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Biomedical subjects

M C Kao

Publications and source records attributed to M C Kao.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Effect of CO2 laser on healing of cultured meniscus.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: A new method to improve cartilage repair is clinically important. The enhancement of meniscal healing by low power CO2 laser was investigated in an organ culture system. STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS: A longitudinal or a radial defect was made in the avascular zone of rabbit menisci. Irradiation by CO2 laser with 1 W (energy density 50 J/cm2) and 2 W (energy density 100 J/cm2) was used. RESULTS: Histologic and scanning electron microscopic evaluations revealed that both energy densities of laser irradiation and the type of and the site of meniscal defect can influence the course and the outcome of meniscal healing. A marked increase in fibrochondrocytic proliferation and regeneration of collagen fibers were demonstrated in the meniscal defects irradiated by 100 J of CO2 laser energy. CONCLUSIONS: The healing of meniscal defects could be promoted by low power CO2 laser irradiation.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Modeling of the response of midbrain auditory neurons in the rat to their vocalization sounds based on FM sensitivities.

Single units were recorded from the inferior colliculus (IC) of anaesthetized rats in response to: (a) an FM tone, the frequency of which was randomly varied, and (b) a digitized rat vocalization sound. We hypothesized that these neurons may have 'orientation-specific' spectrotemporal receptive field (STRF) that can be used to estimate their responses to complex communication signals. Based on the FM response, we first estimated the cell's STRF which was then convolved with the spectrogram of the rat's vocalization call. A simple convolution gave only crude prediction of the cell's response to the vocalization sound. When inhibitory areas were added around certain parts of the STRF, a better match was found. We conclude that for some FM-sensitive neurons of the IC, STRF with inhibitory areas may account for their responses to vocalization sounds.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Application of chromosome 4q35-qter marker (pFR-1) for DNA rearrangement of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy patients in Taiwan.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) has been found to be linked to chromosome 4qter. A chromosome 4q35-ter marker, pFR-1 (subclone of the cosmid c51), has been recently isolated and used as a probe for mapping near, or within, the FSHD gene. To examine FSHD-associated DNA rearrangements in the Taiwan population, we used the pFR-1 probe to perform Southern blot analysis on 142 individuals, including 32 FSHD patients within 9 autosomal dominant families, five sporadic FSHD patients from 4 families (include one pair of twins), three sporadic scapuloperoneal syndrome (SPS) patients and two sporadic polymyositis patients with their unaffected parents, and 29 healthy controls. In 29 healthy individuals, 3 SPS and 2 polymyositis patients with their families, probe pFR-1 analysis revealed that all had polymorphic restriction fragments that were larger than 28 kb in length. All but 1 FSHD-affected individual had specific smaller EcoRI fragments (ranging in size from 10.5 to 27 kb). Two point linkage analysis between pFR-1 and the FSHD locus provided significant evidence for FSHD linkage (Z(max)=6.84). A similar smaller fragment was also present in 5 sporadic patients, while this smaller fragment could not be found in one of their parents. Identical EcoRI restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns linked to FSHD were shown in the monozygotic twins, even though they showed extreme variability in the expression of FSHD. We conclude that the pFR-1 probe is a tightly linked marker of FSHD and can be used to detect most DNA rearrangements associated with this disease in the Taiwan population. However, the same RFLP patterns may represent extreme variability in the expression of the FSHD gene.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Severe rhabdomyolysis with good recovery in a patient with head injury: case report.

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: We report a case of head injury, in which a hyperosmolar state evolved during the course of treatment, complicated by severe rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure, which subsequently resulted in a good recovery after intensive supportive treatment. To our knowledge, such high levels of creatine kinase in a patient with head injury and rhabdomyolysis have not been reported. CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND INTERVENTION: A 19-year-old male patient with head injury sustained a compound fracture of the frontal region. He received a hyperosmolar agent to treat brain edema and developed a hyperosmolar state and diabetes insipidus 1 day after the accident. There were no obvious associated injuries at physical examination. After admission to the intensive care unit, the patient developed myoglobinuria and rhabdomyolysis; serum creatine kinase was elevated to a peak of 650,000 IU/L. Four days later, acute renal failure was noted. The patient's myoglobinuria and rhabdomyolysis gradually declined, and he eventually recovered from acute renal failure after supportive treatment and dialysis. CONCLUSION: We postulate that the hyperosmolar state of the patient was the major cause of his severe rhabdomyolysis. Associated hypokalemia and hypophosphatemia are also predisposed to rhabdomyolysis. The most serious complication in rhabdomyolysis is acute renal failure, but most patients who receive supportive treatment and can survive despite the complications can expect to have normal renal function restored.

