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Biomedical subjects

M Shindo

Publications and source records attributed to M Shindo.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Effects of captopril on opioid peptides during exercise and quality of life in normal subjects.

In a placebo-controlled, randomized, crossover, double-blind study of 17 normal volunteers, we examined the effects of captopril on the concentration of opioid peptides during bicycle exercise and on quality of life after a 2-week treatment period. Two exercise tests (progressive exercise and constant work rate exercise) were performed. Maximum oxygen uptake and blood lactate concentrations were measured in progressive exercise tests. The exercise intensities corresponding to a 1/2 lactate threshold, a lactate threshold, and a 4 mmol/L lactate concentration were determined. Constant work rate exercise at selected work loads for 20 minutes was carried out to measure the concentrations of opioid peptides and other hormones. Quality of life was assessed after the 2-week treatment period. Captopril treatment had no effect on the exercise response of blood pressure, heart rate, maximum VO2, and maximum work loads. The plasma concentrations of lactate, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and aldosterone increased during exercise and captopril did not change them. Beta-endorphin levels and plasma renin activity also increased during exercise, and the increases were greater with captopril treatment. Met-enkephalin and leu-enkephalin concentrations did not increase during exercise. According to responses in the quality of life questionnaires, administration of captopril improved the physiologic state more than the placebo did. These findings suggest that captopril may act on the central nervous system involving an increase in the beta-endorphin level.

Captopril↗
PubMed1991

Speech discrimination and lip reading in patients with word deafness or auditory agnosia.

The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of four patients with word deafness or auditory agnosia to discriminate speech by reading lips. The patients were studied using nonsense monosyllables to test for speech discrimination, a lip reading test, the Token Test for auditory comprehension, and the Aphasia test. Our results show that patients with word deafness or auditory agnosia without aphasia can improve speech comprehension by reading lips in combination with listening, as compared with lip reading or listening alone. In conclusion, lip reading was shown to be useful for speech comprehension among these patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Increase in Ib inhibition by antagonistic voluntary contraction in man.

1. Ib inhibition from gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle to soleus (Sol) muscle was studied at rest and at the onset of phasic voluntary contraction of antagonistic pretibial muscles in seventeen normal subjects. 2. In twelve out of seventeen subjects there was inhibition of Sol H reflex by GM conditioning stimulation at rest with a latency of 1.5-3.0 ms and a threshold of 0.85-1.00 times the motor threshold (MT). The amount of inhibition at 0.95-1.05 x MT, which was calculated by subtracting the size of the conditioned reflex from that of the unconditioned one, ranged from 0.8 to 5.6% of the maximal M-response or 2.9-18.3% of control H reflex. This inhibition was ascribed to Ib inhibition, taking into account its latency and threshold. 3. On weak pretibial contraction the inhibition either increased in amount or newly appeared in all the subjects. When the strength of voluntary contraction was graded from 1 to 20% of the maximum, the increment in the amount of inhibition decreased or almost disappeared at strengths of more than several per cent. These facts imply that at least some of the Ib interneurones are facilitated to fire by descending commands alone without peripheral Ib impulses. Contralateral ankle dorsiflexion did not modify the inhibition. 4. Soleus muscle H reflex was not modulated at all by cutaneous stimulation instead of GM stimulation at rest, nor was it affected by cutaneous stimulation on ipsilateral antagonistic contraction. 5. It is concluded that activity in the Ib inhibitory pathway is facilitated at the onset of antagonistic voluntary contraction. This suggests that control of the Ib inhibitory pathway may be utilized in ordinary voluntary movement, and is presumably beneficial for smooth execution of movement.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Detection of replicative intermediates of hepatitis C viral RNA in liver and serum of patients with chronic hepatitis C.

