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S Shima

Publications and source records attributed to S Shima.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of formylmethanofuran: tetrahydromethanopterin formyltransferase from Methanopyrus kandleri.

Formylmethanofuran:tetrahydromethanopterin formyltransferase from the hyperthermophilic methanogenic Archaeon Methanopyrus kandleri (growth temperature optimum 98 degrees C) was crystallized by vapor diffusion methods. Crystal form M obtained with 2-methyl-2,4-pentanediol as precipitant displayed the space group P2(1) with unit cell parameters of a = 87.0 A, b = 75.4 A, c = 104.7 A, and beta = 113.9 degrees and diffracted better than 2 A resolution. Crystal form P grown from polyethylene glycol 8000 belonged to the space group I4(1)22 and had unit cell parameters of 157.5 A and 242.1 A. Diffraction data to 1.73 A were recorded. Crystal form S which was crystallized from (NH4)2SO4 in the space group I4(1)22 with unit cell parameters of 151.3 A and 249.5 A diffracted at least to 2.2 A resolution. All crystal forms probably have four molecules per asymmetric unit and are suitable for X-ray structure analysis.

Archaea↗
PubMed1996

Primary structure and properties of the formyltransferase from the mesophilic Methanosarcina barkeri: comparison with the enzymes from thermophilic and hyperthermophilic methanogens.

The ftr gene encoding formylmethanofuran: tetrahydromethanopterin formyltransferase (Ftr) from Methanosarcina barkeri was cloned, sequenced, and functionally expressed in Escherichia coli. The overproduced enzyme was purified eightfold to apparent homogeneity, and its catalytic properties were determined. The primary structure and the hydropathic character of the formyltransferase from Methanosarcina barkeri were compared with those of the enzymes from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum, Methanothermus fervidus, and Methanopyrus kandleri. The amino acid sequence of the enzyme from Methanosarcina barkeri was 64%, 61%, and 59% identical to that of the enzyme from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum, Methanothermus fervidus, and Methanopyrus kandleri, respectively. A negative correlation between the hydrophobicity of the enzymes and both the growth temperature optimum and the intracellular salt concentration of the four organisms was observed. The hydrophobicity of amino acid composition was +21.6 for the enzyme from Methanosarcina barkeri (growth temperature optimum 37 degrees C, intracellular salt concentrationapproximately 0.3 M), +9.9 for the enzyme from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum (65 degrees C,approximately 0.7 M), -20.8 for the enzyme from Methanothermus fervidus (83 degrees C,approximately 1.0 M) and -31.4 for the enzyme from Methanopyrus kandleri (98 degrees C, > 1.1 M). Generally, a positive correlation between hydrophobicity and thermophilicity of enzymes and a negative correlation between hydrophobicity and halophilicity of enzymes are observed. The findings therefore indicate that the hydropathic character of the formyltransferases compared is mainly determined by the intracellular salt concentration rather than by temperature. Sequence similarities between the formyltransferases from methanogens and an open reading frame from Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 are discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Clinical and psychosocial correlates of antenatal depression: a review.

In contrast to the considerable research on postnatal depression, less attention has been paid to that occurring during pregnancy-antenatal depression (AD). However, recent investigations have studied depression among pregnant women not necessarily requiring psychiatric hospitalization but needing psychological support and help. A controlled study showed that the rate of AD was significantly higher than that of depression among non-pregnant women: the reported incidence varies between 4 and 29%. AD was found to be associated with: (1) obstetric factors (first pregnancy, first delivery, and past history of abortion); (2) early experience (loss of father); (3) personality (high neuroticism score); (4) attitudes towards the present pregnancy (perplexity of the husband); (5) accomodation factors (non-detached housing, and expected crowdedness after birth of the child, and (6) social support (low level of intimacy with the husband). Differential effects of these factors in the development of AD are to be studied in future research, particularly in conjunction with investigation of hormonal variables.

