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Biomedical subjects

K Sugimoto

Publications and source records attributed to K Sugimoto.

At least 631 records · Page 35Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Nutritional status of Papua New Guinea highlanders.

A nutritional survey was held in August, 1978, at Kalugaluvi (altitude: 1,500m) near Lufa, which is 60 km from Goroka, in the Eastern Highland Province of Papua New Guinea. Anthropometric measurements were carried out on 55 males and 37 females aged from 7 to 64 years. whereas the physiques of the children looked as good as those of Japanese of a comparable age, the adult men were shorter than Japanese males, but body weight and chest girth were similar. The skinfold thickness was less than that of the Japanese. From the data collected, it was shown that the physique of the Highlanders was more muscular than that of the Japanese. The food intakes and energy balances of 18 healthy men (20-40 years old) were measured over 2 or 3 consecutive days. The average consumption of sweet potatoes, the staple food, was 956 +/- 305 g per day. The average consumption of taro and yam was 93 +/- 124 g/day and 36 +/- 99 g/day, respectively. Various green leaves, sugar canes, corn, bananas and other foods. (i.e., rice and tinned fish) purchased from trade stores were sometimes eaten. The mean daily energy intake was 2.390 +/- 540 kcal, which was about the same as the daily energy expenditure. The daily protein intake was 35.2 +/- 10.7 g. These results are probably exceptionally high, because the survey was unfortunately held during the yearly festival season of the village when the people often ate fatty port. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that the growth of children and the physique of adults are normal in spite of the extremely low intake of protein.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Enzymatic assay of serum sialic acid.

Serum sialic acid has been assayed enzymatically. The reaction includes neuraminidase hydrolysis of glycoprotein, cleavage of sialic acid to pyruvate by N-acetyl neuraminic acid (NANA)-aldolase, oxidation of pyruvate by pyruvate oxidase which produces hydrogen peroxide, and colorimetry of hydrogen peroxide using the peroxidase-p-chlorophenol-4-amino-antipyrine method. This method showed good correlation between a chemical method (r = 0.984), good recovery (98.8%) and good reproducibility (within-run-precision: 1.0% C.V.; day-to-day precision: 1.9% C.V). Intrinsic serum pyruvate produces an equimolar positive effect. The normal value range is 1.94 +/- 0.29 mmol/l (mean +/- S.D.,n = 24).

Chemical Phenomena↗
PubMed1980

A microsomal endoribonuclease from rat liver.

An endoribonuclease has been purified about 320-fold from the microsomes of rat liver. The enzyme had an apparent molecular weight of 54 000-58 000 and produced oligonucleotides, each consisting of 3-7 nucleotides from poly(A) and poly(U). No mononucleotide was obtained by the enzymatic hydrolysis of poly(A) and poly(U) under standard coditions. The relative rates of breakdown of synthetic polynucleotides by the enzyme under standard conditions were in the order poly(U) = poly(A) > poly(C). Divalent cations (Mg2+ or Mn2+) was required for the enzymatic activity, but monovalent cations (Na+, K+ or NH4+) inhibited the enzyme. The breakdown of poly(C) and poly(U) by the enzyme was inhibited by spermine, but that of poly(A) was not influenced by spermine. The enzyme was inhibited by p-chloromercuribenzoate and poly(G), but not by rat-liver ribonuclease-inhibitor and anti-RNase A serum.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Replication origin of the Escherichia coli K-12 chromosome: the size and structure of the minimum DNA segment carrying the information for autonomous replication.

