Biomedical subjects

M Doi

Publications and source records attributed to M Doi.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

PubMed1994

[A case report of psittacosis and chlamydial isolation from a patient].

A 48-year-old female was seen at our hospital after having a severe fever of nearly 40 degrees C, for a period of 9 days. She complained of pain in the left side of her chest. An X-ray examination revealed a slight infiltration of the upper and middle lung fields. At this time, it was learned that the women's pet bird had recently died. This case was diagnosed as acute pneumonia due to psittacosis. Therefore the administration of Roxithromycin was started. After a few day her condition improved. During the course of treatment, serum was taken and a throat swab was done. A micro-immunofluorescence (MIF) test was performed to check the serum antibody levels against Chlamydia psittaci. The serum titer rose from 1:8 to 1:256 in 15 days after admission. The final diagnosis was made after positive isolation of C. psittaci by means of the cell culture method.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Strain relatedness of Candida albicans strains isolated from children with leukemia and their bedside parents.

Candida yeasts are occasionally recovered from patients with leukemia in spite of antifungal therapy used during chemotherapy. It is not yet known whether yeasts in these patients are of endogenous or exogenous origin. We examined the strain relatedness of Candida albicans isolated from three patients with leukemia (A, B, and C) and their bedside parents using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) by SmaI digestion, and the Southern hybridization patterns of the RFLPs by the C. albicans-specific probe RPS1. SmaI digestion and Southern hybridization by RPS1 showed identical or similar patterns among Candida isolates in patients A and his mother, although their karyotypes were different. Isolates from patients B and both parents showed identical electrophoretic karyotypes, SmaI digestion patterns, and hybridization patterns. Since electrophoretic karyotypes are more variable than RFLPs and their hybridization patterns, the identity of the last two suggests a close relatedness between strains. Our results also suggest that transmission of yeast strains may have occurred between patient A and his mother and between patient B and her parents. Isolates from patient C and her mother are thought to have originated from different strains, since different patterns were obtained in electrophoretic karyotypes, SmaI digestion patterns, and Southern hybridization patterns.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Left ventricular mass and subsequent blood pressure changes among middle-aged men in rural and urban Japanese populations.

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that echocardiographically determined left ventricular mass (LVM) is useful in the prediction of hypertension. To examine the relation between LVM and subsequent blood pressure (BP) change, a 6- to 8-year follow-up was conducted in adult Japanese men. METHODS AND RESULTS: LVM was determined by M-mode echocardiography using the American Society of Echocardiography formula among 354 normotensive men aged 30 to 59 years from a rural community (n = 193) and from urban companies (n = 161) in Japan between 1979 and 1983. BP was remeasured 6 to 8 years after baseline in 148 rural men (77%) and 127 urban men (79%). For men whose BP was remeasured, the mean +/- SD LVM index (LVM/body surface area [g/m2]) at baseline was 117 +/- 22 in rural men and 99 +/- 15 in urban men (the difference, P < .001). For both populations, LVM index was positively associated with age and physical activity but not with body mass index. Associations of LVM index with usual alcohol intake and initial BPs were generally weak. According to linear regression analyses after controlling for these covariates at baseline, a 20-g/m2 greater LVM index at baseline was associated with a 5 mm Hg increase in systolic and a 4 mm Hg increase in diastolic BP during the subsequent 6 to 8 years for urban men. A 1-mm greater average ventricular wall thickness was associated with a similar BP increase. For rural men, positive associations of LVM index with BP increase existed but were weak. The weaker association between LVM index and BP increase in rural compared with urban men was probably the result of effects of higher physical activity, leading to a larger left ventricular internal dimension. The increase in systolic and diastolic BPs over the 6 to 8 years of observation was significantly related to baseline LVM index in rural and urban men with a smaller internal dimension (rural men, < or = 49 mm; urban men, < or = 47 mm) but not in those with larger dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: An increased LVM index predicts subsequent BP increase in middle-aged normotensive men in the presence of a normal or small internal dimension.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Recognition of a nucleic acid base by tryptophan-containing peptides: spectroscopic comparison of the interaction of Trp-Gly-Gly-Glu and Trp-Gly-Gly-Gln with 7-methylguanine base.

