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Biomedical subjects

Y Morioka

Publications and source records attributed to Y Morioka.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Clinical evaluation of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder by objective quantitative measures.

This study assessed the diagnostic potential of the actigraph, the Continuous Performance Test, and the Matching Familiar Figures Test in diagnosing attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Twenty boys previously diagnosed with ADHD and 52 controls were examined. By these measures the boys with ADHD were differentiated from the controls with sensitivity and specificity above 75%. We were able to classify ADHD into eight subtypes by combining the scores of the actigraph and the CPT: "hyperactive-impulsive", "hyperactive-inattentive", "impulsive-inattentive", "hyperactive", "impulsive", "inattentive", "mixed", and "unspecified" type. These classifications may be useful in diagnosing ADHD.

Attention↗
PubMed1998

One-year prognosis of depressive illness in the elderly population in Japan.

A 1-year prospective study of 43 elderly depressed residents (13 men and 30 women) in Nagai City in Japan is described. An initial survey was carried out in 1993 to find depressed residents. The subjects of the survey were 2056 residents of 65 years of age and older. The Japanese version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was employed as a screening tool in the first phase of the survey. In the second phase, screened subjects and control subjects were interviewed by psychiatrists using the Structured Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID). The diagnosis of depression was made by the psychiatrists on the basis of the results of the SCID. Forty-three persons were judged to be depressed. At follow-up, 10 were still depressed and 15 were well. Four were demented. Fourteen dropped out due to death, hospitalization, absence from home or refusal. The results showed that approximately half of the elderly depressed persons seemed to recover by the time of the 1-year follow-up. One-year prognosis of dysthymia was the worst. Some types of depression seemed to be a precursor for dementia. The concern is with how the findings may be used as an aid in understanding and planning community mental health services strategies. The results indicate that it is very important to pay close attention to patients with depressive illness who do not meet the criteria for major depression.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Prevalence and background factors of maternity blues.

To explore factors contributing to maternity blues, a longitudinal study was carried out on a group of 111 women who received obstetric care at Yamagata University Hospital from November 1994 to August 1995. Cases of maternity blues were found using Stein's Self-Rating Maternity Blues Scale. Mother-child relationships in the women's childhood were assessed using the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). Of the 111 women, 17 (15.3%) developed maternity blues during the first postpartum month. The PBI revealed that these depressed women appeared to be cared for less sufficiently in their own childhood than the non-depressed women. As revealed in interviews, they also seemed to receive less support from their families during pregnancy. These findings suggest that maternity blues may be related to insufficient maternal care in childhood, as well as to poor family support during pregnancy.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Determination of uric acid in scalp hair for non-invasive evaluation of uricemic controls in hyperuricemia.

The uric acid concentration in blood has been widely accepted as a diagnostic indicator of hyperuricemia and gout, and its assay method is well established. In the present study, we developed a simple and rapid method for the determination of uric acid in hair, which can be obtained non-invasively. The concentration (nmol/mg hair) of uric acid extracted from 10-20 mg hair with 0.1 M potassium hydroxide was determined by an enzymatic method using uricase. The concentration of uric acid (nmol/mg hair, mean+/-S.D.: 0.49+/-0.157, n=16) in hair from hyperuricemic patients was significantly higher than that (0.26+/-0.107, n=8) in healthy volunteers (p<0.01). The within-run and between-day precision (CVs) of the assay was 9.6-10.3% (n=10 each) and 11.6-16.3% (n=7 each), respectively. The concentration (nmol/mg hair, y) of uric acid in hair correlated well with that in serum (mg/l, x): y=0.09x-0.12 (r=0.75, Syx=0.122, n=23). Changes in the concentration of uric acid in the hair of antihyperuricemic drug-treated patient paralleled that in serum, suggesting that the concentration of uric acid in hair is a reliable indicator of the metabolic control in hyperuricemia.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Construction and expression of chimeric rat liver hydroxysteroid sulfotransferase isozymes.

