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Biomedical subjects

R Shirai

Publications and source records attributed to R Shirai.

40 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

[Roxithromycin treatment in patients with chronic lower respiratory tract disease--its clinical efficacy and effect on cytokine].

We demonstrated the efficacy of "long term" roxithromycin (RXM) treatment in 15 patients with chronic lower respiratory tract disease (11 with diffuse panbronchiolitis and 4 with sinobronchial syndrome). (1) Fourteen (93.3%) of the 15 patients showed improvement when assessed by the comprehensive improvement score, and they showed significant improvements in PaO2 (74.2 +/- 10.4 Torr to 84.3 +/- 10.9 Torr, p < 0.01), %VC (86.9 +/- 20.2% to 96.0 +/- 21.9%, p < 0.001) and FEV1 (1.81 +/- 0.87 L to 2.14 +/- 1.08 L, p < 0.01) after RXM treatment. (2) Neutrophils accumulated in the pre-RXM treatment bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and decreased in BAL fluid of patients responding to RXM treatment (49.8 +/- 28.3% to 17.1 +/- 15.7%, p < 0.01). Additionally, the levels of interleukin 1 beta and interleukin 8 were significantly higher in BAL fluid of these patients than those in the healthy volunteers (p < 0.025, p < 0.01 respectively), and correlated with the neutrophil accumulation (r = 0.619, p < 0.05). These cytokines showed a decrease after RXM treatment. These results indicated that RXM acts by reducing pulmonary inflammation through reduction of neutrophil migration to inflammatory sites, and is effective on chronic lower respiratory tract disease.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sequence selective interaction between nucleotides and intercalators bound to water soluble dextran: an application to the affinity chromatography of dinucleotides.

The analysis of association constant between dextran coupled intercalators and nucleotides revealed the base- and sequence-selective affinity to mono- and dinucleotides in aqueous solution. Acridine bound CH-Sepharose 4B, designed as the affinity stationary phase for nucleotides, also showed base- and sequence-selective affinity.

Anthracenes↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Immunological function and nutritional status in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Infection is a major complication associated with increased morbidity and mortality in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. We compared the immunological function and nutritional status in 16 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (13 patients had liver cirrhosis) with those of 21 normal healthy subjects. METHODOLOGY: The immunological function was assessed by chemotaxis and superoxide anion production by neutrophils, phagocytosis and killing activities of neutrophils and monocytes, absolute and relative number of peripheral blood lymphocytes, the percentage of peripheral lymphocyte subsets and serum concentrations of immunoglobulins. RESULTS: Although the phagocytic and bactericidal activities of monocytes and superoxide production of neutrophils were not different between the groups, the phagocytic and bactericidal activities of neutrophils and the percentage of natural killer cells were significantly reduced in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. In the latter group, the prognostic nutrition index was significantly high compared with normal subjects, indicating a poor nutritional status. The phagocytic and bactericidal activities of neutrophils were low in patients with a poor nutritional status compared to those with a good nutritional status. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that impaired immunological competence and undernourishment may be one of the mechanisms causing increased susceptibility of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma to infection.

Aged↗