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Biomedical subjects

T Kato

Publications and source records attributed to T Kato.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Electroencephalographic aspects of periventricular hemorrhagic infarction in preterm infants.

The aim of this study was to investigate electroencephalographic aspects of periventricular hemorrhagic infarction (PVHI) in preterm infants. The subjects were 11 preterm infants with PVHI, who were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Anjo Kosei Hospital from April 1985 through December 1997. The patients underwent serial cranial ultrasonography and were diagnosed as having PVHI. An EEG was recorded at least once within 1 week after PVHI and then recorded at 1- to 4-week intervals until 40 weeks of postconceptional age. The EEG findings were classified into acute and chronic stage abnormalities. Acute stage EEG abnormalities were seen in 5 infants after PVHI, which were symmetrical in all infants. Among them, 3 infants died during the early neonatal period. The infants who had a higher grade of acute stage EEG abnormalities showed significantly higher mortality. Among the surviving 8 infants, chronic stage EEG abnormalities were seen in 3 predominantly in the ipsilateral side of PVHI, and all of them developed hemiplegia. The sensitivity and specificity of chronic stage EEG abnormalities to predict outcome were 0.75 and 1.0, respectively. Acute and chronic stage EEG abnormalities give valuable information for short-term and long-term outcome in preterm infants with PVHI.

Brain Infarction↗
PubMed2004

Possible role of VEGF in the progression of kidney disease in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats: effects of an ACE inhibitor and an angiotensin II receptor antagonist.

Two endothelium-derived factors, endothelin (ET), a vasoconstrictor, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), an angiogenic factor are thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic vascular complications. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of an angiotensin II type I (AT-1) receptor antagonist and an ACE inhibitor on the pathogenesis of VEGF and ET-1-mediated kidney disease in STZ-induced diabetic rats. Two days after STZ administration, diabetic rats were treated for 8 weeks with enalapril maleate, an ACE inhibitor, candesartan cilexetil, an AT-1 receptor antagonist, or saline. Urinary albumin and N-acetyl beta-D glucosaminidase (NAG) excretion as well as the VEGF protein content in the kidney were all found to be elevated in diabetic rats. Administration of enalapril maleate or candesartan cilexetil decreased the level of microalbuminuria and NAG excretion in diabetic rats. Administration of enalapril maleate also suppressed the elevated renal VEGF protein content in these animals while candesartan cilexetil treatment had no effect. Serum ET-1 and VEGF levels were unchanged by these treatments. These data support a role for AT-1 receptor antagonists and ACE inhibitors in the prevention of diabetic nephropathy, and suggest that the former may work by reducing renal VEGF levels.

Albuminuria↗
PubMed2004

Identification of a novel allele HLA-A*1113 in a Japanese donor.

Anew HLA-A*11 allele, A*1113, was identified in a healthy Japanese female. She was typed as HLA-A11?, A2, B46, B67, Cw1, Cw7 (Bw6) with unusual serological reactivity of A11, suggesting possible presence of a new A*11 allele. The novel A*1113 allele was identified by haplotypic group-specific allele amplification using A*11 allele-specific primer pairs and sequence-based typing. The A*1113 allele differs from A*11011 by one nucleotide substitution in exon 3 at position 503 (A --> G) which causes an amino acid change in the alfa2 domain at residue 144 (lysine : K --> arginine : R), thus resulting in the unusual serological reactivity.

Alleles↗
PubMed2004

Inhibitory effects of cranberry juice on attachment of oral streptococci and biofilm formation.