The St-20 and ST-40 cDNAs encode rat liver hydroxysteroid sulfotransferases (HS-ST) that are 90% identical in amino acid sequence but exhibit different substrate preferences for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), androsterone (AD), and cortisol (CS). ST-40 is active for all three substrates, whereas ST-20 is mainly active for cortisol. To determine the domain responsible for the substrate preferences of the HS-STs, 20 chimeric HS-STs were constructed by reciprocal exchanges of DNA fragments derived from the cDNAs and were expressed in Escherichia coli. Some chimeric enzymes were enzymatically active for all three substrates, and some displayed reduced or lost CS-ST activity, with retention of DHEA- and AD-ST activities. Others lost all HS-ST activity. Analysis revealed that a central region (region III spanning amino acids 102-164 with five amino acid differences between ST-20 and ST-40) is essential for HS-ST activity, whereas regions II (amino acids 65-101) and IV (amino acids 165-219) are unimportant with regard to substrate preference. It was also shown that the parental combination of regions I (amino acids 1-64) and V (amino acids 220-284) is essential for CS-ST activity. Photoaffinity labeling with [35S]3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS) revealed that some inactive chimeras lost affinity for PAPS. These results suggested that an ordered structure formed by regions I, III, and V is required for HS-ST activity, especially for substrate preference and PAPS binding.

Androsterone↗
PubMed1997

Cytoplasmic gene expression system enhances the efficiency of cationic liposome-mediated in vivo gene transfer into mouse brain.

Development of methodologies for gene transfer into the central nervous system (CNS) is important for fundamental research as well as clinical studies for gene therapy. Cationic liposomes (CL) are attractive vectors because of their safety and ease of use. However, to date only low rates of success have been reported. We succeeded in obtaining high transfection efficiencies into the newborn mouse brain in vivo by CL and a cytoplasmic gene expression system based on T7 RNA polymerase and T7 RNA polymerase- and the luciferase-gene with the T7 promoter sequence. This system showed an efficiency rate 2 orders of magnitude higher than the standard system, which used CL and luciferase genes with a Rous sarcoma virus promoter, pRSVL. In addition, in vitro experiments using LLCMK2 cells showed that cytoplasmic gene expression occurred rapidly (within 6 h) after transfection. In contrast, pRSVL required 24-48 h for induction of luciferase expression. Our results suggest that the cytoplasmic gene expression system is useful for gene delivery into the CNS.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

New N2+ Electronic States in the Region of 23-28 eV

Threshold photoelectron spectra of N2+ were measured between 23.4 and 27.6 eV with high resolution and high intensity by using the penetrating field technique and synchrotron radiation. Five vibrational progressions were observed. The first of these progressions was the C2Sigmau+ state. The second progression was identified as the transition to the second state of 2Pig symmetry found by P. Baltzer, M. Larsson, L. Karlsson, B. Wannberg, and M. Carlsson (1992. Phys. Rev. A 46, 5545). The third progression, which was discovered by F. Merkt and P. M. Guyon (1993. J. Chem. Phys. 99, 3400), can be designated as the 2Sigmau- state by comparison with previous theoretical study (E. W. Thulstrup and A. Andersen, 1975. J. Phys. B 8, 965). The fourth and fifth progressions were designated as the 2Deltau and 2(2) Piu states by similar comparison with previous theories. Copyright 1997 Academic Press. Copyright 1997Academic Press

Journal Article↗
PubMed1997

Headache and stress in a group of nurses and government administrators in Japan.

We surveyed a group of 311 nurses and 283 mid-level government administrators in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, to determine the prevalence and character of their headaches. We investigated the relationship of headaches to the subjects' stress, and their behavior and coping patterns. The questionnaire we administered explored background factors, as well as the state of the respondents' mental health, life events, work motivation, support system, and interpersonal relationships. The questionnaire was completed by 76.8% of nurses and 100% of administrators. Of these, 40.6% of nurses and 19.1% of the administrators reported recurrent headaches. Furthermore, the number of headache sufferers among the women administrators was significantly higher than in the men. The nurses and the administrators who reported headache scored significantly higher than the nonheadache groups on the questions measuring symptoms of burnout, General Health Questionnaire, and learned helplessness. The group of nurses with headache had higher scores for life events, decreased work motivation, and nervous behavior than the nonheadache group; the administrators with headache scored higher for daily hassles than those of the nonheadache groups. In this study of a Japanese sample, the character of the subjects' headache and the possible inducing factors are consistent with those reported in studies of Europeans and Americans using similar testing methods. However, the high prevalence of headache among nurses and women administrators seems to be related to psychological stress, particularly work stress, which may be characteristic in Japan.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1997

Stress and psychiatric disorders in local government officials in Japan, in relation to their employment level.