As a part of a study to elucidate the functional difference between Glu and Gln side-chains in terms of the recognition of guanine base by tryptophan-containing peptides via cooperative stacking and hydrogen-bond pairing interactions, the binding of 7-methylguanine to Trp-Gly-Gly-Glu and Trp-Gly-Gly-Gln was examined by fluorescence and 1H-NMR methods. Comparison of fluorescence experiments showed a binding preference for Trp-Gly-Gly-Glu over Trp-Gly-Gly-Gln. The analyses of the downfield and upfield shifts of the C2 amino and N7 methyl protons of 7-methylguanine base showed there was hydrogen-bond pairing of Glu and Gln side chains with the base and a stacking interaction of the Trp residue with the base, respectively. However, the hydrogen-bond pairing was more effective in the case of the Glu residue than the Gln residue, indicating the preference of the carboxyl group over the carbamoyl group to form hydrogen-bond pairing with the guanine base.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1994

[Pleuropulmonary aspergillosis with defective neutrophil functions--G-CSF effects on neutrophil functions].

A 66-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with productive cough and fever. Chest X-ray films showed pleural thickening of the right apex and calcification of the lung field. Antibiotic therapy was administered but no improvement was obtained. Chest CT scan revealed pleural thickening with effusion in the right apex. Needle aspiration biopsy was performed and Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated from pleural fluid. We began pleural drainage and intrapleural infusion of miconazole, with systemic administration of miconazole, amphotericin B and fluconazole. In spite of normal bone marrow findings, the neutrophil functions, NAP score and phagocytosis, of the patient were found to be subnormal. We commenced to treatment with granulocyte colony stimulating factor and his neutrophil functions improved (NAP score: 156-->309.5, phagocytosis: 64.9-->70.0%). However, his fever persisted and he died following cardiopulmonary arrest. Autopsy revealed Aspergillus mycelia invading the visceral pleura. No intrapulmonary lesions caused by Aspergillus were found.

Aged↗

PubMed1994

Reinforcement effect of histamine on the differentiation of murine myeloblasts and promyelocytes: externalization of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor receptors induced by histamine.

Histamine and recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rG-CSF) stimulated the differentiation of murine myeloblasts and promyelocytes to mature neutrophils. In connection with this, myeloperoxidase activity of these progenitor cells was decreased by either histamine or rG-CSF treatment. After pretreatment with histamine at 1 microM, both differentiation and the decrease in myeloperoxidase activity of myeloblasts and promyelocytes induced by rG-CSF were significantly augmented. Binding assays using 125I-labeled rG-CSF showed that the number of rG-CSF binding sites on the surface of neutrophil progenitor cells increased after histamine treatment. The histamine-induced increase in rG-CSF binding appeared to be definitely through H2 receptors. Furthermore, the increase in rG-CSF binding sites due to histamine treatment seemed to take place in association with the externalization of G-CSF receptors, because 1) the binding increase was observed in the presence of cycloheximide, 2) no concomitant increase in [3H]leucine uptake was elicited, and 3) colchicine and cytochalasin D effectively prevented the increase in rG-CSF binding due to histamine. In neutrophil progenitors, cAMP contents increased very rapidly and significantly after either histamine or rG-CSF treatment. Moreover, dibutyryl-cAMP increased rG-CSF binding to neutrophil progenitor cells in a dose-dependent fashion. However, when progenitor cells were pretreated with protein kinase A inhibitors, the histamine-induced increase in rG-CSF binding was remarkably decreased. This result seems to indicate that the stimulatory effects of histamine on rG-CSF binding to progenitor cells are intimately related to the cAMP-protein kinase A system in neutrophil progenitors. Moreover, c-myc mRNA expression in neutrophil progenitors was markedly reduced by either histamine or rG-CSF treatment. It was concluded that rG-CSF-induced differentiation of murine neutrophil progenitors was augmented by histamine pretreatment mainly due to an increase in rG-CSF receptors on these cells and this increase might be related to the externalization of rG-CSF receptors.