A DNA fragment containing the replication origin of the Eschericia coli K-12 chromosome was inserted in two correlations at either the BamHI or SalI site of pBR322 DNA. All the resulting hybrid plasmids were found to replicate in both polA and polA+ cells, whereas pBR322 replicates only in polA+ cells. This characteristic provided a method for assaying the autonomously replicating ability (Ori function of the E. coli origin. In order to define the minimum DNA region (ori) that determines Ori function, deletions of various sizes were introduced from either side of the ori-containing segment in the hybrid plasmids by in vitro techniques, and the correlation between the Ori phenotype and nucleotide sequence of the deletion derivatives was analyzed. It was found that the left end of ori is between positions 23 and 35, and the right end is either position 266 or 267 in our nucleotide coordinate (Sugimoto et al., 1979). Therefore, ori is present within a region of minimum 232 base pairs and maximum 245 base pairs in length. The Ori+ and Ori- phenotypes were clearly resolved at both sides of these boundaries by the above assay procedure. To obtain information about the effect of mutations in the internal region of the defined ori stretch, short sequences were inserted or deleted in vitro in the vicinity of several restriction sites within ori on the hybrid plasmids. Most of these plasmids carrying modified sequences showed Ori- phenotype, suggesting that most parts of the ori stretch play important roles in Ori function.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1980

Peripheral nervous system functions of workers exposed to n-hexane at a low level.

In order to assess the effects on the peripheral nervous system of n-hexane at a low level, an epidemiological study using a questionnaire, neurological examinations, and neurophysiological studies was carried out on two age-matched groups; one, consisting of 14 exposed workers and the other, of 14 control workers. The 8 h time weighted average of n-hexane concentration in the exposure environment was 58 +/- 41 (mean +/- SD) ppm. In the individual worker, no obvious signs could be found indicating damage to the nervous system that were referable to the n-hexane exposure. On the other hand, when the subjects were taken in groups, the results obtained from the exposed group showed a minor partiality for functional impairment of the peripheral nervous system in many test items. In particular, statistically significant differences between the two groups were detected in the following items: (1) inquiries by questionnaire for persistent or transient symptoms regarding muscle weaknesses and dyesthesia of limbs; (2) the jump test on one foot; (3) the tuning fork test for vibration sensation on the radial processes; (4) the maximal velocity and the residual latency of motor nerve conduction of the posterior tibial nerve. In conclusion, it is not likely that at exposure levels less than the current threshold limit value of 100 ppm proposed by ACGIH, n-hexane may induce clinically overt polyneurophathy. However, there is no gainsaying the possibility that in the exposed workers as a whole, small cumulative effects in the peripheral nervous system may be brought about by long-term n-hexane exposure less than 100 ppm.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Structure and gene organization in the transformed Hind III-G fragment of Ad12.

The nucleotide sequence of the transforming Hind III-G fragment of Ad12 DNA which encompasses the left 6.8% of the genome has been determined. The fragment was 2320 nucleotides long, and contained a GC cluster at positions 126-155 and a region extremely rich in AT at positions 1098-1142 (number from the leftmost end). Possible coding regions for the two transforming gene products were assigned. The predicted coding region for T antigen g is positions 502-1069 and positions 1144-1373, which are joined by splicing (266 amino acid residues, 30 kd), and that for T antigen f is positions 1845-2126 (94 amino acid residues, 10 kd). The sequence of the Hind III-G fragment was compared with that of the transforming DNA fragment of Ad5 which encompasses the left 8.0% of the genome (2809 nucleotides). There are several discrete regions with significant sequence homology. The comparison suggests that the regions in the left two thirds of the Ad5 and Ad12 transforming DNA fragments (map units 0-4.7% in Ad5 and 0-4.4% in Ad12) bear some resemblance in their gene organizations, and code for proteins containing structurally homologous regions.

Adenoviruses, Human↗
PubMed1980

Incremental conduction velocity of single afferent fibers innervating frog taste organ.

The mean diameter of myelinated afferent fibers from the taste disk located on the frog tongue was 5.5 micrometers within the fungiform papillae and increased at a rate of 0.8 micrometers/cm length of fibers. A gradual increase in conduction velocity of single afferent fibers from the taste disk was confirmed electrophysiologically.

