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Biomedical subjects

T Mano

Publications and source records attributed to T Mano.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Vasodilator component in sympathetic nerve activity destined for the skin of the dorsal foot of mildly heated humans.

1. Skin sympathetic nerve activity (SSNA) was recorded in seven male subjects from the peroneal nerve by microneurography, and the temporal correspondence of spontaneously occurring SSNA bursts with vasodilatation and sweating responses on the dorsal foot was studied during a mild body heating at rest. 2. Some SSNA bursts were followed by a sweat expulsion with a latency of 2.4 +/- 0.4 s, and some bursts by a transient vasodilatation with a latency of 2.2 +/- 0.4 s (means +/- S.D.). SSNA bursts followed both by a sweat expulsion and by a vasodilatation response (Type 1), those followed only by a sweat expulsion (Type 2) and those followed only by a vasodilatation, response (Type 3) were 70%, 10% and 1% of the total bursts examined, respectively. 3. For Type 1 bursts, there was a significant, but weak linear relationship among the burst amplitude, the amplitude of the corresponding vasodilatation and the amplitude of the corresponding sweat expulsion. 4. It was concluded that SSNA contains vasodilatory activity which is synchronous with sudomotor nerve activity. The results suggest that such vasodilatory activity contributes to sustaining the sweat gland function by supplying sufficient blood.

Adult

Characteristic MR features of encephalitis caused by Epstein-Barr virus: a case report.

An 8-year-old girl showed symptoms of encephalitis during acute Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. The diagnosis of EB virus infection was made by changes in the titres of EB virus-specific antibody. Cranial MRI demonstrated abnormal low and high signal intensities in the striatal body (putamen and caudate nucleus) on T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, respectively, during the acute phase. These abnormal findings had almost completely resolved 1 month later. EBV infection should be considered when lesions are localised to the basal ganglia.

Caudate Nucleus

Isolated lissencephaly sequence with balanced chromosome translocation involving 17p13.3.

We describe a patient with isolated lissencephaly sequence (ILS) who had a de novo balanced translocation with breakpoint at 8p11.23 and 17p13.3. She developed infantile spasms and had severe developmental delay. There was no apparent deletion of 17p13.3 on fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis. The breakpoint was located centromeric to the Miller-Dieker syndrome (MDS) marker (D17S379), and telomeric to the marker D17S1566, which is located centromeric to the LIS1 gene. This is the second reported case of ILS with balanced translocation. It is suspected that the breakpoint of 17p13.3 in this patient is located in the responsible gene for ILS.

Brain

Effects of thyroid hormone on catecholamine and its metabolite concentrations in rat cardiac muscle and cerebral cortex.

Clinical and experimental data suggest that thyroid hormone affects the actions of catecholamine (CA). However, the serum or tissue levels of CA during thyroid disorders have not been well defined. Accordingly, we investigated the levels of CA and their metabolites in the cardiac muscle, the cerebral cortex, and the plasma of rats with hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism versus euthyroid animals. The Neurochem analyzer system (ESA, Inc., Bedford, MA) was used in such determinations. The cardiac muscles of hyperthyroid rats exhibited a 16% decrease in the levels of 1-dopa, 3-methoxytyramine (3-MT) and homovanillic acid (HVA) as compared with those in euthyroid rats. The levels of norepinephrine (NE) in cardiac muscle of these rats increased significantly (5.2-fold) relative to the levels in euthyroid rats. NE was undetectable in the cardiac muscles of the hypothyroid rats. Epinephrine (E) and dopamine (DA) were not detected in the cardiac muscles of the rats with either thyroid disorder. Levels of E and 3,4-dihydroxymandelic acid (DOPEG) were detected only in the cerebral cortex of hyperthyroid rats. The cerebral cortex levels of 3-methyoxytyramine (3-MT), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), metanephrine (MN), and homovanillic acid (HVA) were all significantly increased in the hyperthyroid versus the euthyroid rats. The cerebral cortex levels of DA, NE, normetanephrine (NMN), and VMA in the hyperthyroid rats all showed a significant decrease. Levels of NE, NMN, and DOPAC in the cerebral cortex increased significantly in the hypothyroid rats. The level of VMA was undetectable in cerebral cortex of such animals. Data from studies on cardiac muscle and cerebral cortex indicate that the changes in CA and CA metabolites are responsible in part for the cardiovascular and the central nervous system symptoms observed in hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism.

