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Biomedical subjects

Y Soma

Publications and source records attributed to Y Soma.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

[Auditory comprehension in transcortical motor aphasia due to a medial lesions of the left frontal lobe].

We assessed the anatomical findings and auditory comprehension of six patients with transcortical motor aphasia due to medical lesions of the left frontal lobe. All patients were right-handed and were initially mute for several hours after the onset, and they exhibited mild paresis of the right lower extremity. Their spontaneous speech was sparse and not fluent, and sometimes accompanied by echolalia, but their articulation was normal and repetition was excellent. They had difficulty in recalling words. A diagnosis of transcortical motor aphasia was made on the basis of their clinical symptoms. All patients were found to have an infarct in the left medial frontal region by MRI and/or CT. We administered the Western Aphasia Battery and 50 line drawing pointing task in order to evaluate auditory comprehension. Based on the results we concluded that there is no impairment of auditory comprehension of single words when lesions are limited to the superior frontal gyrus, but that lesions extending to the middle frontal gyrus interfere with auditory comprehension of single words. Our observations indicate that the middle frontal gyrus plays an important role in auditory comprehension of single words. All of the patients displayed impaired auditory comprehension of sentences even when their lesions were strictly limited to the medial frontal lobe. This suggests that the medial frontal lobe plays some role in the auditory comprehension of sentences.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

[A case of pure alexia whose writing ability with eyes closed was superior to that with eyes open].

We compared the writing ability between eyes open (looking at one's writing) and eyes closed (without looking) in a case of pure alexia. The patient is a 84-year-old right handed man who developed pure alexia following an infarction in the distribution of the left posterior cerebral artery. He showed right homonymous hemianopsia, slight memory disorder and slight anomia. He could not read any kinds of letters and words at all though he could categorize letters: Kana (phonograms), Kanji (morphograms) and Arabic numbers, and he could distinguish the real letters from false ones. He could achieve almost 60-70% of Kana and Kanji dictation, though it was not perfect. He was often confused and could not continue writing correct letters once interrupted. He wrote poorly when looking at what he was writing. So we compared the ability of dictation with his eyes closed, and that with his eyes open. We found the former way never caused confusion and got better results, which was statistically significant (Fisher's exact test (p < 0.05)). It seemed that his visual feedback of his own writing rather caused trouble in his writing. Thus we concluded that input (reading) process and output (writing) process work simultaneously and bi-directionally. Slight impairment of writing in pure alexia patients might be caused by the effect of impairment of input (reading) process, which is simultaneously connected with the output (writing) process.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

[Familial posterior cortical atrophy with visual agnosia and Bálint's syndrome].

We report a patient of posterior cortical atrophy with progressive visual agnosia, Bálint's syndrome and dementia in which posterior cortical atrophy with similar characteristics on CT and progressive dementia were found in a sister. The patient was a 75-year-old woman who noted the onset of a progressive visual disorder at the age of 70, and whose family first noticed disoriented behavior at around the same period. Ophthalmologic examinations revealed mild cataract but no evidence of peripheral optic nerve or retinal lesions. Neuropsychological examination showed right homonymous hemianopia, visual agnosia, Bálint's syndrome, mild transcortical sensory aphasia, Gerstmann's syndrome, constructional apraxia, mild ideomotor apraxia and memory disorder. MRI showed marked dilatation of both lateral ventricles, especially the posterior horns, and severe atrophy of the occipital lobes, hippocampus, and the parahippocampal gyrus. Assessment of regional cerebral blood flow by IMP-SPECT revealed a generalized decrease in the temporo-parieto-occipital region bilaterally. The patient's sister began to show evidence of progressive dementia at 80 years of age and CT of the brain revealed marked atrophy, predominantly in the occipital lobes, similar to that of the patient. We believe this to be the first report of posterior cortical atrophy with a positive family history, suggesting the possibility of a hereditary syndrome.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

The growth regulation of neurofibroma cells in neurofibromatosis type-1: increased responses to PDGF-BB and TGF-beta 1.