Animals↗

PubMed1994

Displaced retinal ganglion cells in the Chinese hamster.

The size, number, distribution and dendritic morphology of displaced retinal ganglion cells (DGCs) in normal Chinese hamsters were investigated using horseradish peroxidase. The diameters of DGC soma ranged from 4 to 23 microns (mean 11.7 microns). The number of DGCs ranged from 104 to 453 (mean 249) and constituted under 1% of total retinal ganglion cells. DGCs were found in all retinal regions, but more frequently in the lower temporal periphery. Two types of DGCs were observed, one with a small to medium soma (< 18 microns in diameter) and a small dendritic field (< 100 microns in diameter), and the other with a large soma (> or = 18 microns in diameter) and a large dendritic field (> or = 100 microns in diameter). DGCs in the Chinese hamster may be developmental errors or misplaced ganglion cells.

Animals↗

PubMed1994

[Postpartum depression].

Depression following childbirth (postpartum depression) is a common psychiatric illness of women, postpartum. We review Japanese and English literature on postpartum depression. Problems with definition, study design and validity of the diagnosis prevented comprehensive understanding whether postpartum depression is a distinct subtype of endogenous depression. In general, postpartum depression seems to be the same illness as depression at other times in life. The biological and psycho-social pathogenetic factors, unique to the puerperal period, are not yet known. Clinicians caring for women and infants should learn to screen their patients for this multifactorial (genetic, temperamental, and environmental) disorder, and try to integrate a multidisciplinary (pharmaco-, psycho-, socio-, familial) approach.

Depressive Disorder↗

PubMed1994

[Family make-up is associated with the admission rate of stroke patients--difference between Kochi and Shimane Prefectures and in a rural community].

Kochi Prefecture had a higher admission rate for patients with cardiovascular disease, particularly for stroke, than Shimane Prefecture which has a similar socio-economic level. Kochi Prefecture had a smaller average number of persons in a household, a lower proportion of three generation households, and a lower proportion of households with six persons or more than Shimane Prefecture. The decline in number of persons in a household was greater in Kochi Prefecture than in Shimane Prefecture from 1960 to 1985, especially between 1970 and 1975. The association between family make-up and hospital discharge one year after stroke was examined in a rural community in Kochi Prefecture. Two hundred forty nine patients aged 40 years and older who were admitted immediately after stroke events were registered between 1969 and 1988, and they were followed for one year. According to family make-up, the subjects were divided into four groups: 1) persons who lived with spouse and daughter-in-law, 2) persons who lived with spouse, 3) persons who lived with daughter-in-law, 4) persons who lived without spouse and daughter-in-law. Although mean age and the proportion of serious cases were not different between group 1 and group 4, the proportion of admitted patients of group 1 was significantly lower than that of group 4. About 60% of group 1 had households with six persons or more. Group 2 had the lowest proportion of admitted patients, but this group was significantly younger than other groups. Within group 3, the proportion of admitted patients was higher in households in which the daughter-in-law had a job than in households in which she did not. These results suggest that the high admission rate in Kochi Prefecture is attributable to households which are short of personnel for home care.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Electrophoretic karyotypes of isolates of Candida albicans from hospitalized patients.

Electrophoretic karyotypes, namely, the patterns of chromosome-sized DNAs that have been separated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, have been reported to vary among different strains of Candida albicans, and can be useful for the delineation of strains. A previous study showed that almost all the electrophoretic karyotypes of isolates of C. albicans collected from the vagina of outpatients were distinguishable from one another. A few of the isolates had a common atypical karyotype and these isolates all had the same phenotype. This report describes the electrophoretic karyotype analysis of isolates from various specimens taken from hospitalized patients. Karyotypes were analysed with respect to the origins of the isolates in terms of two parameters: the number of bands resolved on the gel and a code of four numbers which corresponded to the number of bands that could be separated in each of four sets of chromosome sizes. No specific karyotype was correlated with either the nature of the specimen or the hospital ward to which the patient had been admitted. Most isolates gave a pattern similar to that of FC18 and no atypical karyotypes were found.