The hepatitis C virus is a positive stranded hepatotropic RNA virus. We describe a method of detecting positive and negative strands of hepatitis C viral RNA using the polymerase chain reaction. We tested serum and liver tissue from nine patients with chronic hepatitis C. The positive RNA strand of HCV was detected in the sera and livers of all nine, the negative strand was detected in the livers of eight (89%), and in the sera of five (55%). Titers of both strands of HCV RNA were determined by serial endpoint dilutions. The amount of the negative strand in the serum and liver was usually 10-100 times less than the positive strand. Predigestion of serum with ribonucleases did not alter the detection of the negative strand. This suggests that the negative strand found in the serum may be protected from digestion by being associated with virions.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Changes of dopamine and atrial natriuretic factor by mild exercise for hypertensives.

Changes of humoral factors related to the regulation of fluid volume were investigated in exercise training for hypertensives. Twelve patients with essential hypertension were treated with an aerobic exercise for 10 weeks. A significant reduction in blood pressure from 161 +/- 3/100 +/- 2 mmHg at week 0 to 142 +/- 5/94 +/- 3 mmHg at week 4 was observed which continued until week 10. Urine dopamine was increased significantly at the 4th week from 386 +/- 29.4 micrograms/day at week 0 to 524 +/- 46.3 micrograms/day and plasma atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) was significantly reduced at the 4th week, from 41.5 +/- 2.7 pg/ml at week 0 to 32.6 +/- 3.7 pg/ml. Plasma volume was found reduced significantly from 2,531 +/- 166 ml/m2 at week 0 to 2,221 +/- 165 ml/m2 at week 10. These results suggest that the increase of dopamine and reduction of plasma ANF which took place at the early stage might be related to, at least in part, the depletion of plasma volume and the reduction of blood pressure in mild exercise for hypertensives.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Hydantocidin: a new compound with herbicidal activity from Streptomyces hygroscopicus.

Hydantocidin, a new compound with potent non-selective herbicidal activity, was found in a submerged culture of Streptomyces hygroscopicus SANK 63584. It was isolated from the culture filtrate by the following successive treatments comprised of activated carbon, Diaion HP-20, Dowex 50WX4, and Avicel column chromatographies. Finally it was crystallized as colorless needles from acetone. The molecular formula, C7H10N2O6, was determined by analyses of HRFAB mass spectrum in conjunction with 13C NMR spectrometry. The structural elucidation revealed that it has a unique structure with a spiro-bond between ribose and hydantoin moieties in the molecule. The characteristic herbicidal activities against annuals as well as perennials, including monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous weeds, were observed.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

[Autoantibodies related to interferon therapy in chronic hepatitis B may affect the therapeutic response to interferon].

We have evaluated the problem of autoantibodies such as antinuclear antibodies (ANA), smooth muscle antibody (SMA) and antibodies to thyroid microsomal (TMA) and to thyroglobulin (TGA) related to interferon therapy in 27 patients with chronic hepatitis B. Anti-interferon antibody was also studied by Western blot method. Eight patients had ANA and 2 had SMA during interferon therapy. However, 6 of the 8 patients were ANA positive and one of the 2 was SMA positive prior to interferon treatment. No patients developed TMA, TGA or anti-interferon antibody. Eight (29.6%) of the 27 patients had clearance of both DNA polymerase and HBeAg and persistent normalization in alanine aminotransferase levels with interferon therapy. Seven of the 8 responders developed none of the autoantibodies related to interferon therapy. These results suggest that the presence of ANA or SMA during treatment may affect the therapeutic response to interferon.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

[Comparison of 99mTc-hexakis 2-methoxy-2-isobutyl isonitrile and 201Tl SPECT imaging for evaluation of coronary artery disease].

