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Biomedical subjects

M Hirano

Publications and source records attributed to M Hirano.

891 records · Page 50Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Presence of immunoglobulin binding factor on human sperm surface as sperm coating antigen.

The presence of IgBF as a sperm-coating antigen was demonstrated by showing that anti-IgBF antibodies agglutinate and immobilize human sperm and by localizing IgBF on sperm surface by immunofluorescence staining. Several components interacting with sperm immobilizing antibodies, known to be involved in infertility, are sperm-coating antigens. Anti-IgBF antibody in vitro did not block the ability of human sperm to penetrate human zona pellucida and zona-free hamster egg. Anti-IgBF activity of sera obtained from infertile women did not correlate with the titers of anti-sperm antibodies measured by the sperm immobilization test. IgBF is a sperm-coating antigen and may play a role in suppressing antibody production against alloantigenic sperm in the female reproductive tract.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Clinical manifestation and molecular identification of patients with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy in a national reference center for neuro-ophthalmology in Cuba].

INTRODUCTION: Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is a mitochondrial disorder, confirmed at a molecular level 10 years ago. This had permitted better understanding of the condition. Since 1998, the Instituto de Neurología y Neurocirugía has used these techniques for the study of mutations which are considered to be the origin of the disorder. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We describe the characteristics of 14 cases from 10 families with LHON and the molecular confirmation found between 1994 and 1998 in the Instituto de Neurología Neurocirugía de Cuba. We also review the few cases seen in the previous 18 years. These were from only two families. They were diagnosed on clinical grounds and in view of maternal inheritance. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: In 80% of the families in which the presence of primary mutations was investigated there was A117789, and in 20% A3460G. The average age of appearance was 28 years. The ages of onset were within the limits of 11 years and 48 years. There were 43% women. Two cases were considered to be sporadic. The clinical features corresponded to those described in such cases, with severe visual defects, central scotomas, very reduced colour vision and severely altered visual evoked potentials, with normal diffuse light and pattern electroretinograms. An improvement in visual acuity of 0.2 was seen in two cases. Microangiopathy, described as characteristic of the early stages of this disorder was detected in five cases, in at least one eye. The others had different degrees of optic atrophy. Two generations of one complete family, all with mutation 3460, were studied. In several families with this mutation alterations were found in the colour vision test of Farnsworth Munsell Hue 100 and also microangiospathy of the retina.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy and its possible relation to a recent epidemic in Cuba].

INTRODUCTION: This century, the greatest epidemic affecting the nervous system was notified in Cuba seven years ago. At the present time the epidemic continues although to a lesser extent. The clinical findings of the illness were mainly bilateral optic neuropathy sometimes accompanied by other symptoms and peripheral neuropathy. The similarity of the optic form of the illness with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, and their common risk factors, were obvious from the beginning. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Statistics from the national reference department of neuro-ophthalmology of the Instituto de Neurologia de Cuba were reviewed. From these it was evident that the number of cases of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy had increased in recent years, coinciding with the period of epidemic and endemic Cuban neuropathy. Many of these patients had previously been diagnosed as having epidemic optic neuropathy. RESULTS: We describe the characteristics of a group of these patients and discuss the differences and possible relationship between the two conditions. In the case of epidemic optic neuropathy, there is strikingly simultaneous loss of vision, less visual changes with much smaller cecocentral scotomas, loss of ganglion fibres of the retina around the papillomacular bundle, a good response to multivitamin treatment, and increased frequency of association with peripheral sensory neuropathy. CONCLUSION: This analysis reinforces the hypothesis that many patients with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, which started at the time of the epidemic, were incorrectly classified as suffering from this, and also perhaps their condition worsened due to the toxic nutritional features common to both conditions.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Molecular studies in Cuban patients with progressive external ophthalmoplegia].