Body Fluids↗

PubMed1994

[Anesthetic management for pheochromocytoma resection: a comparison of epinephrine predominant and norepinephrine predominant pheochromocytoma].

Eleven patients with pheochromocytoma were divided into two groups; epinephrine predominant group (n = 4) and norepinephrine predominant group (n = 7). In each case, anesthesia was given using only inhalational anesthetics and adenosine triphosphate (ATP); and the same strategy was used to control cardiovascular variables. If arterial blood pressure, pulmonary artery pressure, central venous pressure or heart rate failed to be controlled with the strategy before the tumor resection, phentolamine, trinitroglycerine or propranolol was used. After the tumor resection, if decreasing the anesthetic concentration, cessation of ATP infusion and rapid intravenous infusion could not maintain the systolic arterial blood pressure above 80 mmHg, norepinephrine was infused. Maximum heart rate and arterial blood pressure during the tumor exploration were similar in both groups. No ventricular arrhythmias were recognized in any case. The frequency of usage of the cardiovascular depressants was not different between the two groups. In the norepinephrine predominant group, five cases required norepinephrine infusion after the tumor resection, but in the epinephrine predominant group, none required the norepinephrine infusion. Desensitization of alpha 1 adrenergic receptor induced by continuous high plasma norepinephrine concentration, was considered to decrease vascular resistance. In conclusion, except for the hypotension after the tumor resection in the norepinephrine predominant pheochromocytoma, both epinephrine predominant and norepinephrine predominant pheochromocytoma could be managed with similar anesthetic risks.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms↗

PubMed1994

[A case of malignant lymphoma of the thyroid accompanied by interstitial pneumonitis during radiation therapy after systemic chemotherapy].

We reported a case of malignant lymphoma of the thyroid accompanied by interstitial pneumonitis during radiation therapy after systemic chemotherapy. Thyroid malignant lymphoma is a rare malignant tumor, which usually responds well to irradiation and systemic chemotherapy. Interstitial pneumonitis occurred during radiation after systemic chemotherapy. In this case, irradiation was simultaneously done with the chemotherapy. The radiation field included the neck and upper mediastinum. Chest X-ray showed multiple patchy shadows in both the middle and lower lung field, and it changed to contraction shadows after steroid pulse therapy. 67Ga scintigram showed multifocal increase of uptake, when chest X-ray patchy shadows were seen only in the middle and lower lung fields. 67Ga scintigraphy and CT were considered useful for evaluation of drug-induced interstitial pneumonitis.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

PubMed1993

Cooperative face-to-face and edge-to-face aromatic interactions of tryptophan indole ring with N7-quarternized guanine and neutral cytosine bases.

In order to investigate the effect of cytosine base upon the stacking interaction of N7-quarternized guanine base with tryptophan indole ring, the X-ray crystal structure of a 1:1 complex of model compounds 1 and 2 was carried out. Contrary to the expectation of the interaction of both molecules in aqueous solution, the crystal structure showed the first example of the simultaneous recognition of the Trp indole ring by guanine and cytosine bases by the coupling of the face-to-face and edge-to-face aromatic interactions, respectively.

Cytosine↗

PubMed1993

Structure of Boc-Phe-D-Leu-Thr-OMe.

The X-ray crystal structure analysis shows that tert-butoxycarbonyl-L-phenylalanyl-D-leucine-L-threonine methyl ester takes an open conformation in which the tert-butoxycarbonyl group is located face-to-face with the D-leucine isobutyl side chain. In the crystal, the molecules, translated by twofold screw symmetry, form an infinite sheet structure through four independent hydrogen bonds.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1993

Redox potentials of active-site bis(cysteinyl) fragments of thiol-protein oxidoreductases.