Cranberry juice is known to inhibit bacterial adhesion. We examined the inhibitory effect of cranberry juice on the adhesion of oral streptococci strains labeled with [3H]-thymidine to saliva-coated hydroxyapatite beads (s-HA). When the bacterial cells were momentarily exposed to cranberry juice, their adherence to s-HA decreased significantly compared with the control (P < 0.01). Their hydrophobicity also decreased dependently with the concentration of cranberry juice. We also evaluated the inhibitory effect of cranberry juice on biofilm formation. By using a microplate system, we found that the high molecular mass constituents of cranberry juice inhibited the biofilm formation of the tested streptococci. The inhibitory activity was related to the reduction of the hydrophobicity. The present findings suggest that cranberry juice component(s) can inhibit colonization by oral streptococci to the tooth surface and can thus slow development of dental plaque.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Helicobacter pylori infection in two areas in Japan with different risks for gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the relationship between Helicobacter pylori and various factors associated with gastric cancer in two areas in Japan with different risks for mortality due to gastric cancer. METHODS: A total of 250 sera from Niigata and 209 from Okinawa were used. H. pylori antibody and CagA antibody were measured by antigen-specific ELISAs. Serum gastrin and pepsinogen levels were determined by RIA. RESULTS: Although there was no significant difference in H. pylori prevalence among the persons in Niigata (50%) and Okinawa (42%), CagA prevalence in these populations was significantly different, at 41% and 26%, respectively (OR = 1.98, 95%CI: 1.33-2.95, P < 0.01). Serum gastrin levels in Niigata were significantly lower than those in Okinawa in H. pylori-negative persons (P < 0.01). The serum pepsinogen I/II ratio in Niigata was significantly lower than that in Okinawa in H. pylori positive persons (P < 0.01), whereas there was no significant difference in H. pylori-negative persons. Among those positive for H. pylori, serum pepsinogen I/II ratio in Niigata was significantly lower than that in Okinawa in CagA-negative persons (P < 0.01), whereas no significant difference was observed in CagA-positive persons. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the difference in the mortality ratio of gastric cancer between Niigata and Okinawa is mainly associated with the difference between areas in the prevalence of cagA-positive strains rather than that of H. pylori itself.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Diversity of vacA and cagA genes of Helicobacter pylori in Japanese children.

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori infection is generally acquired in childhood and persists as an asymptomatic infection for decades in most infected individuals. Only a minority develops a clinical outcome even in childhood, such as peptic ulcer. It has been reported that H. pylori infection with the type I strain, which expresses the VacA and CagA antigen, is associated with peptic ulcer. AIM: We examined the diversity of vacA and cagA genes in isolates obtained from Japanese paediatric patients with peptic ulcer or chronic gastritis to investigate the relationship between genetic diversity and clinical outcome. METHODS: The diversity of vacA and cagA genes was investigated by PCR and sequence analysis in 30 isolates obtained from Japanese paediatric patients with peptic ulcer (eight strains) or chronic gastritis (22 strains). RESULTS: All isolates from Japanese children were cagA-positive strains. Twenty-six strains (86.7%) had East Asian type CagA, and 4 (13.3%) had Western type CagA. The predominant vacA genotype was s1c/m1b (22/30, 73.3%). There was no significant association between the diversity of cagA and vacA genes and clinical outcome. All four children infected with Western CagA strain had a history of overseas travel or residence. CONCLUSION: The predominant genotype of H. pylori in Japanese children is East Asian CagA and vacA s1c/m1b genotype, regardless of clinical outcome. Japanese H. pylori strains are homogeneously of the East Asian type; however, Western strains can be introduced into Japan concomitant with host movement from foreign countries in childhood.

Antigens, Bacterial↗
PubMed2004

Experimentally induced arousals during sleep: a cross-modality matching paradigm.

Micro-arousals occur spontaneously or in response to exogenous and endogenous sensory input during sleep. The function of micro-arousals remains unclear, for example, whether it reflects a disturbance or a preparatory response to environmental changes. The goal of this study was to assess arousal responsiveness when two types of sensory stimulations were used: auditory (AD) alone and the addition of a vibrotactile (VT) sensation. Ten normal sleepers participated in three nights of polygraphic recordings. The first night was for habituation and to rule out sleep disorders, and the second to collect baseline sleep data. During the third night, AD and VT + AD stimuli, with three levels of intensities for auditory and vibratory signals, were randomly given to induce arousal responses in sleep stages 2, 3 and 4 and rapid eye movement (REM). The frequency of the arousal responses increased with stimulus intensity for all sleep stages and was lowest in stages 3 and 4. In non-REM (NREM) sleep, combined VT + AD stimulation induced more frequent and more intense arousal responses than AD alone. In REM sleep, more frequent micro-arousals rather than awakenings were triggered by combined stimulations. In stage 2, the response rate of total induced K-complexes did not differ between both types of stimulations while more K-complexes followed by arousals were evoked by the combined VT + AD stimulation than by the AD alone. The induced arousals were associated with an increase in heart rate in all sleep stages. An increase in suprahyoid muscle tone was observed in NREM sleep only, REM being not associated with a rise in muscle tone following experimental stimulation. Most leg and body movements occurred in response to induced awakenings. These results suggest that the cross-modality sensory stimuli triggered more arousal responses in comparison with single-modality stimuli. In an attempt to wake a sleeping subject, the addition of a tactile stimulation, such as shaking the shoulder, is an effective strategy that increases the arousal probability.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2004

Characterisation of cartilage intermediate layer protein (CILP)-induced arthropathy in mice.