Depressive Disorder↗
PubMed1996

Psychosocial study of depression in early pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: The psychosocial correlates of depression during pregnancy were explored. METHOD: Pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic of a general hospital (n = 1329) received a set of questionnaires including Zung's Self-Rating Depression Score (SDS). SDS high scores (> 49) (the cases: n = 179) were compared with low scores (< 38) (the controls; n = 343). RESULTS: The cases were characterised by: first delivery; more nausea, vomiting, and anorexia; more menstrual pains and premenstrual irritability; early paternal loss; lower maternal care and higher paternal overprotection; higher public self-consciousness score; more smoking and use of medication in pregnancy; unwanted pregnancy; negative psychological response to the pregnancy by the woman and husband; poor intimacy by the husband; and having remarried. CONCLUSIONS: Depression in early pregnancy is determined mainly by psychosocial factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

[Availability of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) for a complete health examination in Japan].

OBJECTIVE: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is an instrument designed to identify hazardous drinkers, harmful drinkers and alchoholics. It was translated into Japanese using the WHOQOL method. The concurrent validity and reliability of the Japanese version of AUDIT were evaluated in a complete health examination. The instrument was also compared with the CAGE questionnaire. METHOD: The subjects were 93 applicants attending for health checks in a human dry dock. They completed self-report questionnaires containing the Core AUDIT and CAGE. and underwent a semi-structured interview conducted by a professional physician. RESULT: From the semi-structured interview, it was determined that 23 of the subjects were problem drinkers and 10 were alcoholics. Analyses indicated that the Core AUDIT was sufficiently sensitive and specific for discriminating problem drinkers and alcoholics. Core AUDIT was also superior to CAGE for discriminating problem drinkers from non-problem drinkers, as well as identifying alcoholics. CONCLUSION: The data suggest that the Japanese version of AUDIT is useful for early detection of hazardous or harmful drinkers.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Formylmethanofuran:tetrahydromethanopterin formyltransferase (Ftr) from the hyperthermophilic Methanopyrus kandleri. Cloning, sequencing and functional expression of the ftr gene and one-step purification of the enzyme overproduced in Escherichia coli.

Methanopyrus kandleri is a methanogenic Archaeon that grows on H2 and CO2 at a temperature optimum of 98 degrees C. The gene ftr encoding the formylmethanofuran:tetrahydromethanopterin formyltransferase, an enzyme involved in CO2 reduction to methane, has been cloned, sequenced, and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The overproduced enzyme could be purified in yields above 90% by simply heating the cell extract to 90 degrees C in 1.5 M K2HPO4 pH 8.0 for 30 min. From 1 g wet cells (70 mg protein) approximately 14 mg formyltransferase was obtained. The purified enzyme showed essentially the same catalytic properties as that purified from M. kandleri cells. The primary structure and properties of the formyltransferase are compared with those of the enzyme from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum (growth temperature optimum 65 degrees C) and Methanothermus fervidus (83 degrees C). Of the three enzymes that from M. kandleri had the lowest isoelectric point (4.2) and the lowest hydrophobicity of the amino acid composition. The enzyme from M. kandleri had the relatively highest content in alanine, glutamate and glutamine and the relatively lowest content in isoleucine, leucine and lysine. These properties, some of which are unusual for enzymes from other hyperthermophilic organisms, may reflect that the formyltransferase from M. kandleri is adapted to both hyperthermophilic and halophilic conditions.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

PCNA immunostaining combined with AgNOR staining in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma to identify patients with a poor prognosis.

Immunostaining of the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) provides important information about cell kinetics and is easily performed on routinely obtained formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded materials. We report herein the results of a retrospective study on PCNA staining in esophageal cancer undertaken to determine its significance. As this study indicated that immunoreactivity was preserved in specimens fixed within 24h, only 31 specimens from surgical patients were available for this investigation. The mean PCNA index of the patients without invasion to the adventitia (35.7 +/- 17.9) was significantly lower than that of those with invasion to the adventitia or neighboring structures (49.7 +/- 14.5), while the PCNA index did not correlate with other clinicopathologic parameters such as histologic type, lymph node metastases, or prognosis. However, when an analysis of PCNA staining was combined with an analysis of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) staining, a correlation with prognosis was found. In fact, seven patients with a high PCNA index (> or = 44) and AgNOR count (> or = 6) had a significantly poorer prognosis than the remaining 22 (P = 0.0014), and six of these seven patients died within 2 years. These results indicate that this combined evaluation may be useful for the identification of patients with a poor prognosis among those undergoing surgery for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Paget's disease of the esophagus. A case report with review of the literature.

