Correlation between proteinuria and prognosis of transplant IgA nephropathy.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K Ota.
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We here reported a case of advanced gastric cancer remarkably responding to preoperative short-term UFT-E chemotherapy. UFT-E was orally administered preoperatively for about a month to the patient with type 2 advanced gastric cancer. After the chemotherapy the cancer was found to be remarkably decreased in size and denatured. The amount of residual cancer cells was limited by histopathological examination following the operation and diagnosed as Grade 3 based on the criteria of histological evaluation of chemotherapy for cancer. We continued to administer UFT-E postoperatively and the patient is still alive without symptoms.
Nedaplatin is a derivative of cisplatin which produced less nausea & vomiting and nephrotoxicity. In the phase I study, the MTD was 120 mg/m2 and the DLF was a bone marrow suppression. The optimal dose in a phase II study was judged to be 100 mg/m2 repeated every 4 weeks. In the phase II studies, response rates obtained were 42.2% for head & neck ca., 40.9% for small cell lung ca. (SCLC), 20.5% for non-SCLS (NSCLC), 12.5% for breast ca., 51.7% for esophageal ca., 8.3% for stomach cancer. 0 for colon ca., 38.1% for bladder ca., 14.3% for pyelo-ureter tract ca., 18.8% for prostatic ca., 80.0% for testicular tumor, 37.3% for ovarian ca., 46.3% for cervical ca. Grade 3.4 thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, anemia and nausea & vomiting were found in 28.5%, 21.1%, 16.8% and 18.5% respectively. In an additional phase II study for cervical ca. at a dose reduced to 80 mg/m2, a response rate was comparable together with less thrombocytopenia. In a randomized controlled study of nedaplatin plus vindesine vs. cisplatin plus vindesine in NSCLC, there was no significant difference in response, however mephro and G.I. toxicity were significantly less in the nedaplatin group. Thrombocytopenia was found more frequently in the nedaplatin groups. Based on the results, the indication was approved in ca. of the head & neck, SCLC, NSCLC, esophagus, bladder, testicular tumor, ovary and cervix. Dose schedule is 80 - 100 mg/m2 every 4 weeks at more 1,000 mL drip infusion repeated.
OBJECTIVES: The serum nitrate concentration is known to be increased in patients with cirrhosis. This study was designed to determine the kinetics of nitrate in the splanchnic vascular areas and its relationship with hepatic hemodynamics in patients with compensated cirrhosis. METHODS: We measured the serum nitrate concentration of various sites, including the femoral artery, hepatic vein, azygos vein, and pulmonary artery, and compared these values with hepatic hemodynamics. RESULTS: The nitrate concentrations of hepatic vein and azygos vein were significantly greater in cirrhotic patients compared with those of control subjects. The values were particularly elevated in patients with Child-Pugh's class B. In control subjects, hepatic vein and azygos vein nitrate concentrations were significantly lower than arterial nitrate concentrations whereas nitrate concentrations were significantly greater in the hepatic and azygos veins than femoral artery in cirrhotic patients, and nitrate kinetics was that of the net release of nitrate from the hepatic and azygos veins. The portal vein blood flow positively correlated with the nitrate concentration of azygos vein, pulmonary artery, and femoral artery. CONCLUSIONS: The present results implicate the enhanced production of nitric oxide in the mesenteric vascular beds in patients with cirrhosis. The positive correlation between portal vein blood flow and serum nitrate concentrations suggests that endogenous nitric oxide may have an important role in the regulation of portal hemodynamics in these patients.
Miller Fisher syndrome (FS) is thought to be a variant of Gullain-Barré syndrome (GBS), both of which rarely relapse. We report a rare case of GBS that followed FS. A 38-year-old woman had ophthalmoplegia, ataxia and areflexia following an upper respiratory tract infection with a diagnosis of FS. Serum anti-GQ1b IgG antibody was found to be increased, but decreased through immunoadsorption as the neurological symptoms of the patient improved. She became completely asymptomatic three months after the onset of FS. Following a common cold two months later, however, she developed weakness of all four limbs and dysesthesia of hands and feet with albuminocytologic dissociation of cerebrospinal fluid, which was consistent with the diagnosis of GBS. Moreover, serum anti-GQ1b IgG antibody had increased again. Anti-GQ1b IgG antibody frequently becomes positive not only in FS but also GBS with ophthalmoplegia. However, the antibody was positive in this particular patient with GBS, even in the absence of ophthalmoplegia. This case suggests that anti-GQ1b IgG antibody might be a common pathogenesis of both FS and GBS.