Animals

Vitamin E and coenzyme Q concentrations in the thyroid tissues of patients with various thyroid disorders.

To clarify the different roles of free radical scavenging systems in various thyroid disorders, we measured the levels of alpha-, beta-, and gamma-tocopherols and coenzyme Q in the thyroid tissues of patients with thyroid tumors and Graves' disease using high-performance liquid chromatography. The levels of alpha-tocopherols and gamma-tocopherols in the thyroid tissue of patients with papillary carcinoma and the level of gamma-tocopherol in the thyroid tissue of patients with malignant lymphoma were elevated compared with those in normal thyroid tissues. The level of coenzyme Q was reduced in the thyroid tissue of patients with Graves' disease and follicular and papillary thyroid carcinomas. These findings imply that vitamin E and coenzyme Q as scavengers play some role in thyroid follicular cell hyperfunction or dysfunction.

Graves Disease

Responses of muscle sympathetic nerve activity to lower body positive pressure.

To evaluate the response of vasomotor sympathetic nerve activity to lower body positive pressure (LBPP), muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) was microneurographically recorded from the tibial nerve in 10 healthy young men, along with hemodynamic variables and echocardiogram, during exposure to incremental LBPP at 10, 20, and 30 mmHg in the supine position. MSNA was suppressed to a similar extent (27%) at 10- and 20-mmHg LBPP. However, at 30-mmHg LBPP, MSNA tended to increase but was still nearly at the control value. Mean arterial pressure was elevated (11%), total peripheral resistance markedly increased (36%), and stroke volume and cardiac output tended to decrease at 30-mmHg LBPP. Heart rate remained unchanged throughout the procedures. Left atrial dimension significantly increased during 10- and 30-mmHg LBPP, indicating an increased cardiac filling. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of the cardiopulmonary baroreflex on MSNA at 10- and 20-mmHg LBPP could be counteracted by the sympathoexcitatory effect of the intramuscular pressure-sensitive mechanoreflex at 30-mmHg LBPP. However, the increment of total peripheral resistance at 30-mmHg LBPP may not depend exclusively on this small enhancement of MSNA.

Adult

Head-up suspension in humans: effects on sympathetic vasomotor activity and cardiovascular responses.

We hypothesized that muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) and cardiovascular responses to the conventional head-up tilt (HUT) are different from those to head-up suspension (HUS) because of antigravity muscle activity. The MSNA from the tibial nerve, heart rate, blood pressure, stroke volume, cardiac output, and calf blood flow were measured in 13 healthy young subjects. Left atrial diameter was measured by two-dimensional echocardiography in another nine subjects. The resting MSNA and cardiovascular responses at a low level (20 degrees) of orthostasis were similar during both modes. At higher levels (40 and 60 degrees), the responses of MSNA, heart rate, stroke volume, and cardiac output were significantly stronger and there was a smaller reduction in calf blood flow during HUT than during HUS (P < 0.05). Left atrial diameter was decreased significantly from the resting values during HUT and HUS without any significant difference between the modes of orthostasis. The results provide evidence that the engagement of antigravity muscles during HUT may have additive effects on sympathetic vasoconstrictor and cardiovascular responses to orthostatic stress.

Adult

Microneurographic research on sympathetic nerve responses to environmental stimuli in humans.

