Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

K Ueda

Publications and source records attributed to K Ueda.

At least 577 records · Page 32Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Incidence of structural cardiac disorders in neonates: an evaluation by color Doppler echocardiography and the results of a 1-year follow-up.

Non-biased 502 consecutive neonates were examined by sectorial and color Doppler flow imaging at a mean age of 1.0 day (SD 0.4). Patent foramen ovale was present in 266 (53%) and transient patent ductus arteriosus in 104 (21%). Cardiac disorders were recognized in 19 (3.8%); ventricular septal defect (VSD) in 10; atrial septal defect (ASD) in 4; pulmonary stenosis in 2; aortic stenosis, endocardial cushion defect and tricuspid regurgitation in 1 each. With a spontaneous closure of 8 VSDs and 4 ASDs during the first 12 months, the incidences of cardiac malformation were, consequently, 3.2% at 1 month, 1.4% at 6 months and 1.0% at 12 months.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1995

Silent cerebral infarction in a community-based autopsy series in Japan. The Hisayama Study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and characteristics of silent cerebral infarction in a population-based consecutive autopsy series of residents of Hisayama, Kyushu, Japan. METHODS: Autopsy records, cerebral pathological findings, and clinical charts of 966 Hisayama residents recorded during the 26 years from 1961 to 1987 were examined (autopsy rate, 82.4%). The subjects were divided into three groups: those with both clinically apparent strokes and pathologically verified cerebral infarcts (stroke group), those having pathological evidence of cerebral infarction in the brain but without clinical stroke episodes (silent infarction group), and those with neither infarction nor stroke episode (noninfarction group). Risk factors and brain pathology in the three groups were compared. RESULTS: Silent cerebral infarction was found in 12.9% of the 966 subjects who had undergone autopsy, and its frequency increased with age. The subjects with silent infarcts were older, had higher systolic or diastolic blood pressure, and had atrial fibrillation more frequently than subjects in the noninfarction group. There were no significant differences in the locations of infarcts between the stroke and silent infarction groups, although infarcts tended to be located in the deeper area of the brain in the latter. The number and size of infarcts were smaller in the silent infarction group than in the stroke group. CONCLUSIONS: Diastolic blood pressure and atrial fibrillation appear to be strong predictors of silent cerebral infarction in the Japanese general population. Stroke becomes clinically apparent as infarct volume increases.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Basal cell tumor in a Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata).

A rare case of basal cell tumor of the skin in a wild-caught female Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) was studied. Tumor growth, which was composed of cells resembling basal cells, was observed in the dermis and subcutis and showed a mixture of ribbon, solid, glandular, and cystic patterns. The tumor was separated from surrounding normal tissue by a compressed zone of fibrous connective tissue. The nuclei were round and hyperchromatic and possessed a single centrally located nucleolus. Mitotic figures were common. Immunohistochemically, a positive reaction for epithelial membrane antigen, keratin, and cytokeratin AE3 was evident. Electron microscopic examination revealed a small number of tonofilaments in the cytoplasm.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Incidence and risk factors of vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease in a defined elderly Japanese population: the Hisayama Study.

We followed 828 nondemented residents of Hisayama Town, Kyushu, Japan, aged 65 years or older (88.3% of the elderly population) for 7 years starting in 1985 in order to determine the type-specific incidence of dementia and its risk factors in the general Japanese population. Only two subjects were lost to the follow-up, during which period 103 subjects developed dementia. Morphologic examination of the brains of 89 subjects (86.4%) was made by autopsy or CT. We made the initial diagnosis of dementia based on the DSM-III-R criteria, with the diagnoses of vascular dementia (VD) being based on the NINDS-AIREN criteria and Alzheimer's disease (AD) on the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. The incidence of VD and AD increased with age for both sexes. The age-adjusted total incidence (per 1,000 person-years) of dementia was 19.3 for men and 20.9 for women. The corresponding rates for VD were 12.2 for men and 9.0 for women, and for AD, 5.1 for men and 10.9 for women. Among the VD subjects whose brain morphology we examined, the most frequent type of stroke was multiple lacunar infarcts (42%), but half these subjects lacked a stroke episode in their histories. Multivariate analysis showed that age, prior stroke episodes, systolic blood pressure, and alcohol consumption were significant independent risk factors for the occurrence of VD. In contrast, age and a low score on Hasegawa's dementia scale were significant risk factors for AD, and physical activity was a significant preventive factor for AD.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗
PubMed1995

How to fashion a TRAM flap in the presence of a lower midline laparotomy scar. An experimental study in rats.

The transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous (TRAM) flap cannot be used successfully in a patient with a pre-existing midline abdominal scar because the area distal to the scar undergoes circulatory failure leading to necrosis. To investigate the usefulness of various procedures to improve the circulation in such a flap, we studied the percentage area survival of experimental abdominal island flaps in five groups of rats with pre-existing midline scar treated by different procedures which depended on the source of blood used to supply the flap (control, arterial, venous, arteriovenous shunt, and delayed, n = 5 in each group). All flaps in the arterial group survived completely. The mean (SEM) percentages of the flaps that survived in the control (17(2)%) and venous (17(1)%) groups were significantly lower than those in the delayed (31(2)%) and arteriovenous shunt (67(6)%) groups (all, p < 0.01). These results indicate that preservation of arterial inflow by arterial anastomosis or arteriovenous shunt on the opposite side is important if the flap is to survive across the midline scar. Preservation of the vein in the opposite flap is not essential, because venous outflow is supposed to drain through the midline scar into the epigastric vein of the pedicle without any signs of congestion.

Abdominal Muscles↗
PubMed1995

Electrophysiological, morphological, and morphometric effects of aging on nerve regeneration in rats.

To investigate the influence of age on the process of nerve regeneration, the right common peroneal nerves of 14 2 month old and 14 10 month old rats were transected and resutured. At four and eight weeks after the nerve repair, the motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV), latency, and amplitude of the evoked potential from the peroneus longus muscle were measured. The number of regenerated myelinated fibres, axon diameter, axon area, axon circumference, and myelin thickness were also measured. Compared with the control side (left common peroneal nerve and muscle), MNCV, latency, and amplitude showed higher recovery rates (recovery rate (%) = operated/control x 100) in 2 month old rats than in 10 month old rats, particularly at four weeks after the operation. In the morphometric study, axon diameter, axon area, and myelin thickness also recovered more quickly (recovery rate (%) = operated/control x 100) in 2 month old rats, particularly four weeks after the operation. Morphologically, myelin remnants were not found in 2 month old rats eight weeks after the operation, though they remained in 10 month old rats. These studies show that the recovery rate was significantly greater in 2 month old rats than in 10 month old rats. The explanation seems to be the difference in the speed of Wallerian degeneration, axonal regeneration, and myelin regeneration.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1995

A comparison of temporal muscle transfer and lid loading in the treatment of paralytic lagophthalmos.

Temporal muscle transfer (n = 78) and lid loading with a gold plate (n = 52) were compared in the treatment of paralytic lagophthalmos. Three sizes of gold plate (1.0, 1.2 and 1.4 g) were used. Lid loading was inferior to temporal muscle transfer in improving functional ability to close the eye, but it did protect the cornea from irritation. There were no significant differences among the sizes of plate, but there was most relief from corneal irritation when the 1.4 g gold plate was used. The plate had to be removed in 25% of the patients, but this did not make the condition worse than before lid loading. Lid loading has the advantage that patients can close their eyes without conscious effort. We therefore recommend lid loading as the first choice for correction of paralytic lagophthalmos, and that temporal muscle transfer should be undertaken after plate removal in only those patients for whom lid loading has not given a satisfactory result.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Treatment of young relapsed Hodgkin's disease patients with high-dose chemotherapy followed by peripheral blood stem cell transplantation.

Four patients less than 20 years of age with Hodgkin's disease, who had developed either second or third relapse, were treated with high-dose chemotherapy followed by peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT). Peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) were collected after the administration of high-dose cytosine arabinoside (HD-AraC, 1g/m2 x 4). The conditioning regimen for PBSCT contained cyclophosphamide (50mg/m2 x 4), etoposide (150mg/m2 x 6) and ranimustine (250mg/dose x 1) (CVM regimen). A significant tumor regression was thus obtained after HD-AraC in 3 cases. The amount of PBSC harvested ranged from 1.2 to 4.5 x 10(5)/kg CFU-GM. Several cycles of conventional therapy were performed prior to the transplantation. PBSCT was done only after achieving a complete remission (CR) in 3 cases, but during relapse in another case. All patients showed both a rapid and sustained hematological recovery without any critical side effects. After this treatment, the 3 patients who were in CR at transplantation maintained a CR for 27, 26, and 4 months, respectively, while another developed a bone relapse despite achieving a CR by PBSCT. These results suggest that a combination of HD-AraC and CVM followed by PBSCT is therefore considered to be beneficial in the treatment of relapsed Hodgkin's disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Overexpression of a gene cluster encoding a chalcone synthase-like protein confers redbrown pigment production in Streptomyces griseus.

