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Biomedical subjects

M Seki

Publications and source records attributed to M Seki.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Effects of systemic and regional chemotherapy after hepatic resection for colorectal metastases.

BACKGROUND: Although the survival benefit of hepatic resection for colorectal metastasis has been established, some controversy remains regarding the significance of adjuvant chemotherapy after hepatic resection. METHODS: One hundred thirty-two consecutive patients who had liver resection for colorectal metastasis at our hospital between 1980 and 1997 were studied. After curative hepatic resection, 37 patients underwent systemic chemotherapy, administered orally or intravenously, and 38 patients underwent regional chemotherapy, given intra-arterially or intraportally. Forty patients had no adjuvant chemotherapy. The chemotherapeutic agents used for oral administration were uracil and Tegafur or Tegafur alone. Mitomycin C (MMC) or 5-FU was used for IV chemotherapy. Combinations of 5-FU/leucovorin or MMC/5-FU (doxorubicin) were used for regional chemotherapy. Univariate and multivariate analyses were applied to test the significance of adjuvant chemotherapy for patient survival or disease-free survival. RESULTS: Overall 5-year survival was 42.2% (95% CL: 31.2%, 53.2%). Among the possible prognostic factors studied, univariate analysis showed a significant difference in survival based on the number of tumors and lymph node metastases in the hepatic hilum. There was a significant difference in disease-free survival based on adjuvant chemotherapy and lymph node metastasis. The multivariate analysis for patient survival selected four prognostic factors (P < .05), including adjuvant chemotherapy, lymph node metastasis, disease-free interval, and tumor size. The multivariate analysis for disease-free survival selected adjuvant chemotherapy, lymph node metastasis, and disease-free interval as significant factors. The most common recurrence site was remnant liver, regardless of adjuvant chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Adjuvant chemotherapy significantly improved survival and disease-free survival after hepatic resection for colorectal metastases. It did not decrease recurrence rate in the remnant liver.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1998

Pancreatic metastasis from a lung cancer. Preoperative diagnosis and management.

A case of a surgically resectable solitary metastasis to the pancreas from a lung cancer, confirmed by immunohistochemical staining (PE-10), is reported. ERCP revealed meniscoid interruption of the main pancreatic duct, which is uncommon in patients with primary pancreatic cancers of the pancreas in our hospital. This patient lived for 29 mo after the surgical resection of the pancreatic lesion. Therefore when metastasis limited to the pancreas is evident on clinical imaging, surgical management may be more optimal than other treatment approaches.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1998

[A case of surgical treatment for Löffler's endomyocarditis].

We performed surgical treatment in a case of löffler's endocarditis. The patient was a 32-year-old male whose first symptom was easy fatigability. Blood count showed eosinophilia (eosinocyte count 6720/mm3). Echocardiography and vetriculography showed thickened bilateral endocardium and extension disturbance. We diagnosed this case as löffler's endocarditis and performed surgical treatment because medical treatment was unsuccessful. Removal of the thrombus the bilateral ventricles, endocardectomy and mitral valve replacement were performed. Endocardectomy required close attention because the border between thickened endocardium and normal myocardium was obscure. The patient survived surgery, but postoperative echocardiography (15 days) revealed slightly thickened endocardium of the right ventricle. He died of left heart failure 1 month after surgery. At that time, eosinocyte count was 110,000/mm3.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

[Significance of systemic inflammatory response syndrome after surgical treatment for thoracic esophageal cancer].

We studied the significance of Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) state after surgical treatment of thoracic esophageal cancer. From January 1991 to December 1995, 35 patients received thoracic esophageal cancer surgery. Thirty three patients (94.3%) were in the SIRS state after surgery and mean duration of SIRS was 3.4 days. Duration of SIRS was statistically longer in patients with pulmonary complications. Patients with hyperbilirubinemia (> or = 3.0 mg/dl) after surgery had longer duration of SIRS. Induction therapy did not affect the duration of SIRS. Collectively, duration of SIRS is an indication of complications, especially of pulmonary complications, after surgical treatment of thoracic esophageal cancer, and blood bililubin score after surgery correlates to duration of SIRS. These suggest that we must pay special attention to patients with long duration of SIRS or hyperbilirubinemia after thoracic esophageal surgery.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

High-efficiency cloning of Arabidopsis full-length cDNA by biotinylated CAP trapper.

Full-length cDNAs are essential for functional analysis of plant genes. We constructed high-content, full-length cDNA libraries from Arabidopsis thaliana plants based on chemical introduction of a biotin group into the diol residue of the CAP structure of eukaryotic mRNA, followed by RNase I treatment, to select full-length cDNA. More than 90% of the total clones obtained were of full length; recombinant clones were obtained with high efficiency (2.2 x 10(6)/9 micrograms starting mRNA). Sequence analysis of 111 randomly picked clones indicated that 32 isolated cDNA groups were derived from novel genes in the A. thaliana genome.

Arabidopsis↗
PubMed1998

Induction of metamorphosis in the sand dollar Peronella japonica by thyroid hormones.