The sympathetic nervous system plays an important role to maintain the homeostasis of vital functions in humans against environmental stimuli. Sympathetic nerve responses to environmental stimuli in humans have been assessed conventionally using rather indirect methods by analyzing the responses of effector organs or by measuring the changes in plasma norepinephrine level. Meanwhile, the microneurography technique has enabled us to approach the sympathetic nervous system in humans more directly. By applying this technique, it has become possible to investigate how the human sympathetic nervous system responds to different kinds of environmental stimuli. In this paper, the usefulness of microneurography as a research tool in environmental physiology is shown together with a review of microneurographic findings on sympathetic nerve responses to environmental stimuli in humans.

Aging

Response to vestibular stimulation of sympathetic outflow to muscle in humans.

The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of vestibular stimulation on the sympathetic outflow to muscle in humans. Fourteen healthy volunteers were studied while in the supine position with electrocardiography, blood pressure monitoring and electro-oculography. The muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) was recorded directly from the bilateral tibial nerves by using microneurographic double recording technique. Caloric vestibular stimulation was loaded by alternate irrigation with 50 ml of cold (10 degrees C) water and 50 ml of hot (44 degrees C) water into the left and right external meatus. After cold water irrigation, two MSNA response peaks were elicited, respectively, before and after the maximum slow phase velocity (SPV) of nystagmus. The first peak of the MSNA enhancement was caused by non-specific factors because its time course coincided with that in cold pressor test with immersion of the subject's hand in ice/water (4 degrees C). Transient suppression of MSNA after cold water irrigation in the period of maximum SPV of nystagmus was observed by cross correlogram analysis between the SPV of the nystagmus and MSNA. After hot water irrigation, only one MSNA response peak was elicited after the period of strong nystagmus. The second peak of MSNA enhancement evoked by cold irrigation (379.4 +/- 221.8%, with the control value set as 100%, mean +/- SE) was significantly higher than that evoked by hot irrigation (243.0 +/- 14.5%). The degree of MSNA enhancement by either cold (the second peak) or hot stimulation was proportional to the maximum SPV of the nystagmus. There was no significant difference between the MSNA responses ipsilateral to and contralateral to the irrigated side. In conclusion, the caloric vestibular stimulation can influence the bilateral sympathetic outflow to muscle in humans. The degree of MSNA enhancement is proportional to the magnitude of vestibular excitement indicated by maximum slow phase velocity of the nystagmus.

Adult

The recruitment pattern of single vasoconstrictor neurons in human.

The aim of this study is to determine the recruitment pattern among individual vasoconstrictor neurons under the baroreceptor-mediated influence in man. Spikes of single vasoconstrictor units were detected from microneurograms with a template-matching method. A total of 39 single vasoconstrictor units were detected. Single vasoconstrictor units were different from each other in their susceptibility to be activated in response to changes in the R-R interval or blood pressure. The units with higher firing probability had a shorter threshold R-R interval and a higher threshold diastolic blood pressure than units with lower firing probability. In sympathetic responses consisting of only one spike (single-spike responses), units with a lower threshold frequently appeared and units with a higher threshold joined mull-spike responses. The units with a short threshold R-R interval tended to have a long inhibitory latency from R wave, suggesting low conduction velocity. The correlation between firing probability and firing threshold and that between appearance in single-spike response and multi-spike response suggest a hierarchical manner of recruitment of vasoconstrictor units. For beat-to-beat responses, however, some deviation from the hierarchical recruitment was also observed.

Adult

Altered response in cutaneous sympathetic outflow to mental and thermal stimuli in primary palmoplantar hyperhidrosis.