A 7.0-kb DNA fragment that conferred redbrown pigment production on Streptomyces griseus was shotgun-cloned with a multicopy vector pIJ486 from this microorganism. By restriction endonuclease mapping and subcloning, a 1.5-kb fragment which is essential for the production of redbrown pigment was determined. The nucleotide sequence of this region revealed the presence of two open reading frames, ORF1 with 109 amino acids (named RppA) and ORF2 with 262 amino acids (RppB), in addition to a truncated ORF3. The termination codon of rppA and the initiation codon of rppB overlapped, sharing one common nucleotide, which strongly suggests that these two genes are cotranscribed. Both rppA and rppB were essentially required for the pigmentation. The RppB protein showed great similarity in amino acid sequence to a chalcone synthase, a key enzyme of central importance in the biosynthetic pathway of all classes of flavonoids in plants. Part of RppA showed sequence similarity to the 33kDa phosphoprotein of adenovirus. Nucleotide sequences homologous to rppA and rppB were widely distributed in Streptomyces species, as determined by Southern hybridization. Further nucleotide sequencing of the entire orf-3 gene showed that ORF3 with 403 amino acids was a cytochrome P-450 (named P-450RPP). These data suggested that the cloned fragment contained part of a gene cluster for the biosynthesis of a certain metabolite. Introduction of the subcloned 1.5-kb fragment into Streptomyces lividans as well as Escherichia coli also caused production of redbrown pigment, suggesting that RppA and RppB are capable of synthesizing the redbrown pigment from metabolites commonly present in bacteria.

Acyltransferases↗
PubMed1995

Histopathologic features of naturally occurring hepatozoonosis in wild martens (Martes melampus) in Japan.

Nodular lesions containing Hepatozoon sp. schizonts or merozoite-gametocytes were found in the tissues of 67 (96%) of 70 wild-caught martens (Martes melampus) examined in Gifu, Japan, 1991 and 1992. The heart was the most commonly parasitized organ (96%), followed by the perirenal adipose tissue (36%); the diaphragm, mesentery, tongue, omentum and perisplenic adipose tissue generally had a prevalence of 10 to 15%. In the heart, two types of nodular lesions were differentiated based on developmental stages: nodules containing schizonts and nodules consisting of an accumulation of phagocytes containing merozoites or gamonts. Under electron microscopy, mature schizonts contained membrane-bound merozoites with a single nucleus and small scattered electron-dense cytoplasmic granules in the schizont nodules; the merozoites and gamonts were engulfed in a phagosome-like vacuole of phagocytes with the nucleus compressed to one side due to the parasite in the merozoite-gamont nodule.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1995

[Evaluation of the polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis].

Since Shankar et al used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), there have been numerous reports on PCR assay for diagnosis of tuberculosis meningitis (TBM). The PCR assay have been recognized to be a rapid method for diagnosis of TBM, however there are problems of PCR sensitivity when dealing with CSF samples containing small amount of M. tuberculosis DNA. Comparing direct PCR with nested PCR, we studied on the evaluation of PCR for diagnosis of TBM. In present study the nested PCR were positive in all CSF specimens from 4 patients with TBM, but we could not detect M. tuberculosis DNA by only the direct PCR. Because nested PCR amplification improved the sensitivity and specificity, the nested PCR assay will be necessary for rapid diagnosis of TBM on the clinical laboratory.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Cepharanthin, a multidrug resistant modifier, is a substrate for P-glycoprotein.