The larva of the sand dollar Peronella japonica lacks a mouth and gut, and undergoes metamorphosis into a juvenile sand dollar without feeding. In the present study, it was found that thyroid hormones accelerate the metamorphosis of P. japonica larvae. The contents of thyroid hormones in larvae increased gradually during development. Thiourea and potassium perchlorate, inhibitors of thyroid hormone synthesis, delayed larval metamorphosis and simultaneously repressed an increase in the content of thyroxine in the larval body. These results suggest that the P. japonica larva has a system for synthesis of thyroid hormones that act as factors for inducing metamorphosis.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Enhancement of anti-tumor activity of natural killer cells by BALL-1, a B cell lymphoma line.

The anti-tumor activity of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) against various tumor cell line cells (K562, Daudi, KMG-2, and KATOIII) was enhanced by coculture with irradiated BALL-1, but not with other irradiated B cell line cells (NALM-1, Namalwa, and Daudi). PBMC cocultured with BALL-1, however, failed to exhibit evident cytotoxicity against autologous concanavalin A-induced lymphoblasts. The enhancement of the anti-tumor activity seemed not to be correlated with EBNA and HLA-DR expression on B cell line cells. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against interleukin (IL)-2, interferon-gamma, IL-12, IL-15, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and lymphotoxin showed little or no suppression of the anti-tumor activity of PBMC treated with irradiated BALL-1. Furthermore, the culture supernatants of BALL-1 failed to enhance the anti-tumor activity of PBMC, suggesting no involvement of soluble factors in the induction of the anti-tumor activity. The anti-tumor activity of PBMC treated with BALL-1 was synergistically enhanced by an additional IL-2 stimulation. Periodate-lysine-paraformaldehyde-fixed, but not ethanol- or acetone-fixed, BALL-1 could significantly enhance the anti-tumor activity. Furthermore, BALL-1-derived membrane fraction, but not that of Daudi, enhances the anti-tumor activity. It was thus suggested that some membrane glycoproteins on the cell surface of BALL-1 play a crucial role in the induction of the anti-tumor activity. By analysis using mAbs against human leukocytes, we found that depletion of CD11b, CD16, and CD56-positive cells resulted in decreased anti-tumor activity, suggesting that the main effector cells in the BALL-1-induced anti-tumor activity were natural killer (NK) cells. The present results thus raise the possibility that BALL-1, probably via membrane glycoproteins, modulates NK cell-mediated anti-tumor activity.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1998

Biopsy sites suitable for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection and the assessment of the extent of atrophic gastritis.

OBJECTIVES: We performed this study to determine which biopsy sites in the stomach are suitable for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection and the assessment of the extent of atrophic gastritis. METHODS: Endoscopy was performed in 76 H. pylori-positive patients with histologically confirmed chronic gastritis. Biopsies were taken from the following six sites: the lesser curvatures of the mid-antrum (site 1), the angulus (site 2), the middle body (site 3), and the greater curvatures of the mid-antrum (site 4), the angulus (site 5), and the middle body (site 6) of the stomach. The extent of atrophic gastritis was assessed endoscopically as well as histologically, and patients were classified into five groups according to its extent. H. pylori status was assessed histologically. The histological severity of inflammation, activity, atrophy, and intestinal metaplasia was assessed according to the Updated Sydney System. The grades of these items were compared among the six biopsy sites in each group of patients. RESULTS: Site 6 was most reliable for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection, and site 4 was suitable for examining the status of H. pylori colonization in the antrum. Site 1, site 3, and site 6 were suitable for the assessment of the extent of atrophic gastritis. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that for an accurate diagnosis and assessment, biopsies should be taken from the following four sites: the lesser curvatures of the mid-antrum (site 1) and middle body (site 3), and the greater curvatures of the mid-antrum (site 4) and middle body (site 6) of the stomach.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

[A rapid determination of allantoin by high-performance liquid chromatography using tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane-HCl buffer as a mobile phase].

A rapid and simple method for the determination of allantoin in pharmaceuticals by reversed-phase ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography using an ODS column was presented. In general, it is difficult to retain allantoin to the ODS column owing to its very low hydrophobicity. We solved these problems by the use of a Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.5) containing tetra-n-hexyl-ammonium bromide (THAB) as an ion-pair reagent for the mobile phase. Comparatively low concentrations of Tris-HCl buffer (0.9 mM) and THAB (0.5 mM) gave a high capacity factor (k'). As a results of the examination of the chromatographic behavior, it is confirmed that the retention mechanism of allantoin to the ODS column on the present method was not the ion-pair mode, but the ion-exchange mode. Calibration curves for allantoin showed a good linearity in the range of 10 to 400 micrograms/ml (r = 0.9999). The reproducibility (R.S.D., n = 6) was invariably good (0.37%). The lowest concentration of allantoin for the determination was 200 ng per 20 microliters of injection. The present method was successfully applied to the determination of allantoin in commercial eyedrops with good recovery (99.4%). It was found that allantoin in pharmaceuticals could be determined by the present method in short time and without any complicated derivatization.

Allantoin↗
PubMed1998

Ascending projections from the area postrema and the nucleus of the solitary tract of Suncus murinus: anterograde tracing study using Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin.