Acute Kidney Injury↗
PubMed1997

Hyperhidrosis.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Endoscopy↗
PubMed1996

The complete sequence of a Singapore isolate of odontoglossum ringspot virus and comparison with other tobamoviruses.

The complete sequence of a Singapore isolate of odontoglossum ringspot virus (ORSV-S1) comprises 6609 nucleotides (nt) and four open reading frames (ORFs 1 to 4). The 126/183-kDa RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), 33-kDa movement protein (MP) and 18-kDa coat protein (CP) cistrons are located at nt 63-3401/4901, 4807-5718, and 5721-6197 on the genome, respectively. The 5' UTR contains three copies of an 8-base direct repeat and (CAA)n motifs. Characteristic tRNA-like structure and three consecutive homologous regions were present in the 3' UTR. The genomic RNA and MP of ORSV-S1 are one of the longest among all members of the TOV group. Phylogenetic analysis of all four genes indicates evolutionary divergence, but within each gene there are some degrees of evolutionary convergence. The conserved amino acid sequences in the MP can be used for the classification of tobamoviruses.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Endoscopic sympathectomy treatment for craniofacial hyperhidrosis.

OBJECTIVE: To present endoscopic T-2 sympathectomy as a minimally invasive therapy for craniofacial hyperhidrosis (CH). DESIGN: Follow-up study of 30 patients with CH treated by the new method in a 4-year period. The duration of follow-up was from 8 to 44 months (mean, 15 months). SETTING: University hospital. PATIENTS: Thirty consecutive patients with CH (18 men, 12 women) treated by the new method. All patients were essentially in good health except that they suffered from distressing CH to the extent that their daily activities were often disturbed. Their ages ranged from 7 to 63 years (mean age, 42.8 years). INTERVENTION: Endoscopic sympathectomy on both sides was carried out in a 1-stage operation for all patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The patients were interviewed 1 week and then 3 months after surgery and then followed up by telephone interview about the alleviation or recurrence of CH and complications. RESULTS: All of the treated patients obtained a satisfactory alleviation of CH. One case was complicated by a mild and transient ptosis of the left eye. No recurrence of CH was noticed during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: This therapeutic procedure is minimally invasive and effective. It causes minimal discomfort and was associated with no major complications in this series. The patients require only an overnight hospital stay and the operation scars are small. Endoscopic sympathectomy has proven to be an effective method in treating patients with distressing CH.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Panencephalitic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in a Chinese family. Unusual presentation with PrP codon 210 mutation and identification by PCR-SSCP.

A point mutation at codon 210 (GTT to ATT) of the prion protein gene on chromosome 20 was found in a 48-year-old CJD-affected woman of a Chinese family. This affected woman had an early onset and long-duration form of CJD. Serial magnetic resonance image (MRI) analysis of this woman showed severe brain atrophy, prominent diffuse white matter degeneration, and subsequent mineralization of basal ganglia and thalamus. MR spectroscopy (1H) analysis elucidated the absence of peaks of choline, creatine and N-acetylaspartate. Using polymerase chain reaction and single-strand conformational polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) techniques, presymptomatic diagnosis of the second son of this woman showed that he has a similar codon mutation of prion gene as his mother.

China↗
PubMed1996

Linear epitopes of sperm whale myoglobin identified by polyclonal antibody screening of random peptide library.