Skin sympathetic nerve activities (SSNAs) were recorded simultaneously from the tibial and peroneal nerves by microneurography at an ambient temperature of 25 degrees C in five subjects with primary palmoplantar hyperhidrosis. The resting of the tibial SSNA innervating the sole (glabrous skin) increased moderately (36.5 +/- 1.5 bursts/min), while mental arithmetic provoked marked responses (1,003.3 +/- 457.4% compared with the resting level) in the hyperhidrosis group compared with the control normohidrosis group (n = 5, 25.3 +/ 4.2 bursts/min and 142.2 +/- 58.4%, respectively). Differentiation of the tibial SSNA into sudomotor (innervating sweat glands) and vasoconstrictor (innervating presphincter of skin vessels) revealed that this SSNA enhancement was attributable to not only sudomotor but also vasoconstrictor components during mental arithmetic. In contrast, the responses in the peroneal SSNA (innervating the dorsum pedis, hairy skin) of the hyperhidrosis group were only slightly changed, exhibiting no significant difference from those in the normohidrosis group. Reflex bursts elicited by sound and electric stimulation were normal in amplitude and latency. When the ambient temperature was elevated to 30 degrees C, the tibial SSNAs became more enhanced than did the peroneal SSNAs. The tibial SSNA was markedly enhanced in the hyperhidrosis group (290.0 +/- 78.5%) compared with the normohidrosis group (78.3 +/- 25.4%). We conclude that the excessive responses in SSNA to the plantar glabrous skin to both mental and thermal stimuli may be responsible for the profuse sweating in subjects with primary palmoplantar hyperhidrosis.

Acoustic Stimulation

Effect of heat stress on muscle sympathetic nerve activity in humans.

To elucidate the effect of heat stress on the sympathetic nervous system, we evaluated changes in muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP), tympanic temperature, skin blood flow, cardiac output, mean blood pressure, and heart rate in 9 subjects in response to acute heat stress induced by raising the ambient temperature from 29 to 34 degrees C and then to 40 degrees C. With the heat exposure, MSNA was significantly increased with a significant increase in tympanic temperature. Skin blood flow and heart rate were also significantly increased, while mean blood pressure tended to decline and cardiac output tended to increase. The combination of the increased MSNA and skin blood flow may have caused the redistribution of the circulatory blood volume from the muscles to the skin, facilitating convection heat loss. The increases in MSNA counteracted the lowered blood pressure during heat exposure. Thus, the increased MSNA may play an important role both in thermoregulation and in the maintenance of blood pressure against heat stress.

Adult

Differentiation of dys- and demyelination using diffusional anisotropy.

We attempted differential diagnosis of dysmyelination and demyelination in childhood using magnetic resonance diffusion weighted imaging. Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease, one of the dysmyelination disorders, demonstrated diffuse high intensity of the cerebral white matter on T2-weighted images, which demonstrated diffusional anisotropy on diffusion weighted images. On the other hand, high intensity lesions on T2-weighted images in Krabbe disease, one of the demyelination disorders, lost diffusional anisotropy. Another demyelination disorder, Alexander disease-related disorder, also lost its diffusional anisotropy. In contrast to relatively high signal of the lesions on diffusion-weighted images in Krabbe disease (high signal type), the lesions in Alexander disease-related disorder showed low signal on diffusion-weighted images (low signal type). These results suggest that diffusion-weighted images will be clinically useful to differentiate dysmyelination from demyelination; both of them demonstrate similar high intensity lesions of the white matter on T2-weighted images.

Adult

Prediction of the changes in cardiac output in association with preload reduction therapy in patients with hypertensive heart failure.

In treating patients with acute hypertensive heart failure we often try preload-reduction therapy using diuretics or vasodilators, but this may frequently produce a considerable decrease in cardiac output, particularly in hypertensive patients with diastolic dysfunction. Therefore, it is important from the clinical standpoint to predict the change in cardiac output following preload-reduction therapy. The objective of this study was to assess whether the change in cardiac output in association with preload-reduction therapy is predictable before treatment by analysis of mitral flow velocity patterns in patients with hypertensive heart failure. Changes in left ventricular volumes and cardiac output in association with preload-reduction therapy and Doppler echocardiographic parameters of the mitral flow velocity pattern before treatment were studied in 18 patients with hypertensive heart failure. Cardiac output increased in six patients with systolic dysfunction (fractional shortening < 25%). In the other 12 patients (those with normal systolic function), the changes in cardiac output were homogenous among the patients. In this subset there was a greater decrease in cardiac output in patients with a shorter deceleration time. Thus, analysis of deceleration time of the early diastolic filling wave before treatment may be useful in estimating the change in cardiac output following preload reduction in patients with hypertensive heart failure due to diastolic dysfunction.

