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Biomedical subjects

Y Fukunaga

Publications and source records attributed to Y Fukunaga.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

[Flow cytometric measurement of C3b receptors (CR1) on human erythrocytes. II. E-CR1 levels in patients with various diseases and their correlation with B-CR1].

Using a novel technique previously described for measuring erythrocyte C3b receptors (E-CR1) by means of flow cytometry, we studied E-CR1 levels in patients with various diseases. We also measured C3b receptors of B cells (B-CR1) by flow cytometry, and studied the correlation between E-CR1 levels and B-CR1 levels. We have found; 1) Decreased E-CR1 levels were seen in patients with active SLE, acute leukemia, and congenital immunodeficiency syndrome. E-CR1 levels in patients with IgA nephropathy, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, anaphylactoid purpura, infectious mononucleosis, and viral pneumonia were statistically higher than those in normal controls. 2) Decreased E-CR1 levels in some patients with SLE were not thought to be inherited, but the E-CR1 levels of patients with diseases other than SLE appeared to be regulated in an autosomal co-dominant form of inheritance. 3) A negative correlation was observed between E-CR1 levels and B-CR1 levels in both patients with SLE and normal controls.

Adolescent↗

Human serum ubiquinol-10 levels and relationship to serum lipids.

Serum and urinary levels of ubiquinol-10 (UQH2-10) as well as total ubiquinone-10 (total UQ-10, sum of UQH2-10 and oxidized UQ-10) were determined in healthy Japanese subjects using high performance liquid chromatography with an electrochemical detector. The mean serum and urinary levels of UQH2-10 were 0.75 +/- 0.21 microgram/ml (86% of total UQ-10, n = 77) and 0.045 +/- 0.016 microgram/mg creatinine (59% of total UQ-10, n = 30), respectively. After daily oral administration of 60 mg of UQ-10 for 7 days, the human serum level of UQH2-10 increased twice as compared to that before the treatment. However, the ratio of the UQH2-10 to the total UQ-10 remained unchanged during such administration. The serum level of UQH2-10 correlated significantly with those of vitamin E (p less than 0.001), phospholipids (p less than 0.01), total cholesterol (p less than 0.05), and total lipids (p less than 0.05). There was no correlationship between the serum levels of UQH2-10 and of triglycerides and lipid peroxides.

Adolescent↗

Determination of reduced and total ubiquinones in biological materials by liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection.

A convenient and reliable liquid chromatographic (LC) method with electrochemical detection (ED) was developed for the determination of reduced (ubiquinol) and total ubiquinones in biological materials. After extraction of samples with n-hexane, ubiquinol was separated on a reversed-phase column and assayed directly by ED. In order to determine the total amount of a ubiquinone in biological samples, the unbiquinone was converted into the corresponding reduced form by treatment with sodium borohydride. No significant interfering peak (plastoquinol-9, ubichromenol-9, etc.) was observed in the elution areas of ubiquinol-7 to -11. This LC-ED method was about 70 times more sensitive than the previous LC-UV method and was able to detect 150 pg of ubiquinol-10. The method was applied satisfactorily to the determination of the contents of ubiquinol homologues in biological materials. The content of ubiquinols is a major component of the total ubiquinones in human plasma and urine and rat plasma and liver, but a minor component in rat heart and kidney.

Animals↗

Effects of pulmonary hemodynamics on lung function in adult patients with atrial septal defect.

To clarify the relationship of pulmonary function with differing severity of atrial septal defect (ASD) and to assess the effects of pulmonary hemodynamics on these functions, we classified 101 patients with adult ASD by their pulmonary arterial mean pressure (PAm) and pulmonary blood flow (Qp), and compared details of pulmonary functions between pairs of groups. Classification was by drawing lines at the PAm of 20 mmHg and the Qp of 10 L/min. Group I was the low pressure-low flow group, Group II the low pressure-high flow group, Group III the high pressure-low flow group, and Group IV the high pressure-high flow group. Vital capacity as the percentage of predicted (%VC) was low in Groups III and IV. There were no significant differences in the ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second to forced vital capacity (FEV1%), flow at 25% forced vital capacity and closing volume as the percentage of predicted (%V25, %CV/VC) between each group. Both maximum midexpiratory flow rate and flow rate at 50% forced vital capacity as the percentage of predicted (%MMEF, %V50) in Group III with the most severe ASD, were significantly low. Pulmonary diffusing capacities for carbon monoxide as the percentage of predicted (%DLco) exceeded 100% in all groups, and tended to decrease with increases of PAm without relation to Qp. Pulmonary dysfunctions in adult ASD were mainly due to restrictive changes accompanied by obstructive change in proportion to the decrease of VC. Peripheral airway obstructions are mild in ASD and these might be caused by lower pressure of left atrium and no existence of pulmonary venous congestion in ASD, even in the most severe group.

