Evidence for a singlet-triplet transition in spin-Peierls system CuGeO3.
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Journal Article↗
Biomedical subjects
M Nishi
Publications and source records attributed to M Nishi.
Chronological changes of characteristics of early gastric cancer and therapy: experience in the Cancer Institute Hospital of Tokyo, 1950-1994.
Gastric cancer, the leading cause of death from cancer in Japan, has long been studied. We received our first patient with early gastric cancer in 1950 and have since treated 2382 patients with this cancer up to 1990. The percentage of early gastric cancers diagnosed has been on the increase following the improvement in diagnostic skills and the establishment of mass screening. At present, more than half of the gastric cancers presenting are in the early stages. Chronological changes in diagnoses of early gastric cancer are characterized by the increased findings of (a) small tumors less than 4 cm in diameter (b) depressed-type carcinoma (c) lesions of the upper part of the stomach, and (d) undifferentiated-type adenocarcinoma. The standard method of treatment for early gastric cancer was standard radical operation in the 1970s. In the 1980s endoscopic mucosal resection and limited operation were adopted and their use has been increasing annually. The prognosis for early gastric cancer is quite favorable (the 5-year survival rate is more than 90%), and it is regarded as a disease with good prognosis. To obtain still better therapeutic results, it is essential to increase the proportion of early gastric cancers where endoscopic mucosal resection or limited operation is indicated, and improve the techniques of those procedures.
Endoscopy↗
A case of steatocystoma multiplex with prominent cysts on the scalp treated successfully using a simple surgical technique.
The case described is a 35-year-old male with multiple cysts on the upper half of his body. This patient was diagnosed as having steatocystoma multiplex, based on clinical and histological findings. The lesions consisted of widespread and unusually prominent cysts, which were removed by a simple surgical technique using a dermatological trepan and artery forceps. We provide here a detailed description of the surgical procedures employed.
Adult↗
Mortality of inhabitants in an area polluted by cadmium: 15 year follow up.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of environmental exposure to cadmium (Cd) on long term outcome of inhabitants living in an area polluted by Cd. METHODS: A follow up study for 15 years (from 1974-5 to 1991) was carried out on 2408 inhabitants (amounting to 95% of the target population, 1079 men and 1329 women) of the Kakehashi River basin in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. These inhabitants had been the subjects of the health impact survey in 1974-5 to evaluate (by measurement of urinary retinol binding protein (RBP)) renal dysfunction induced by Cd. Analysis of mortality was performed by dividing subjects into a urinary RBP positive (> or = 4 mg/l) group and RBP negative (< 4 mg/l) group. RESULTS: After adjustment for age with Cox's proportional hazard model, RBP > or = 4 mg/l showed a significant relation to mortality in both sexes. At this time, the mortality risk ratio of the RBP positive to negative group was 1.71 in the men and 1.42 in the women. When the SMRs according to causes of deaths in the RBP positive group were compared with those of the RBP negative group or the overall Japanese population increases of SMR for cardiovascular diseases, especially heart failure, and renal diseases were found in both sexes. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the prognosis of the exposed inhabitants with renal tubular dysfunction is unfavourable, and these increases of mortality are due to heart failure and renal diseases.
Aged↗
Transient nephrogenic diabetes insipidus accompanied by possible psychogenic polydipsia.
A 50-year-old Japanese man had been suffering from polydipsia and polyuria for 2 months without any other specific symptoms. His daily urinary output reached 5 liters. On admission, no abnormalities of the kidneys, heart, thyroid, adrenals, pituitary or hypothalamus were detected by laboratory tests and MRI of the head. Pure psychogenic polydipsia was ruled out because his urine volume did not decrease sufficiently with 18 h of water deprivation and the subsequent injection of aqueous vasopressin. Plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) levels against plasma osmolality remained within the normal range during the test. These results indicated that diabetes insipidus in this case was caused by renal insensitivity to AVP. The symptoms disappeared spontaneously, and marked improvement was observed in a second water deprivation test 1 month later, although the maximum urine concentration was still subnormal. The combination of both latent insufficiency of AVP secretion and impairment of the renal countercurrent system induced by psychogenic polydipsia was speculated as a possible mechanism for the transient nephrogenic diabetes insipidus in this case.
Arginine Vasopressin↗
[Effect of fog on diurnal changes in peak expiratory flow rates in an asthmatic].
