Combination splitting using both in situ and ex situ techniques in triple split-liver transplantation of pigs.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Kojima.
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A polyclonal antibody, raised against the squid (Loligo pealei) syntaxin I, inhibited Ca2+-dependent interaction of syntaxin with synaptotagmin C2A domain in vitro. Presynaptic injection of the anti-Loligo syntaxin IgG into the squid giant synapse blocked synaptic transmission without affecting the presynaptic action potential or the voltage-gated calcium current responsible for transmitter release. Repetitive presynaptic stimulation produced a gradual decrease in the amplitude of the postsynaptic potential as the synaptic block progressed, indicating that the antibody interferes with vesicular fusion. Confocal microscopy of the fluorescein-labelled anti-Loligo syntaxin IgG showed binding at the synaptic active zone, while ultrastructurally, an increase in synaptic vesicular numbers in synapses blocked when this antibody was observed. These results implicate syntaxin in the vesicular fusion step of transmitter release in concert with synaptotagmin.
We investigated the effect of an intermittent feeding schedule on the development of disaccharidase activities in the small intestine of artificially reared (AR) rat pups. Rat pups were fitted with an intragastric cannula at 5 days of age. A milk formula similar to the composition of rat milk was supplied by intermittent gastric infusion over the following 15-19 days. The body weight gain and plasma corticosterone levels of the AR pups matched those of pups reared naturally by dams (MR pups). At 10, 15 and 19 days of age, the small intestine from the ligament to Treitz to the ileocecal junction was divided into three segments of equal length and enzyme activities were measured in each. At the age of 10 and 15 days, sucrase and isomaltase activities were undetectable in AR pups fed according to a controlled schedule from the early postnatal period. These activities were first detected in the middle segment of the small intestine at 9 days of age in both AR and MR pups. Sucrase and isomaltase activities at the age of 19 days were diurnal in AR pups, but arrhythmic in MR pups. We conclude that artificial rearing via the intermittent gastric infusion of a milk formula containing only lactose as the carbohydrate source did not prematurely increase intestinal sucrase and isomaltase activities. Diurnal changes started from the beginning of development of these enzyme activities in AR pups.
A haemophilic pseudotumour is a rare complication of haemophilia occurring in 1-2% of patients with a factor VIII or IX deficiency. This report presents three surgical cases of pseudotumours involved in a pathological fracture in the extremities. All cases showed a favourable post-operative course. If the preoperative management is appropriately designed, a limb salvage operation for a pathological fracture due to a pseudotumour could be carried out successfully. Before choosing amputation of a limb, the surgeon should consider the possibility of limb salvage.
An elevated immunoglobulin (Ig)M concentration in serum is a common and distinctive feature of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Little is known, however, about the mechanism of hyper-IgM in PBC. CD40 ligand (CD40L) has a crucial role in immunoglobulin class switching in B cells. Mutations in the gene encoding CD40L are known to induce X-linked hyper-IgM syndrome. To identify mutations in the gene for CD40L in PBC patients, we analyzed CD40L gene mutations, using reverse transcription (RT)-PCR single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. No mutations were detected in cDNA from any of 24 PBC patients by the RT-PCR-SSCP technique. These data suggest that other, unidentified mechanisms are involved in hyper-IgM in PBC patients.
Quinones were studied for their growth inhibitory effect on cultured malignant cells. HCT-15 cells derived from human colon carcinoma were used for these experiments. Quinones used were arbutin in the benzoquinone group, juglone and lawsone in the naphthaquinone group, alizarin, emodin, 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone, and anthraquinone in the anthraquinone group, and xanthone. Cultured cells were incubated with various concentrations of the quinones for four days in a 5% CO2 incubator, after which cell numbers were counted and significance of differences was analyzed by Student's t test. Anthraquinones and naphthaquinones used in these experiments were more effective than the monocyclic quinone. The 50% suppression dose was less than 12.5 micrograms/ml for them. The number of OH groups seemed to play an important role in the degree of the cell growth inhibition: anthraquinones with 2 or 3 OH groups were more effective than those with no OH group like, 9,10-dioxoanthracene and xanthone. In fact, anthraquinones with no OH group and xanthone were not significantly effective. Flow cytometric histograms revealed a specific pattern; that is, lawsone and juglone in the naphthaquinone group and alizarin and 1,8-dihydroxy-anthraquinone in the anthraquinone group blocked mainly the S phase, and emodin in the anthraquinone group blocked the G1 to S phase of the cell cycle.