Phase I study on antimetabolic carcinostatic DMDC was conducted at 16 medical institutions nationwide for patients with various types of malignant tumors. DMDC was administered by intravenous infusion as per the following three schedules: single administration, single repeated administration, and 5-consecutive-day administration. The safety of the compound was examined single administration in 16 patients, by the single repeated administration in 5 patients, and by the 5 consecutive-day administration in 7 patients, for a total of 28 patients. In the single administration trial, 200 mg/m2 (1 n) was given as an initial dose, then increased stepwise to 450 mg/m2 (2.25 n). The single repeated administration trial was conducted at a single dose of 300 mg/m2. One treatment course lasts until recovery from side effects and abnormalities in laboratory test values. As a general rule, the administration was repeated for 2 treatment courses or more. In the 5-consecutive-day administration trial, an initial dose was 30 mg/m2/day (1 n), and increased to 40 mg/m2/day (1.3 n). The dose-limiting factors for both the single and 5-consecutive-day administration trials were decreases in the numbers of leukocytes and neutrophils. The maximum tolerated dose for single administration trial was over 400 mg/m2 (2 n), and for the 5-consecutive-day administration trial 40 mg/m2 (1.3 n). The decrease in the number of leukocytes and neutrophils for both the single administration and 5-consecutive-day administration trial reached its nadir one to two weeks after administration, and recovered in about one week. In the single repeated administration trial, the administration interval for patients who had completed 2 courses was 2 approximately 3 weeks. The plasma half-life of DMDC in the final phase of elimination in the single administration trial was 5.2 approximately 6.3 hours, and no differences were seen among dose levels. The urinary excretion rate was between 32.0 approximately 61.5% until 48 hours after administration. No accumulation was seen in the 5-consecutive-day administration trial. There were no findings to suggest an antitumor effect in the present study. Given the recovery pattern for suppression of marrow, the above mentioned results led us to decide that an recommended method of administration and dosage in an early phase II trial would be 300 mg/m2 per administration by an intravenous infusion every 2 approximately 3 weeks.
In recent years, anti-myelin glycolipid antibodies have been reported to be specific for acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuritis (AIDP) so the involvement of autoimmune mechanism by such autoantibodies was strongly suggested as a cause of AIDP. However, the cellular immunity of AIDP has been seldom reported yet. To examine the T cell response to peripheral nerve antigens in human, we tried to establish T cell lines reactive to peripheral myelin antigens. P0 56-71, P0 180-199 and P2 59-78 peptides from human peripheral blood of controls and patients with inflammatory demyelinating polyneuritis. Frequencies of T cells reactive with P0 56-71, P0 180-199 and P2 59-78 peptides in five controls were (0.59 +/- 0.81) x 10(-7), (1.53 +/- 0.53) x 10(-7) and (0.11 +/- 0.24) x 10(-7), respectively. Frequency of P0 180-199-reactive T cells in one AIDP patient of acute stage was 3.5 x 10(-7) and approximately 2 times high value of controls. There is no significant association between their frequency and specific MHC class II genotypes in subjects until now. Thus, peripheral myelin antigen-specific T cell lines in particular recognizing P0 180-199 were established from the majority of controls and polyneuritis patients. These results suggest that the residues of P0 180-199 might be one of T cell epitopes also in human subjects.
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We have provided home treatment mainly for cancer patients since June 1995 and had 7 such patients until March 1996. Among them two patients died not at home but in the hospital, although the patients and their family understood that the patients were in the terminal stage of illness. It home was thought to be difficult that they accept death at their homes. From the standpoint of physical and mental conditions, social status and actual medical care, the factors to promote death at home were examined. The two cases mentioned above and their families wished to have treatment at home. The reasons why we decided to discontinue medical care at their homes were twofold: 1) the difficulty of palliating patients' symptoms and anxiety; and 2) the uneasiness of the family in caring for patients at home. Therefore sufficient palliation of symptoms and "death education" for patients and families are required to encourage death at home.