Distinct enhancement of antibody-specific clones was apparent during the screening against random peptide libraries with antigen-specific polyclonal antibodies. Several sequence motifs obtained from these screenings were homologous with the primary sequence of myoglobin. Two of these motifs have been confirmed as antigenic determinants by competitive inhibition tests using eight-branched synthetic peptides. One of the peptides has a sequence that corresponds to amino acid residues 42-50, KFDRFKHLK, of the myoglobin sequence. This is a new epitope of myoglobin that is reported for the first time. The epitope is located precisely in the "turn' or "loop' region between helices C and D of the crystal structure of myoglobin. The second antibody binding site has a sequence of DIAAKYKELGYQG, and this is located between residues 141-153, which is the C-terminus of myoglobin. This epitope encompassed two linear epitopes of myoglobin, amino acid residues 145-151 and 147-153, that have been reported earlier based on immunochemical characterisation of cleavage fragments of the protein. These results clearly indicate that epitope mapping using polyclonal antibodies against random peptide libraries can identify new epitopes precisely, as well as confirm epitopes of myoglobin obtained earlier using established methodologies.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Minimally invasive surgery: video endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis.

Palmar hyperhidrosis (PH) is a common disorder in Taiwan. It often causes social embarrassment and occupational handicaps. So far, there has been no satisfactory treatment for PH. In 1990, we first developed a minimally invasive technique: video endoscopic sympathectomy to treat PH. The procedure has subsequently proven to be a standard treatment for PH. In this study, a survey of 9988 cases of PH patients from 17 hospitals in Taiwan treated by this method during the past 5 years is presented. Although there were some variations in the model of anaesthesia, technique and extent of sympathectomy, the postoperative results were generally satisfactory. Both sides of sympathectomy were mostly accomplished within half an hour in one stage. The operative scars were tiny and concealed in the axillary region. The patients were discharged from the hospital after an overnight stay. Complications such as pneumothorax, haemothorax (0.3%) or Horner's syndrome (0.1%) were rare. There was no surgical mortality in this series. The most common complication was compensatory hyperhidrosis which was usually mild to moderate and tolerable after reassurance. The recurrence rate of PH was approximately 1% in the first year and less than 3% during the 3 years of follow up. Intraoperative monitoring of palmar skin temperature (PST) was advocated to confirm an adequate sympathectomy warranting a definite result. En bloc ablation of T2 segment invariably resulted in a rise of PST to about 2 degrees C and was considered as an adequate extent of sympathectomy for PH. The refined technique was extended to treat young children with PH and patients with craniofacial hyperhidrosis. The therapeutic results were generally excellent with minimal morbidity and rare recurrence. It is concluded that video endoscopic en bloc T2 sympathectomy is a simple, minimally invasive and effective treatment for both adults and children with PH and also for patients with craniofacial hyperhidrosis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Hemorrhage in intracranial epidermoid cyst.

A case of intracranial epidermoid cyst with intracystic hemorrhage is reported. A 63-year-old woman sustained a head injury after a fall; obtundation and ataxia were noted later. Computed tomography revealed a heterogeneous hyperdense lesion in the posterior and middle cranial fossas. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a lesion with increased signal intensity both on T1 and T2 weighted images. Two craniotomies revealed an intracranial epidermoid cyst with about 6 mL of clotted blood. Pathologic study showed hemosiderin-laden macrophages and neovascularity in the cystic wall granulation tissue, which indicated rupture of the cystic wall with intracystic hemorrhage, which later correlated with the diagnostic image findings. The patient tolerated the two operations well and her postoperative course was smooth. She was discharged in good health without obvious neurologic deficits.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1996

Evaluation of laser and radiofrequency induced dorsal root entry zone lesion for pain control in rats.