In neurofibromatosis type-1 (NF-1), abnormal growth regulation may be related to the formation of multiple neurofibromas. We investigated the growth responses of neurofibroma-derived cells (NF cells) and control skin fibroblasts to various growth factors. The responses to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-BB) and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) in NF cells were significantly greater than those in control fibroblasts. The increased response to PDGF-BB in NF cells was accompanied by an increased number of PDGF beta receptors, which was demonstrated by both 125I PDGF-BB binding assay and immunoblotting analysis. The increased response to TGF-beta 1 was assumed to be mediated through PDGF-like protein induction; TGF-beta 1-treated NF cells produced greater amounts of 36-kD PDGF-like protein than TGF-beta 1-treated control fibroblasts. These observations suggest that certain growth factors, e.g., PDGF-BB and TGF-beta, may play some role in the development of neurofibromas in NF-1.

Becaplermin↗
PubMed1994

Alteration of the chemotactic response of human skin fibroblasts to PDGF by growth factors.

Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) is a potent mitogen and chemoattractant for fibroblastic cells. In the early stage of wound healing. PDGF is released from aggregated platelets and it is believed that its chemotactic activity may play a key role in the influx of connective tissue cells into wound sites. Using the Boyden chamber assay, we investigated factors that alter the migratory response of human skin fibroblasts to PDGF. The response was related to the growth state of cells; that is, growing cells at low cell density exhibited a greater migratory response to PDGF than density-arrested quiescent cells. The level of random migration was also elevated in growing cells, compared to quiescent cells. The chemotactic response after 3-h exposure to serum was markedly decreased (> 50%). Three-hour preincubation of the cells with transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) or with epidermal growth factor reduced the migratory response to approximately half that in the nonstimulated control. In contrast, cells treated with TGF-beta or basic fibroblast growth factor for 24 h exhibited a two- to threefold greater chemotactic response to PDGF than control cells. This stimulatory effect of TGF-beta on the fibroblast migration induced by PDGF suggests that TGF-beta acts synergistically with PDGF on the influx of connective tissue cells into human wound sites and may explain the potent wound healing activity of TGF-beta in vivo.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Serum concentration of procollagen type I carboxyterminal propeptide in systemic sclerosis.

The serum level of procollagen type I carboxyterminal propeptide (P1CP), which has been used as an index of collagen synthesis in patients with various fibrotic diseases during the active stage, was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 61 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and in 21 control subjects. The mean P1CP level in the SSc patients was significantly higher than in the normal controls (mean +/- SD, 326 +/- 319 vs 128 +/- 87 ng/ml; p < 0.005). In 36% of the SSc patients, the serum P1CP level was significantly elevated more than two standard deviations above the mean control value. The mean serum P1CP level in patients with diffuse SSc was significantly higher than in those with limited SSc (411 +/- 373 vs 255 +/- 199 ng/ml; p < 0.05). In addition, the SSc patients with elevated serum P1CP levels showed a significantly greater incidence of lung fibrosis and joint involvement than those with normal P1CP levels (p < 0.005 and p < 0.05, respectively). These results suggest that the serum P1CP level is a useful indicator of the severity of disease in SSc patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Increased levels of circulating intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in patients with localized scleroderma.

BACKGROUND: Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is important in immune-mediated mechanisms, and its circulating form (cICAM-1) may be an indicator of immune activation. Localized scleroderma is accompanied by various immunologic abnormalities. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether the serum level of cICAM-1 in patients with localized scleroderma was elevated and was correlated with the clinical or serologic features of this disease. METHODS: Serum cICAM-1 levels were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 48 patients with localized scleroderma, in 20 patients with systemic sclerosis, and in 20 healthy control subjects. RESULTS: Serum levels of cICAM-1 were significantly higher in patients with localized scleroderma than in the healthy control subjects. These levels correlated with the number of lesions, the number of involved areas, levels of antihistone antibody IgM, and levels of soluble interleukin 2 receptor. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that immune activation may be a factor in localized scleroderma.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Right unilateral agraphia following callosal infarction in a left-hander.

A left-handed Japanese man is reported who presented right-hand agraphia and tactile anomia following callosal infarction. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an ischemic lesion extending from the posterior half of the trunk to the splenium of the corpus callosum. In his right handwriting, the 'Kana' (phonogram) was more severely impaired than the 'Kanji' (ideogram), and the most frequent typewriting error was morphological followed by neographism. His visuoconstructional ability was also more impaired in the right hand than in the left. Right-hand agraphia in our case is readily explained by the right hemisphere dominance both for language and visuoconstructional ability.

Agraphia↗
PubMed1994

[Transcortical sensory aphasia following a left frontal lesion--case report].

