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Biomedical subjects

S Saitoh

Publications and source records attributed to S Saitoh.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

[Prevalence of glucose intolerance in Japan--from the National Circulatory Disorders Basic Survey, 1990].

The prevalence of glucose intolerance was surveyed in 8,063 people over 30 years old from the general population of Japan. The data used in the analysis were from the Fourth National Circulatory Disorders Basic Survey, which was conducted in 1990. Survey items included history of diabetes mellitus, body mass index (BMI) and daily life activity. Blood and urine were also examined, and the blood glucose levels, presence or absence of sugar in urine, and levels of glycohemoglobin (HbA1c) were determined. Glucose intolerance was identified from the blood glucose level, HbA1c level and history of diabetes mellitus. The frequency of glucose intolerance was 8.6% in all subjects (11.9% in men and 6.3% in women). The frequency was higher in older people: 1.7 times higher in men over 65 years old and 2.5 times higher in women over 65 years old. Among people over 40 years old, glucose intolerance was significantly more prevalent in men than in women. It was also significantly more prevalent in men living in big cities than in men living in rural areas. Among obese male subjects and men with a low level of activity in daily life, the frequency of glucose intolerance was higher than in normal male subjects. The level of activity in daily life tended to be lower for people living in big cities than for those in rural areas. The results suggest that the prevalence of glucose intolerance depends on the environment in which people live. The results also indicate that raising the level of activities in daily life might help prevent diabetes mellitus.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1998

[Incidence rate of acute myocardial infarction in Hokkaido, Japan].

A survey of acute myocardial infarctions (AMI) that occurred from October 1990 through September 1993 in Obihiro City, Hokkaido, was conducted. A total of 114 new cases of AMI was registered over the 3-year period. The incidence rate of AMI was 33.4 cases per 100,000 men per year and 137 cases per 100,000 women per year (total, 23.2 cases). The mean age at which AMI occurred was 11 years higher in women (71.1 +/- 9.4 years) than in men (60.0 +/- 11.8 years). In men, AMI was most common during the eighth decade of life, while in women the incidence of AMI increased after menopause. The ratio of cases of AMI to cases of stroke in the same period was 1:4.5. These results did not differ from the results of other surveys done over the same period in seven other area of Japan. To study risk factors for myocardial infarction, the data were grouped according to the results of medical examinations. Hypertension, diabetes, obesity and smoking were common among people with AMI. The incidence rate of hypercholesterolemia did not differ between those with AMI and those without, and only a relatively small number of people with AMI drank alcohol. Past reports have pointed out changes in the 'structure' of cardiovascular disease in Japan, which have accompanied changes in diet and lifestyle. This study has shows that aging hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and smoking are risk factors for myocardial infarction. Proper management, including early detection of these factors, will help to prevent of ischemic heart disease in Japan.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

[Effect of arterial administration of a high molecular weight anti-tumor agent styrene maleic acid neocarzinostatin for multiple small liver cancer].

To assess the characteristics of a zinostatin derivative, 29 patients with multiple hepatocellular carcinoma of 3 cm or less in diameter were treated with intra-arterial injection of the high molecular weight anti-tumor agent, styrene-maleic acid neocarzinostatin, mixed with Lipiodol. Computerized tomography 3 months after the first therapy showed complete accumulation of Lipiodol in 8 patients (27.6%), 50% to 99% accumulation in 4 (13.8%), 10 to 49% in 10 (34.5%), and less than 10% in 7 (24.1%). After repeated injections, Lipiodol accumulation of the entire area of the original tumor was found in 11 patients (37.9%). The degree of Lipiodol accumulation depended on the angiographic vascularity of the tumor and on the images of computerized tomogram during arterial portography. Although complete accumulation of Lipiodol was found in all tumors in 10 (58.8%) of the 17 patients with well-demarcated round-shaped hypervascularity, only one (8.3%) of 12 patients with ill-demarcated tumors could achieve complete accumulation of the Lipiodol in the tumors. Taking into account the fact that hypervascularity on angiograms is closely correlated with the degree of Lipiodol accumulation on computerized tomograms obtained later, well-demarcated round-shaped liver cancer is the best candidate for styrene-maleic acid neocarzinostatin therapy among various stages of liver cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Relationship of angiographic finding with neovascular structure detected by immunohistochemical staining of alpha-smooth muscle actin in small hepatocellular carcinoma.

