Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

N Ikegami

Publications and source records attributed to N Ikegami.

103 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1974

Murine virus-induced proteins synthesized by hamster tumor cells transformed by, but not producing, murine sarcoma virus.

The 8303 hamster tumor cells transformed by Moloney strain of murine sarcoma virus (M-MSV), but which do not produce virus, do contain murine virus-induced proteins. The virus-induced proteins within the cell were identified either as free proteins or in association with membranous material, including the plasma membrane. In addition, some were excreted by the 8303 hamster tumor cells into the growth medium. Most virus-induced proteins were larger than 68,000 daltons, and they did not dissociate into components of smaller size in the presence of detergent and a reducing agent. A small amount of virus-induced protein with a molecular weight of less than 20,000 was also found in the hamster tumor cells. No virus-specific proteins with the identical antigenic specificity or size of the major internal group specific antigen (molecular weight about 30,000) of the murine leukemia viruses were present in these cells. There is a common cell surface antigen present in three other tumor cell lines, both virus-producing and non-virus-producing, identical in reactivity to that of the murine virus-induced antigen of the 8303 hamster tumor cell. This antigen is not present on the cell surface of normal mouse embryo cells.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Best medical practice: the case of Japan.

'Best medical practice' can be given three different definitions. Definition A, by the medical profession, emphasizes the maintenance of technical standards in diagnosis and treatment. Definition B, by the essentially healthy general population, emphasizes preventive measures and the reassurance of the healthy status. Definition C, by the chronically sick and disabled, emphasizes rehabilitation and nursing care. Although each has its inherent weakness, each could be said to be describing an essential but distinct aspect of comprehensive health care which can be utilized to legitimize each party's claim for priority in the allocation of resources. Thus, the relative weight that is given to the three definitions of 'best medical practice' in society as a whole appears to be ultimately dependent on the social and cultural conditions unique to each country. In the case of Japan, Definition B has become the most dominant: it has resulted in the health care demands of the essentially healthy general population being well taken care of without excessive allocation to high technology medicine. However, a combination of demographic, technological and social changes will necessitate a different emphasis in the future.

Clinical Medicine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The actual process of rating the global assessment of functioning scale.

The Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) was developed for the overall assessment of psychological, social, and occupational functioning. While the advantage of the GAF lies in this comprehensiveness, questions have been raised on whether clinicians rate appropriately. To clarify this issue, the actual process of how clinicians assign GAF scores was investigated. A total of 2,462 inpatients of 19 psychiatric hospitals in Japan were assessed by their primary psychiatrists using the following rating scales: GAF, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), World Health Organization Psychiatric Disability Assessment Schedule (DAS), and physical Activities of Daily Living (ADL) index. A tree-based model analysis (also referred to as Automatic Interaction Detector [AID] or Classification and Regression Tree [CART]) was used to construct a statistical model with the GAF score as the dependent variable. The statistically best-fitted tree to predict the GAF score is as follows. The first split is based on the "conceptual disorganization" score in the BPRS, followed by splits based on DAS item scores, such as "conversation" and "underactivity." The tree model obtained suggests that Japanese clinicians judge the level of global functioning by integrating the information on both the severity of psychiatric symptoms and the level of impaired behaviour and social functioning. This logic structure was clinically acceptable and agreed well with the concept of the GAF.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Health care reform in Japan: the virtues of muddling through.

Japan's universal and egalitarian health care system helps to keep its population healthy at an exceptionally low cost. Its financing and delivery systems have been adapted over the years in a gradual way that preserves balance. In particular, its mandatory fee schedule has proved to be effective in controlling spending by manipulating prices. Today, with severe fiscal problems, pressures are mounting for more radical reforms. However, these proposals attack the wrong problems and are impractical. Real problems include inequitable health insurance financing and insufficient regard for quality of hospital care. We suggest incremental reforms that would improve these situations.

Cost Control↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Long-term care insurance comes to Japan.

Japan has moved decisively toward "socialization of care" for the frail elderly by initiating public, mandatory long-term care insurance (LTCI) on 1 April 2000. The LTCI program covers both institutional and community-based caregiving. Everyone age forty and older pays premiums. Everyone age sixty-five and older is eligible for benefits based strictly on physical and mental disability, in six categories of need. Benefits are all services, with no cash allowance for family care, and are generous, covering 90 percent of need. Long-term costs seemed not to be a major consideration in program design. Consumers can choose the services and providers they want, including use of for-profit companies.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Serotyping of human rotavirus by enzyme immuno-assay with monoclonal antibodies.

Two series of enzyme immunoassays with monoclonal antibodies produced in two laboratories (A and B) were compared in use for serotyping of human rotavirus in stool samples collected in Japan between 1988 and 1991 from patients with gastroenteritis. Of 358 samples, 222 were determined to be the same serotype, while 61 samples could not be serotyped by either assay. A hundred and one and 92 samples were not serotyped by the A and B antibodies, respectively. We believe that the A and B monoclonal antibodies are useful clinically for serotyping rotaviruses at the present time.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Public long-term care insurance in Japan.

A public long-term care (LTC) insurance program is likely to be introduced to Japan in the year 2000. A consensus on the need for more LTC resources in the rapidly aging society and dissatisfaction with the current system are some of the factors that have contributed to its introduction. Half the costs will be paid by premiums that will be levied on all those older than 40 years, and half will be covered by general taxation. The insurer will be the municipalities with a pooling mechanism at the national level to balance the differences in their demographic structure. The benefits will include institutional care, respite care, day care, home help, visiting nurses, and loan of devices. Eligibility status will be classified into 6 levels that will be determined by assessment of functional and cognitive status. However, there are few mechanisms to limit benefits and contain costs. Problems also exist in the design of the eligibility classification and in the assessment instrument. The proposed LTC insurance system highlights the need for defining what should be included in a "basic package" of LTC as an entitlement for every citizen, for an organizational mechanism and an assessment instrument to deliver services efficiently and equitably, and for physicians to work outside the traditional medical model. To what degree the Japanese public in general, and physicians in particular, is willing to deal with these issues is a challenge for the 21 st century.

Aged↗