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Biomedical subjects

M Kawamura

Publications and source records attributed to M Kawamura.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

[Thermoradiotherapy combined with daily administration of low dose cisplatin for locally advanced laryngeal carcinoma].

We applied thermoradiotherapy combined with daily administration of low dose cisplatin (CDDP) to five patients with locally advanced laryngeal carcinoma. The total response rate (CR + PR) was 100% after irradiation of 30 or 40 Gy. One case showed CR, and the larynx could be preserved by adding a full dose of irradiation. CDDP administration was discontinued in two cases due to renal dysfunction or thrombopenia, but other cases tolerated the therapy without severe side effects. Total laryngectomy and bilateral neck dissection was carried out in four cases after irradiation of 30 or 40 Gy. Removed larynxes were prepared for light microscopic observations of the serial sections. One of the four specimens revealed a CR histologically. The combination of thermoradiotherapy with low dose CDDP showed a remarkable effect on reduction of tumor size and cytotoxicity of tumor cells. This might contribute to saving the larynx of patients with locally advanced laryngeal carcinoma.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

[Isolated retrograde amnesia following viral encephalitis].

We describe a patient who presented with isolated retrograde amnesia of 2-year duration after recovery from viral encephalitis. The patient was a 29-year-old right-handed male dentist and was admitted to our hospital with a complaint of generalized convulsion. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) showed mononuclear pleocytosis. Neuroradiological examinations (X-ray CT, MRI and 123I-IMP SPECT) revealed no significant abnormality. Immunological method showed no specific increase of viral antibody titers. However, with a tentative diagnosis of viral encephalitis, administration of acyclovir was started. After 3 weeks he became comprehensive, and several kinds of neuropsychological tests were performed. His intelligence and immediate memory were normal, and his procedural memory of dentist was intact. On the other hand, he could not recall any information about events, both personal and public, occurred within 2 years before the onset of present illness. His autobiographical memory disorder was also demonstrated using a series of weekly comic. In isolated retrograde amnesia following viral encephalitis like this case, memory of relatively short time duration, acquired prior to the onset of present illness, tend to be disturbed.

Acyclovir↗
PubMed1997

[Prognosis of hepatic metastasis from colorectal cancer following hepatic resection and arterial infusion chemotherapy--assessment from the percentage of tumor involved area].

Prognosis of hepatic metastasis from colorectal cancer following hepatic resection and arterial infusion chemotherapy was studied from the percentage of tumor involved area (PTIA). The PTIA was calculated by the following formula: sigma S'/sigma S, with S' as the tumor area and S as the liver area on each CT slice. The subjects were 25 cases of hepatic resection (HR), and 31 cases of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAI). The PTIA of the cases of HR and that of HAI was 1.5 to 25.9% and 0.8 to 31.3%, respectively. For comparison, all cases were divided into group A, which was not more than 10% of the PTIA, and group B, which was more than 10% of the PTIA. In the cases of HR, the prognosis of group A was significantly better than that of group B (p < 0.05). In the cases of HAI, the prognosis of group A was better than that of group B. Even in group A, the prognosis of the cases of HR was significantly better than that of HAI (p < 0.05). These results suggest that the PTIA in the cases of HR and HAI for metastasis from colorectal cancer is important factor which reflects the prognosis.

Colorectal Neoplasms↗
PubMed1997

[Visual agnosia induced by cerebrovascular disease].

Visual objects can be classified into some categories such as faces, landscapes, objects and letters. Visual agnosia specific to one of these categories can occur. This type of visual agnosia occurs at the occipitotemporal lobe lesion where the visual cognitive center exists, and is often induced by vascular disease of the posterior cerebral artery. In this study we categorized the symptoms of visual agnosia and presented the natures of these symptoms of patients, and then investigated the lesions responsible for the symptoms. In addition, we clarified the current most important issue for each symptom. Based on our results, we discussed the visual cognitive functions of the occipitotemporal lobe. The results indicate that visual cognitive dysfunction with respect to faces, landscapes, objects and letters corresponds to prosopagnosia, agnosia for streets, associative object agnosia and pure alexia, respectively. Investigation of the relationship between the symptoms of the above conditions and the responsible regions shows that the right medial-posterior region, right medial-anterior region, both lateral regions (left side is superior) and the left medial region are important in the visual cognition of faces, landscapes, objects and letters, respectively. Thus, it is speculated that the visual cognitive functions occur independently at different regions of the occipitotemporal lobe for each visual category.

