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Biomedical subjects

Y Okano

Publications and source records attributed to Y Okano.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

Relation between exercise capacity and left ventricular systolic versus diastolic function during exercise in patients after myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND: It is known that left ventricular systolic function at rest does not correlate well with exercise capacity of patients with heart failure. However, the contribution of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, especially during exercise, to exercise capacity of cardiac patients remains to be determined. OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of left ventricular systolic and diastolic function during exercise on exercise capacity of patients with left ventricular dysfunction after myocardial infarction. METHODS: A symptom-limited exercise test was performed with measurements for hemodynamics and uptake of oxygen (Vo2) of 26 men who had previously suffered myocardial infarction. These patients were divided into two groups according to their peak Vo2 (group 1 with peak Vo2 > or = 16 ml/kg per min, n= 13; and group 2 with peak Vo2 < 16 ml/kg per min, n= 13). Pulmonary arterial pressure, left ventricular and systemic arterial pressure, and cardiac output were measured at rest and during exercise. RESULTS: At rest, there was no difference between the two groups in terms of hemodynamic parameters except for minimal dP/dt, minimal left ventricular pressure (LVP) and time constant for decay of left ventricular pressure (tau). During peak exercise, cardiac output, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (EDP), minimal dP/dt, minimal LVP, and tau for the two groups were significantly different. Furthermore, peak Vo2 was significantly correlated with T, minimal LVP, minimal dP/dt, EDP, and maximal dP/dt during peak exercise for the whole group of patients. CONCLUSION: Left ventricular diastolic function during exercise, i.e. diastolic reserve, may be an important determinant of exercise capacity of patients with left ventricular dysfunction after myocardial infarction.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Identification and assignment of the human NIMA-related protein kinase 7 gene (NEK7) to human chromosome 1q31.3.

Neks (NIMA-related kinase) are a group of protein kinases sharing high amino acid sequence identity with NIMA which controls initiation of mitosis in Aspergillus nidulans. We have identified and characterized human NEK7, a novel human gene structurally related to NIMA. Its open reading frame encodes a 302-amino acid protein and is 77% identical to human NEK6 protein. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that NEK6, NEK7, and Caenorhabditis elegans F19H6.1 constitute a subfamily within the NIMA family of protein kinases. Tissue distributions of NEK7 and NEK6 were studied by RT-PCR. NEK7 expression was restricted to a subset of tissues containing lung, muscle, testis, brain, heart, liver, leukocyte, and spleen, but NEK6 transcripts were detected in all tissues studied. The human NEK7 gene was assigned to human chromosome 1 by somatic cell hybrids and 1q31.3 by radiation hybrid mapping.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2001

Multidisciplinary treatment of advanced testicular tumor with bulky liver metastasis.

A 21-year-old man with far-advanced nonseminomatous germ cell tumor of the left testis is presented. He had multiple bulky metastases in the liver and retroperitoneum with an extraordinarily elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein (23,500 ng/ml). He received multidisciplinary treatment consisting of systemic chemotherapy, cytoreductive left hepatic lobectomy, percutaneous ablation therapy, transarterial chemoembolization, and external beam irradiation for median segments of the liver. The efficient combination treatment normalized the tumor markers within 6 months and has maintained complete serological remission for 4.7 years.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Molecular cloning and characterization of the human NIMA-related protein kinase 3 gene (NEK3).

NEKs (NIMA-related kinases) are a group of protein kinases sharing high amino acid sequence identities with NIMA (never in mitosis gene a) which control mitosis in Aspergillus nidulans. We have cloned a cDNA for human NEK3, a novel human gene structurally related to NIMA, by RT-PCR. Its open reading frame encodes a protein of 489 amino acid residues with the calculated molecular mass of 56.0 kDa and a predicted pI of 6.58. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that mouse and human NEK3s constitute a subfamily within the NIMA family of protein kinases. The expression pattern of NEK3 was studied by RT-PCR and a high level of expression was detected in testis, ovary, and brain, with low-level expression being detected in most of the tissues studied. NEK3 mRNA was detected in all the proliferating cell lines studied, and the amount did not change during the cell cycle. The human NEK3 gene was assigned to human chromosome 13 by somatic cell hybrids and 13q14.2 by radiation hybrid mapping.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2001

Excessive ventilation after acute myocardial infarction and its improvement in 4 months.