Gold agents have been widely used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. We studied the growth inhibiting effect of such an agent on malignant cells in vitro. HCT-15, AGS cells derived from a human malignancy, and Meth/A cells from a malignant lymphoma of Balb/C mice were cultured separately with gold agent at concentrations of 2 micrograms/ml. Four days after the cultures had been incubated in a 5% CO2 incubator at 37 degrees C, cell counts were made; and significance of differences was analyzed by Student's t test. Additionally, HCT-15 cells were cultured with gold for two days, and then the cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. The growth of HCT-15, AGS, and Meth/A cells was suppressed by gold. Fifty percent suppression was observed at a concentration between 50 micrograms/ml and 10 micrograms/ml for HCT-15 cells, between 125 micrograms/ml and 50 micrograms/ml for AGS cells, and between 125 micrograms/ml and 50 micrograms/ml for Meth/A cells. Fifty percent suppression of HCT-15 cell growth by cisplatinum was found between 50 micrograms/ml and 10 micrograms/ml. Flow cytometric findings showed a significant rise in the tetraploid peak, a mild rise in the resion between diploid and tetraploid peaks, and an increase in cells with a ploidy greater than four. These data suggest that gold blocks the S phase, G2 to M phase, and M phase as well. To observe the cytotoxicity of gold, each of 10 of 4 week-old Balb/C mice was injected s.c. at a dose of 10 mg/kg or 2 mg/kg every other day for a total of 3 injections, or was administered the gold at 30 mg/kg/day p.o. for 10 days. All mice were still alive after 20 days of observation. Cisplatinum at a dose of 10 mg/kg was also injected s.c. one time into each of 10 mice, and 60% of the animals died within 10 days after the injection.
Sodium aurothiomalate (monogold monosodium mono-hydrogen sulfidobutanedioate), an anti-rheumatoid gold agent, was injected s.c. every other day for three times or given in drinking water daily for two weeks to Balb/C mice that were inoculated with syngeneic Meth/A cells i.p. As the control, cisplatinum was injected s.c. Survival curve was then observed and significance was determined by Wilcoxon's method. Statistically significant effects on survivals was obtained by 30 mg/kg/day s.c. or 75 mg/kg/day p.o. of gold. A dose of less than 12.5 mg/kg/day s.c. adversely affected the survival. Cisplatinum was significantly effective at the dose of 12.5 mg/kg/day, but markedly toxic at the dose of 125 mg/kg and adversely effective at 6 mg/kg/day s.c. The range of dose effectiveness of cisplatinum on survival was narrower than that of gold. Gold was effective when given s.c. or p.o. No significant toxicity of gold was observed at doses up to 125 mg/kg/day.
Oxycellulose, a hemostatic agent used in operation showed antitumor effect in vitro on a murine hepatic cell carcinoma (MH 134), a murine fibrosarcoma (Meth A) and a murine colon carcinoma (Colon 26). The effect was also confirmed in vivo by the survival of mice inoculated with Meth A or MH 134. Eighty milligrams per mouse of this agent, however, showed a toxicity rather than an antitumor effect. The antitumor effect of oxycellulose on Meth A did not compare with that of etoposide or mitomycin C in vivo. The antitumor effect on MH 134 was equal to that of etoposide but not mitomycin C. Oxycellulose inhibited tritium thymidine uptake into Colon 26 cells to the same extent as 5-fluorouracil and mitomycin C and it caused 51Cr-labelled Colon 26 cells but not from 5-fluorouracil or mitomycin C. Oxycellulose decreased a larger number of viable tumor cells than 5-fluorouracil or mitomycin C when the tumor cells were incubated for 24 hours at 37 degrees C. DNA histogram with MH 134 cells showed oxycellulose decreased a ratio of tumor cells in S-phase. These results suggest that the antitumor effect of oxycellulose is cytocidal and phase-specific.