Agnosia↗
PubMed1996

Adrenomedullin-sensitive receptors are preferentially expressed in cultured rat mesangial cells.

By using cultured rat mesangial cells, we compared the effects on cyclic nucleotide levels of adrenomedullin with those of the structurally related peptides, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and amylin. Adrenomedullin potently increased cAMP levels 7-fold in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Its EC50 was 3 x 10(-9) M. CGRP was less potent (2-fold) with an EC50 of 10(-7) M, and amylin had no effect on cAMP levels. All three peptides failed to increase cGMP levels. Treatment of cells with near maximal concentrations of adrenomedullin (10(-7) M) and CGRP (10(-6) M) had no additive effect on cAMP levels. Human adrenomedullin-(22-52)-NH2, a putative adrenomedullin receptor antagonist, inhibited the production of cAMP elicited by adrenomedullin (IC50: 7 x 10(-8) M) and CGRP (IC50: 5 x 10(-8) M). Human CGRP-(8-37), a CGRP receptor antagonist, conversely, reduced the cAMP elevation caused by these peptides with a lower potency (IC50: 10(-6) M for both peptides). This demonstrated that human adrenomedullin-(22-52)-NH2 was a more effective antagonist for adrenomedullin- and CGRP-specific receptors than human CGRP-(8-37). Results suggest that receptors sensitive to adrenomedullin are preferentially expressed in cultured rat mesangial cells. Immunohistochemical study showed almost no immunoreactive adrenomedullin and CGRP, if any, in the cells. Adrenomedullin may regulate mesangial function as either a paracrine or circulating hormone via a cAMP- but not a cGMP-dependent mechanism.

Adrenomedullin↗
PubMed1996

The 273rd codon mutants of p53 show growth modulation activities not correlated with p53-specific transactivation activity.

Cancer-related mutations of the p53 tumor suppressor gene are clustered in the four so-called 'hot spots', codons 175, 248, 273 and 281/282. By using recombination PCR in vitro mutagenesis, we introduced point mutations into the codon 273 of wild-type (wt) p53 (pC53-SN3) from Arg to His (pC53-273H [273H]), Asp (273D), Pro (273P), Lys (273K), Leu (273L) or Thr (273T), and compared their biological and biochemical activities with wt p53 and cancer-derived 175H, 248W and 273H/309S. Among them, 273H/309S, 273H and 273D as well as wt p53 transactivated the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene placed downstream of the p53 binding consensus, while none of the other mutants including 273L did. Transcriptions from human c-fos and rat PCNA promoters were suppressed by wt p53 and 273D, while they were enhanced variously by all other mutants in Saos-2 and/or NIH3T3 cells. On the other hand, growth of human squamous carcinoma cell lines measured by the plating efficiency of G418-resistant colonies was enhanced by transfection of 175H, 248W, 273H/309S and 273P, while suppressed by not only wt p53, 273D and 273H but also 273L. Thus, 273H/309S enhanced cell growth in spite of its p53-specific transactivation activity, while 273L suppressed cell growth in spite of its complete loss of the p53-specific transactivation. We concluded that the sequence-specific transactivation of p53 is not always correlated with its growth inhibitory activity.

3T3 Cells↗
PubMed1996

A multicopy suppressor of nin1-1 of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a counterpart of the Drosophila melanogaster diphenol oxidase A2 gene, Dox-A2.

NIN1 is an essential gene for growth of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and was recently found to encode a component of the regulatory subunit of the 26S proteasome. The nin1-1 mutant is temperature sensitive and its main defect is in G1/S progression and G2/M progression at non-permissive temperatures. One of the two multicopy suppressors of nin1-1, SUN2 (SUppressor of Nin1-1), was found to encode a protein of 523 amino acids whose sequence is similar to those of Drosophila melanogaster diphenol oxidase A2 and the mouse mast-cell Tum(-) transplantation antigen, P91A. The C-terminal half of Sun2p was found to be functional as Sun2p at 25 degrees C, 30 degrees C, and 34 degrees C but not at 37 degrees C. The open reading frame (ORF) of the Drosophila diphenol oxidase A2 gene (Dox-A2) was obtained from a lambda phage cDNA library using the polymerase chain reaction technique. The Dox-A2 ORF driven by the TDH3 promoter complemented the phenotype of a strain deleted for sun2. This Dox-A2-dependent strain was temperature sensitive and accumulated dumb-bell-shaped cells, with an undivided nucleus at the isthmus, after temperature upshift. This morphology is similar to that of nin1-1 cells kept at a restrictive temperature. These results suggest that SUN2 is a functional counterpart of Dox-A2 and that these genes play a pivotal role in the cell cycle in each organism.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Infrequent mutations of the TP53 gene and no amplification of the MDM2 gene in hepatoblastomas.