In order to explore an association between psychiatric disorders and employment level, 283 local government officials in Japan were asked to complete a questionnaire consisting of a series of psychometric scales. The Daily Hassles Scale, General Health Questionnaire and Burnout Scale were used to measure stress, psychiatric disorders and burnout syndrome, respectively. As a result of canonical correlation analysis, the first canonical correlation indicated that the higher the level of stress under poorer support systems, the greater the likelihood of burnout syndrome. The second canonical correlation indicated that the stronger the support system, the smaller the tendency toward depression. Officials in higher levels of employment were supported less and were more severely depressed than officials at lower levels of employment.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Anxiety of infertile women undergoing IVF-ET: relation to the grief process.

The psychological state of 102 infertile women undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer was investigated. The levels of anxiety were measured by the state trait anxiety inventory and the manifest anxiety scale. The process of accepting infertility and attitudes toward treatment were explored by a semistructured interview. The mean score of state anxiety for the subjects was 50.0 which was considerably higher than the standard score of 42 for the general Japanese females. Women undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer with higher levels of anxiety remain in the introversive stage of the grief process, have a more positive attitude toward treatment, a more pessimistic outlook on the possibility of successful pregnancy, and feel more agitation.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Stress of female infertility: relations to length of treatment.

The psychology of infertile women was investigated with a battery of psychological tests consisting of a semistructured interview, State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and Cornell Medical Index (CMI). The subjects were 107 infertile women being treated for infertility. The semistructured interviews revealed that the stress factor for infertile women changes with the length of infertility. In the early states, the main stress is related to a physical inferiority complex, while later it changes into stress about what others outside the family say. According to STAI, CES-D and CMI, infertile women are considered to become more depressive the longer treatment persists. Therefore, counseling for infertile women should be adapted to long-term treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Colorimetric determination of cystine (disulfide bond) in hair using dithiothreitol.

We developed a simple method for the quantification of cystine (disulfide bond) content in hair by measuring the amount of oxidized dithiothreitol (lambda max 283 nm) derived from dithiothreitol (DTT) with cystine. Because the cystine content in hair is almost fixed for each animal species, it can be used as a reliable indicator of hair weight. The absorbance (A280, y) of the supernatant of the reaction mixture correlated well with hair weight (mg, x) (y = 0.10x + 0.06, r = 1.00, n = 10). Within-run and between-day reproducibilities (C.Vs., %) for the assay were 3.1 and 2.8 (n = 5 each), respectively. Hair cystine content (nmol/mg hair, mean +/- S.D.) in normal volunteers was 903 +/- 50.6 (n = 10) by the present method and 755 +/- 24.9 (n = 10) when an amino acid analyzer was used. After assay by our method, the hair sample can be washed, then used repeatedly to assay other analytes. The present method should be useful for assays of analytes present only in small amounts (2-20 mg), without the need for precise weighing of the hair samples.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

[Determination of uric acid in scalp hair for non-invasive estimation of uricemic control in hyperuricemia].

Uric acid in blood has been widely accepted as a reliable indicator of hyperuricemia and gout, and its assay method has been established. In the present study, we developed a simple and non-invasive rapid method for the determination of uric acid in hair. Concentration(nmol/mg hair) of uric acid extracted from 10-20 mg of hair(95% < extractability; 0.1N KOH, 37 degrees C, 2 hr) was determined by an enzymatic method using uricase. The concentration of uric acid(nmol/mg hair, mean +/- SD: 0.489 +/- 0.157, n = 16) in hair from hyperuricemic patients was significantly higher than that(0.258 +/- 0.107, n = 8) from healthy volunteers(p < 0.01). Within-run and between-day precisions(reproducibilities, CVs) for the assay were 9.6-10.3%(n = 10 each) and 11.6-16.3%(n = 7 each), respectively. The concentration(y, nmol/mg hair) of uric acid in hair correlated well with that in blood(x, g/l): y = 8.770x-0.123(r = 0.746, Syx = 0.122, n = 23). Changes in the concentration of uric acid in hair of hyperuricemic patient treated with allopurinol paralleled to those in blood. In conclusion, it was confirmed that the concentration of uric acid in hair reflected that in blood, suggesting that measuring uric acid in hair can be available for the metabolic control in hyperuricemia.

Biomarkers↗
PubMed1996

Site-directed mutagenesis of rat hepatic hydroxysteroid sulfotransferases.