Adult

Changes in free radical scavengers and lipid peroxide in thyroid glands of various thyroid disorders.

To clarify whether the changes of free radicals and its scavengers are induced by thyroid disorders, we measured levels of free radical scavengers and checked O2 radical generating systems in the human thyroid gland. Thyroid specimens from patients with Graves' disease, follicular adenoma, and papillary and follicular carcinomas contained significantly higher concentrations of xanthine oxidase (XOD) and gluthathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), compared to those in the normal thyroid tissue. Catalase concentration was significantly lower in thyroid specimens from patients with Graves' disease and significantly lower in thyroid specimens from patients with follicular adenoma, compared to those in the normal thyroid tissue. Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) concentration was significantly lower in the specimens from follicular adenoma and papillary carcinoma and Mn SOD concentration was significantly higher in the specimens from papillary carcinoma than those in the normal thyroid tissue. The lipid peroxide concentration, expressed as malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, was significantly higher in the specimens from papillary carcinoma than those in the normal thyroid tissue. These findings suggest that the levels of free radicals are increased and are scavenged and catalyzed in the thyroid of Graves' disease, whereas free radicals and lipid peroxide are not completely scavenged in papillary carcinoma tissues, suggesting that these substances affect some role in cell function of thyroid tumors.

Adenocarcinoma, Follicular

Insights into the mechanism of the nitroprusside-induced increase in cardiac output in failing hearts: an attempt at its prediction with Doppler echocardiography.

Increased left ventricular (LV) diastolic pressure is consistently decreased by the administration of nitroprusside; however, nitroprusside-induced changes in cardiac output (CO) vary among patients with failing hearts. Although the variation has been considered to be related to interindividual inhomogeneity of LV diastolic performance, nitroprusside-induced changes in CO are not predictable before drug administration in individual subjects. We attempted to clarify whether nitroprusside-induced changes in CO may be predicted by analysis of the mitral flow velocity pattern in failing hearts. LV diastolic pressure was increased by the combination of the decrease in LV function and the volume expansion, and 15 conditions with LV end-diastolic pressure (EDP) > or =15 mm Hg were obtained in 8 dogs. In each condition, pulsed Doppler mitral flow velocity patterns were recorded simultaneously with hemodynamic variables before and during intravenous nitroprusside infusion. After nitroprusside administration, LV systolic pressure and LVEDP decreased in all dogs, and CO increased in eight conditions but decreased in seven conditions. CO was more likely to increase with administration of nitroprusside, and its change was greater in the conditions in which deceleration time of the early diastolic filling wave before nitroprusside infusion was longer (r = 0.56, p<0.05, n = 15). Better correlation was obtained with multiple-regression analysis, using the deceleration time and peak filling velocity at atrial contraction (r = 0.67, p<0.05, n = 15). The deceleration time correlated with LV dynamic compliance (r = 0.66, p<0.01, n = 30). Analysis of mitral flow velocity patterns may be useful in predicting nitroprusside-induced changes in CO in failing hearts.

Animals

Skin sympathetic nerve activity in Guillain-Barré syndrome: a microneurographic study.

To assess autonomic dysfunction, skin sympathetic nerve activity (SSNA) of four patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome was microneurographically studied in the acute and remission phase. Autonomic symptoms such as sinus tachycardia, palmar hyperhidrosis, hypertension, and orthostatic hypotension were present in the acute phase, but all subsided during remission. Basal resting SSNA and the responses to various physical and mental stimuli were all increased in the acute phase and returned almost to normal during remission. Rate of response in sweat rate and blood flow against SSNA were kept proportionally constant during both the acute and remission phases. These findings suggest that some autonomic nerve symptoms of Guillain-Barré syndrome, particularly during the acute phase, are due to increased SSNA.

Acute Disease