction and complexity of care. RESULTS: "Hyperaeration," which was the most frequent (18 of 22, 81.8%) finding, showed high concordance (kappa = 0.73, p < 0.001, kappa = 0.59, p < 0.001), and its UFCT scores significantly correlated with intraobserver and interobserver analyses (r = 0.94, p < 0.001, r = 0.82, p < 0.001, respectively). UFCT scores for hyperaeration significantly correlated with clinical scores (r = 0.75, p < 0.01), whereas those for the others did not. CONCLUSION: UFCT is useful for assessing BPD. Hyperaeration was the most common and reproducible finding, and its extent significantly correlated with clinical severity.

Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparative study of positron emission tomography and quantitative digital radiography (QDR) in detecting effects of aging and diet on bone metabolism of guinea pig.

The purpose of this study was to compare positron emission tomography and quantitative digital radiography (QDR) in detecting the effects of aging and diet on bone metabolism. Bone imaging of guinea pigs was performed with fluorine-18 fluoride ions using a high-resolution animal PET system to analyze bone metabolism quantitatively in different age groups of guinea pigs, young (8 weeks), adult (36 weeks), and aged groups (96 weeks), and also in a dietary manipulation group (low calcium and low vitamin D3 diet for 1, 2, and 3 weeks). A three-compartment kinetic model was applied for the analysis of bone metabolism to evaluate the rate constant (K, K1-K4). There was a significant difference in K-constant between the young and other groups. The K-constant was higher (0.100+/-0.005 ml/min/ml) in the young group than in adults (0.028+/-0.001 ml/min/ml) (p < 0.001) and the aged group (0.047+/-0.020 ml/min/ml). This high value of the K-constant in the young group indicates high turnover in bone metabolism, but there was no significant difference between the adult and aged groups. Bone mineral density (BMD) was lower in the young group (0.15+/-0.026 g/cm2) than in the adult (0.230+/-0.021 g/cm2) (p < 0.001) and aged groups (0.26+/-0.03 g/cm2). There was no significant difference in BMD between the adult and aged groups. Although there was no difference in BMD between the control and dietary manipulation groups, PET study revealed a significant difference in K-constant between them (0.028+/-0.001 vs. 0.090+/-0.009 ml/min/ ml) (p < 0.001). The quantitative skeletal dynamic PET study with 18F fluoride ions was more sensitive and superior in the early detection of metabolic disorders in bone disease than QDR.

Aging↗
PubMedDate not supplied

99mTc-labeled chimeric anti-NCA 95 antigranulocyte monoclonal antibody for bone marrow imaging.

Chimeric mouse-human antigranulocyte monoclonal antibody (ch MAb) against non-specific cross-reacting antigen (NCA-95) was labeled with 99mTc (using a direct method) and 125I (using the chloramine T method), and its binding to human granulocytes and LS-180 colorectal carcinoma cells expressing carcinoembryonic antigen on their surfaces, cross-reactive with anti-NCA-95 chimeric monoclonal antibody, increased in proportion to the number of cells added and reached more than 80% and 90%, respectively. In biodistribution studies, 99mTc and 125I-labeled ch anti-NCA-95 MAb revealed high tumor uptake, and the tumor-to-blood ratio was 2.9 after 24 hours. The tumor-to-normal-organ ratio was also more than 3.0 in all organs except for the tumor-to-kidney ratio. Scintigrams of athymic nude mice confirmed the results of biodistribution studies that showed higher radioactivity in tumor and kidney of the mice administered with 99mTc-labeled ch MAb. A normal volunteer injected with 99mTc-labeled ch anti-NCA-95 antigranulocyte MAb showed clear bone marrow images, and a patient with aplastic anemia revealed irregular uptake in his lumbar spine, suggesting its utility for bone marrow scintigraphy and for the detection of hematological disorders, infections, and bone metastasis.

Anemia, Aplastic↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Introducing a downsized, open computer system with asynchronous transfer mode in PACS and its effect on image data transfer.

To assess the effectiveness of the introduction of a downsized, open computer system and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) as a network in a medium-sized picture archiving and communication system (PACS), we conducted experiments on image data transmission. The speed of image transfer, including registration in the computers in the new PACS, was four to eleven times faster than that in our first PACS. However, the introduction of ATM did not contribute significantly to the improvement of speed of image transfer because of the use of Ethernet branches between the gateway and display workstation computers. A star architecture without Ethernet branches may be suitable for PACS using an ATM network.

Computer Communication Networks↗