We report a patient with transcortical sensory aphasia (TCSA) following a left frontal lesion. The patient was a 63-year-old right handed Buddhist priest admitted to our hospital with a complaint of word-finding difficulty. Neurological examination failed to reveal any abnormal findings except aphasia. The patients spontaneous speech was fluent, not agrammatic, and free of phonemic paraphasia but he sometimes exhibited semantic paraphasia. His ability to repeat sentences was excellent, but he had severe difficulty in word-finding, auditory comprehension and writing. He read aloud correctly, but his reading comprehension of kana (phonograms) was poor in contrast to excellent reading comprehension of kanji (morphonograms). His clinical picture was characterized by poor comprehension but excellent repetition, and a diagnosis of TCSA was made. CT and MRI revealed an infarction involving the pars opercularis and pars triangularis in the inferior frontal gyrus and the anterior portion of the lower prefrontal gyrus and the middle frontal gyrus. Regional cerebral blood flow was measured by single photon emission CT and was found to be decreased in the same region as indicated on CT and MRI. The clinical picture in this patient was comparable to that of TCSA due to a posterior parieto-occipital lesion, but the rapid improvement (within 1 to 2 months) of this patient was characteristic. Auditory comprehension, kana (phonograms) reading comprehension, and word recall, which were severely impaired in this patient, all demand interaction between phonological processes and semantic processes. Thus we conclude that this patient had impairment of the phonological-semantic interaction process.

Aphasia, Wernicke↗
PubMed1994

[Removal of infected total pacemaker system under extracorporeal circulation--a case report and review of the Japanese literature].

A 35-year-old male with sick sinus syndrome was complicated with recurrent local infection at the site of the generator pocket associate with a retained pacemaker lead, followed by septicemia presenting with Staphylococcus aureus. Several attempts to remove the lead via the implantation vein by direct traction were performed unsuccessfully because the leads were strongly adhered to the trabecula of the right ventricle. Repeated debridement employing antibiotic therapy was ineffective. As a last resort, we finally operated under extracorporeal circulation (ECC) 24 months after the first implantation and 22 months after initiation of the local infectious episode. As we found it difficult to remove the leads by traction even under direct vision, we used the vinyl chloride tube, which is a part of the ECC circuit, as a sheath for applying countertraction around the lead tip to prevent the myocardial wall from being torn and extracted together with the lead tip. The lead was removed successfully and a new epicardial lead was implanted. The postoperative course uneventful and no recurrence has occurred after 1 year. In reviewing the Japanese literature, 10 case, operated on under ECC to remove the infected retained leads, were described in detail. Among them, eight cases had undergone previous debridement including removal of the generator and the subcutaneous portion of the lead. It is clear that removal of all of the pacemaker system is necessary for eradication of infection. Adhesion of the lead to the wall is firm. Only one case besides ours succeeded in having its lead removed without requiring incision of the tissue around the lead tip.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans: increased growth response to platelet-derived growth factor BB in cell culture.

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a malignant tumor originating in the dermis. Although it is locally aggressive and recurs unless completely excised, it only rarely metastasizes. In the present study, we established 4 cultured DFSP cell strains, which were almost identical to normal skin fibroblasts when observed under a phase-contrast-microscope, and we observed their responses to various growth factors. DFSP cells showed significantly greater response to platelet-derived growth factor BB(PDGF BB) and transforming growth factor beta 1(TGF beta 1) than normal fibroblasts. We also determined upregulation of PDGF beta receptors in DFSP cells by both 125I PDGF-BB binding assay and immunoblotting analysis. These findings suggest that the interaction between the PDGF-B chain and the overexpression of PDGF beta receptors might play a role in the development of DFSP tumors.