To elucidate the relationship between angiographic features and histological findings, an immunohistological study of alpha-smooth muscle actin was performed in 106 patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma. Arterial dominance or portal blood paucity were found in 73 patients (68.9%) on digital subtraction angiography, 88 (83.0%) on computerized tomographic arterial portography and 87 (82.1%) on carbon dioxide-enhanced ultrasonography. Among 73 patients with hypervascularity on angiography, 57 (78.1%) had thick-walled, nuclei-rich and slender-shaped vessels (type II), eight (11.0%) had thin-walled, nuclei-poor and oval-shaped vessels (type I) and the remaining eight had a mixed type of II and I. Conversely, among 33 patients without hypervascularity, five (15.2%) had a type II, 21 (63.6%) had a type I, five had a mixed type and two had no positive vessel. Tumour size, histological classification and amount of non-triadal vessels were also associated with the angiographic appearance of the tumours. Among varied aspects of the cancer including tumour size, tumour multiplicity, microscopic portal invasion, histological classification, amount of alpha-smooth muscle actin-positive vessels and shape of alpha-smooth muscle actin-positive vessels, multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the shape of alpha-smooth muscle actin-positive vessels was solely associated with angiographic hypervascularity independently (P<0.0001). Although the existence of non-triadal vessels characterized hepatocellular carcinoma, angiographic hypervascularity was closely associated with the type II vessel. A morphological change of non-triadal vessel from type I to type II was considered to occur in an early stage of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Actins↗
PubMed1997

Mis6, a fission yeast inner centromere protein, acts during G1/S and forms specialized chromatin required for equal segregation.

Disorder in sister chromatid separation can lead to genome instability and cancer. A temperature-sensitive S. pombe mis6-302 frequently loses a minichromosome at 26 degrees C and abolishes equal segregation of regular chromosomes at 36 degrees C. The mis6+ gene is essential for viability, and its deletion results in missegregation identical to mis6-302. Mis6 acts before or at the onset of S phase, and mitotic missegregation defects are produced only after the passage of G1/S at 36 degrees C. Mis6 locates at the centromeres throughout the cell cycle. In the mutant, positioning of the centromeres becomes abnormal, and specialized chromatin in the inner centromeres, which give the smear micrococcal nuclease pattern in wild type, is disrupted. The ability to establish correct biorientation of sister centromeres in metaphase cells requires the Mis6-containing chromatin and originates during the passage of G1/S.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1997

The long term efficacy of glycyrrhizin in chronic hepatitis C patients.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurs in patients with hepatitis C virus-RNA positive chronic liver disease. It is important to prevent HCC with drug administration. METHODS: A retrospective study was undertaken to evaluate the long term preventive effect of Stronger Neo-Minophagen C (SNMC) on HCC development. SNMC is a Japanese medicine that is commonly administered to patients with chronic hepatitis C to improve the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level. Of 453 patients diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C retrospectively in the study hospital between January 1979 and April 1984, 84 patients (Group A) had been treated with SNMC; SNMC was given at a dose of 100 mL daily for 8 weeks, then 2-7 times a week for 2-16 years (median, 10.1 years). Another group of 109 patients (Group B) could not be treated with SNMC or interferon for a long period of time (median, 9.2 years) and were given other herbal medicine (such as vitamin K). The patients were retrospectively monitored, and the cumulative incidence of HCC and risk factors for HCC were examined. RESULTS: The 10th-year rates of cumulative HCC incidence for Groups A and B were 7% and 12%, respectively, and the 15th-year rates were 12% and 25%. By Cox regression analysis, the relative risk of HCC incidence in patients not treated with SNMC (Group B) was 2.49 compared with that of patients treated with SNMC (Group A). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, long term administration of SNMC in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C was effective in preventing liver carcinogenesis.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Clinical spectrum and molecular diagnosis of Angelman and Prader-Willi syndrome patients with an imprinting mutation.