Transplant network plays a indispensable role in the organ transplantation, which consists of the registration of patients, collection of donor information, recipient selection and shipping of the organs, retrieval of transplant data and their analysis. Since 1977 the cadaveric kidney transplantation have had been done in the kidney transplant network, which was run by National Sakura Hospital as the transplant center and 14 subcenters. As the number of cadaveric kidney transplantation, however, was decreased year by year since 1989, there raised some problems, such as allocation policy of kidney grafts, lack of standardized HLA examination and review system, management within each administrative district and so on. Based upon the report of ad hoc committee of the Multiorgan Transplant Network, there substituted the new kidney transplant network system, Japan Kidney Transplant Network for the former kidney transplant network since 1995. The new system is operated not only by transplant surgeon, but by transplant coordinators, nephrologists, doctors in charge of dialysis therapy, representatives of kidney bank and other organizations/associations, and others. After the legislation of the transplant act, the network will be reorganized into the network system for multiorgan sharing. To establish the multiorgan sharing network, uniform protocol of multiorgan procurement, insurance of informed consent, propagation of donor cards for multiorgan donation, registration for waiting lists, allocation system for other organs than kidney, and education of transplant coordinator for multiorgan procurement are required.
The objective of this study was to clarify the actual status of interactions performed at home between demented elders and their family caregivers. An inductive qualitative study was conducted by using a grounded theory approach. Subjects were 25 elderly individuals with dementia of Alzheimer type, and 28 caregivers in their family. The study was performed using the participant observation and interviews in their homes. Based on a constant comparative analysis, results revealed the levels of "certainty" and "maintenance of self" of the elders as core variables in interactions between the elders and the caregivers. Characteristic interactions were found to fall into three categories. The interactions in Category 1 showed caregiver's persistence in potential "certainty" of the demented elders. Category 2 was the interactions when the uncertainty of demented elders was unquestionable, and category 3 was interactions when certainty of demented elders was clear: In the category 1, subcategories named "looking for the holes", "digging the holes" and "filling in the holes" were found. In the category 2, phenomena named "protection", "friction", "harmony" and "resistance" were observed. And the category 3 contained "equality." The researcher examined and clarified behavioral characteristics, the backgrounds, topics and the results of the interactions as components of each subcategory. The triggers the transition of categories of the interactions were examined. This study also treated the differences produced according the levels of dementia and role relations of the caregivers for each category. This study revealed a part of actual interactions between the demented elders and their caregivers, and a part of the world which demented elders may experience in interaction with their caregivers.
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A novel ferredoxin was purified from Mycobacterium smegmatis by a series of hydrophobic chromatographies in the presence of high concentrations of ammonium sulfate and sodium chloride. The ferredoxin exhibited the same peptide map and N-terminal amino acid sequence as the known 7Fe ferredoxin from the same bacterium. On the other hand, this ferredoxin was found to contain approximately 6 Fe/mol ferredoxin and was also shown to contain only [3Fe-4S] clusters by resonance Raman spectroscopy, indicating that it is a novel 6Fe ferredoxin which contains two [3Fe-4S] clusters.
The quality of life (QOL) in 55 early-stage breast cancer patients after surgery was prospectively assessed using a newly developed Japanese QOL questionnaire: The QOL Questionnaire for Cancer Patients Treated with Anticancer Drugs (QOL-ACD). The impacts of breast conserving treatment (BCT) (22 cases) and modified radical mastectomy (MRM) (33 cases) on the QOL in those subjects were compared. The overallQOL scores were evaluated during four periods (before surgery, 0-2, 3-12, and 13-24 months after surgery). The mean scores of the four categories of the QOL-ACD (activity, physical condition, psychological condition, and social relationships) were also compared. The results demonstrated that a significant improvement was observed in the overall QOL scores among the three periods after surgery (0-2, 3-12, and 13-24 months) only in the BCT group (p<0.05). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the overall QOL scores during any of the three periods after surgery, and the mean score of the 'psychological condition' during 0-2 months period in the BCT group was significantly lower than that in the MRM group (p<0.05). These results suggest that BCT does not always improve the patients' QOL more than MRM does, and that the patients receiving BCT require more psychological support than those receiving MRM during the early postoperative period.