We have investigated the mutation of the TP53 gene in hepatoblastomas (HBLs) by using polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism and direct sequencing in 38 HBL tumor samples and in two HBL cell lines. We detected the TP53 gene mutation in an anaplastic hepatoblastoma cell line, but no aberration of the TP53 gene (exons 5-9) was found in tumor samples and in the other HBL cell line. The mutation of the cell line was a missense mutation from GAC (asparagine) to CAC (histidine) at codon 281, which was different from the G-to-T transversion of codon 249 that is frequently found in adult hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). In addition, we performed Southern blot analysis of the MDM2 gene, but we did not find MDM2 gene amplification in 19 cases tested. Our results suggest that, in contrast to the findings in HCCs in adults, TP53 gene aberrations are not involved in the development or progression of HBLs in children.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Immunohistochemical studies of glycosaminoglycans in nanophthalmic sclera.

BACKGROUND: It has been observed that there may be some connection between scleral collagen changes, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) changes and nanophthalmic uveal effusion. In a previous paper we reported increased dermatan sulfate (DS) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) contents in nanophthalmos sclera using biochemical analysis. In the present work we used immunohistochemical methods to assess the GAG changes in nanophthalmos sclera. METHODS: Scleral specimens from three nanophthalmic patients and five controls were processed to immunostaining with peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) methods. Monoclonal antibodies for chondroitin (Ch), chondroitin-4-sulfate (C4S), chondroitin-6-sulfate (C6S), DS and keratan sulfate (KS) were used. The specimens were observed under a light microscope. RESULTS: Nanophthalmos scleral samples exhibited strong KS staining compared with the control specimens. Both the nanophthalmos and the control samples were stained with anti-Ch, anti-C4S, anti-C6S and anti-DS antibodies to the same intensity. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that an increased or abnormal distribution of KS may contribute to abnormalities in collagen fibers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Emergency aortic arch replacement in a patient with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

We herein report the case of a 56-year-old man with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura who required an emergency aortic arch replacement. Intraoperatively, hemostasis was achieved using platelet transfusions. Postoperatively, the use of high-dose gamma-globulin therapy was able to maintain an adequate platelet count and good hemostasis.

Aortic Dissection↗
PubMed1996

Relationship between thallium-201 uptake and tumour proliferative ability in thyroid nodules.

To evaluate whether thallium-201 scan can reflect tumour proliferative activity in thyroid nodules. We compared the degree of 201Tl uptake with the tumour proliferative ability as assessed immunohistochmically by the labelling index of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in malignant and benign thyroid nodules. The case material comprised ten benign and 31 malignant surgically resected nodules from a total of 41 patients. 201Tl scan was performed 5 min (early scan) and 2h (delayed scan) after intravenous injection of 74 MBq of 201Tl. The degree of 201Tl uptake was visually divided into three grades [from (-) to (++)], as compared with its uptake in normal adjacent thyroid tissue. Immunohistochemical staining of PCNA was performed using a monoclonal antibody for PC10 on paraffin-embedded specimens. On both the early and the delayed scans, the mean PCNA index in the nodules with an intense 201Tl, i.e. (++), was significantly higher than that in nodules with a lower or with negative 201Tl uptake. The correlation was higher on the delayed 201Tl scan (P=0.009) than on the early scan (P=0.019). Our results indicate that 201Tl uptake may reflect the tumour proliferative activity of thyroid nodules, and this is especially true with regard to the uptake on delayed scans.

Biomarkers↗
PubMed1996

Increased migration of neutrophils to granulocyte-colony stimulating factor in rat carrageenin-induced pleurisy: roles of complement, bradykinin, and inducible cyclooxygenase-2.