P-glycoprotein modulators are respected to be multidrug resistance reversing agents in cancer chemotherapy. Some calcium channel blockers, calmodulin inhibitors or immunosuppressive agents have been used in clinical studies, although the dose of these drugs required to test in vitro experimental data might cause potent pharmacological effects which are not desirable in patients. By using LLC-GA5-COL150 cells that express P-glycoprotein specifically on the apical membranes, we examined the transport of anticancer drugs mediated by P-glycoprotein. Cepharanthin, a biscoclaurine alkaloid, potently inhibits the transport of vinblastine and daunorubicin, both commonly used anticancer agents. The 50% inhibitory concentration of cepharanthin on daunorubicin transport was 2.06 microM. Combined inhibitory effects on daunorubicin transport were observed when cepharanthin was used together with cyclosporin A, a potent immunosuppressive agent and P-glycoprotein modulator. Cepharanthin itself was transported by P-glycoprotein. Transcellular transport of cepharanthin across LLC-GA5-COL150 cell monolayers was saturable when its concentration was under 5 microM, and the transport was inhibited by P-glycoprotein modulators. These results indicate that cepharanthin can reverse multidrug resistance, and proper combination with other P-glycoprotein modulators could potentiate its inhibitory effect on expelling the anticancer drugs out of the cell via P-glycoprotein.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗
PubMed1995

Human spermatozoa attach to trypsin-treated hamster zonae pellucidae but do not undergo acrosome reactions.

The acrosome reaction by spermatozoa is an indispensable prerequisite for fertilization, and zonae pellucidae of human oocytes induce this reaction in the human spermatozoa attached to them. Human spermatozoa can attach to the zona pellucida of hamster oocytes when the oocytes have been treated with trypsin. We examined whether or not trypsin-treated hamster zona pellucida induces the acrosome reaction of human spermatozoa. Ten semen samples from 7 donors of proven fertility were examined in the present study. Highly motile spermatozoa were obtained by a swim-up method, and pre-incubated for 1 or 6 hours in modified Biggers, Whitten and Whittingham's (mBWW) medium supplemented with human serum albumin. The spermatozoa were then co-incubated for 1 hour with trypsin-treated hamster oocytes to allow sperm attachment to the zona. The spermatozoa on the zona were incubated for 3 additional hours in the mBWW medium. The percentage of acrosome reacted spermatozoa (%AR) was determined before and after the 3-hours of incubation. The %AR in the sperm suspension was also determined. There was no significant difference in the %AR between the spermatozoa attached to the zona pellucida and those in suspension during the incubation for 3 hours. These results indicate that the trypsin-treated hamster zona pellucida does not induce the acrosome reaction of human spermatozoa.

Acrosome↗
PubMed1995

[Experience of absorbable staple in lobectomy].

We examined the differences between absorbable staple and un-absorbable staple in inflammatory reaction during the early post-operative period in lung cancer patients. From october 1993 to august 1994, absorbable staples (GIA 75-.060; United States Surgical Co., Ltd.) or un-absorbable staples (Multifire GIS 60 Titanium (3.8mm); United States Surgical Co., Ltd.) were applied in 10 lung cancer patients each. Duration of air leakage, massive pleural effuion (more than 100 ml/day), and high fever (over 38 degrees C), as well as the changes of leukocyte counts in peripheral venous blood and C reactive protein were compared between the two groups. The absorbable staple group show a mildly increased inflammatory reactions than those of un-absorbable staple group, but those were not significant differences. Absorbable staple was shown to be completely absorbed until 6 months in animal model. Absorbable staple is thought to be superior to un-absorbable staple, instead of mildly increased inflammatory reaction during the early post-operative period.

Absorption↗
PubMed1995

[Extramedullary relapse in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: experience at the Kyushu Yamaguchi Children's Cancer Study Group].

Since October 1984, children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were treated with six protocols of the Kyushu-Yamaguchi Children's Cancer Study Group (KYCCSG). We reviewed cases in whom the first relapse sites of ALL were CNS, testis and ovary. Between October 1984 and July 1993, 302 children with ALL were registered. Ten children (3.3%) developed CNS-L. After treatment for CNS-L, four cases were alive, however one of them has had several episodes of CNS-L. Testicular relapse occurred in 8 boys and three of them are alive. One girl developed ovarian and uterine involvement 7 months after completion of treatment and she survived after intensive chemotherapy for an additional 3 years. Before September 1990, children with ALL received 18Gy cranial irradiation in standard risk group and 24Gy in high risk group. Since October 1990, children with ALL received no cranial irradiation in low risk group, 15Gy in intermediate risk group and 18Gy in high risk group. Incidence of CNS-L has not increased in children treated with protocols, in which cranial irradiation was reduced.

Adolescent↗