The relationship between ventilation (VE) and CO2 output (VCO2) is fitted linearly. The steeper gradient implies excessive ventilation. Through an evaluation of the VE-VCO2 slopes, this study investigated whether patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have excessive ventilation and whether it improved in 4 months. The VE-VCO2 slopes were determined in exercise tests at 1 and 4 months in 131 patients with AMI. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the 1 month VE-VCO2 slope value: (i) normal (<30); (ii) intermediate (30-32); and (iii) excessive (>32). In the normal group (n=76), at 4 months, the slope decreased in 10, increased in 5 and remained unchanged in 61 patients; in the intermediate (n=31) group, 9, 2 and 20; and in the excessive (n=24) group, 15, 3 and 6, respectively, showing that the slope reduction was greater in the excessive group (p<0.01). The slope correlated with age and acute phase heart failure. The percent reduction of the slope did not correlate with these parameters. In conclusion, a substantial fraction of patients with AMI have excessive ventilation that improves in 4 months. The improvement is greater in patients with greater excessive ventilation but is not associated with an improvement in exercise capacity nor hemodynamics.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2001

[Plasma brain natriuretic peptide as a prognostic indicator in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension].

BACKGROUND: Plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level increases in proportion to the degree of right ventricular dysfunction in pulmonary hypertension. We sought to assess the prognostic significance of plasma BNP in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension. METHODS AND RESULTS: Plasma BNP was measured in 60 patients with primary pulmonary hypertension at diagnostic catheterization, together with atrial natriuretic peptide, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. Measurements were repeated in 53 patients after a mean follow-up period of 3 months. Forty-nine of the patients received intravenous or oral prostacyclin. During a mean follow-up period of 24 months, 18 patients died of cardiopulmonary causes. According to multivariate analysis, baseline plasma BNP was an independent predictor of mortality. Patients with a supramedian level of baseline BNP (> or = 150 pg/ml) had a significantly lower survival rate than those with an inframedian level, according to Kaplan-Meier survival curves (p < 0.05). Plasma BNP in survivors decreased significantly during the follow-up (217 +/- 38 to 149 +/- 30 pg/ml, p < 0.05), whereas that in nonsurvivors increased (365 +/- 77 to 544 +/- 68 pg/ml, p < 0.05). Thus, survival was strikingly worse for patients with a supramedian value of follow-up BNP (> or = 180 pg/ml) than for those with an inframedian value (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: A high level of plasma BNP, and in particular, a further increase in plasma BNP during follow-up, may have a strong, independent association with increased mortality in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension.

Biomarkers↗
PubMed2001

[Galactosemia].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Galactosemias↗
PubMed2001

Clinical study of testicular germ cell tumors.

A clinical statistical analysis on 65 patients with 68 testicular germ cell tumors was performed. Thirty-six testes (53.7%) had seminomas and the remainder non-seminomatous germ cell testicular tumors (NSGCTTs). Of the seminomas, 31 (88.6%) were in stage I and the others showed distant metastases at presentation. Of the 32 NSGCTTs, 22 (68.8%) were in stage I. The average ages of the patients with seminomas and NSGCTTs were 40.4 and 29.9 years, respectively. Thirty-nine patients (60.0%) had tumors on the right side, 23 (35.4%) on the left and 3 (4.6%) in both testes. Five patients had a past history of cryptorchidism. Chief complaints in 49 patients (73.1%) were a painless scrotal mass. The interval from clinical onset to presentation was longer in seminoma patients than in NSGCTT patients (10.9 months on average versus 3.4 months). Immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) was a useful diagnostic tumor marker as well as alpha-feto protein (AFP), beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG) and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH). We adopted a surveillance policy in more than half of the stage I patients and obtained acceptable results. In the remaining cases, therapies including combination chemotherapy, radiation and salvage operation were performed after orchiectomy. The three-year survival rate was 98.0, 100.0 and 26.7%, for stage I, II and III patients respectively.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

[A case of Legionella pneumonia successfully treated intravenously with both erythromycin and ciprofloxacin].

A 54-year-old man was admitted to our hospital complaining of a high fever and watery diarrhea. The chest radiograph on admission revealed a homogeneous consolidation of the left upper lobe. Laboratory findings included proteinuria, oligouria, hematuria, myoglobinuria, hyponatremia, and serum CPK elevation. On the basis of these findings, a tentative diagnosis of Legionella pneumonia was made. He was treated with sulbactam/cefoperazon and erythromycin, but his high fever remained and the consolidation shadow deteriorated. He was therefore given both erythromycin and ciprofloxacin intravenously. After several days the fever had returned to normal, the appearance of the chest radiograph had improved, and his symptoms were quickly relieved. This case suggests that intravenous administration of ciprofloxacin and erythromycin can be an effective treatment against Legionella pneumonia.