To evaluate the effects of fog on asthmatics, we analyzed the symptoms of a 45-year-old female during the foggy season and the relation between diurnal peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and fog and other meteorological factors. Her asthma attacks had been induced by specific smells: perfume, smoke from burning grass or industrial smoke. Two years previously, she had moved to the suburbs of Sapporo, where fog frequently occurs. From that time her asthmatic symptoms had been exacerbated, so it was suspected that the fog might have had some influence. We analyzed 251 measures of PEFR from June to August 1994. The average and standard deviation of PEFR in the absence of fog and specific smells was 403 +/- 40 L/min (n = 195). PEFR was significantly lower (p < 0.01) when it was foggy (347 +/- 60 L/min; n = 40), when specific smells were present (333 +/- 60 L/min; n = 5) and when there were both fog and specific smells (340 +/- 53 L/min: n = 11). On the other hand, there were no changes associated with other meteorological factors: barometric pressures, relative humidity, mean temperature, minimal temperature and most frequent wind direction. These results suggested that the inhalation of fog decreases PEFR and is an exacerbating factor in bronchial asthma.
Asthma↗
[Excitation-contraction uncoupling and muscular degeneration lacking functional skeletal muscle ryanodine-receptor gene].
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Animals↗
Solution structure of the duplexes between phosphorothioate DNA and target DNA/RNA.
Duplex stability measured by the melting temperature (Tm) of the duplex between oligodeoxynucleotide whose one phosphate linkage is replaced by thiophosphate and its complementary DNA/RNA. The resultant Tm values were higher for Sp isomer than Rp isomer when DNA was a target. When RNA was a target, however, Rp isomers of 5'-dGCTsTCG-3' and 5'-dGCAsTCG-3' had higher stability than Sp isomers. NMR and CD spectra obtained for the duplexes of such isomers exhibited only small difference for the base protons around the phosphorothioate linkage and could not account for the difference in Tm. Temperature dependent NMR spectra showed broadening for the AH8 proton signal of Rp and for the TH6 proton resonance of Sp. This characteristic broadening may be indicative of the different melting behavior of the duplexes of the isomers.
Circular Dichroism↗
Effects of glucocorticoid on neurones of rat dentate gyrus in dissociated culture.
This study was undertaken to evaluate the short-term effects of glucocorticoid on the morphological characteristics of cultured rat dentate gyrus (DG) cells using immunocytochemistry for a cytoskeletal protein, micro-tubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2). A selective cell culture system of DG neurons was successfully established. Synthetic glucocorticoid, dexamethasone (DEX) increased the total length of immunoreactive (IR) processes of the DG neurones in a dose-dependent manner. DEX also increased the ratio of multipolar neurones with more than three processes. The area of cell body of immunoreactive processes increased with 5 microM DEX treatment. Our results suggest that cytological features of DG cells are strongly influenced by the action of glucocorticoid.
Animals↗
Structure and chromosomal mapping of genes for the mouse kappa-opioid receptor and an opioid receptor homologue (MOR-C).
Recent cDNA cloning studies have defined four members of the opioid receptor family, i.e., delta-, mu- and kappa-subtypes, and an opioid receptor homologue for unknown ligands. In this report, we isolated and analyzed mouse genomic DNA segments containing the kappa-opioid receptor gene and a gene for the opioid receptor homologue (designated as MOR-C). The genes are closely related each other in exon-intron organization, suggesting their evolutional relationship. Using in situ hybridization, we show that the kappa-opioid receptor gene and the MOR-C gene map to mouse chromosome 1A2-3 and 2H2-4, respectively.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Neutron-scattering study on the spin-Peierls transition in a quasi-one-dimensional magnet CuGeO3.
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Journal Article↗
Excitation-contraction uncoupling and muscular degeneration in mice lacking functional skeletal muscle ryanodine-receptor gene.
Contraction of skeletal muscle is triggered by the release of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) after depolarization of transverse tubules. The ryanodine receptor exists as a 'foot' protein in the junctional gap between the sarcoplasmic reticulum and the transverse tubule in skeletal muscle, and is proposed to function as a calcium-release channel during excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling. Previous complementary DNA-cloning studies have defined three distinct subtypes of the ryanodine receptor in mammalian tissues, namely skeletal muscle, cardiac and brain types. We report here mice with a targeted mutation in the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor gene. Mice homozygous for the mutation die perinatally with gross abnormalities of the skeletal muscle. The contractile response to electrical stimulation under physiological conditions is totally abolished in the mutant muscle, although ryanodine receptors other than the skeletal-muscle type seem to exist because the response to caffeine is retained. Our results show that the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor is essential for both muscular maturation and E-C coupling, and also imply that the function of the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor during E-C coupling cannot be substituted by other subtypes of the receptor.