OBJECTIVES: To characterise cartilage intermediate layer protein (CILP)-induced arthropathy in mice. METHODS: The first and second halves of the nucleotide triphosphate pyrophosphohydrolase (NTPPHase) non-homologous region of human CILP were prepared as recombinant proteins (C1 and C2, respectively), including three overlapping fragments of C2 (C2F1, C2F2, and C2F3). C57BL/6 mice were immunised with these proteins to induce arthritis. In addition, a separate group of mice were immunised repeatedly with the mixture of C1 and C2 to see the effect of chronic immunisation. Arthritis developed in the mice, and cellular and humoral immune responses against CILP were analysed. RESULTS: Immunisation with C2 and with the mixture C2F1/C2F2/C2F3 caused the severest arthritis to develop in mice. Immunisation with one of C1, C2F1, C2F2, or C2F3 caused milder arthritis, even though each of the fragments carried T cell epitopes. Immunisation either with C1 or C2 alone evoked cellular and humoral immune responses to both the C1 and C2 proteins. Further, the repeated immunisation with the C1/C2 mixture caused tendon calcification and bone irregularity, together with decreased NTPPH activity. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that multiple T cell epitopes are needed for the development of CILP-induced arthritis, and present the characteristic new model of mild arthropathy accompanied by extra-articular calcifications. An immune response to putative murine CILP/NTPPH may be involved in the ectopic calcifications in the arthritic mice.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Primary lateral sclerosis presenting parkinsonian symptoms without nigrostriatal involvement.

We encountered three patients with primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) showing bradykinesia, frozen gait, and severe postural instability, as well as slowly progressive spinobulbar spasticity. Cranial magnetic resonance (MR) imaging showed precentral gyrus atrophy. Central motor conduction was markedly prolonged or failed to evoke a response. Positron emission tomography (PET) showed significant reduction of [18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose uptake in the area of the precentral gyrus extending to the prefrontal, medial frontal, and cingulate areas. No abnormalities were seen in the nigrostriatal system with PET using [18F]fluorodopa or [11C]raclopride or with proton MR spectroscopy. Thus, widespread prefrontal, medial, and cingulate frontal lobe involvement can be associated with the parkinsonian symptoms in PLS.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Deformation of adhering elastic tubes.

Deformation of an elastic tube adhering onto a substrate due to van der Waals attractive force is investigated by means of numerical minimization and scaling theory. The onset of the deformation is determined by the critical value of Cb/Epsilon N2, where Cb is the bending constant, epsilon is the depth of the van der Waals potential, and N is the size of the tube. For a significantly deformed tube, we found a scaling behavior of the bending energy, which is explained within the shell theory.

Anisotropy↗
PubMed2004

Intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt passing through the left inferior phrenic vein and draining into the left renal vein.

We report a case of an intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt (IPSVS) passing through the left inferior phrenic vein and draining into the left renal vein and then to the inferior vena cava. We incidentally detected the IPSVS while performing a transcatheter arterial embolisation for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. IPSVS with the left inferior phrenic vein as the draining vein is very rare. The complete pathway of this IPSVS could be clearly demonstrated by multidetector row CT during arterial portography.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

[Thoracoscopic surgery using a new bronchial blocker].

We report use of a new bronchial blocker through a single-lumen endotracheal tube to achieve one-lung ventilation to perform thoracoscopic operation in patients in whom placement of the double-lumen tube failed and difficult intubation is predicted. The bronchial blocker tube was placed into the aimed bronchus under the bronchoscopic vision and the cuff of the blocker was inflated to achieve one-lung ventilation. In all of the 4 patients, the bronchial blocker could be inserted and placed safely, quickly, and exactly under the fiberoptic flexible bronchoscopic vision to perform thoracoscopic operation without any complications. The new bronchial blocker tube through the indwelling endotracheal tube may have advantages in situations where placement of double-lumen endotracheal tubes is technically impossible or inappropriate. The use of the new bronchial blocker tube will, however, require careful evaluation in larger series.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Emergent pneumonectomy for hemoptysis in a patient with previous thoracoplasty.

