Biomedical subjects

Koichi Kono

Publications and source records attributed to Koichi Kono.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2002

Therapeutic effects of glucose infusion on monochloroacetic acid exposure in rats.

The effects of glucose infusion on monochloroacetate (MCA) exposure were examined in male rats with a view toward effective clinical treatment for MCA intoxication. Rats were injected with 80 mg/kg sodium monochloroacetate (SMCA) (single lethal dose) and then infused with saline (control group) or 5% or 10% glucose solution at 2 mL/hour for ten hours. No animal in the control group survived the total 14-day follow-up period. The survival rate in 5% glucose group was 57% at ten hours; it decreased to 14% at 14 days. The survival rate in 10% glucose group was 79% at ten hours, and all rats that survived the first ten hours also survived the 14 days. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed the survival rate in 10% glucose group to be improved upon in both the 5% glucose group and the control group. Blood glucose and lactate levels were measured every hour during infusion. Blood glucose levels decreased in the control group but remained in the glucose-infused groups. Although the blood lactate level increased in each group, there was an excellent inverse linear relation between blood glucose levels and blood lactate levels. Thus, continuous parenteral infusion of glucose solution at an early stage after exposure may be an effective clinical therapy for the prevention of hypoglycaemia and metabolic lactic acidosis caused by MCA.

Acetates↗

PubMed2002

Effects of vital exhaustion on cardiac autononomic nervous functions assessed by heart rate variability at rest in middle-aged male workers.

We investigated the effects of vital exhaustion (VE) on cardiac autonomic functions in relation to working conditions such as overtime and frequent business trips, and to lifestyles such as smoking on 52 healthy middle-aged male workers. VE was evaluated by an abbreviated Maastricht Vital Exhaustion Questionnaire. Cardiac autonomic function at supine rest was assessed by spectral analysis of heart rate variability in an annual health checkup. The mean amplitude of the high frequency (HF: 0.15-0.4 Hz) component was lower in the high-VE group, whereas no significant difference in the ratio of the low frequency (LF: 0.04-0.15 Hz) component power to HF power (the LF/HF ratio) was observed among VE groups. There were significant interactive effects of VE and smoking on HF amplitude, and of VE and frequent business trips on the LF/HF ratio. VE symptoms were related to the suppression of the cardiac para-sympathetic nervous function at rest in middle-aged male workers, but not to the alteration in sympathovagal balance. Smoking and overwork such as frequent business trips may amplify the autonomic dysfunction in relation to VE among workers with a pronounced feeling of VE.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

[Structural analysis of users' needs from a community pharmacy related to home care in a suburban area].

OBJECTIVES: To clarify the needs of home care service users needs from a community pharmacy and the functions related to home care in a suburban area. METHODS: A questionnaire on pharmacy services and functions was submitted to 472 home care service users in a suburban area. Gender, age, family status, presence of carers, health condition, home care services being used, prescription and pharmacy utilization status, presence of family pharmacy, and recognition of the need for drug management guidance by home visiting pharmacists were surveyed as well as the users' needs from a community pharmacy and its functions. Using these results, principal component analysis was performed. RESULTS: It was found that the users had a great need for the following services and functions: adequate medication instruction, listening attentively to users, and a good attitude from pharmacists and clerks. Meanwhile, the users' need for home care related services was relatively low, i.e. counseling about home care and welfare services, provision of a home visiting service, and provision of home care supplies. Also, principal component analysis indicated that users' needs consisted of five components, viz, medical services, material supply, convenience, readiness of service provision, and consideration of privacy. Regarding home care related services, counseling about home care and welfare services was related to the medical services; provision of home care supplies was related to the material supply; provision of a home visiting service was related to convenience. CONCLUSIONS: It was shown that users did not clearly recognize a service need for home care services as a new function of community pharmacies. Rather, users recognized the need for home care services connected to these already provided by community pharmacies. Therefore, information provision and education are necessary so that users can clearly understand the details and merits of the home care services which community pharmacies provide.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

[General practitioner's recognition of service cooperation with community pharmacists related to home care in a suburban area].