Cell Division↗
PubMed1993

Antihistone antibodies in patients with localized scleroderma.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence and antigen specificity of antihistone antibodies (AHA) in localized scleroderma. METHODS: Forty-nine serum samples from patients with localized scleroderma were examined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and by immunoblotting. RESULTS: By ELISA, AHA were demonstrated in 47% (23 of 49) of patients with localized scleroderma and in 87% (13 of 15) of patients with generalized morphea. Immunoblotting revealed that the predominant antigens were histones H1 and H3. The presence of AHA correlated with that of anti-single-stranded DNA antibody. CONCLUSION: Some of the major antigens for antinuclear antibodies in patients with localized scleroderma are histones.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Diagnostic significance of nailfold bleeding in scleroderma spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND: The early detection of scleroderma spectrum disorders (SSD) is important. OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine the prevalence of nailfold bleeding in SSD. METHODS: We examined patients for nailfold bleeding in the following three groups: (1) 81 patients with SSD including 50 patients with scleroderma, 10 with mixed connective tissue disease, and 21 with Raynaud's phenomenon having specific antinuclear antibody (ANA); (2) 99 patients with other connective tissue diseases or primary Raynaud's phenomenon; and (3) 200 patients with common skin diseases. RESULTS: The frequency of nailfold bleeding was significantly higher in SSD (75.3%) than in other connective tissue diseases (12.1%) and in controls (3.0%). The presence of nailfold bleeding in two or more fingers showed a 98.3% specificity for SSD. Among the patients with SSD, the incidence of nailfold bleeding in scleroderma, mixed connective tissue disease, and Raynaud's phenomenon with specific ANA was similar. Nailfold bleeding strongly correlated with the presence of anticentromere antibody. CONCLUSION: The presence of nailfold bleeding is useful for the early detection of SSD.

Antibodies, Antinuclear↗
PubMed1993

In vitro assessment of teratogenic potential of organotin compounds using rat embryo limb bud cell cultures.

Assessment of the relative teratogenic potential of bis(tri-n-butyltin)oxide (TBTO), tri-n-butyltin chloride (TBT), and its metabolites, i.e., (3-OH)hydroxybutyl dibutyltin chloride ((3-OH-Bu)DBT), di-n-butyltin dichloride (DBT), and butyltin trichloride (MBT) have been conducted using rat embryo limb bud cell cultures (LBC) to gain some knowledge of TBT embryotoxicity and DBT teratogenicity. Triphenyltin chloride (TPT), trimethyltin chloride (TMT), and triethyltin bromide (TET) have also been tested to obtain data for validation of LBC as a teratogen prescreening for organotin compounds. Fifty percent inhibition concentration for cell proliferation (IP50), and for cell differentiation (ID50), and the ratio of the former to the latter (P/D ratio) were obtained. The ID50 values in increasing order were as follows; TPT, DBT < TBT, TBTO < (3-OH-Bu)DBT < TET < TMT << MBT. With the exception of MBT, organotin compounds tested were very strong inhibitors of cell differentiation (ID50; 0.13-1.71 microM) and cell proliferation (IP50; 0.12-2.81 microM). P/D ratios for TBT, (3-OH-Bu)DBT, DBT and MBT were 1.0, 1.43, 1.32 and 1.08, respectively. These results suggest that the proximal toxin of DBT teratogenicity is DBT itself, and TBT is rather embryocidal than teratogenic so that TBT might mask the teratogenic and/or fetotoxic effects of its metabolites.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗
PubMed1993

Crossed avoiding reaction: a disturbance of the manual spatial function.

A patient with MRI confirmed lesions in the corpus callosum and the left cingulate gyrus had a rare syndrome of crossed avoiding reaction of the left hand. With the right hand she could reach a stimulus object in whatever space it was presented. With the left hand, however, she could not mobilise it to reach a stimulus presented in the right hemispace relative to her body axis. In the left hemispace relative to her body axis her left hand reached an object without any difficulty. This left unilateral difficulty in the right unilateral space may be related to a unique spatial function that controls manual space, which is represented differentially in the two hemispheres. In the left hemisphere this function covers bilateral hemispace and is operated by the right hand. In the right hemisphere this function covers only the left hemispace and is operated by the left hand.

Brain↗
PubMed1993

Coexistence of morphea and systemic sclerosis.

While the association of morphea and systemic sclerosis (SSc) is considered to be a rare condition, we observed well-demarcated sclerotic skin changes indistinguishable from morphea in 9 of 135 SSc patients who visited our clinic during the last decade. We consider this rate of incidence (6.7%) to be high enough to consider morphea to be one of the skin involvements of SSc. There was a significantly (p < 0.01) higher incidence of morphea in males (3 of 5) than in females (6 of 130). Only 3 of 111 SSc patients positive for antinuclear antibody (ANA) also showed morphea, whereas 6 of 9 patients negative for ANA showed morphea (p < 0.01). Although the mechanism underlying the development of morphea in SSc patients remains unknown, our observations suggest a heterogeneous pathogenesis related to SSc gender and ANA type.

Adult↗