Recent studies have identified a new class of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and Angelman syndrome (AS) patients who have biparental inheritance, but neither the typical deletion nor uniparental disomy (UPD) or translocation. However, these patients have uniparental DNA methylation throughout 15q11-q13, and thus appear to have a mutation in the imprinting process for this region. Here we describe detailed clinical findings of five AS imprinting mutation patients (three families) and two PWS imprinting mutation patients (one new family). All these patients have essentially the classical clinical phenotype for the respective syndrome, except that the incidence of microcephaly is lower in imprinting mutation AS patients than in deletion AS patients. Furthermore, imprinting mutation AS and PWS patients do not typically have hypopigmentation, which is commonly found in patients with the usual large deletion. Molecular diagnosis of these cases is initially achieved by DNA methylation analyses of the DN34/ZNF127, PW71 (D15S63), and SNRPN loci. The latter two probes have clear advantages in the simple molecular diagnostic analysis of PWS and AS patients with an imprinting mutation, as has been found for typical deletion or UPD PWS and AS cases. With the recent finding of inherited microdeletions in PWS and AS imprinting mutation families, our studies define a new class of these two syndromes. The clinical and molecular identification of these PWS and AS patients has important genetic counseling consequences.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Pretreatment virus load and multiple amino acid substitutions in the interferon sensitivity-determining region predict the outcome of interferon treatment in patients with chronic genotype 1b hepatitis C virus infection.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b and high pretreatment virus load are predictive factors of poor response to interferon therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C. To further examine the factors predicting the response to interferon in patients with genotype 1b infection, we analyzed 110 consecutive patients with HCV who were treated with a total of 624 million units of lymphoblastoid interferon alfa. Thirty-six patients (33%) were responders, while the remaining 74 patients (67%) were nonresponders. Multivariate analysis showed that a high virus titer (assessed by serum core protein level, P = .0021) and the presence of more than two amino acid substitutions in the interferon sensitivity-determining region (ISDR) (P = .0036) correlated significantly with the response to interferon therapy. Because mutations analyzed by direct sequencing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products may reflect artifacts of direct sequencing, we further analyzed quasispecies of HCV in this region by cloning and sequencing. Although PCR-based analysis of responders with multiple amino acid substitutions in the ISDR showed the presence of a small amount of wild-type strain in their serum, the results obtained by direct sequencing and cloning were essentially the same. A longitudinal study of quasispecies in 2 patients who showed a dramatic change in the virus titer showed no conversion from wild type to mutant or vice versa. Our results indicate that amino acid substitutions and virus load are independent predictors of the response to interferon therapy. The ability of some patients with no mutation in the ISDR or high virus load to eliminate the virus suggests the presence of other unidentified factors, host or viral, that influence the response to interferon therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Rupture of flexor tendons due to pisotriquetral osteoarthritis.

We are reporting a case of a flexor profundus tendon rupture of the little finger due to pisotriquetral osteoarthrosis. Resection of the pisiform bone and resurfacing of the carpal tunnel with the joint capsule was performed for the osteoarthrosis and free tendon grafting for the tendon rupture. The tendon grafting and a subsequent tenolysis restored the function of the little finger. Other than radiological changes in the pisotriquetral joint, the diagnostic value of preoperative radiocarpal arthrography was emphasized in this rare complication of pisotriquetral arthrosis.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Effect of arterial administration of a high molecular weight anti-tumor agent, styrene maleic acid neocarzinostatin, for multiple small liver cancer--a pilot study.