OBJECTIVES: To clarify the factors affecting a general practitioner's demands and the recognition of service cooperation with community pharmacists related to home care in a suburban area. METHODS: A questionnaire on pharmacy services and functions was administered to 215 general practitioners in a suburban area. Gender, age, specialty, length of practice, status of home visiting, requests for community pharmacists, awareness of a home visiting service by community pharmacists, status of issues about home visiting orders to community pharmacists and the criteria for deciding to issue an order, recognition of the necessity of a home visiting service by pharmacists, expectation value to the community of the pharmacists' participation in the home care service and requests, recognition of cooperation with other home care related professions, ease of cooperation with community pharmacists, disincentives for cooperation with community pharmacists, factors necessary to promote cooperation between practitioners and community pharmacists, and factors necessary to promote the home care system were surveyed. Using the results, chi 2 test and principal component analysis were performed. RESULTS: It was found that the general practitioners' main demands were support and management of pharmaceutical therapy. Meanwhile, the practitioners' low cognition of pharmacists' home visiting seemed to be one disincentive to cooperation with pharmacists. Every practitioner who had issued visiting orders to pharmacists practiced home visiting and issued the visiting orders based on patients' condition at home. Practitioners who practiced home visiting were more active in promoting the home care system and had a better cognition and more extensive demands for pharmacists' home visiting compared to practitioners with no home visiting. Practitioners with good recognition of cooperation with community pharmacists had better cognition, realized the necessity of, and expected pharmacist's home visiting compared to practitioners with low awareness. However, practitioners' overall recognition of cooperation with pharmacists was relatively low. As disincentives, practitioners pointed out lack of acquaintance, the unclear function of pharmacists, and no opportunity for cooperation. So, enhancing practitioners' awareness of home care, clarifying the pharmacist's role, establishing a relationship of mutual trust through information feedback and/or exchange based on practice would be effective in promoting service cooperation with community pharmacists.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Log-normal distribution of the trace element data results from a mixture of stocahstic input and deterministic internal dynamics.

In previous article, we showed a log-normal distribution of boron and lithium in human urine. This type of distribution is common in both biological and nonbiological applications. It can be observed when the effects of many independent variables are combined, each of which having any underlying distribution. Although elemental excretion depends on many variables, the one-compartment open model following a first-order process can be used to explain the elimination of elements. The rate of excretion is proportional to the amount present of any given element; that is, the same percentage of an existing element is eliminated per unit time, and the element concentration is represented by a deterministic negative power function of time in the elimination time-course. Sampling is of a stochastic nature, so the dataset of time variables in the elimination phase when the sample was obtained is expected to show Normal distribution. The time variable appears as an exponent of the power function, so a concentration histogram is that of an exponential transformation of Normally distributed time. This is the reason why the element concentration shows a log-normal distribution. The distribution is determined not by the element concentration itself, but by the time variable that defines the pharmacokinetic equation.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

[The relationship between ambulatory blood pressure variation and symptoms of depression and sleep disturbance in community-dwelling elderly persons with independent activities of daily living].

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the relationship between ambulatory blood pressure variation and symptoms of depression and sleep disturbance in community-dwelling elderly persons with independent activities of daily living. METHODS: The subjects were 41 volunteers in a health education class for the elderly in a rural community. We carried out: (1) an interview about symptoms of depression using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), competence of daily living, subjective daily sleep complaints and past history of disease,; (2) ambulatory blood pressure measurements over 24 hours with a portable device,; (3) sleep-awake judgment by wrist actigrams,; and (4) instructions for self-records of his/her life activities. RESULTS: (1) The average value for 24 hour-mean diastolic blood pressure was significantly higher in subjects undergoing hypertension treatment. (2) No significant relationship was observed between subjective sleep disturbance and ambulatory blood pressure variation. (3) No significant relationship was observed between objective sleep disturbance assessed by wrist-actigraphy and ambulatory blood pressure variation. (4) Severe depression was related to a lower degree of night decrease in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in subjects undergoing hypertension treatment, while it was associated with higher average values for 24 hour- and awaking-mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure in subjects not receiving such treatment. CONCLUSIONS: In community-dwelling elderly persons with independent activities of daily living, severer depression was associated with the higher mean blood pressure in subjects not taking medicine for hypertension and with a low degree of night decrease in diastolic blood pressure in those receiving hypertension treatment, while no significant relationship was observed between sleep disturbance and ambulatory blood pressure variation.

Activities of Daily Living↗