PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate hemodynamic changes in the hepatic artery after glucose ingestion. METHODS: We used color Doppler sonography to measure hemodynamic changes in the right hepatic artery and the right portal vein in response to glucose ingestion (225 ml, 300 kcal) in 25 healthy subjects and 25 patients with cirrhosis. RESULTS: In healthy subjects, the peak systolic and end-diastolic velocities in the right hepatic artery decreased (33 +/- 3% and 53 +/- 3%) from baseline velocities measured in the fasting state. The resistance index of the right hepatic artery and the velocity in the right portal vein in these subjects significantly (p < 0.01) increased (14 +/- 2% and 32 +/- 2%) from baseline values after glucose ingestion. Glucose ingestion produced significantly (p < 0.01) smaller changes in cirrhotic patients. The maximum decrease in the peak systolic and end-diastolic velocities in the right hepatic artery were 13 +/- 2% and 25 +/- 3% from baseline velocities, and the maximum increases in the resistance index of the right hepatic artery and the velocity in the right portal vein were 6 +/- 1% and 10 +/- 3% from baseline values. CONCLUSIONS: The decrease in blood flow velocity in the right hepatic artery after glucose ingestion is presumably a homeostatic mechanism to maintain constant hepatic perfusion. This reciprocal response was reduced in cirrhotic patients.

Administration, Oral↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Childhood multiple sclerosis: MR images and clinical variations in four Japanese cases.

We report four Japanese cases of multiple sclerosis (MS) starting during childhood. In three of them, onset occurred in the prepubertal period. Case 1 showed a rare clinical condition: the patient presented with Devic disease, and 2 years later she was complicated by chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP). The other three cases had symptoms of gait disturbance, cerebellar signs, weakness of the extremities and impaired visual acuity. Headache was seen in Case 2 and medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) syndrome in Case 4. In Cases 2, 3 and 4, diagnoses were conclusively made by T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI, brain stem auditory, visual and somatosensory evoked potentials are extremely useful for evaluating the clinical conditions of children with MS.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Rat peripheral mononuclear cell thymidine kinase activity increases during liver regenerative processes after partial hepatectomy.

Deoxythymidine kinase (TK; EC 2.7.1.21) activity in the liver has been used as a marker of liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy. In this study we examined TK activity of various organs, plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMNC) in 70% partially hepatectomized rats. TK activity of lymph nodes, small intestine, heart, lung, kidney and thymus did not increase significantly during the course of the study, except for spleen at 72 h. On the other hand, PMNC-TK and liver cystosolic TK activity increased in a parallel fashion at all times after partial hepatectomy; they began to increase 12 h after surgery and peaked 48 h post-surgery. Fractionation of PMNC into T cells and B cells revealed that both populations increased and peaked 48 h post-surgery. Plasma TK peaked 12-24 h after surgery, then declined at 36, 48 and 72 h after partial hepatectomy. This change paralleled plasma levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). PMNC-TK activity correlated significantly with liver cystosolic TK activity 24 h (r = 0.743; P < 0.05) and 48 h (r = 0.708; P < 0.05) after partial hepatectomy. However, it did not correlate with plasma levels of TK, AST and ALT. The results indicate that in the early stage of liver regeneration PMNC-TK may provide a marker of liver regenerative processes.

Alanine Transaminase↗

PubMedDate not supplied

In vitro and in vivo antibacterial activity and pharmacokinetics of SC-002 and its derivative, SC-004: new oral cephalosporins.

SC-002 is a novel oral cephalosporin possessing a unique thiadiazolylethenyl moiety at the 3 position. In the present study, it was the most active against gram-positive bacteria among oral cephalosporins such as cefdinir (CFDN), cefpodoxime, cefditoren and cefaclor (CCL). It was equal to or 16 times more active than CFDN against standard and clinical strains. In particular, against clinical isolates of Morganella morganii and Haemophilus influenzae, SC-002 was 8-64 times more active than CFDN. The antibacterial activity of SC-002 against some beta-lactam-resistant strains was superior to that of CFDN. The in vivo antibacterial activity of SC-004, a pivaloyloxymethyl ester of SC-002, was 1.2-8 times more protective against systemic infections due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae than that of CFDN. The therapeutic effects of SC-004 on experimental respiratory tract infections caused by S. pneumoniae or H. influenzae were superior to those of CFDN and CCL. SC-004 showed higher and longer-lasting blood levels and higher urinary excretion in pharmacokinetics in mice.

Administration, Oral↗

PubMedDate not supplied

In vitro and in vivo antibacterial activities of clarithromycin.

The in vitro and in vivo antibacterial activities of clarithromycin (CAM), a new oral macrolide antibiotic, were compared with those of erythromycin (EM), josamycin (JM) and rokitamycin (RKM). The antibacterial spectrum and in vitro activities of CAM were similar to those of EM. Therapeutic efficacies of CAM against various experimental infections in mice--including systemic infections caused by gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus pneumoniae, and subcutaneous abscess due to S. aureus, and bacterial pneumonia caused by S. pneumoniae--were superior to those of EM, JM and RKM. CAM exhibited higher serum levels than EM in mice after a single oral dose of 50 mg/kg.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Increased urinary HVA levels in neuroblastoma screens related to diet, not tumor.

At present, urinary vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) and/or homovanillic acid (HVA), metabolites of catecholamines, are the most sensitive diagnostic markers of neuroblastoma. They can be measured by the high-performance liquid chromatographic method, which has been used to screen for neuroblastoma in infants in Japan. From 6486 urine samples of 18-month-old children, 103 samples showed high HVA levels over the cutoff point for neuroblastoma, and most of them also showed markedly high levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), a metabolite of serotonin. One of the causes of high HVA excretion might be due to the ingestion of banana, common weaning food in early childhood. Our study showed that it is better to restrict banana ingestion within 24 hours before taking a urine sample for diagnosis of neuroblastoma and that 5-HIAA is a good marker of a pseudopositive result due to banana ingestion.

Catecholamines↗