Adolescent↗

Serum cholesterol, other risk factors, and cardiovascular disease in a Japanese cohort.

The relationship of serum cholesterol and other risk factors to cardiovascular disease was investigated in a 16-year cohort of 16,711 residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Examined in detail were the relationship of serum cholesterol, and the joint relationships of serum cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and other risk factors to coronary heart disease (CHD), cerebral infarction (CI), and cerebral hemorrhage (CH). Baseline and biennially collected risk factor data were analyzed. The latter type of measurement permitted separate investigation of both the short-term and long-term effects of cholesterol measurements. In both types of analyses, both serum cholesterol and blood pressure showed strong associations with CHD incidence. In particular, there were strong associations with short-term and delayed CHD incidence. Furthermore, the association of cholesterol with short-term CHD incidence could not be explained by its association with delayed CHD incidence, or vice versa. Multivariate analyses that also included several other risk factors (smoking habits, clinical diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, left ventricular hypertrophy or strain on electrocardiogram, relative body weight, hematocrit, and proteinuria) for which data were available showed such risk factors to be of lesser, but generally non-negligible, importance in this population. In the case of CH and CI, serum cholesterol was found to be weakly or not at all related to incidence of either disease while blood pressure remained a strong correlate. For CI some suggestion of a statistical interaction between blood pressure and serum cholesterol was found. Discussed are implications for theories of disease pathogenesis for CHD, CI and CH.

Adult↗

Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease in an elderly man: case report and review of the literature.

A 75-year-old man complaining of dyspnea and having sings of postcapillary pulmonary hypertension was diagnosed as pulmonary veno-occlusive disease and confirmed at autopsy. This is the oldest case ever reported. Almost all the small veins 2 mm or less in external diameter were partially or nearly completely occluded by intimal fibrous tissue, and the obstructive changes in the pulmonary arteries were much more limited. Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease is a rare, almost inevitably fatal disease of unknown etiology which has only recently been separated clearly from primary pulmonary hypertension as a distinct entity. Chest roentgenogram finding suggesting postcapillary pulmonary hypertension is a clue to a diagnosis and differentiates this from two other causes of clinical primary pulmonary hypertension, that is, recurrent pulmonary embolism and plexogenic pulmonary arteriopathy.

Aged↗

Pathophysiologic features of pulmonary thromboembolism in man.

The current study was done to clarify the recent trend of clinical pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) in Japan. The time has long passed since thromboembolic diseases of the lung were rare in our country. We have experienced, however, twenty-four clinically manifested patients with PTE during the past two years. Although a number of symptoms and findings have been reported to facilitate the diagnosis, they were for the most part nonspecific and therefore nondiagnostic. Combined perfusion and ventilation scans showing a perfusion defect with normal ventilation were reported to be useful for diagnosis of PTE, but a special attention should be paid to the fact that a massive perfusion defect was accompanied by decreased ventilation of the affected lung. From a pathophysiologic study, an exertional dyspnea associated with increased A-aDO2 and also increased a-ETDCO2 in patients without apparent pulmonary consolidation on their chest roentgenogram was strongly suggestive of PTE. A-aDO2 and a-ETDCO2 were shown to be variables independent to each other. a-ETDCO2 was valuable for clinical diagnosis with direct evidence of high VA/Q units resulting from occluded pulmonary arteries. On the other hand, A-aDO2 which was once elevated in the acute stage of PTE was decreased according to the recovery with a close linear correlation to the actual perfusion defect and was a sensitive indicator suggestive of resolved emboli. A-aDO2 was considered to provide measures of the active severity of PTE unlike a-ETDCO2.

Adult↗

Effect of neutrophil cathepsin G on elastin degradation by neutrophil elastase.

Human neutrophil cathepsin G was found to be unable to significantly stimulate the degradation of either bovine or human elastin by neutrophil elastase, using four different procedures to monitor digestion. A range of stimulations from 1.1 to 2.9-fold was found, with a 2.0-fold stimulation being the average found with the assays tested. These results contrast with those reported by Boudier et al. [(1981) J. Biol. Chem. 256, 10256-10258] who reported a five- to seven-fold stimulation of elastolysis of human lung elastin by cathepsin G, when present at a 2:1 molar ratio relative to elastase. Significantly, we found little stimulation of elastolysis with either human or bovine lung elastin as substrate while Boudier et al. found stimulation only with the human elastin. Thus, it would appear that cathepsin G does not play a predominant role as an elastolytic enzyme; rather, its role in this case may be one of binding to non-productive sites on the elastin surface.

Animals↗