BACKGROUND: Dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) lesions have been believed to be effective for control of intractable pain. These lesions are usually made using radiofrequency (RF) technique. Theoretically, laser can provide very fast, precise, reproducible and easy control of photothermal effect, possibly achieving better pain control than RF. The objective here was to learn more about the effect of pain control among the RF, carbon dioxide (CO2) laser and potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) laser in rats. METHODS: The adult rat was anesthetized and the dorsal spinal cord from C5 to T1 was exposed under a microscope. The DREZ lesions were created in each group of eight including sham, RF thermocoagulation, CO2 laser and KTP laser. The latency of pain withdrawal in the fore-paw by a hot-plate test was recorded before the DREZ lesions and three weeks afterward. RESULTS: The data showed that RF, CO2 and KTP laser could significantly reduce pain in rats (p < 0.05, one-way ANOVA and Dunnett's test). Latencies of pain withdrawal in the fore-paw by the hot-plate test before, and three weeks after, DREZ lesions were 13.9 +/- 1.4 sec and 65.2 +/- 4.9 sec in the RF group, 15.9 +/- 1.4 sec and 59.0 +/- 5.9 sec in the CO2 laser group, and 14.1 +/- 0.9 sec and 64.8 +/- 5.7 sec in the KTP group, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The density of opioid receptor in DREZ lesions cord showed no significant change three weeks after operation in the sham and CO2 laser groups. It was concluded that DREZ lesions caused by RF, CO2 laser and KTP laser can achieve pain control significantly in the rats. The effect of KTP laser was close to RF, followed by CO2 laser.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

A serotype-specific epitope of dengue virus 1 identified by phage displayed random peptide library.

From a panel of monoclonal antibodies of dengue viruses, a serotype-specific epitope of dengue virus 1 was screened from a random peptide library displayed on phage. The epitope was the determinant reactive with monoclonal antibody 15F3-1 that was specific to dengue 1. The screening was monitored by a dot blotting procedure, and after three rounds of screening a consensus motif, HRYSWK, was found. This sequence matches the sequence HKYSWK, corresponding to the amino acid residues 885-890 of polyprotein or residues 111-116 of the non-structural protein 1 of dengue virus serotype 1. The linear epitope was confirmed by testing the antigenicity of chemically synthesized 8-branched peptide.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Isolation and molecular cloning of human sorcin a calcium-binding protein in vincristine-resistant HOB1 lymphoma cells.

A vincristine-resistant lymphoma cell line (HOB1/VCR1.0) that is resistant to 1.0 microM of vincristine has been established from a human immunoblastic B lymphoma cell line, HOB1. HOB1/VCR1.0 cells demonstrated the typical multidrug resistant phenotypes. Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we discovered one protein with a molecular mass of 22 kDa and pI 5.7 that was overexpressed in HOB1/VCR1.0 cells. This protein was purified to the degree of apparent homogeneity by preparative isoelectric focusing and sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The identification of this protein with sorcin was revealed by comparing the internal amino acid sequence of three Lys-C digested peptides from the purified protein with the sequence previously determined for hamster sorcin. The complete primary structure of the human sorcin was deduced from nucleotide sequence analysis of its cDNA clones. It is composed of 198 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular weight of 21,676, and its sequence is highly similar to that of hamster sorcin (95%). Direct-binding assay with calcium showed that human sorcin is a calcium-binding protein with four 'E-F hand' structures typical of calcium-binding sites. Like the sorcin of hamster, two of the calcium-binding sites of human sorcin contain putative recognition sites for cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Southern and Northern blot analyses showed that the human sorcin gene was greatly amplified and overexpressed in resistant HOB1/VCR1.0 cells but not detected in the parental HOB1 cells. The overproduction of this protein in resistant cells implies that sorcin plays a role in expression of the resistant phenotype.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Epitope identification by polyclonal antibody from phage-displayed random peptide library.

Screening of bioactive peptides from random peptide libraries using monoclonal antibodies as ligates is an effective method to define epitopes of protein antigens. However, it is thought that polyclonal antibodies might also serve as promising ligates for screening. We illustrate this approach by using recombinant human lymphotoxin (rhLT) polyclonal antibody as a model. The procedure consists in (a) affinity purification of polyclonal antibody to obtain the "monospecific" antibody, (b) screening against a phage-displayed random peptide library using the affinity-purified antibody, (c) plating the enriched phage on agar plates, randomly picking clones, and selecting the positive ones by dot blotting, (d) DNA sequencing of the positive clones and conducting a homology search against the protein sequence databank, and (e) confirming the epitopes by chemical peptide synthesis. By employing this procedure, we identified a dominant epitope RQHPKM, located at residues 15-20 of the human lymphotoxin amino acid sequence. The usefulness of this general procedure is discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