Two cDNA clones of rat hepatic hydroxysteroid sulfotransferase (ST) (ST-40 and ST-20) were isolated and expressed in Escherichia coli cells. Several histidine residues in their coding regions are highly conserved in the ST superfamily, and histidine mutants were constructed by site-directed mutagenesis. The substitution of alanine or lysine for the histidine at position 98 in the ST-40 enzyme resulted in a loss of ST activities toward dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), androsterone (AD) and cortisol (CS). The mutation of histidine 98 into alanine abolished the specific binding to 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphate agarose, suggesting that the residue is located at a critical position in the 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS) binding site. In the ST-20 enzyme, the replacement of histidine 98 with alanine also resulted in the loss of ST activity toward its preferential substrate, CS. In the ST-40 enzyme, the mutation at histidine 256 into alanine markedly reduced CS-ST activity, but DHEA-ST activity was not changed. Furthermore, selective decrease in CS-ST activity was also observed in the alanine mutant at lysine 254 or at asparagine 255 of the ST-40 enzyme. Kinetic analysis on the ST-40 and its mutant at asparagine 255 indicated that the Km value for CS was significantly increased in the mutant without any change in the Km values for 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphosulfate and DHEA. Inhibition studies demonstrated that DHEA-ST activity was competitively inhibited by AD, but not by CS in the ST-40 enzyme, whereas triethylamine, a noncompetitive inhibitor of hydroxysteroid ST, inhibited DHEA-ST activity in the ST-40 enzyme but did not inhibit CS-ST activity in either ST-40 or ST-20 enzymes. These data provide evidence that DHEA and CS bind to different sites, which probably function in a different manner in the ST-40 enzyme.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Species difference in the disposition of liposomes among mice, rats, and rabbits: allometric relationship and species dependent hepatic uptake mechanism.

PURPOSE: The species difference in the pharmacokinetics of liposomes was investigated in mice, rats and rabbits. METHODS: Liposomes were intravenously injected at doses of 1, 10 and 100 (nmol/g body weight), and the time courses of liposomes in blood, liver and spleen were measured. Pharmacokinetic parameters were regressed as a function of body weight (BW) and dose of liposomes (D). The uptake mechanism of liposomes was also examined with the isolated perfused liver between rats and mice. RESULTS: Mean residence time increased with the increase of BW and D of liposomes. This increase of mean residence time resulted from the decreased total body clearance, which was principally explained by the species difference in the hepatic uptake clearance (CLh) of liposomes. The parameter CLh was regressed well by a multiple regression as a function of BW and D. In this analysis, an exponent for BW was around 0.5, which clearly indicates that smaller animals have higher uptake clearance per unit BW. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that there was no significant difference in the density of Kupffer cells among these species. This suggest that the species difference in CLh resulted not from the density of Kupffer cells but from the uptake ability of Kupffer cells among species. In the isolated perfused liver, the hepatic uptake of liposomes was mainly explained by opsonin dependent uptake in rats, while opsonin independent uptake in mice. CONCLUSIONS: These quantitative and qualitative information on the species difference of liposome disposition will provide an useful information for constructing a drug delivery system using liposomes.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

An epidemiological study of eating disorders in a northern area of Japan.

A total of 97 patients with eating disorders who visited the Department of Neuro-Psychiatry, Yamagata University Hospital, between 1978 and 1992 were studied. According to the diagnostic criteria of DSM-III-R, there were 48 cases of anorexia nervosa (AN). 38 cases of bulimia nervosa (BN) and 11 cases with both AN and BN. Both the number of patients and the ratio to all out-patients in each year increased four times during the period 1988-1992 compared to the previous period. With regard to their places of residence, the number of patients with AN and with BN from every district appeared to increase at almost the same rate, although the majority of the patients were from medium-sized cities. These findings may indicate that eating disorders are influenced by urbanization.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Synthesis and biological activity of the metabolites of diethyl 4-[(4-bromo-2-cyanophenyl)carbamoyl]benzylphosphonate (NO-1886).

Five metabolites of diethyl 4-[(4-bromo-2-cyanophenyl)carbamoyl]benzylphosphonate (NO-1886) (1) were synthesized to confirm their proposed structures. The metabolites (2-6) were found to be identical with the synthesized compounds. These metabolites were orally administered to Triton WR-1339-induced hypertriglyceridemic rats, and the plasma levels of triglycerides were measured to estimate lipoprotein lipase activity. All the metabolites showed lower potency than NO-1886.

Animals↗