Anti-Infective Agents↗
PubMed2000

Plasma brain natriuretic peptide as a prognostic indicator in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level increases in proportion to the degree of right ventricular dysfunction in pulmonary hypertension. We sought to assess the prognostic significance of plasma BNP in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH). METHODS AND RESULTS: Plasma BNP was measured in 60 patients with PPH at diagnostic catheterization, together with atrial natriuretic peptide, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. Measurements were repeated in 53 patients after a mean follow-up period of 3 months. Forty-nine of the patients received intravenous or oral prostacyclin. During a mean follow-up period of 24 months, 18 patients died of cardiopulmonary causes. According to multivariate analysis, baseline plasma BNP was an independent predictor of mortality. Patients with a supramedian level of baseline BNP (>/=150 pg/mL) had a significantly lower survival rate than those with an inframedian level, according to Kaplan-Meier survival curves (P<0.05). Plasma BNP in survivors decreased significantly during the follow-up (217+/-38 to 149+/-30 pg/mL, P<0. 05), whereas that in nonsurvivors increased (365+/-77 to 544+/-68 pg/mL, P<0.05). Thus, survival was strikingly worse for patients with a supramedian value of follow-up BNP (>/=180 pg/mL) than for those with an inframedian value (P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: A high level of plasma BNP, and in particular, a further increase in plasma BNP during follow-up, may have a strong, independent association with increased mortality rates in patients with PPH.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Bone mineral density of the lumbar spine in very-low-birth-weight infants: a longitudinal study.

UNLABELLED: To examine osteopenia in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants we used repeated dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in a prospective study of lumbar spinal bone mineral density (BMD) in Japanese VLBW infants (birthweight 426-1498 g; n = 61, group 1) aged 40 weeks postconception to 3 years of age. Control subjects were Japanese infants with birthweight 1500-1999 g (group 2), 2000-2499 g (group 3), or more than 2500 g (group 4). BMD in group 1 during the early period after birth was very low, increased rapidly for 1 year, and then gradually increased until 3 years of age (r = 0.931, P < 0. 0001). BMD at the age of 40 weeks postconception was 0.085 +/- 0.026, 0.132 +/- 0.039, 0.178 +/- 0.042, and 0.196 +/- 0.046 g/cm(2) in groups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively (P < 0.0001). However, at 1 and 2 years of age no differences were observed among the groups in BMD. CONCLUSION: This study shows that lumbar spinal BMD in VLBW infants can normalize by the age of 2 years.

Absorptiometry, Photon↗
PubMed2000

Strong rebound of wakefulness follows prostaglandin D2- or adenosine A2a receptor agonist-induced sleep.

We studied the effect of sleep excess on the sleep-wakefulness pattern of rats. Subarachnoid infusion of prostaglandin D2 or the adenosine A2a receptor agonist CGS21680 effectively induced slow wave sleep (SWS) for the first 12 h of the night-time period, whereas they did not induce sleep during the following 24 h of infusion. An increase in the amount of wakefulness was seen during the last 12 h of prostaglandin D2 infusion. The amounts of wakefulness strongly increased during the following 36-h recovery period. Rebound wakefulness was extraordinarily strong after the cessation of CGS21680 infusion, reaching almost complete insomnia during the night-time. Treatment of animals with prostaglandin D2 overnight, following by treatment with CGS21680 on the next night, resulted in the strongest induction of wakefulness rebound. During the rebound period, the amount of wakefulness reached up to 50 min per hour in the daytime. Rebound of wakefulness depended on the amounts of preceding SWS induced by infusion of prostaglandin D2 for 6 or 12 h and of CGS21680 for 12 h. The larger the amount of SWS, the larger the amount of the following rebound of wakefulness. Rebounds of wakefulness occurred as a result of decrease in SWS amounts, whereas paradoxical sleep amounts did not change. Desensitization of adenosine A2a receptors and accumulation of prostaglandin E2 may be involved in the production of strong wakefulness rebound following relatively long treatments (more than 12 h) with prostaglandin D2 or CGS21680.

Adenosine↗
PubMed2000

Centrosomal kinases, HsAIRK1 and HsAIRK3, are overexpressed in primary colorectal cancers.