To assess the efficacy of the zinostatin derivative, the anti-tumor agent, styrene-maleic acid neocarzinostatin, in treating multiple small liver cancers, 29 patients with multiple hepatocellular carcinoma of 3 cm or less in diameter were treated with intraarterial injections of this high molecular weight agent, mixed with Lipiodol. Computed tomography 3 months after the first therapy showed complete deposition of Lipiodol in the entire area of the original tumor in 8 patients (27.6%), 50%-99% deposition in 4 (13.8%), 10%-49% in 10 (34.5%), and less than 10% in 7 (24.1%). After repeated injections, Lipiodol deposition in the entire area of the original tumor was found in 11 patients (37.9%). The degree of Lipiodol deposition depended on the angiographic vascularity of the tumor and on the images of the computed tomogram during arterial portography. Although complete deposition of Lipiodol was found in all tumors in 10 (58.8%) of the 17 patients with well demarcated round hypervascularity, only 1 (8.3%) of 12 patients with ill demarcated tumors showed complete deposition of Lipiodol in the tumors. Taking into account that hypervascularity on angiograms was closely correlated with the degree of Lipiodol accumulation on computed tomograms taken later, it appears that well demarcated round-shaped liver cancer is the best candidate for styrene-maleic acid neocarzinostatin therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Time course of histological changes in patients with a sustained biochemical and virological response to interferon-alpha therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although biochemical and virological responses to interferon-alpha therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus infection have been extensively studied, long-term changes in liver histology have not been well documented. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 105 paired liver biopsy specimens taken before and after treatment from 93 patients who persistently showed biochemical remission and an absence of viremia for up to 68 months. RESULTS: The grading scores for necroinflammatory and fibrotic activity in the liver biopsy specimens decreased significantly after interferon-alpha therapy. Histological scores graded according to Knodell's components improved significantly in every category after interferon-alpha therapy. However, inflammatory cell infiltrates remained within the portal tracts for long periods; necroinflammation in the periportal and lobular regions were absent in most of the post-therapy specimens. The cumulative disappearance rate, calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, was significantly lower for portal inflammation than for periportal or lobular necroinflammation but was equivalent to that for histological disease activity. On univariate analysis, age and fibrosis at the onset of treatment were significant factors influencing the response of histological disease activity to interferon-alpha therapy (p=0.025 and 0.049, respectively). Using Cox's proportional hazard analysis, age was the only significant independent predictor of histological response to treatment (p=0.035). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical remission of chronic hepatitis C virus infection is associated with histological resolution of necroinflammation in the periportal and lobular regions. Host-related factors are likely to influence whether early remission of inflammation after interferon-alpha therapy occurs.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Effects of systemic administration of 2-(4-phenyl-piperidino)-cyclohexanol (vesamicol) and an organophosphate DDVP on the cholinergic system in brain regions of rats.

Vesamicol is known to inhibit the transport of acetylcholine (ACh) into synaptic vesicles in vitro, but much less is known about its effects in the brain in vivo. To assess the effect of vesamicol in vivo, we examined cholinergic parameters, such as the subcellular distribution of ACh, activities of enzymes, uptake of choline, and muscarinic receptor binding in the striatum, hippocampus, and cerebral cortex of rats 30 and 60 min after intraperitoneal injection of vesamicol (3 mg/kg) or of vesamicol in combination with DDVP (5 mg/kg), which was administered 10 min before vasamicol. The levels of cytosolic ACh increased in all regions of the brain after injection of vesamicol, while those of vesicular ACh decreased in all regions except for the striatum. The increase in the levels of extracellular ACh and cytosolic ACh in the striatum induced by DDVP was generally enhanced after injection of vesamicol, Vesamicol did not reduce the level of vesicular ACh when DDVP had been injected previously. Vesamicol did not induce any significant changes in the activities of enzymes, choline uptake, or binding of [6H]quinuclidinyl benzilate to the muscarinic ACh receptors in the three regions. Changes in the cholinergic parameters caused by DDVP were not reversed by the combined administration of DDVP with vesamicol. The present results indicate that vesamicol can inhibit the transport of ACh into synaptic vesicles in the brain tissue in vivo, although it cannot reverse the effects of DDVP that has been injected prior to vesamicol.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1997

Prediction of effect of interferon on chronic hepatitis C.

Clinical, pathological, and virological analysis including hypervariable region-1 of hepatitis C virus (HCV) was performed to predict the effect of interferon (IFN) on 41 patients with chronic hepatitis type C. The low virus load, low frequency of the mutation in the hypervariable region-1 as the change of amino acid and high level of serum aminotransferase make one estimate the good effect of IFN on patients with HCV. Mutation in the hypervariable region-1 of HCV measured by fast assay fluorescence single-stranded conformational polymorphism was more frequent in nonresponders to IFN than responders. The most frequently mutated position was amino acid number 406. This indicates that the specific mutation site might affect the response of IFN.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1997

Subunit composition of the pre-T-cell receptor complex analysed by monoclonal antibody against the pre-T-cell receptor alpha chain.

