[Clinical significance of urinary alanine aminopeptidase in diabetes mellitus].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K Okuda.
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Sialyl Lewisx-i (SLX) was found in more than 40% of patients with acute leukemia or chronic myelogenous leukemia, and in about 20% of those with myelodysplastic syndrome or malignant lymphoma. This tumor marker was absent in all patients with polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, primary myelofibrosis, chronic lymphatic leukemia, multiple myeloma, and those with acute leukemia or malignant lymphoma in remission. The marker was found in 8% and of the patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and 33% of those with autoimmune hemolytic anemia but in no patient with aplastic anemia or megaloblastic anemia. Immunostaining with SLX antibody showed that tumor cells of the patients with high levels of serum SLX were producing the SLX antigen. The detection of this marker in the serum is thought to be useful not only in the diagnosis but also in the observation of the recurrence of the diseases.
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Plant extracts and their constituents were tested for antibacterial activity against periodontopathic bacteria, including Actinobacillus, Capnocytophaga, Fusobacterium, Eikenella and Bacteroides species. The essential oils of two labiatae plants, Mosla chinensis Maxim. and Pogostemon cablin Benth., and five terpenoids, hinokitiol, thymol, carvacrol, patchoulialcohol and pogostone, showed antibacterial activity. The terpenoids were especially effective against Bacteroides species.
To evaluate the efficacy of Listerine, a solution for washing the oral cavity consisting of essential oils (thymol, methanol, eukalyptol) and methyl salicylate, minimum concentrations inhibiting the growth of various microorganisms in the oral cavity and the bactericidal effects on bacteria in the saliva and dental plaque were evaluated in vitro. Listerine inhibited the growth of microorganisms over a very broad range. The minimum concentration inhibiting growth of Listerine was a 4 to 32 fold dilution, 2-4 times as potent as the solution after elimination of active ingredient components, in 38 of 54 bacterial strains, indicating the efficacy of the active ingredient in the inhibition of the growth of microorganisms. Bactericidal action of Listerine against from bacteria isolated from saliva and dental plaque from 5 healthy normal subjects was tested. Listerine exhibited a potent bactericidal effect on bacteria in saliva and dental plaque. Most of the bacteria died after a 30 second exposure to Listerine. According to these results, Listerine appears to be effective as a solution used for cleansing the oral cavity and dentures.
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The present study was performed to evaluate the clinical, microbiological and immunological aspects in the early stages of recurrent periodontal disease. After clinical monitoring of pockets with recent evidence of disease recurrence, microbiological samples for cultural analysis, serum and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) samples were taken for IgG antibody analysis from 14 sites, 7 in 6 recurrent periodontitis patients and 7 in 7 periodontally healthy control subjects. IgG responses of serum antibody to 8 gram-negative bacterial strains were compared with those of GCF sampled from the recurrent site. The results clearly demonstrated the predominance of Bacteroides gingivalis in most subgingival plaque samples during the early stages of disease recurrence; the mean proportions of B. gingivalis were significantly different from those of the healthy sites (p less than 0.05). 4 out of 6 serum samples showed the elevated antibody responses to B. gingivalis 381; and this was closely correlated to homologous infection by this micro-organism in recurrent sites. Elevated serum antibody responses were also noted to Eikenella corrodens 1073 and Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans Y4. However, no relationship with homologous infection was found for A. actinomycetemcomitans. 3 out of 6 GCF samples had greater antibody titers than the serum, suggesting local antibody synthesis by the gingival cells in the recurrent pockets. The present study showed that B. gingivalis might play an important role in the pathogenesis of disease recurrence in its early stages.
Human C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase protein which increases in concentration in response to inflammation. CRP has been known to bind with phosphorylcholine in a calcium-dependent manner. In this study, CRP is found to bind to affinity chromatography of negatively-charged epsilon-aminocaproic acid-agarose when calcium ions are present, and to the affinity chromatography of positively-charged omega-aminohexyl-agarose if a normal ionic strength of NaCl exists but calcium ion is not present.
Various proteins related to cell contraction have been extracted from human platelets. Of these, a protein (48K) with the molecular weight of 48,000 and one with the molecular weight of 47,000 (P47) often migrate together with actin on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. We studied the biochemical characteristics of the 48K protein, purified by actin affinity and DEAE-Sepharose chromatography. The 48K protein did not react with anti-actin antibody or peroxidase-labelled actin. The protein inhibited the calcium-dependent gelation of actin. The 48K protein seemed to be a regulatory protein involving cell contraction not identified before.
