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Biomedical subjects

N Fujii

Publications and source records attributed to N Fujii.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Cardiac tamponade secondary to hemorrhagic pericarditis during continuous hemofiltration for renal failure. The role of the anticoagulant.

Cardiac tamponade secondary to hemorrhagic pericarditis during continuous hemofiltration (CHF) for renal failure is reported. Cardiac tamponade developed while heparin was being used as an anticoagulant and did not recur when nafamostat mesilate was substituted. The role of the anticoagulant in the etiology of hemorrhagic pericarditis in dialysis patients is discussed.

Cardiac Tamponade↗
PubMed1994

Lyme disease spirochetes in a wild fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki) and in ticks.

Lyme disease spirochetes were demonstrated in a wild female fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki) and in Ixodes persulcatus ticks collected from the fox on Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Spirochetes were detected in I. persulcatus, as well as skin lesions, brain, heart, kidney, and liver of the fox. Five of seven isolates reacted with a monoclonal antibody against Borrelia afzelii specific Osp B. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) relatedness of a brain isolate was 89% to B. afzelii, and ranged from 50 to 67% to three other species. Immunoglobulin G antibodies to B. afzelii, B. garinii and B. burgdorferi sensulato, when tested in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), were negative in the fox. There were no antibodies against seven serovars of Leptospira interrogans.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Exogenous zinc ion is required for inhibitory activity of botulinum neurotoxin C1 against norepinephrine release and its endopeptidase activity toward substance P.

Botulinum neurotoxin C1 inhibited Ca(2+)-evoked norepinephrine secretion from digitonin-permeabilized PC12 cells. The inhibition by the neurotoxin was dependent on the presence of Zn2+ added exogenously. This zinc-dependent inhibition was neutralized by monoclonal antibodies that recognize the sites close to the putative zinc-binding motif in the light chain. The neurotoxin was found to have an endopeptidase activity toward small peptide, substance P. The presence of exogenous Zn2+ was also indispensable to the full expression of this endopeptidase activity. Thus both the inhibition of neurotransmitter release by the C1 neurotoxin and its endopeptidase activity are dependent on exogenous Zn2+, which suggests a strong link between the two activities.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms↗
PubMed1993

Role of disulfide linkages in tachyplesin-lipid interactions.

In order to elucidate the role of the two disulfide linkages of tachyplesin I (T-SS), a membrane-acting cyclic antimicrobial peptide from Tachypleus tridentatus, we synthesized the acyclic analog (T-Acm) with the four SH groups protected by acetamidomethyl groups and also investigated the interactions of these peptides with lipid bilayers. T-SS induced leakage of calcein from egg yolk L-alpha-phosphatidylglycerol large unilamellar vesicles (PG LUVs) at peptide concentrations 1 order of magnitude smaller than those at which leakage was induced by T-Acm, which coincides with the stronger antimicrobial activities of T-SS. The micellization of PG LUVs was also more efficient for the cyclic peptide. Fluorescence titration studies revealed that binding affinities of both peptides to the PG membranes were similar. Fourier transform infrared polarized attenuated total reflection spectroscopy and fluorescence quenching experiments demonstrated that T-SS and T-Acm both form amphiphilic antiparallel beta-sheet structures in the membranes. They are formed in such a way that the sheet planes lie parallel to the membrane surface with the sheet hydrophobic surfaces penetrating slightly into the hydrophobic region of the bilayers. Furthermore, the observation that the linear T-Acm, the weaker membrane permeabilizer, caused a far more serious membrane disruption suggests the possibility that the mechanisms of membrane permeabilization by the cyclic peptide are different from those by the linear peptide, the latter being the disruption of the lipid organization.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Induction of protein-DNA complexes in HeLa S3 cells by KW-2149, a new derivative of mitomycin C.

KW-2149 is a new water-soluble analogue of mitomycin C which shows a broad spectrum antitumor activity in experimental tumor models including mitomycin C-resistant tumors and is less hematotoxic than mitomycin C. We have found that KW-2149 increases protein-DNA complexes in HeLa S3 cells using the potassium/sodium dodecyl sulfate precipitation method which recovers largely DNA bound covalently to protein but does not precipitate DNA bound noncovalently to proteins. In contrast, no increase of the protein-DNA complexes are shown in cells treated with mitomycin C. Thus, KW-2149 binds covalently with both DNA and protein, and this may mediate for KW-2149 the potent and characteristic antitumor activity compared with mitomycin C.