The pre-T-cell receptor (TCR) complex, which consists of a heterodimer of the TCR beta-chain and the pre-TCR alpha-chain, is known to regulate early thymocyte development. The pre-TCR complex contains CD3 subunits as a signal-transducing molecule, but the exact subunit composition of the fully assembled pre-TCR complex remains to be elucidated. In particular, the association of the CD3 zeta-chain with the pre-TCR is controversial. In the present study, we have generated a monoclonal antibody against the cytoplasmic portion of the pre-TCR alpha-chain, and analysed a subunit composition of the pre-TCR complex. We demonstrated that the CD3 zeta-chain is physically associated with the pre-TCR in immature T cells. Thus, the result strongly supports the previous findings that CD3 zeta contributes to signalling mediated through the pre-TCR complex.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

A prospective randomized administration of 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine as adjuvant chemotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization.

A prospective randomized trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of long-term oral administration of low-dose 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5'-DFUR) as an adjuvant chemotherapy, following transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) in 40 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Forty eligible patients were randomized into two groups: 20 with TAE plus 5'-DFUR (400 mg/day) and 20 with TAE alone. A good necrosis rate or decrease in size of more than 70% of the original tumor mass was attained in 14 by the TAE plus 5'-DFUR arm, and in 12 by the TAE arm at 3 months after the first TAE. Although all five patients with HCC and 70-99% necrosis rate after the first TAE in the TAE alone arm showed a less than 70% necrosis rate at 12 months, four of the seven patients with a 70-99% necrosis in the TAE plus 5'-DFUR arm retained a necrosis of more than 70% at 12 months after the first TAE. The appearance rate of ascites and/or encephalopathy in patients with chemotherapy was not different from that of patients with TAE alone. One-year survival rates in the TAE plus 5'-DFUR arm and the TAE alone arm were 75.0% and 85.0%, 2-year rates were 64.2% and 66.2%, and 3-year rates were 64.6% and 49.7%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the survival curves. In conclusion, adjuvant therapy with 5'-DFUR was well tolerated without significant side effects, and it might maintain a good necrosis state of HCC after TAE. In order to confirm a beneficial effect of the chemotherapy on the survival period, a study using more patients and longer observation periods will be required.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Induction of specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes against autologous brain tumor by crossreactive allo-tumor cell stimulation.

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) against autologous malignant brain tumor were generated in peripheral blood lymphoid cells (PBL) prepared from a patient with a malignant brain tumor by stimulation of the cultured PBL for 7 days with attenuated crossreactive malignant melanoma (MM2) cells pretreated with mitomycin C. The crossreactive MM2 cells were effective for antigen stimulation for CTL induction in place of autologous glioblastoma cells, which are difficult to expand in culture. The optimal ratio between nylon wool-passed T lymphocytes and nylon wool-adherent accessory cells to induce CTL in the patient's PBL was found to be 25 to 1. In vitro-activated CTLs induced by MM2 were cytotoxic not only to MM2, but also to the autologous tumor cells in an HLA class I-restricted manner, and their surface phenotype was found to be CD3+ and CD8+. CTL therapy using cross-reactive allogeneic tumor cells as the stimulator could be clinically valuable to treat malignant brain tumors.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

CD56-positive (nasal-type T/NK cell) lymphoma arising on the skin. Report of two cases and review of the literature.

Several authors have reported cases of patients with malignant lymphoma with unique characteristics, designated nasal-type T/NK cell lymphoma, which expresses the natural killer (NK) cell marker and shows frequent extra-nodal involvement and poor prognosis. We report 2 cases of this type of lymphoma which were CD56-positive and showed a histopathologically angiocentric pattern with cutaneous and subcutaneous tumorous lesions. Patient 1 had extensive invasion of skin, underlying skeletal muscle, spleen and bone marrow, and died of sepsis 34 months after onset. Patient 2 had multiple subcutaneous nodules and invasion to mammary gland, lung, lymph node and spleen at the time of her first visit. She died of a rapid invasion of lymphoma cells to the liver 5 months after onset. Both patients showed similar immunophenotypes of tumor cells (CD2+, CD3-, CD4-, CD8-, CD20-, CD56+) and germ line configuration of the heavy chain of immunoglobulin (JH), T-cell receptor C beta-1 subunit DNA and T-cell receptor J gamma subunit DNA. Epstein-Barr virus early regions RNA was demonstrated in the nuclei of tumor cells of both patients with in situ hybridization. The histopathological examination of the skin lesions of both patients revealed the features of angiocentric lymphoma. The detection of CD56 in the tumor cells of cutaneous lymphomas should be routinely performed for the early diagnosis of this type of lymphoma with extremely poor prognosis.

Antigens, CD↗