INTRODUCTION: The mitochondria, subcellular organelles which possess their own DNA (mtDNA), produce most of the energy, in the form of ATP, which is necessary for life. This mtDNA may have diverse molecular defects which have been associated with a great variety of clinical syndromes. Deletions in mtDNA are one of the common mutations in patients with mitochondrial myopathies, which in the great majority present with the common symptom of progressive external ophthalmoplegia. In this study we report our findings in eight Cuban families with suspected mitochondrial disease. OBJECTIVES: To characterize these patients from the molecular point of view, which would allow a preliminary understanding of the behavior of these deletions in Cuban patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied nine patients from eight Cuban families in whom mitochondrial encephalomyopathy was suspected. We analyzed the presence of ragged red fibres, the enzymatic activity of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and detection of mtDNA mutations. We used the technique of restriction length polymorphism analysis for detection of deletions. RESULTS: Histochemical studies showed the presence of COX negative ragged red fibres in seven of the patients studied. The enzymatic activity of the mitochondrial respiratory chain was normal in all the patients. We detected four patients with single deletions of mtDNA, and one with multiple deletions and of the patients had the A3243G mutation. CONCLUSIONS: With the methods used we were able to determine the presence of a mitochondrial disorder in seven of the eight families studied and deletions of mtDNA were detected as the cause of the illness in five. The disorder was always associated with progressive external ophthalmoplegia and COX negative ragged red fibres.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prediction of plasma levels of aminoglycoside antibiotic in patients with severe illness by means of an artificial neural network simulator.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to predict plasma peak and trough levels of an aminoglycoside antibiotic in patients with severe illness in an intensive care unit by a novel approach. Plasma levels were predicted based on the values of 15 physiological measurements using an artificial neural network (ANN) simulator. METHOD: A data set of 15 physiological measurements for 30 patients was used to develop the model. The ANN structure consisted of three layers: an input layer comprised of 15 processing elements, a hidden layer comprised of 10 processing elements with a sigmoid function as an activation function, and an output layer of two processing elements (peak and trough levels). The weight between neurons was trained according to the delta rule back-propagation of errors algorithm. Predicted values were obtained by "leave-one-out" experiments by both ANN and multiple linear regression analysis (MLRA). RESULTS: The correlation coefficients between observed and predicted values obtained by ANN prediction using standardized data sets were r=0.825 and r=0.854 for peak and trough levels, respectively. The correlation coefficients obtained by MLRA were r=0. 037 and r=0.276 for peak and trough levels, respectively. These results indicate that ANN shows better performance in prediction of aminoglycoside plasma levels from patients' physiological measurements than MLRA. CONCLUSIONS: Prediction of plasma levels of antibiotic in patients with severe illness by ANN was superior to the standard statistical method. Standardization of input data was found to be important for better prediction. ANN has some advantages over standard statistical methods, as it can recognize complex relationships in the data.

Aminoglycosides↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of polaprezinc on healing of acetic acid-induced stomatitis in hamsters.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to investigate the potential effectiveness of polaprezinc in the treatment of stomatitis. Its effect on oral mucous membrane lesions was studied focusing on acetic acid-induced stomatitis in an animal model. METHOD: Stomatitis was induced in hamsters by local injection of 30 microL of 10% acetic acid solution into both cheek pouches. Change of the size of the acetic acid-induced white lesion caused by polaprezinc injection was compared with that of control (water injection). The process of healing of damaged membrane was also investigated histopathologically. Selective adhesion of polaprezinc on mucous membrane was studied using color development by complexation between zinc and dithizone. RESULTS: On day 4 after acetic acid injection, round white lesions were observed in the central area of both pouches. Observation on days 7, 10, and 14 showed that the size of the lesions decreased with time. Comparison with the control group of animals, in which healing took place naturally, showed that daily administration of polaprezinc (10 mg/kg) applied to the cheek pouches significantly promoted healing of the lesion from day 7 onward. Histopathological investigation of the mucous membrane in the cheek pouches 7 days after the induction of stomatitis by acetic acid injection showed thickening, and cell damage was evident. In the group of animals treated with polaprezinc, the thickening of the mucous membrane was less than that in animals of the group receiving no treatment and regeneration of damaged tissue was observed after 6 days of polaprezinc treatment. CONCLUSION: Polaprezinc is an effective treatment in this animal model of acetic acid-induced stomatitis. This suggests that the drug may be useful in promoting healing of stomatitis in the clinical setting. Extrapolating these to humans suggests that the drug has healing effect to severe stomatitis induced by anticancer drug therapy.

Acetic Acid↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Giant arteriosclerotic aneurysm of the axillary artery.

A case of a rare giant arteriosclerotic aneurysm of the axillary artery is reported. Reconstruction was successfully performed with end-to-end anastomosis after resection of the aneurysm. The surgical technique is discussed.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Vocal function following carbon dioxide laser surgery for glottic carcinoma.

Vocal function following laser surgery for glottic T1a carcinoma was evaluated in 17 patients and compared to vocal function following radiotherapy in 14 patients. The results are summarized as follows. 1) A slight degree of hoarseness was found more frequently following laser surgery than following radiotherapy. The quality of hoarseness was rough and breathy in most cases. 2) In stroboscopic examination, incomplete glottal closure and diminution or lack of vibration of the operated vocal fold were frequently observed following laser surgery. 3) There was no marked difference in maximum phonation time, mean airflow rate, fundamental frequency range of phonation, intensity range of phonation, and intensity-flow ratio between the laser and the radiotherapy groups. On the basis of these results, we conclude that there is little difference in vocal function between postlaser and postradiotherapy patients as far as conversational voice is concerned.

Adult↗