Administration of human recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF, 100 micrograms/kg/day, s.c) to rats for 4 days significantly increased circulating neutrophil counts (by 1130%), together with an increase in mononuclear leukocyte counts (by 119%). Infiltrated pleural neutrophil counts in G-CSF-treated rats (G-CSF-r) 5 h after the intrapleural injection of zymosan-activated serum were significantly higher (by 155%) than those in control rats (Vehicle-r). In carrageenin-induced pleurisy, counts of infiltrated pleural neutrophils in G-CSF-r 5 and 7 h after carrageenin were significantly higher (by 119% and 116%) than those in Vehicle-r. G-CSF treatment increased the volume of pleural exudate and the plasma exudation rate by 122% and 226%, compared to values in Vehicle-r 5 h after carrageenin. Cobra venom factor (75 micrograms/kg, i.v.) significantly reduced pleural neutrophil migration in G-CSF-r (by 53%) and Vehicle-r (by 49%). Bromelain (10 mg/kg, i.v.) and aspirin (100 mg/kg, p.o.) reduced pleural neutrophil migration and reduced exudate volume and plasma exudation. Intrapleural bradykinin-(1-5) and prostaglandin E2 levels were significantly higher in G-CSF-r than in Vehicle-r. The increased neutrophil migration in G-CSF-r may be attributed to enhanced activation of the complement system facilitated by increased plasma exudation due to bradykinin and prostaglandins.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Chromosome spreading techniques for primary gastrointestinal tumors.

The requirement for well spread out chromosomes for the cytogenetic analysis of primary gastrointestinal tumors led us to develop new techniques. These techniques involved two main procedures: (1) preliminary incubation with culture medium in the presence of collagenase, Dispase, and colcemid, for 3 h, and (2) treatment with an extremely hypotonic solution (0.044M KCl) for 30 min. The techniques were applied to 11 gastrointestinal malignancies (including 1 early gastric cancer and 1 metastatic liver lesion of colon cancer) and significant increases (P < 0.01) in the number of metaphases of analyzable karyotypes were obtained, compared with a previous method in which the standard hypotonic molarity of KCL (0.075 M) was employed. The mean value for metaphase numbers of the analyzable karyotypes was 37.0 +/- 3.7% in the 5 gastric cancers and 44.7 +/- 4.8% in the 5 colon cancers and 1 metastatic lesion. These values were three times and more than twice, respectively, the values obtained by the previous method. A fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) study was carried out on one cologenic tumor, the alpha-satellite centromere-specific probe 17 being used. Deletion of the long arm of chromosome 17 was demonstrated. The method proposed here could yield a sufficient number of metaphases without the use of tissue culture that might cause alteration of karyotype. It can be employed with small biopsy specimens and in studies utilizing the FISH technique.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

Nafamostat mesilate reduces blood-foreign surface reactions similar to biocompatible materials.

BACKGROUND: Nafamostat mesilate (FUT-175) is a synthetic serine protease inhibitor that inactivates coagulation, fibrinolysis, and platelet aggregation. Nafamostat mesilate may suppress the blood-foreign surface reaction similar to biocompatible materials by blocking factor XIIa. METHODS: We performed an in vitro study of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with fresh human blood among the following three groups: standard CPB sets (C), biocompatible CPB sets (B), and standard CPB sets with FUT-175 (10 mg/L) (F). A clinical study using these same CPB groups also was performed in 45 patients undergoing aortocoronary bypass operations (15 patients each). We injected FUT-175 at 40 mg/h during CPB. RESULTS: In the in vitro study, both groups B and F showed significantly lower levels of coagulation factors, thrombin-antithrombin III complex, fibrinopeptide A, beta-thromboglobulin, complement C3a, granulocyte elastase, and free hemoglobin than group C at the conclusion of the study. Thrombin-antithrombin III complex and free hemoglobin in group F also were lower than in group B. The platelet count remained at a higher level in group F than in the other groups. Separation of bradykinin was suppressed most significantly in group F. In the clinical study, group F also showed significantly lower levels of alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor plasmin complex and C3a than both groups C and B. There were minimal levels of free hemoglobin in group F. CONCLUSIONS: Nafamostat mesilate may contribute major beneficial effects toward conservation of blood during CPB and prevention of coagulopathy after CPB.

Benzamidines↗