Members of the recently identified family of Homo sapiens Aurora / Ipl1-related kinases (HsAIRKs), homologous to chromosome segregation kinases, fly Aurora and yeast Ipl1, are highly expressed during M phase, and have been suggested to regulate centrosome function, chromosome segregation, and cytokinesis. In the present study, immunohistochemical analyses were performed of HsAIRK1 and HsAIRK3 expression in 78 primary colorectal cancers and 36 colorectal adenomas as well as 15 normal colorectal specimens. In normal colon mucosa, some crypt cells showed weak positive staining in 10 and 12 out of 15 cases for HsAIRK1 and HsAIRK3, respectively, the remaining cases being negative. Elevated expression of HsAIRK1 was observed in 53 (67.9%) of the colorectal cancers, and of HsAIRK3 in 40 (51.3%). Furthermore, colorectal adenomas showed high expression of HsAIRK1 and HsAIRK3 in 11 (30.6%) and 7 (19.4%) cases, respectively, thus being intermediate between colorectal cancers and normal colorectal mucosa. Interestingly, HsAIRK1 overexpression was significantly associated with pT (primary tumor invasion) and p53 accumulation in colorectal cancers. There was no significant correlation between proliferating cell nuclear antigen-labeling index (PCNA-LI) and the levels of these proteins. The results suggest that overexpression of HsAIRK1 and HsAIRK3 might be involved in tumorigenesis and / or progression of colorectal cancers.

Adenoma↗
PubMed2000

Higher incidence of elevated body temperature or increased C-reactive protein level in asthmatic children showing transient reduction of theophylline metabolism.

The authors investigated whether theophylline metabolism is decreased in asthmatic patients and what condition may be related to its reduction. Fifty-two children with asthma were given 15 mg/kg/day aminophylline intravenously at a constant rate. Blood and spot urine samples were collected at 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours after beginning infusion. The ratio of plasma theophylline concentration at 72 hours to that at 24 hours (C72h/C24h) varied from 0.42 to 1.51 (average 0.894). Plasma theophylline concentration of patients with lower C72h/C24h than average reduced significantly, while the concentration of those with higher C72h/C24h remained unchanged. The urinary ratio of the sum of the metabolites to theophylline was significantly increased in the patients with the lower ratio. Among the demographic characteristics examined, significant difference was found only in the incidence of patients with C-reactive protein (CRP) of 0.5 mg/dl or greater or patients with a fever of 37.5 degrees C or greater when admitted. Acute febrile illness accompanied by increased CRP level may affect theophylline metabolism.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Quantitative Beutler test for newborn mass screening of galactosemia using a fluorometric microplate reader.

BACKGROUND: The Beutler enzyme spot test is an effective assay for newborn mass screening of galactosemia, but it is qualitative and relies on visual interpretation. We describe a quantitative, instrumental modification of the assay. METHODS: We modified the macroscopic visual Beutler enzyme spot test by adding extraction of blood components from filter paper, deproteinization with acetone-methanol, and quantification and recording by a fluorescent microplate reader and personal computer. All handling was performed in microplates. The measurement time was 90 min. RESULTS: Fluorescence intensity (FI) of healthy controls correlated with hematocrit and galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT) activity. Patients with GALT deficiency were distinguished clearly from healthy subjects and heterozygous carriers by FI. FI decreased to 75% of the initial activity after storage at 25 degrees C for 3 days and to 40% after storage at 37 degrees C for 7 days. Screening of 46 742 newborns yielded 1 false-positive result (in a heterozygous carrier), 1 patient with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, and no apparent false negatives as judged by concurrent measurements of galactose and galactose-1-phosphate. CONCLUSIONS: The quantitative Beutler test can provide precise GALT activity in newborn mass screening, and can take into consideration the influence of high temperature and humidity, duration between sampling and testing, and anemia. This method is clinically useful, simple, automated, and highly reliable for newborn mass screening of galactosemia.

Blood Specimen Collection↗
PubMed2000

[Anesthetic management for reconstruction of the superior vena cava by monitoring of peripheral venous pressure in a patient with a mediastinum tumor].

A 26-years-old man with a giant mediastinum tumor was scheduled for reconstruction of the superior vena cave and tumor resection. Anesthetic management for reconstruction of the superior vena cava was performed by monitoring of peripheral venous pressure. A bypass between the inominate vein and right auricula was made by using an artificial vessel before clamping the superior vena cava. When the superior vena cava was clamped, peripheral venous pressure increased suddenly to 42 mmHg. Immediately after the venesection from the peripheral vessel, it was possible to control peripheral venous pressure at about 20 mmHg. Blood was re-transfused from the femoral vein to the patient. Cerebral neurological symptom due to the increasing venous pressure was not detected. In conclusion, monitoring peripheral venous pressure during reconstruction of the superior vena cava in a patient with a mediastinum tumor may be a useful technique.

Adult↗