Suncus murinus (suncus) is a new experimental animal model for research on the mechanisms underlying emesis. In the present study, we examined the ascending projections from the area postrema (AP) and the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) in suncus based on anterograde transport of phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin. The AP projected heavily to the dorsal vagal complex, especially in the commissural and medial subnuclei of the NTS, and the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus. Some ascending fibers from the AP projected bilaterally to the parabrachial nucleus (Pb), but no labeling was observed rostral to this area. In contrast, the NTS had extensive projections as far as the basal forebrain. The NTS projections were observed in the AP, ventrolateral reticular formation including the nucleus ambiguus, A5 noradrenergic area, locus coeruleus, Pb, and central gray matter of the midbrain. At the level of the diencephalon, the NTS projections were seen in the dorsomedial, lateral, paraventricular, periventricular, supraoptic, retrochiasmatic and arcuate nuclei of the hypothalamus, in addition to the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus. Terminal fields within the basal forebrain were also shown to include the medial preoptic area, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, the substantia innominata and the ventral pallidum. The results indicated that the neurological relationship between the chemo- and/or barosensitive systems including the trigger of the emetic response and the general viscerosensory and/or -motor systems may exist also in the suncus.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

[The role and expression of CD27/CD70 in tonsil].

We studied the expression and function of CD27 and CD70, which are reported to play an important role in the T-B cell interaction in tonsillar lymphocytes of patients with chronic tonsillitis. In comparison of CD27 and CD70 in peripheral lymphocytes of each patients, no significant difference was found. Furthermore, CD27 and CD70 in T-B cell interaction and antibody production in the tonsil was studied. Our findings was confirmed that CD27 and CD70 are involved in interactions between T/T, T/B and B/B cells. A comparative study of CD27- CD4+ cells and CD70+ CD4 cells, so-called memory cells in the T cell subset, was made in tonsillar lymphocytes and peripheral lymphocytes. No significant difference was found in the presence of CD27+ CD4+ cells, but the CD27- CD4+ cells increased in tonsillar lymphocytes. This suggests recurrent antigenic stimulation and the presence of memory cells in tonsillar lymphocytes. Localization of CD27 and CD70 in tonsillar tissue was also investigate.

Antibody Formation↗
PubMed1998

CD40 stimulation inhibits cell growth and Fas-mediated apoptosis in a thyroid cancer cell line.

CD40 plays a critical role in the humoral immune response, especially in B-cell proliferation, differentiation, production of antibody, secretion of cytokines, and apoptosis. Here, we examined CD40 expression on six head and neck cancer cell lines by flow cytometry. Only the HTC/C3 cell line, which originated from a thyroid cancer, expressed CD40 on the surface of the cells. Coculture with anti-CD40 mAb inhibited colony formation of HTC/C3 cells. CD40 stimulation enhanced Fas expression on HTC/C3 cells. Although HTC/C3 cells are sensitive to Fas-mediated apoptosis, CD40 stimulation inhibited Fas-mediated apoptosis in HTC/C3 cells. CD40 stimulation enhanced Bcl-2 expression, and antisense oligonucleotide against bcl-2 canceled the inhibition of HTC/C3 cell growth caused by CD40 stimulation. Additionally, more anti-CD40 mAb-treated HTC/C3 cells were accumulated in G1 phase, and fewer in S phase, compared to nontreated cells. These results suggest that CD40 stimulation might be involved in the slow growth rate of CD40-bearing cancer cells, and they suggest a new biological approach to the treatment of cancers.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1998

[Assessment of the practicability of coronary risk index as a screening method for ischemic heart disease in preoperative evaluation].

Coronary risk index (CRI) is our newly developed screening method for ischemic heart disease in preoperative evaluation. In this study, we assessed the practicability of CRI examining coronary angiograms (CAG) obtained in 106 patients scheduled for operations. CAG was rated with CAG score, then CRI and CAG score were statistically analyzed. These two parameters showed a significant positive relationship; the higher CRI, the higher CAG score (P < 0.0001). When the patients were divided into five groups by their CRI (0-9, 10-14, 15-19, 20-24, and more than 25), the group with higher CRI contained significantly more patients with severe multivessel coronary lesion (P < 0.0001). Similar results were obtained even in the patient with minimal change in ECG or exercise ECG, or those with minimal chest symptoms (P < 0.001). These results suggests that CRI works effectively as a screening method for ischemic heart disease regardless of abnormalities in ECG or the chest symptoms. More cautious perioperative management should be carried out in patients with higher CRI.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

[Advantages and disadvantages of harmonic scalpel in thoracic surgery].

We evaluated the usefulness of Harmonic Scalpel in thoracic surgery. Harmonic Scalpel is an ultrasonically activated surgical device which can coagulate and cut the vessels or tissues. The instrument made thoracoscopic resection of the neurogenic tumor and the mediastinal lymph node and thoracoscopic sympatectomy safetier and easier, because it does not conduct an electric current to the nerve and has high ability of hemostasis. Harmonic Scalpel will be very useful device in the future if its shapes of blades or handpieces are improved.

Aged↗