A 59-year-old Japanese man with Paget's disease of the esophagus is reported. The epithelium in the upper-to-middle portion of the esophagus was extensively infiltrated by Paget's cells. There was a minimal submucosal invasive area showing features of undifferentiated carcinoma. Histochemical and immunohistochemical studies showed glandular differentiation of the intraepithelial Paget's cells. Electron microscopic study demonstrated distinctive intraepithelial growth of the Paget's cells with the formation of desmosomes with nonneoplastic squamous cells, but there was no definitive evidence of glandular differentiation of the Paget's cells. These findings suggest that the entity in this case was probably adenocarcinoma in situ originating in the components of the esophageal epithelium, such as the intraepithelial or other portions of the esophageal gland ducts, with focal invasion and anaplasia. The additional control study of 154 cases of esophageal carcinoma revealed two other cases showing localized pagetoid extensions.

Esophageal Neoplasms↗
PubMed1995

[A case of small cell lung cancer that developed during therapy for myasthenia gravis].

A 56-year-old man had been complaining of progressive proximal muscle weakness and bilateral ptosis before his first admission to our hospital. He received an injection of edrophonium chloride, which resulted in remarkable improvement of muscle strength. Electromyographic studies revealed a compound muscle action potential that decreased after repetitive stimulation at a high rate (15 Hz). He was regarded as having myasthenia gravis (MG) rather than Eaton-Lambert syndrome because of these findings. Eighteen months after successful treatment of MG with oral anticholinesterase medication, he complained of an abdominal mass. The mass was found to be a tumor that had metastasized from a primary small cell carcinoma of the lung. Cases of MG with small cell carcinoma of the lung seem to be very rare, and the details of the relationship between them remain unknown. In this patient, MG may have developed by paraneoplastic mechanisms. This hypothesis is interesting, since it has been demonstrated recently by molecular biological techniques that small cell carcinomas of the lung express nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

Carcinoma, Small Cell↗
PubMed1994

The phylogenetic position of Hydrogenobacter acidophilus based on 16S rRNA sequence analysis.

Hydrogenobacter acidophilus strain 3H-1 is a thermoacidophilic, obligately chemolithoautotrophic, hydrogen-oxidizer isolated from a Japanese solfataric field. Strain 3H-1 requires elemental sulfur for growth. We used PCR to amplify the 16S rRNA gene of strain 3H-1, and sequenced the amplification product directly. Phylogenetic analyses show strain 3H-1 is closely related to Aquifex pyrophilus and may be located in the deepest branch within the eubacterial phylogenetic tree. Sulfur-dependency of the ancestral eubacterium is also discussed.

Archaea↗
PubMed1994

Poststroke depression.

Sixty-eight patients with stroke were investigated to assess their mood state. Nearly half of them were found to be depressed; according to DSM-III-R, 6 of these were diagnosed as suffering from major depression and the rest from adjustment disorder with depressive mood. A significant relationship was found between mood state on the one hand, and daily living activities and Type A behavior pattern on the other.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1994

Temporal variation of validity of self-rating questionnaires: repeated use of the General Health Questionnaire and Zung's Self-rating Depression Scale among women during antenatal and postnatal periods.

The 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) were distributed to 120 pregnant women 4 times--in early and late pregnancy and 5 days and 1 month after the child was born. The validity of the questionnaires was assessed against the subjects' Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) diagnoses. Both the GHQ and SDS sufficiently identified cases of minor mental disorder and depressive disorders respectively in early pregnancy; they lost their validity on the subsequent two occasions, but gained it again 1 month after the birth; the optimal cut-off points varied accordingly. This study suggests that the optimal cut-off point for a questionnaire should be validated against an externally determined clinical diagnosis whenever the instrument is used repeatedly on the same population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

[Comparative study on placental transfer and maternal distribution of organic and inorganic tin following oral administration in pregnant rats].