To evaluate clinical value of 99mTc-hexakis 2-methoxy-2-isobutyl isonitrile (MIBI) imaging for assessing coronary artery disease (CAD), 99mTc-MIBI SPECT imaging at post-exercise and at rest was compared with 201Tl SPECT imaging at post-exercise and 3 hours redistribution in 27 patients suspected with CAD. The sensitivities for detecting CAD patients were 94% (17/18) by both studies. The specificities were 71% (5/7) by 99mTc-MIBI and 57% (4/7) by 201Tl (p = NS). The sensitivities for detecting stenosed coronary arteries (greater than or equal to 75% stenosis) were also similar between 99mTc-MIBI (78%) and 201Tl (74%) (p = NS). The similar specificity values were obtained by 99mTc-MIBI (84%) and by 201Tl (82%) (p = NS). The patterns of abnormality (normal, ischemia and scar) were similar between 99mTc-MIBI and 201Tl images in 22 of the 25 cases (88%) and 117 of the 125 segments (94%). However, these patterns were occasionally different particularly in patients who received PTCA or CABG. Thus, 99mTc-MIBI SPECT imaging seems to be as accurate as 201Tl SPECT imaging for the detecting and evaluating CAD.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

[A bull's eye subtraction polar map for assessing thallium redistribution (1). Comparison with quantitative redistribution].

A new bull's eye subtraction polar (BS) map has been developed for quantitative assessment of redistribution on stress-delayed thallium-201 SPECT studies. BS map was created after subtraction of a normalized stress bull's eye polar map from a normalized delayed polar map in 10 normal subjects and 33 patients with coronary artery disease to compare BS map with qualitative redistribution scores. The BS map showed less than 15% in all of the 50 segments in the normal subjects. Of 27 segments exhibiting persistent defect without redistribution, the BS map showed less than 10% in 20 segments (74%) and 10-15% in 6 segments (22%). On the other hand, of 34 segments exhibiting redistribution, the BS map showed greater than or equal to 15% in 25 segments (74%) and 10-15% in the remaining 9 segments (26%). Thus, significant redistribution was evident in the areas showing greater than or equal to 10-15% on the BS map. We conclude that the BS map is valuable for quantitative assessment of redistribution on stress-delayed thallium-201 SPECT imaging.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Detection of hepatitis B virus DNA in paraffin-embedded liver tissues in chronic hepatitis B or non-A, non-B, hepatitis using the polymerase chain reaction.

We developed a polymerase chain reaction assay for the direct detection of hepatitis B virus in paraffin-embedded liver tissue and applied this assay to determine whether hepatitis B virus DNA exists in livers with chronic hepatitis non-A, non-B. Fifty five liver biopsy samples were studied: 11 from patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis (paraffin-embedded) and 44 from patients with chronic hepatitis non-A, non-B (21 paraffin-embedded; 25 fresh frozen). Thirty three (75%) of the non-A, non-B cases were positive for hepatitis C virus antibodies. Approximately 1 to 10 ng of DNA was extracted from the paraffin-embedded tissue and amplified using oligonucleotide (23-mer) primers specific for the S gene (positions 261 to 692). The beta-globin gene was used as an internal control for sensitivity because this is a single copy gene and allows for relative quantification. In each of the chronic hepatitis B livers, the expected 432-base-pair amplification product for hepatitis B virus DNA and beta-globin gene product were both detected. On the other hand, in the 21 paraffin-embedded chronic hepatitis non-A, non-B livers, no hepatitis B virus DNA was detected, although beta-globin gene was observed in all. Furthermore, in all 25 frozen non-A, non-B livers, beta-globin gene was observed, but no hepatitis B virus band was seen. The limit of detection of hepatitis B virus DNA by this method was estimated to be one genomic copy of hepatitis B virus DNA per cell.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Speech perception and auditory P300 potentials after section of the posterior half of the truncus of the corpus callosum.

