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Biomedical subjects

N Okudaira

Publications and source records attributed to N Okudaira.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

Sleep apnea and nocturnal myoclonus in the elderly.

Insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and nocturnal wandering, so common in the elderly, are caused largely by two specific pathophysiologic processes. Sleep apnea is a condition where respiration pauses during sleep, leading to arousal. Sleep apnea is due either to obstruction in the throat or failure of the central respiratory center. Periodic movements in sleep are characterized by frequent ankle and leg flexions, leading to arousal. Sleep apnea and periodic movements in sleep require specific diagnoses and treatments. Each process occurs in 20%-30% of people over 65, and perhaps the majority of older people have one or the other condition or both. Because of possible interactions with these sleep disorders, the widespread prescribing of sleeping pills to elderly patients is irrational and often dangerous. In the future, large-scale clinical trials will be needed to define effective long-term treatments for these conditions and to define when treatment is worthwhile.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

The effect of butoctamide hydrogen succinate on nocturnal sleep: all-night polygraphical studies.

Butoctamide hydrogen succinate (BAHS), related to an organic compound naturally occurring in the central nervous system (CNS), has been shown to increase REM sleep in chronically prepared cats. In the present study, we confirmed that BAHS increases REM sleep in healthy humans, the subjects were six males whose mean age was 21 years and the experiment covered eight consecutive nights. Identical capsules containing either a placebo (linolenic acid) or 600 mg BAHS were administered 1 h prior to recording, which was started at 11 p.m. There was little change in total sleep time, sleep efficiency index, sleep latency, REM sleep latency, or the number of REM sleep periods during the drug- as compared to the baseline periods. There were, however, significant increases in REM sleep and decreases in sleep stages 1 and 2. The night's sleep was divided into three equal portions and analysis of the percentage of sleep stages in each showed that REM sleep markedly increased in the middle third while stages 3 and 4 increased in the last third. A carryover effect of BAHS was recognized during the withdrawal period. The maximum percentage of BAHS-induced REM sleep was 34%. REM density during the drug periods tended to decrease. These results suggest that BAHS may be an efficacious hypnotic in that it increases REM sleep which is suppressed by other clinically used hypnotics.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

FK 506 metabolism in male and female rat liver microsomes.

The main metabolite of the immunosuppressant FK 506 in hepatic microsomes from male and female Sprague-Dawley rats was identified by mass spectrometry as an O-desmethyl derivative. The rate of formation of the metabolite exhibited saturation kinetics in the range of 0.6-40 microM with Vmax and KM equal to 0.66 +/- 0.47 nmol/min/mg protein and 24 +/- 18 microM, respectively, for microsomes from male rats, and 0.28 +/- 0.15 nmol/min/mg protein and 24 +/- 16 microM, respectively, for microsomes from female rats. CYP3A enzymes are thought to be responsible for metabolizing FK 506 in male rats. Because untreated female rats show no classical CYP3A activity, our work suggests that other CYP enzymes metabolize FK 506 in untreated female rats. O-Desmethyl FK 506 did not cross-react in the standard clinical ELISA assay for FK 506. This suggests that demethylation had occurred at the C13-methoxy group.

Animals↗