Afferent Pathways↗
PubMed1979

Nucleotide sequence of small ColE1 derivatives: structure of the regions essential for autonomous replication and colicin E1 immunity.

A small ColE1 derivative, pAO2, which replicates like the original ColE1 and confers immunity to colicin E1 on its host cell has been constructed from a quarter region of ColE1 DNA (Oka, 1978). The entire nucleotide sequence of pAO2 (1,613 base pairs) was determined based on its fine cleavage map. The sequence of a similar plasmid, pAO3, carrying additional 70 base pairs was also deduced. The sequence in the region covering the replication initiation site on these plasmids was consistent with those reported for ColE1 by Tomizawa et al. (1977) and by Bastia (1977). DNA sequences indispensable for autonomous replication were examined by constructing plasmids from various restriction fragments of pAO2 DNA. As a result, a region of 436 base pairs was found to contain sufficient information to permit replication. The occurrence of initiation and termination codons and of the ribosome-binding sequence on pAO2 DNA suggests that a polypeptide chain consisting of 113 amino acid residues may be encoded by the region in which the colicin E1 immunity gene has been mapped.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1979

Nucleotide sequence of Escherichia coli K-12 replication origin.

From subfragments of an EcoRI fragment (9 kilobase pairs) that contained the replication origin of the Escherichia coli chromosome and had been cloned as a recombinant with a nonreplicating DNA fragment coding for ampicillin resistance, small derivative plasmids were constructed. The smallest of these, pTSO151, contained a segment of 463 base pairs as the chromosomal component. Another plasmid, pSY134, constructed from BamHI digests of the EcoRI fragment and mini-F(pMF21), contained a region of 422 base pairs identical with a corresponding region in pTSO151. We conclude that the replication origin of E. coli chromosome is located within this 422-base-pair segment. The nucleotide sequence of this segment is presented.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1979

Technetium 99m bone imaging in the evaluation of cancer of the maxillofacial region.

Technetium 99m bone images were obtained from five patients with mandibular gingival carcinoma and six patients with maxillary sinus carcinoma. Ten to 15 mCi of 99mTc-polyphosphate was administered intravenously, and imaging was performed three hours after injection. The anterior and lateral views of the maxillofacial skeleton were obtained with a gamma camera. Resultant gamma camera images were compared with the radiographic skeletal survey. 99mTc bone survey is a safe and simple diagnostic technique that can demonstrate abnormality of the bone with greater sensitivity than routine radiographs.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Change in taste preference related to aging of taste cells in rat.

Following the suppression of renewal of rat taste cells by vinblastine sulphate, the preference for sucrose decreased markedly while the aversion to quinine did not change. The results suggest that the sensitivity of taste cells to sucrose decreases with their aging, but the sensitivity to quinine increases.

Aging↗
PubMed1978

Haemichrome formation from haemoglobin subunits by hydrogen peroxide.

The effect of H2O2 on ferrous human haemoglobin subunits (alphash-, betash-, alphapmb- and betapmb-chains) was studied. These chains were easily transformed to haemichrome by the addition of H2O2 or H2O2-generating systems, including glucose oxidase (EC 1.1.3.4) AND XANTHINE OXIDASE (EC 1.2.3.2), and this was ascertained by e.p.r. measurements and by absorption spectra. The changes in these haemoglobin subunits were not inhibited by superoxide dismutase (EC 1.15.1.1), but were decreased by catalase (EC 1.11.1.6). The rate of oxidation of alphapmb-chains was higher than that of alphash-chains, and the rate of oxidation of betapmb-chains was higher than that of betash-chains. Haemichrome was demonstrated to be formed directly from these ferrous chains by the attack by H2O2, and this process did not involve formation of methaemoglobin. On the basis of these findings the kinetics of the reaction between the haemoglobin subunits and H2O2 was studied, and the pathological significance of H2O2 in disorders of erythrocytes such as thalassaemia was discussed.

Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy↗