Antineoplastic Agents↗
PubMed1993

Induction of mammalian DNA topoisomerase I-mediated DNA cleavage and DNA winding by bulgarein.

Bulgarein, a fungal metabolite, induced mammalian topoisomerase I-mediated DNA cleavage in vitro. The cleavage activity of bulgarein was comparable to that of camptothecin at a drug concentration range of 0.025-approximately 5 microM. The DNA cleavage induced by bulgarein was suppressed at concentrations above 12.5 microM. Treatment of a reaction mixture containing bulgarein and topoisomerase I with elevated temperature (65 degrees C) resulted in a substantial reduction in DNA cleavage, suggesting that the topoisomerase I-mediated DNA cleavage induced by bulgarein is through the mechanism of stabilizing the reversible enzyme-DNA "cleavable complex." Intensity of cleaved DNA fragments induced by bulgarein with topoisomerase I was different from that induced by camptothecin. Bulgarein inhibited catalytic activities of both topoisomerase I and topoisomerase II. The changes in absorption spectra of bulgarein in the visible region observed upon addition of increasing amounts of calf thymus DNA indicate that bulgarein interacts with DNA. DNA (un)winding assay by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that bulgarein induced the winding of DNA in the opposite direction to that of an intercalator so that positively supercoiled molecules are produced. Thus, bulgarein represents a new class of drugs which stabilizes the cleavable complex of topoisomerase I and alters the structure of DNA in a manner leading to a tightening of the helical twist.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Synthesis and characterization of the selenium analog of glutathione disulfide.

We synthesized the selenium analog of glutathione disulfide by a liquid phase method and named it glutaselenone (i.e., gamma-L-glutamyl-L-selenocysteinylglycine) diselenide. The selenol of selenocysteine was protected by the p-methoxybenzyl group, which was removed by acidolysis with trifluoroacetic acid in the presence of thioanisol. The overall yield of the final product, glutaselenone diselenide, was about 9% based on the starting compound, Se-(p-methoxybenzyl)-L-selenocysteine. Glutaselenone diselenide showed a broad absorption band between 270 and 400 nm and circular dichroism bands around 270 nm (positive) and 330 nm (negative), which were attributable to diselenide bond.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗
PubMed1993

Bilateral traumatic hip dislocation in a child.

Traumatic dislocation of in children occurs less frequently than in adults, and bilateral dislocation is extremely rare. Manual reduction was performed in a 3-year-old girl with bilateral traumatic hip dislocation. The recovery course has been favorable for about 1 year.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed1993

Traumatic anterior dislocation of the shoulder in a child.

Dislocation of the shoulder joint is a rare occurrence in children. This paper reports on traumatic anterior dislocation of the shoulder in a 3-year-old boy and a 9-year-old boy, together with a discussion of the relevant literature.

Accidents↗
PubMed1993

A comparison of sweating responses during exercise and recovery in terms of sweating rate and body temperature.

Based on the hypothesis that the relation between sweating rate and body temperature should be different during exercise and rest after exercise, we compared the sweating response during exercise and recovery at a similar body temperature. Healthy male subjects performed submaximal exercise (Experiment 1) and maximal exercise (Experiment 2) in a room at 27 degrees C and 35% relative humidity. During exercise and recovery of 20 min after exercise, esophageal temperature (Tes), mean skin temperature, mean body temperature (Tb), chest sweating rate (msw), and the frequency of sweat expulsion (Fsw) were measured. In both experiments, msw and Fsw were clearly higher during exercise than recovery at a similar body temperature (Tes, Tb). msw was similar during exercise and recovery, or a little less during the former, at a similar Fsw. It is concluded that the sweating rate during exercise is greater than that during recovery at the same body temperature, due to greater central sudomotor activity during exercise. The difference between the two values is thought to be related to non-thermal factors and the rate of change in mean skin temperature.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The complete nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding the nontoxic component of Clostridium botulinum type E progenitor toxin.