A 47 year old woman who underwent surgical section of the posterior half of the corpus callosum because of meningioma in the right lateral ventricle was studied from the aspects of speech perception and auditory evoked potentials. The pure tone audiometry showed normal hearing levels for both ears. The monosyllable perception test disclosed that the left ear had lower correct percent than the right ear. The dichotic listening test demonstrated remarkable extinction in response to verbal stimuli in the left ear. Auditory brainstem, middle latency and slow vertex responses were normal for both ears, without right and left difference. P300 event related potentials were recorded by three different pairs of stimuli: pure tone (1 KHz vs. 2 KHz), words (Aka vs. Kuro), and monosyllable (PA vs. BA). Both P300 for pure tone and word stimuli to each ear showed large positive potentials within 200-500 msec but P300 for monosyllable stimuli to each ear did not show obvious potentials within 200-500 msec. These results suggest that the posterior half of the truncus of the corpus callosum can be related to transfer of speech information between right and left hemispheres.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1990

Histological improvement of chronic hepatitis B, and non-A, non-B with interferon treatment: application of a numerical scoring system for evaluating sequential morphologic changes.

In order to assess the sequential changes of liver pathology after interferon therapy, 70 liver biopsy specimens, collected from 23 HBeAg-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B and 12 patients with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis, were studied using a numerical scoring system proposed by Knodell et al. The biopsy specimens were obtained immediately prior to the administration of interferon and within one week following the termination of interferon therapy. Three patients with chronic hepatitis B were negative for DNA-polymerase (DNA-P) prior to the interferon administration. Ten patients (50%) lost DNA-P activity. HBeAg became negative in 8 patients (34.8%), of whom 2 seroconverted to anti-HBe. Serum alanine aminotransferase levels normalized in 9 patients with chronic hepatitis B, and non-A, non-B hepatitis. The total Histological Activity Index (HAI) scores in both patients with chronic hepatitis B, and non-A, non-B decreased significantly (P less than 0.001 and P less than 0.005, respectively) after interferon treatment. There was also a significant improvement (0.02 less than P less than 0.001) in each histological category except for fibrosis. When the changes of the HAI scores in patients with chronic hepatitis B were correlated to the outcome in the DNA-P and HBeAg/anti-HBe system after treatment, the histological improvement did not significantly correlate to the outcome of these serological parameters.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Relationship of cigarette smoking to blood pressure and serum lipids.

The relationship between cigarette smoking and blood pressure and serum lipids was studied in 1775 men aged 20-59 years, in non-drinkers and drinkers separately, controlling for body mass index and physical fitness (VO2max). While systolic blood pressure was not associated with cigarette smoking, diastolic blood pressure decreased with increasing levels of cigarette smoking in non-drinkers but not in drinkers. Total cholesterol was inversely associated with smoking cigarettes in drinkers and was not associated in non-drinkers. High density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol decreased with an increasing degree of cigarette consumption in non-drinkers but not in drinkers. An increase in total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio and triglyceride levels was positively associated with smoking cigarettes regardless of drinking habit. The present study suggests that cigarette smoking is a cardiovascular risk factor, partly due to its effect of increasing the atherogenic index, but it remains to be consolidated whether chronic smoking has an effect of lowering diastolic blood pressure.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Changes of intrahepatic localization of hepatitis B core antigen in HBeAg positive patients with chronic active hepatitis B treated with interferon.

The intrahepatic distribution of hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) was studied in 14 HBeAg-positive patients with chronic active hepatitis B who were treated with interferon. Patients received 5 to 6 million units daily of human lymphoblastoid interferon or human diploid fibroblast interferon for 28 days. Intrahepatic HBcAg was detected by the indirect immunoperoxidase technique. Before interferon therapy, the intrahepatic HBcAg was detected almost equally in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. The expression of nuclear HBcAg decreased significantly (p less than 0.001) after interferon therapy, irrespective of the outcome for DNA polymerase and/or HBeAg/anti-HBe status. The expression of cytoplasmic HBcAg decreased significantly (p less than 0.05) only in the patients who lost DNA polymerase after treatment, whereas it increased in patients with DNA polymerase and/or HBeAg in the serum. These findings suggested that a shift of intrahepatic HBcAg from the nucleus to the cytoplasm occurred in HBeAg-positive patients with chronic active hepatitis B receiving interferon therapy.

Adult↗