Placental transfer and body distribution of triphenyl tin chloride (TPTC) and tin chloride (SnCl2) were investigated in pregnant rats. Pregnant wistar rats were orally administered TPTC at 0, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/rat/day during 6-10 and 14-18 days of gestation, and with SnCl2 at 0 and 20 mg/rat/day on 7, 10 and 15 days of gestation (group treated 3 times) or 6-10 and 13-16 days of gestation at 0 and 20 mg/rat/day (group treated 9 times). On day 20 of gestation in rats treated with TPTC, and day 17 in rats with SnCl2, fetuses, placentas, maternal blood and organs were obtained for analyses. Mean fetal tin levels from rats treated with 1.0 and 2.0 mg TPTC were 0.05 and 0.11 microgram/g wet weight, respectively, these values being significantly (P < 0.01) higher than in the control group. The latter was higher than the former at a significance level of 5%. No significant difference between fetal tin levels from rats treated with SnCl2 and the control group could be detected. Following oral TPTC administration, tin was present in maternal liver, kidney and brain in high concentrations. Following the oral administration of SnCl2, the tin level was highest in bone and kidney, but none could be detected in the brain.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1994

Validity of the repeated GHO among pregnant women: a study in a Japanese general hospital.

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the variability of the validity of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) on two different occasions. METHOD: The subjects were 120 pregnant women attending an antenatal clinic of a general hospital in Japan. The GHQ was distributed twice--in the first and third trimesters. They were then interviewed by a psychiatrist blind to the GHQ scores using the standard and the "change" version of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS). RESULTS: Of the 120 women, 108 and ninety-eight completed the GHQ and were successfully interviewed in the first and third trimesters, respectively. Seventeen percent (18/108) and 13 percent (13/98) women were given RDC diagnoses in the first and third trimesters, respectively: They were designated as cases. Despite a satisfactory discriminatory power of the GHQ on the first occasion [1], the validity measures of the GHQ on the second occasion were generally poor. Thus, the sensitivity was 39 percent and specificity 82 percent for the cut-off point of 7/8. CONCLUSIONS: The GHQ should be validated separately when distributed repeatedly to the same subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Early loss of parents and early rearing experience among women with antenatal depression.

The relationship of depressive disorders with early parental losses and rearing experiences was studied among 120 pregnant women. They were diagnosed following the Research Diagnostic Criteria using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Loss experience was defined either as loss of a parent before the age of 16 by death, or separation for 12 months or longer. The perceived rearing experience was examined by administering the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). An onset of depressive disorders, antenatal depression, was observed among 19 (16%) women. Those women with antenatal depression were significantly more likely to have experienced bereavement of either of the parents (21%) than those women without it (5%). Discriminant function analysis revealed that two PBI scores, lower paternal care and higher maternal protection, were significant in predicting antenatal depression. Parental bereavement and 'affectionless control' (low care and overprotection) seem to be additive in predisposing to antenatal depression, though the small number of the samples render statistical analysis impracticable.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

[Rearing related stress and depressive severity].

Mothers' difficulties concerning child-rearing were conceptualized as a rearing-related stress (RRS). Eight hundred and seventeen mothers who had six month-olds infants were asked to rate 28 RRS items and 20 items on the depressive severity scale (Zung, 1956). The main results were summarized as follows: (1) Twenty-two items of RRS were analyzed by Hayashi's quantification (type-III) method, and two hypothesized dimensions were extracted. These are named children-related rearing stress (CRRS) and mothers-related rearing stress (MRRS). (2) RRS was related to mothers depressive severity. (3) Linear relationships of "CRRS-MRRS-depression severity" was examined by partial correlation analysis. (4) Primiparae experienced more RRS than multiparae. These results suggested that RRS could be considered as a process, i.e., CRRS influences MRRS and then MRRS influences depressive severity. The RRS model is an accord with the psychological stress model of Lazarus and Folkman (1986). Lastly, possible preventive strategies for mothers' RRS were discussed in the light of RRS model.

Adolescent↗