The active sites of thiol-protein oxidoreductases consist of the characteristic Cys-X-X-Cys motif, and the redox potentials of these enzymes reflect the propensity of the bis(cysteinyl) sequence portion for disulfide loop formation. Thereby, as is known from comparing the three-dimensional (3D) structures of thioredoxin and glutaredoxin in the reduced and oxidized state, reduction of the disulfide bond is accompanied by minimal perturbation of the backbone folding of the active sites. In order to estimate the sequence-dependent intrinsic free energy of formation of the active-site disulfide loops in oxidoreductases, synthetic fragments corresponding to the sequences 31-38, 10-17, 134-141, and 34-41 of thioredoxin, glutaredoxin, thioredoxin reductase, and protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), respectively, were analyzed for their tendency to form 14-membered rings. For this purpose thiol/disulfide exchange experiments, with glutathione as reference redox pair, were performed on the bis(cysteinyl) octapeptides. As the free energy of ring closure of linear peptides consists mainly of the free energy of formation of the disulfide loop with a defined geometry from a statistical ensemble of conformations of the bis(cysteinyl) peptides, the observed differences in the equilibrium constants, although relatively small (within a factor 10), suggest that sequence-dependent information for loop formation is retained in the excised active-site fragments. These inherent redox potentials are, however, significantly affected and/or amplified in the native proteins by the conformational restraints imposed by the "structural domains" on the "functional domains".

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1993

Interaction of mutagenic tryptophan pyrolysate with DNA. CD spectral study on the binding specificity.

The interactions of DNA duplexes with 3-amino-1,4-dimethyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole (Trp-P-1), a potent mutacarcinogen isolated from tryptophan pyrolysate, have been studied using CD spectroscopy. The results are that (a) the spectral change of B-form DNA caused by the interaction with Trp-P-1 is biphasic, i.e. the enlargement of CD bands characteristic to the B-DNA conformation in the range of r ([Trp-P-1]/ DNA]) = 0-2.5, followed by the rapid transition to the non-B conformation at r > 2.5; (b) this transition degree of B to non-B conformation of DNA is not necessarily dependent on the G-C content; and (c) the salt-induced Z-DNA is transformed to B-DNA (0 < r < 0.1) and then to non-B-DNA (r > 5), depending on the concentration of Trp-P-1 added. These data indicate that the non-covalent interaction of Trp-P-1 with DNA is mainly dependent on the B-DNA conformation.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed1993

Conformation of deltorphin-II in membrane environment studied by two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics calculations.

Two-dimensional homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn spectroscopy and NOESY (nuclear Overhauser effect and exchange spectroscopy) 1H-NMR techniques have been used to obtain complete proton resonance assignments and to perform a conformational investigation of deltorphin-II (Tyr-D-Ala-Phe-Glu-Val-Val-Gly-NH2), a naturally occurring delta-selective opioid peptide, in the membrane-mimetic micelles of perdeuterated dodecylphosphocholine. This was done in order to examine conformational characteristics that would be closely related to the selectivity towards the delta-opioid receptor. With the use of the proton-proton distances derived from NOESY measurements, 50 possible three-dimensional structures were generated by means of distance-geometry calculations, and 25 of them were subjected to the molecular-dynamics simulations of 10 ps, which were energetically constrained for the NOE interproton distances. Most of the possible conformers simulated showed a common feature such that the conformation of deltorphin-II is characterized by the S-shaped back-bone structure in which the turn conformation of the Val-Val-Gly-NH2 sequence is located under the helically folded conformation of the N-terminal Tyr-D-Ala-Phe-Glu sequence. The possible relationship between this conformational characteristic and the delta-opioid-receptor selectivity has been discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1993

Change of the higher order structure of DNA induced by the complexation with intercalating synthetic polymer, as is visualized by fluorescence microscopy.

The electrophoretic movement and Brownian motion of T4DNA, lambda DNA and their complexes with polyacrylamide (PAAm) via intercalative unit from 5-[(4-acryloylamino)phenyl]-3-amino-7-(dimethylamino)-2-methylp henazinium chloride were observed using fluorescence microscopy. It was found that T4DNA/PAAm complex migrates slower than T4DNA alone in gel electrophoresis, although they exhibit similar conformational change during the migration. Quantitative analyses of the translational diffusion of the lambda DNA and its complex in solution demonstrate that the DNA molecules extend due to intercalative binding of PAAm, suggesting the pseudo-grafting structure of the complex.

Acrylic Resins↗