Hemoptysis is a life-threatening episode of respiratory disease. By means of every possible treatment, hemostasis should be obtained to secure the airway as well as to prevent blood loss. We describe an emergent pneumonectomy for massive hemoptysis from destroyed lung in a patient with previous thoracoplasty. After prolonged ventilation support postoperatively, the patient with compromised lung function recovered well.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

A novel form of autophagic vacuolar myopathy with late-onset and multiorgan involvement.

The authors report a 41-year-old man with a novel form of adult-onset autophagic vacuolar myopathy (AVM) with multiple organ involvement including eyes, heart, liver, lung, kidney, and skeletal muscle. The vacuolar membranes had sarcolemmal features similar to vacuoles in Danon disease, X-linked myopathy with excessive autophagy, and infantile AVM. Lysosome associated membrane protein-2, absent in Danon disease, was present. Defined by distinct clinical features, this disease constitutes the fourth entity in the group of autophagic vacuolar myopathy in which the vacuolar membranes have features of sarcolemma.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

The combination of angiogenesis and blood vessel invasion as a prognostic indicator in primary breast cancer.

This study was undertaken to examine the interaction between the combination of angiogenesis and blood vessel invasion (BVI) and haematogenous metastasis, and to determine the prognostic significance of that combination in predicting 20-year relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) rates in primary breast cancer. Five hundred and nine patients were studied. We investigated 11 factors, including average microvessel count (AMC)/BVI, lymph-node status (n), clinical tumour size (T), histological grade (HG), lymphatic vessel invasion (LVI), p53, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), c-erbB-2, mitotic index (MI), apoptotic index, and tumour necrosis (TN). Blood vessel invasion was detected by both factor VIII-related antigen and elastica van Gieson staining. To evaluate the best objective method to quantify microvessel density in angiogenesis, AMC was employed. The rate of AMC-high and BVI-positive tumours was 32.6 and 29.3%, respectively. That of both AMC-high and BVI-positive tumours was 10.1%. Univariate analysis showed that AMC/BVI, n, T, HG, LVI, p53, PCNA, MI, and TN were significantly predictive of RFS and OS. By multivariate analysis, AMC/BVI was the strongest independent prognostic factor for 20-year RFS (relative risk (RR)=5.5; P<0.0001) and for 20-year OS (RR=4.3; P<0.0001). Lymph-node status was still considered a powerful prognostic indicator; however, the combination of AMC and BVI provided more reliable prognostic information than lymph-node status for haematogenous dissemination.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Early optical emission from the gamma-ray burst of 4 October 2002.

Observations of the long-lived emission--or 'afterglow'--of long-duration gamma-ray bursts place them at cosmological distances, but the origin of these energetic explosions remains a mystery. Observations of optical emission contemporaneous with the burst of gamma-rays should provide insight into the details of the explosion, as well as into the structure of the surrounding environment. One bright optical flash was detected during a burst, but other efforts have produced negative results. Here we report the discovery of the optical counterpart of GRB021004 only 193 seconds after the event. The initial decline is unexpectedly slow and requires varying energy content in the gamma-ray burst blastwave over the course of the first hour. Further analysis of the X-ray and optical afterglow suggests additional energy variations over the first few days.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Sclerosing mesenteritis in small bowel transplantation: possible manifestation of acute vascular rejection.

BACKGROUND: Acute rejection of human small bowel allografts is characterized by clinical symptoms combined with characteristic morphologic alterations. The typical geographic distribution of acute rejection in the bowel is involvement of the intestinal parenchyma, which can be transmural, particularly when the rejection is more severe. However, little is known concerning the potential for donor-derived soft tissue adjacent to the bowel to become involved by the host alloimmune response. METHODS: We describe a male patient who, several weeks after combined small bowel and liver transplantation, demonstrated sclerosing mesenteritis with vasculitis and acute rejection of the bowel. RESULTS: The vascular lesions in the mesentery demonstrated increased IgG deposition and the patient developed an alloantibody to the donor. CONCLUSIONS: The changes described herein may represent a novel presentation of acute vascular rejection.

Acute Disease↗