Animals↗
cDNA cloning and regional distribution of a novel member of the opioid receptor family.
We have cloned a cDNA for a novel member of the opioid receptor family, designated as ROR-C, from the rat cerebrum cDNA library using the probe derived from the delta-opioid receptor subtype cDNA. The deduced amino acid sequence of ROR-C shows high homology with those of ROR-A (rat delta-opioid receptor subtype), ROR-B (rat mu-subtype) and ROR-D (rat kappa-subtype). RNA blot hybridization and in situ hybridization analysis revealed that ROR-C mRNA is expressed in discrete regions of the rat central nervous system.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Isolation and characterization of a gene for a ryanodine receptor/calcium release channel in Drosophila melanogaster.
The nucleotide sequence of a 25.7 kilobase Drosophila melanogaster genomic DNA segment containing a gene for a ryanodine receptor/calcium release channel homologue has been determined. Computer analysis and partial cDNA cloning revealed 26 exons comprising the protein-coding sequence in this gene. The predicted protein is homologous in amino acid sequence and shares characteristic structural features with the mammalian ryanodine receptors. In blot hybridization analysis, a approximately 16 kilobase RNA species was identified abundantly in a 6-12 h embryo as the transcript from this gene. In situ hybridization to polytene chromosomes indicated that this gene locates at band position 44F on the second chromosome.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Prognostic factors of renal dysfunction induced by environmental cadmium pollution.
To assess the influence of environmental cadmium (Cd) exposure on long-term outcome, a follow-up study was conducted from 1981-1982 to March 1991 on 3178 inhabitants living in the Cd-polluted Kakehashi River basin. The standardized mortality ratios of the urinary beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2-MG)-, protein-, and amino acid-positive subjects of both sexes and the urinary glucose-positive female subjects were higher than those of the subjects with urinary-negative findings or the general Japanese population during the observation period. After adjusting for age using Cox's proportional hazards model, significant associations were found between mortality and urinary indices. In multiple comparisons using all of the indices, urinary protein and beta 2-MG in the women and urinary protein in the men were the factors most contributing to the mortality rates. In the urinary protein-negative female group as well, a significant association was found between urinary beta 2-MG and mortality. These results suggest that the prognosis of subjects with Cd-induced renal dysfunction is unfavorable, with the mortality rate increasing even in the early stage of proximal tubular dysfunction. Urinary protein and urinary beta 2-MG are important prognostic factors, with the latter, in particular, considered to be useful as an early index predictive of premature mortality.
Amino Acids↗
Abnormal insulinemia.
The recent development of molecular biology enables us to identify three abnormal insulins (insulin Chicago, insulin Los Angeles and insulin Wakayama). In Japan, three pedigrees in which affected individuals secrete [LeuA3] insulin (insulin Wakayama) have been identified. In each family, hyperinsulinemia associated with an abnormally elevated insulin to C-peptide molar ratio was demonstrated to occur in an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. In accordance with in vivo observations, semisynthetic [LeuA3] insulin demonstrated reduced in vitro receptor binding and biological activity relative to the human standard. The development of diabetes mellitus in affected family members was not uniform, was influenced by aging, and was different among families. Patients with impaired glucose tolerance demonstrated reduced insulin secretory reserve. Some of these features are thought to resemble the nature of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Therefore, insulin Wakayama may be a useful model for the study of the development of NIDDM.
Adult↗
Phosphocholine-bonded galactosylceramides having a tri-unsaturated long-chain base from the clam worm, Marphysa sanguinea.
Seven glycosphingolipids were obtained in the pure state from the clam worm, Marphysa sanguinea, by preparative HPLC with a reversed-phase column in a recycling mode. Their structures were elucidated based on detailed analyses of 1H- and 13C-NMR spectra of the intact compounds. The position and the geometry of double bonds in the long-chain base (LCB) were determined by the two-dimensional NMR (COSY, NOESY, and HMBC) analyses. All compounds are phosphocholine-bonded monogalactosylceramides and two of them have tri-unsaturated long-chain bases.
Animals↗
Immunohistochemical study of c-erbB-2 oncoprotein expression in extramammary Paget's disease.
Sections of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue from 20 patients with noninvasive extramammary Paget's disease and 2 patients with invasive extramammary Paget's disease were stained immunohistochemically by means of anti-c-erbB-2 product monoclonal antibody. Membrane staining of intraepidermal tumor cells was found in only 3 of 20 cases of noninvasive extramammary Paget's disease. In the 2 invasive cases, tumor cells of invasive lesions and metastases were positive while intraepidermal tumor cells were negative.
Aged↗