We have analysed the genes borne on a 6.0 kb HindIII fragment cloned from the chromosome of Clostridium botulinum type E strain Mashike. This fragment, cloned within plasmid pU9EMH, contains part of the structural gene for botulinum toxin type E neurotoxin as well as the entire structural gene for a nontoxic component of botulinum type E progenitor neurotoxin gene, ent-120. ent-120 is transcribed in the same direction as the neurotoxin gene and consists of one open reading frame encoding 1162 amino acid residues. Western blotting with anti-nontoxic component sera demonstrates that ent-120 encodes a protein of 120 kDa which forms part of the nontoxic component. ent-120 is homologous to an analogous gene found in botulinum type C strains (69.3% identity at the nucleotide level and 56.1% at the amino acid level). Two stretches of amino acids at the N-terminus of the ent-120 protein are highly homologous to amino acid sequences within the type E neurotoxin. The stop codon of the ent-120 gene is situated 27 nucleotides upstream from the start codon of the neurotoxin gene.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Induction of acute arthritis in mice by peptidoglycan derived from gram-positive bacteria and its possible role in cytokine production.

The activities of a water-soluble peptidoglycan fragment derived from Staphylococcus epidermidis (SEPS) were examined as to their role in proliferation of spleen mononuclear cells (SMNC) from various strains of mice, the production of cytokines in vitro, and the induction of an inflammatory reaction in vivo. The proliferation of SMNC from C3H/HeN, C57BL/6, AKR, DBA/2, and ddY mice in reaction to SEPS in vitro showed a peak on day 3 and was greater than that of SMNC from BALB/c mice. The cells of SMNC from C3H/HeN mice responsive to SEPS were indicated to be mainly macrophages. A time kinetics experiment showed a coincidence in the proliferation of SMNC in reaction to SEPS and the detection of colony-stimulating factor (CSF) activity. Interleukin 2 (IL-2) activity was not detected during the incubation periods. When SEPS was administered to mice, much stronger mRNA transcripts of granulocyte-macrophage (GM)-CSF were detected in the lungs of C3H/HeN mice than in BALB/c mice. On the other hand, the amounts of IL-1 and PGE2 produced by SMNC of BALB/c mice stimulated by SEPS were greater than those produced in C3H/HeN mice. SEPS was confirmed to induce arthritis in BALB/c mice, but not in C3H/HeN mice. Our findings suggest that the production of GM-CSF is involved in the in vitro proliferation of SMNC in reaction to SEPS and that along with IL-1 and PGE2 production, contributes to the inflammation by SEPS in vivo.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1993

Similarity in nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding nontoxic component of botulinum toxin produced by toxigenic Clostridium butyricum strain BL6340 and Clostridium botulinum type E strain Mashike.

The complete nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence of the nontoxic component of botulinum type E progenitor toxin is determined in recombinant plasmid pU9BUH containing about 6.0 kb HindIII fragment obtained from chromosomal DNA of Clostridium butyricum strain BL6340. The open reading frame (ORF) of this nontoxic component gene is composed of 3,486 nucleotide bases (1,162 amino acid residues). The molecular weight calculated from deduced amino acid residues is estimated 13,6810.1. The present study revealed that 33 nucleotide bases of 3,486 are different in the nontoxic component gene between C. butyricum strain BL6340 and C. botulinum type E strain Mashike. This corresponds to the difference of 17 amino acid residues in these nontoxic component.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

[Human herpesvirus-6 antibodies in idiopathic facial nerve palsy and sudden deafness].

Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) is the causative agent for exanthem subitum. This study investigated the relationship between idiopathic facial nerve palsy (Bell's palsy), sudden deafness and HHV-6 infection. Both Bell's palsy and sudden deafness are syndromes which causes are unknown. Both of them are suspected viral infection as causative agents. Paired sera from 22 patients of Bell's palsy and 39 patients of sudden deafness were examined for reactivity to HHV-6 by the indirect immunofluorescence test. On a case of Bell's palsy and two cases of sudden deafness each of the HHV-6 antibody titers was increased.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Two different types of ADP-ribosyltransferase C3 from Clostridium botulinum type D lysogenized organisms.

We examined production of ADP-ribosyltransferase C3 in 11 strains of Clostridium botulinum type C and D and their nontoxigenic derivatives. Antisera to C3 proteins of type C organisms divided C3 proteins roughly into at least two groups, bearing no relation to their bacterial types. The C3 gene of type D strain South African was isolated from a toxigenic phage library, and the complete sequence of the C3 gene was determined. The C3 protein of type D strain South African had 98% homology to the C3 protein of type C strain 003-9 and 66% homology to that of type D strain 1873. These results indicate that there are two types of C3 protein in type D organisms, as there are in type C organisms.

ADP Ribose Transferases↗