During a one-year and nine months (from June 1987 to February 1989) survey of community-acquired pneumonia, we investigated in 130 patients if radiologic features presume etiologic agents. Incidences of etiologic agents are 21 (16%) pneumococcus, 18 (14%) mycoplasma, 14 (11%) tuberculosis, 12 (9%) hemophilus, and 54 (42%) unknown agents, respectively. In correlates of radiologic features and etiologic agents, alveolar shadows spreading bilateral lungs presume tuberculosis and pneumococcal pneumonia. Lobar distributing alveolar shadows presume pneumococcal, mycoplasmal tuberculous diseases and other agents, equally. Segmentally distributing shadows presume pneumococcal and mycoplasma pneumonia. Radiologic subgrouping features of alveolar shadows composed of acinar, lobular, and lobar shadows did not presume specific agents. Centrilobular (peribronchiolar) shadows suspect hemophilus infections. Pleural fluid accumulations suspect tuberculosis and anaerobic infections and cavitary shadows, tuberculosis, respectively. Radiologic features can presume etiologic agents.
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A complete cDNA clone encoding cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase was isolated from a rat liver cDNA library by the use of specific antibodies to the enzyme. The isolated cDNA clone was 3.6 kbp long and contained a 1509-bp open reading frame encoding 503 amino acid residues (Mr = 56,880). The identity of the cDNA was confirmed by expression of cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase activity and the immunoreactive protein in COS cells transfected with pSVL expression vector carrying the cDNA insert. The primary structure of cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the cDNA indicated that the enzyme constitutes a novel P-450 family.
25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 24-hydroxylase was purified to an electrophoretically homogeneous state (Mr = 53,000) from kidney mitochondria of female rats treated with vitamin D3.
Consecutive autopsies (5241) performed in the Trieste area and consecutive autopsies (6511) performed in the Tokyo-Chiba area were analyzed to study the frequency of liver metastases in cirrhotics. The Italian material included 500 cases and the Japanese material included 529 cases of liver cirrhosis. Both of these groups were matched for sex and age with a control group. The results were similar in both areas and confirmed the widely held but disputed opinion that metastases in cirrhotic liver are rare. These results seem to be clinically important since they agree with the fact that most neoplasms in cirrhotic liver are primary. From a biologic and epidemiologic point of view, these results call for reconsideration of the complex relationship existing between cancer and liver cirrhosis, in relation to major causative factors such as alcohol and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.
An alternative nonradioactive labeling method and a highly sensitive technique for detecting specific DNA sequences are described. The labeling method requires the "Klenow" fragment of DNA polymerase I and random hexanucleotides (synthesized or naturally extracted) as a primer for the production of highly sensitive DNA probes. The system has three main steps: (i) labeling of DNA with biotinylated 11-dUTP; (ii) detection of biotinylated DNA by a one-step procedure with streptavidin-alkaline phosphatase complex; (iii) blocking of background with Tween 20. Twenty attograms (2 X 10(-17) g) of pBR322 plasmid DNA was detected by dot-blot hybridization. Upon Southern blot hybridization, 7.4 fg (7.4 X 10(-15) g) of pBR322 HindIII DNA was detected using the biotinylated pBR322 plasmid DNA probe; 40.8 ag and 7.4 fg of lambda HindIII DNA were detected with the biotinylated whole lambda DNA probe by dot and Southern blot hybridization, respectively. Specific bands were also detected with the biotinylated argininosuccinolyase probe upon Northern blotting of mouse poly(A+) RNA. Further applications for in situ hybridization are also described.
The macromolecules were injected into primary cultured neuronal cells by fusion with human erythrocyte ghosts containing macromolecules. The injection efficiency was about 30% and 80% of the cells extended neurites like normal neuronal cells. In order to succeed in this method, phytohaemagglutinin E and polyethylene glycol 1000 were essential, and monolayer culture cells were used.
Topical application of benz(a)anthracene to mouse skin elicited a 2-fold increase in cytochrome P-450 content, with accompanying increases in monooxygenase activities such as benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylation, 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylation, and acetanilide 4-hydroxylation, in the microsomes. A major form of cytochrome P-450 was purified from skin microsomes of mice treated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. A specific content of 1.95 nmol/mg of protein, which corresponded to 48-fold purification from the microsomes, was observed. The purified protein produced a single major band on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis having a molecular weight of 55,000. Using Western blotting, the band immunochemically cross-reacted with antibody which had been raised against rat liver cytochrome P-450MC-1. The purified preparation efficiently catalyzed benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylation and 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylation when reconstituted with NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase. These activities were inhibited by 7,8-benzoflavone as well as anti-cytochrome P-450MC-1 antibody, but not by P-450PB-1 antibody. The results indicate that, in mouse skin microsomes, a cytochrome P-450 induced by benz(a)anthracene is enzymatically and immunochemically similar to rat liver cytochrome P-450MC-1. It is suggested that this enzyme plays an important role in the activation of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.