Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Y Tsuchiya.
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During the course of aging, the weight percentage of organs such as kidney to body weight remain almost unchanged, whereas the weight of the thymus decreases significantly. The antitumor activity of Lentinan is constant in mice younger than 1 year (52 weeks). From 52 weeks, aging has a suppressive effect on antitumor activity. Even in aged mice, administration of Lentinan was shown to be effective, and better results were obtained through chronic administration, even with a smaller dose. Lentinan enhanced delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity in aged mice similarly to that in young mice. Thymus homogenate showed synergism with Lentinan in 2-year-old mice for suppression of tumor growth, although thymus homogenate alone showed no effect. These results show that Lentinan is effective as an anticancer immunopotentiator in aged animals in a similar way to young animals.
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Twenty-two patients with cirrhosis and minute hepatocellular carcinoma less than 3 cm in diameter were followed for periods of 6-37 mo without specific treatment. The survival curve drawn by the Kaplan-Meier method showed a 1-yr survival of 90.7%, a 2-yr survival of 55.0%, and a 3-yr survival of 12.8%. The ultrasonic patterns of these masses in the liver were correlated with the size and showed a tendency to change from a low echo pattern to a low periphery and, finally, to a massive pattern. The growth speed calculated from the doubling time for tumor volume varied considerably from case to case with an average of 6.5 +/- 5.7 mo; it also changed in some cases during the observation period. Serum alpha-fetoprotein levels were generally low, rarely assisted in diagnosis, but tended to increase when the mass attained a diameter of greater than 3 cm; sudden acceleration in the rate of increase in alpha-fetoprotein level often coincided with a change of ultrasonic pattern to the massive one.
Rat alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) is a typical acute phase protein, the concentration of which in serum increases more than 100-fold after inflammation. It is also known that the protein increases during pregnant (and neonatal) stages. Using a specific cDNA probe, expression of the alpha 2M gene during pregnancy was studied at the mRNA level. During inflammation, the liver is almost the only organ producing alpha 2M, but during pregnancy the placenta and uterus were found to be major organs producing a large amount (70-80% of that of inflamed liver) of alpha 2M mRNA at days 12-15. The yolk sac, maternal liver and fetal (or neonatal) liver also produced a small but significant amount (5-20% of that of inflamed liver) of the mRNA. Southern blotting analysis showed that only one copy of the alpha 2M gene was present in a haploid rat genome. These results indicated that a single alpha 2M gene has the ability to respond to two completely-different physiological states.
A 6 1/2-year-old Japanese girl with type 1 glycogen storage disease developed a profound metabolic acidosis refractory to bicarbonate renal tubular acidosis and hyperphosphaturia. There was no evidence of distal tubular dysfunction.
Magnetic resonance (MR) images of the liver were used to study 43 patients with relatively small hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and 36 with other hepatic mass lesions. In 27 HCC patients, histologic findings were available. All focal lesions detectable by CT without contrast media were delineated with greater contrast by MR imaging. The rate of detection depended on tumor size, being 97.5% for HCCs greater than 2 cm in the longest axis and 33.3% for those less than 2 cm. MR imaging demonstrated the ring sign characteristic of encapsulated HCC twice as frequently as CT scans. Inversion recovery (IR) images depicted the internal structure of the HCC better than T2-weighted spin-echo images. Lesions were classified into four patterns of intensity: low, iso, high, and mixed. The latter three were relatively characteristic of HCC and related closely with steatosis of cancer tissue. HCCs with fibrosis tended to have long T1 values; those with steatosis had short T1 values. T1 and T2 relaxation times were useful in the differential diagnosis.
The activity of stimulatory guanine nucleotide regulatory protein (Ns) in the erythrocyte membrane was assayed by the reconstitution method using plasma membrane of cyc S49 mouse lymphoma cells in 18 patients with type I pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP-I), 2 with pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (PPHP) and 30 normal subjects, in parallel with other clinical parameters. The Ns activity as expressed by per cent of pooled standard (mean +/- SE) was 78.9 +/- 6.1 in PHP-I patients, which was significantly lower (P less than 0.01) than the value in normal subjects, 99.5 +/- 2.4. In PHP-I patients, the Ns activities (Y) were in significant correlation with three clinical parameters examined (X), i.e., with body height in standard deviation score from the mean of the normal population at the corresponding age, Y = 89.4 + 10.4X (r = 0.616, P less than 0.01); with urinary cAMP excretion in relation to creatinine [cAMP(nmol)/Cr(mg)], Y = 56.3 + 7.2X (r = 0.501, P less than 0.05); and with TSH levels in plasma (microU/ml), Y = 129 - 3X (r = 0.639, P less than 0.01). The Ns activities of PPHP were as low as 53.8 and 60.0. The decrease of Ns activity in the cell membrane may be implicated in the development of the clinical symptoms such as short stature, decrease in urinary excretion of cAMP and latent or manifest primary hypothyroidism in PHP-I and possibly in skeletal abnormality in PPHP.
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An aenurysm of a diverticulum of the ductus arteriosus in a 33-year-old man was presented. The chest radiography revealed a mass obscurring the aortic window above the hilus of the left lung. His blood pressure was 130/70 mmHg, and there was no difference in pressures between the upper and lower or between the right and left extremities. A CT scan of the chest showed 30 X 34 mm angioma adjacent to the descending aorta and pulmonary artery. Aortography and contrast radiography of the right ventricle revealed a cystic pedunculated aneurysm at the superior portion of the descending aorta. The base of the left pulmonary artery was slightly displaced. There was no communication between the aorta and pulmonary artery, nor was any significant difference in pressure between the ascending and descending aorta. This case was diagnosed as an aneurysm of the diverticulum of the ductus arteriosus, and then it was resected. The abnormality was confirmed by the localization of the aneurysm and histopathologic findings, but the presence of the ligamentum arteriosum was not confirmed. This is the 23rd case of the aneurysm of the diverticulum of the ductus arteriosus in adults, and the first case in Japan in which the diagnosis was made in a living patient, followed by successful surgery.
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After decompression of the bile duct with PTCD, seven patients with carcinomas of the bile ducts were submitted to an intracavitary Ir-afterloading irradiation performed according to the high-dose-rate method with a Buchler device. Most of the patients were irradiated with 30 Gy in two fractions. Five patients were also exposed to percutaneous radiation with 40 to 50 Gy. Local control was achieved in six patients. One patient developed a locoregional recurrence which was possibly due to a so-called "geographic miss". In one patient a benign fibrotic stenosis of the bile duct was found at the site of most intensive irradiation. Intracavitary irradiation is very important in the treatment of malignant obstruction of bile ducts. However, there is an urgent need of research with regard to the combined method with percutaneous irradiation and to the optimum fractionation of intracavitary high dose rate irradiation.