Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K Ichimura.
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"The study described in this paper was one of the first systematic attempts to identify the verbalized health concerns of parents of school-age children in Japan and provided some viable data for initiating the development of relevant health curriculum".
In 64 patients with 69 herniated lumbar discs, craniocaudal or caudocranial tangential views were made in addition to conventional posteroanterior (PA) and lateral views in lumbar discography. Tangential views more clearly demonstrated details of annular tears and herniated discs in comparison with conventional views. The advantages of tangential views are as follows: precise demonstration of position, width, and shape of the hernial opening (main annular tear); precise demonstration of position and shape of the herniated mass; and a topographic display of disc degeneration. Dermal radiation absorbed during tangential views is less than that of computerized tomographic (CT) scans of discography. In addition, tangential views can be readily made at any hospital. The disadvantages of tangential views are that the X-ray tube direction must be chosen for each individual depending on whether there is a cranially or caudally migrated disc herniation; there is a tendency toward decreased sharpness of the exposure, especially when there are advanced degenerative discs; and, absorbed doses of gonadal radiation are higher during caudocranial tangential views than during CT discography in women.
Until now, there has been little work covering all of the main native adrenal-cortical steroids in blood. We therefore established a method for the simultaneous quantitative measurement of 14 native adrenal-cortical steroids, which involves capillary column gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC--MS). Serum steroids were purified from serum with the Extrelut mini-column and then converted into stable derivatives for GC-MS by a combination of boronic cyclization and trimethylsilyl and methyloxime derivatization. The sensitivities (with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than or equal to 7) of our GC-MS method ranged from 0.1 to 1.0 ng/ml of serum, and the coefficients of variation of intra- and inter-assays were less than 19% for each steroid. Our newly devised method involving a capillary column GC-MS system has been proven to be a simple and suitable method for a diagnosis requiring simultaneous detection of many native adrenal steroids in clinical practice. The analysis time is only 4 h.
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In this study, we established a method for the quantitative measurement of native adrenal steroids with GC-MS equipped with capillary column (cross-linked methyl silicone 25 m X 0.2 mm I.D., 0.11 m thin film). 1 ml of serum sample containing 5 alpha-cholestane as internal standard (IS) was elicited by organic solvent using extrelunt column. These samples were derived by n-butylboronic acid, o-methylhydroxylamine and trimethyl-silylating agents, then were finally applied to GC-MS. The intensities of molecular ions were used for the measurement of the serum concentration of steroids. The molecular ion peaks of steroids were obtained at m/z460 (17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone; 17OHP), m/z548 (corticosterone; B), m/z470 (11-deoxycortisol; S), m/z417 (pregnenolone; PL), m/z372 (progesterone; PT), m/z558 (cortisol; F), m/z389 (dehydroepiandrosterone; DHEA), m/z371 (estrone; E1), m/z416 (estradiol; E2), m/z504 (estriol; E3), m/z389 (testosterone; T), m/z344 (androstenedione; A) and m/z372 (IS). The curve of calibration for each steroid showed good linearity. The sensitivities of the GC/MS method were less than 5pg/one shot of each sample. The coefficients of variations of accuracies and precisions in this GC/MS method were less than 15% of each steroid. The samples from normal subjects after metyrapone and ACTH loading tests, and the patients of congenital adrenal hyperplasia showed a good correlationship between the data of GC/MS and the data of RIA after sephadex LH-20 column-chromatography. These results implied the usefulness of our system in clinical application. Moreover, this assay takes only 3 hrs. Thus it saves much time in comparison with the time-consuming radioimmunoassay system.
Lung cancer and chronic interstitial pneumonia associated with systemic sarcoidosis was detected in a 66-year-old woman at autopsy. Histologically, hyalinized sarcoid lesions were scattered in cervical lymph nodes, thoracic lymph nodes, abdominal lymph nodes, and spleen. Scattered non-caseating epithelioid cell granulomas with giant cells were observed in both lungs demoting cancer and chronic interstitial pneumonia. A tumor mass occupying right hilar portion was well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma involving right upper lobe and right hilar lymph nodes. In the lower lobe of the left lung, a small nodule of poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma was detected. Alveolar septa, especially in both lower lobes of the lungs were thickened diffusely with fibrosis, edema, and inflammatory cell infiltration. Alveolar cavities contained hyaline membrane and large mononuclear cells. Atypical bronchiolar epithelial proliferation and squamous metaplasia associated with squamous cell carcinoma were detected. The clinical and pathological characteristics among eight reported cases of lung cancer associated with sarcoidosis and three reported cases of interstitial pneumonia associated with sarcoidosis were reviewed separately. There is no report describing both lung cancer and chronic interstitial pneumonia associated with sarcoidosis.
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alpha-Adrenoceptor subtypes were demonstrated in an in vitro preparation of the vascular smooth muscle of the canine nasal mucosa. alpha 1-Receptors were located on the surface of vascular smooth muscle (postsynaptic). alpha 2 Subtypes were situated both at postsynaptic and presynaptic sites on adrenergic nerve terminals. Presynaptic alpha 2-adrenoceptor stimulation yielded an inhibition of excessive norepinephrine release from nerve terminals. Stimulation of postsynaptic receptors, either alpha 1 or alpha 2, produced vasoconstriction. Although there was good evidence of the presence of postsynaptic alpha 2-receptors, they did not appear to be dominant among the postsynaptic receptors.
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A canine in vitro nasal blood vessel preparation was tested to determine the effects of calcium (Ca) on smooth-muscle contraction. The contractions induced by either electrical stimulation or vasoconstricting agents were reduced or abolished by reducing the concentration of the Ca in the medium. The Ca response was dose-dependent and reversed at a high concentration. Contractions induced by vasoconstrictors were more resistant to the change of the Ca concentration than by electrical stimulation. Verapamil, a blocker of Ca entry, inhibited the contraction by simulating Ca depletion. These changes show that the extent of Ca influx regulates the smooth-muscle contraction of the nasal blood vessels consistent with the reports concerning other vascular smooth muscle.
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Serum levels of complement components(cc), whole complement activity (CH 50), and circulating immune complexes (IC) were measured in 41 patients with neoplastic diseases. The level of cc was higher than in healthy controls; the levels of C1q, C1INA, C4, C3c, C3ACT, C5, and C9 were statistically higher. In patients with lung cancer, the levels of cc were correlated with the clinical stage as well as the performance status. Both the IC serum level and the incidence of high serum IC levels in lung cancer were higher in stage III and IV than in stage I and II. Serum CH 50 was higher than in healthy controls, but not correlated with the clinical stage.
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