Crude methanol extracts of red and white wines were added to diethyl ether in order to divide them into the anthocyanin fraction (insoluble in diethyl ether) and fractions containing other flavonoids and their derivatives (soluble in diethyl ether). However, the white wine did not contain anthocyanins (all of the methanol extract was soluble in diethyl ether). When HCT-15 cells, derived from human colon cancer or AGS cells, derived from human gastric cancer, were cultured with these fractions, the anthocyanin fraction from the red wine and the non-anthocyanic substances extracted from red and white wines suppressed the growth of the cells, and the suppression rate by the anthocyanin fraction was significantly higher than that of the other fractions. Thin-layer chromatographic analysis revealed mostly delphinidin in the anthocyanin fraction. The other fractions contained mostly flavonoids and their derivatives. The sugars in all fractions were mainly glucose, fucose, and fructose. Flow cytometric study suggested that the anthocyanin fraction blocked mostly S, G2, and M phase, and the non-anthocyanic flavonoids also blocked these phases, although the histographic pattern varied depending on the fractions. Methanol insoluble but water soluble fractions (mostly free sugars) of red and white wines did not show such suppressive effects.
Prospective and retrospective language evaluations and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans were performed in order to study the relationship between post-stroke recovery from aphasia and changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) in groups of patients who had made a good recovery and those who had not. For the prospective study, 20 right-handed patients with aphasia secondary to an acute cerebrovascular accident (CVA) in the left middle cerebral artery territory received language evaluations with a Japanese Standard Language Test of Aphasia (SLTA), and SPECT scans performed twice, at a mean of 3.2 and a mean of 9.2 months post-onset. Only one slice of SPECT data was analysed. A significant correlation was observed between the severity of the initial language deficit and initial CBF on the left side, but not the right. Initial CBF was not a predictor for future language recovery in either hemisphere. There was a correlation between the change in the left mean hemispheric CBF (but not the right) and the change in the overall SLTA severity rating from 3 to 9 months post-stroke. In the retrospective study, 16 right-handed patients with residual aphasia secondary to CVA in the left middle cerebral artery territory received SLTA and SPECT at a mean of 82.8 months post-onset. The patients had also received initial language evaluation with SLTA at a mean of 6.5 months post-onset. In contrast to the prospective study, the results demonstrated that the mean left hemispheric CBF at approximately 7 years post-onset did not differ between good and poor recovery groups. However, the mean right hemispheric CBF of the good recovery group was higher than that of the poor recovery group in the frontal and the thalamic regions, and also in the left frontal region. The results of these complementary studies suggest that the initial language recovery within the first year post-onset may be linked primarily to functional recovery in the dominant hemisphere, where an increase in CBF was observed at 9 months post-onset. The increased perfusion adjacent to the lesion may be crucial for early recovery in aphasia. Subsequent language recovery and the long-term recovery in aphasia may be related to slow and gradual compensatory functions in the contralateral hemisphere, specifically in the homotopic frontal and thalamic areas.
A simple and sensitive method for analysis of three tetracyclic antidepressants, maprotiline, mianserin, and setiptiline, in human whole blood was developed using headspace-solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A vial containing a blood sample, sodium hydroxide, and imipramine as an internal standard was heated at 120 degrees C. The extraction fiber of the SPME was exposed for 45 min in the headspace of the vial. The compounds absorbed on the fiber were desorbed by exposing the fiber in the injection port of a GC-MS. The calibration curves, using an internal standard method, demonstrated good linearity throughout the concentration range from 0.005 to 5.0 microg/g for mianserin and setiptiline and from 0.025 to 25 microg/g for maprotiline. No interferences were found, and the time for analysis was 60 min for one sample. In addition, this proposed method was applied to a medicolegal case in which the cause of death was suspected to be acute setiptiline poisoning. Setiptiline was detected in the left and right heart blood samples of the victim at concentrations of 1.77 and 0.78 microg/g, respectively.
Accelerants in the blood of 73 cadavers found in wreckage after fire were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and a combination of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to decide whether accelerants containing petroleum components had been used and whether the cadavers had been exposed to fire before or after death. In 16 of 26 cases in which accelerants were used to start a fire before death, accelerants were detected in the blood. In 7 cases in which accelerants were used to start a fire, the victims were determined to have been exposed to the vapor of accelerants after death because no accelerants were detected in the blood, no soot was found in the airways, and carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) concentrations were not higher than those found in smokers. In 9 of 34 cases in which accelerants were suspected to have been used to start a fire before death, accelerants were detected in the blood. When soot is not detectable by the unaided eye in the airways of a victim found in debris of a fire in which the use of accelerants is suspected, or the COHb concentration in the blood is no higher than in a smoker, analysis of accelerants in the blood seems to be helpful in determining the cause of death and whether inflammable were used.
PURPOSE: To evaluate quantitatively the changes in corneal curvature, including irregular astigmatism, after scleral buckling surgery for retinal detachment. METHODS: In 29 eyes of 29 patients undergoing scleral explant surgery, videokeratographic measurements were carried out before and 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after surgery. Using Fourier harmonic analysis, dioptric data on mire rings were decomposed into spherical, regular astigmatic, and irregular astigmatic (decentration and higher order irregularity) components. RESULTS: The irregular astigmatic component significantly increased at 1 week postoperatively but returned to the preoperative level 1 month after surgery. The regular astigmatism also displayed a transient increase up to 1 month after surgery. The increases in regular astigmatism were significant in eyes that had scleral buckling of < or =180 degrees but not in eyes with buckles extending >180 degrees. CONCLUSION: Changes in irregular astigmatism after retinal detachment surgery were quantitatively evaluated. The scleral buckling surgery causes a transient increase in irregular astigmatism as well as regular astigmatism.
OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: Cervicocerebral arterial dissections occur when blood extrudes into the wall of an artery supplying the brain. The resulting intramural hematoma may compromise the lumen and cause an aneurysmal dilation. Dissecting aneurysms are now recognized with increasing frequency as a cause of strokes. They usually occur spontaneously or are associated with trivial trauma to the artery. A dissecting aneurysm of the posteroinferior cerebellar artery (PICA) is very rare, however. We present a case with ischemic episode and successive subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by bilateral dissection of the PICAs. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: A 47-year-old man experienced sudden onset of cerebellar infarction that rapidly resulted in subarachnoid hemorrhage. Angiography revealed a typical pearl-and-string sign in the right PICA and an irregular stenosis in the left PICA. The patient died shortly after admission. Autopsy demonstrated bilateral dissection of the PICAs not involving the vertebral artery. CONCLUSION: The incidence of intracranial dissecting aneurysms most frequently occurs in the vertebral artery, but the PICA is only rarely involved, especially bilaterally. We are not aware of any other such case in the literature.
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An 18-year-old male patient with recurrent hypersomnia (RH) was evaluated using prolonged polysomnography (PSG). During symptomatic period (SMP), the patient showed both 'dissociated stage REM' (DREM), REM sleep without muscle atonia and 'dissociated stage 1' (DSt-1), and stage 1 sleep with rapid eye movement. These stages were observed in the morning or following daytime record. They decreased during asymptomatic period (ASMP). It has been said that RH is caused by dysfunction of the hypothalamus and midbrain limbic system. The present result suggests also that RH involves dysfunction of the brain stem.
The main World Health Organization (WHO) activities of the Tokyo Center are as follows: (1) It performed the research project entitled 'A Bio-Psycho-Social Study on Children with Emotional and Behavioral Problems' in cooperation with the Beijing and Seoul Centers from 1985 to 1987. These results suggested that the deviant behavior of children in the general population had no biological background, but presumably stemmed from psychosocial disadvantages. (2) It has participated in a field trial for the proposed draft for chapter V of the ICD-10 as the Field Trial Coordinating Center in Japan since 1986 and the first Japanese edition of the ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders: Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines were published in 1993. (3) It proposed the collaborative project exploratory eye movements in patients with schizophrenia in 1989 and has promoted the project with the cooperation of six centers that included Beijing, Casablanca, Montreal, Munich, Prague and Sapporo. The findings of the present project indicated that exploratory eye movements may be specific to schizophrenia and can be practically used to discriminate schizophrenia without significantly depending on language.