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Biomedical subjects

C Arai

Publications and source records attributed to C Arai.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Trehalose suppresses lipopolysaccharide-induced osteoclastogenesis bone marrow in mice.

We have previously shown that trehalose suppresses bone loss in ovariectomized (OVX) mice by way of inhibiting osteoclast differentiation in bone marrow. Also, trehalose inhibits the secretion of interleukin-6 in bone marrow cell cultures, resulting in a decrease in osteoclast formation. In this study, we examined the effect of trehalose on osteoclastogenesis using another model of bone resorption, namely lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated osteoclast induction. Mice were given trehalose (1g/kg) by gastric intubation for 5 consecutive days, and 24 hours later, 14 mg/kg of LPS was injected intraperitoneally. Trehalose significantly suppressed LPS-induced tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha production after 90 min and decreased the number of osteoclasts in the bone marrow 48 hours after LPS injection. These results indicate that trehalose suppresses excessive osteoclastogenesis not only in OVX mice but also in a LPS-induced bone resorption mouse model and further suggest that the latter finding may be mediated at least in part through a decrease in TNF-alpha production.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

[Sequential changes in haemostatic activity during prolonged surgery and its alteration with continuous heparin infusion].

We measured molecular markers to study sequential changes in the hemostatic activity and its alteration by intraoperative continuous heparin infusion in patients, undergoing surgeries of 10 hours or longer for oral cancers. The heparin was infused continuously from the beginning of microsurgery until the end of anaesthesia to maintain an activated partial thromboplastin time between 50 to 70 seconds in the heparin group. In the control group, the concentrations of thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT), fragment 1 + 2 (F1 + 2) and D-dimer increased, and the soluble fibrin monomer complex (SFMC) became positive 2-6 hours after the induction of anesthesia. With continuous heparinization, the changes in measured molecular markers were clearly inhibited compared with the control group. The hemostatic activities increased progressively from the early stages of surgery, and the intraoperative continuous heparin infusion was effective in suppressing the hypercoagulable state during prolonged surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Prophylactic action of oral fluconazole against fungal infection in neutropenic patients. A meta-analysis of 16 randomized, controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Fluconazole is used widely for fungal prophylaxis. Although studies with bone marrow transplantation (BMT) recipients clearly showed the usefulness of oral fluconazole, results of the studies in neutropenic patients other than BMT recipients have been inconsistent. Therefore, the authors performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of fluconazole prophylaxis during chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. METHODS: The authors identified reports that were not restricted to those in English and not restricted to published trials through MEDLINE, CANCERLIT, or the data base of the Pfizer company. The authors included prospective, randomized studies comparing oral fluconazole with placebo, no treatment, or oral polyenes as prophylaxis for fungal infections in neutropenic patients. Two independent authors extracted data from 16 trials with 3734 patients enrolled. The outcome measures were the development of fungal-related death, systemic and superficial fungal infections, the use of empiric intravenous amphotericin-B, and infections or colonization with fluconazole-resistant fungi. The summarized odds ratios (ORs) were calculated using the Mantel-Haenszel method and the DerSimonian-Laird method. RESULTS: Prophylactic fluconazole was not effective in reducing fungal-related death or in reducing proven, systemic fungal infections in non-BMT patients (OR, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30-2.82 and OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.47-1.55, respectively). However, fluconazole was very effective in reducing superficial fungal infections (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.24-0.80), even when it was given in lower doses (50-200 mg per day). There was no increase in proven, systemic infection of fluconazole-resistant fungi, although colonization of those fungi increased. When the results were combined in studies in which the incidence of systemic fungal infections was > 15%, fluconazole was effective in reducing such infections (OR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.15-0.36). CONCLUSIONS: The current analyses failed to find an effect of fluconazole on both fatal fungal infection and systemic fungal infection in non-BMT patients. Further studies on severely neutropenic patients are warranted because prophylactic fluconazole seemed to be effective when the incidence of systemic fungal infection was expected to be > 15%.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2000

Control of cell death by the smart polymeric vehicle.

We report a novel drug delivery system for apoptosis induction by a "smart" polymer vehicle possessing thermosensitivity and bioaffinity. The polymer chain was prepared by copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide and N-methacryloyloxysuccinimide. Cell-adhesive RGDS peptide was conjugated with the copolymer as a ligand model for bioaffinity. When the temperature was increased, nanoscale aggregates precipitated from a copolymer aqueous solution. Either dolichyl phosphate (dol-p), which is an apoptotic inducer, or dolichol was added to aggregates at around the precipitation temperature (31 degrees C), and the temperature was raised to 37 degrees C for incorporation. Aggregates incorporating dol-p or dolicol were added to a human promonocytic leukemia U937 cell suspension at 37 degrees C. When the temperature was lowered to 25 degrees C, cells underwent apoptosis in the presence of Ca2+. Probably, copolymer vehicles were concentrated on a cell surface through the binding of RGDS and integrin and the release of lipid inducers was caused by the disruption of vehicles in response to temperature.

Acrylamides↗
PubMed2000

Spontaneous remission in acute type adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma.

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) is a neoplastic disorder of T lymphocytes associated with human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). The prognosis of ATL is generally poor. We present here a 79-year-old woman with spontaneous remission of acute type ATL. Spontaneous remission was preceded by surgical biopsy and pneumonia and lasted for two years until she died with pancreas cancer. Monoclonal integration of HTLV-I provirus DNA became undetectable after remission.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Prognostic significance of serum soluble interleukin-2 receptor level in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a single center study in Japan.

Interleukin 2 receptor is expressed not only on the surface of activated T or B lymphocytes, but also on certain lymphoid malignancies. The receptor is released from the cell membrane as soluble form (sIL-2R). Serum sIL-2R level is a sensitive and quantitative marker of circulating peripheral blood mononuclear cell activation or specific tumor cell growth including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). However, the relevance of serum sIL-2R levels relating to clinical outcome in adult patients with NHL remains uncertain. Therefore, we investigated the serial serum sIL-2R levels in 28 untreated patients with NHL to evaluate its correlation with clinical characteristics. High serum sIL-2R level (>1000 U/ml) at diagnosis was associated with a high incidence of treatment failure (p=0.03) and poor overall survival (p=0.057). The serum sIL-2R levels decreased significantly after achieving complete remission (p=0.003). Further larger studies are required to evaluate whether serum sIL-2R level is an independent prognostic factor or not. However, adding this parameter to those already employed in the International Prognostic Index would perhaps provide a better prognostic index for adult patients with NHL.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Pyogenic granuloma of the tongue early after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for multiple myeloma.

Oral complications occur frequently after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Some of them are caused by regimen-related toxicity of the preparative regimen, and others by infections. In addition, oral tissues are targets of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Oral granulomatous lesions are not a common complication after BMT, and are especially rare on the tongue. Such rare lesions reported in the literature, developed late after BMT with oral chronic GVHD. We present here a patient who developed pyogenic granuloma of the tongue early after allogeneic BMT done for multiple myeloma. Regimen-related mucositis, oral acute GVHD, the administration of cyclosporine A, and the preexisting macroglossia might be responsible for the formation of granuloma.

Bone Marrow Transplantation↗
PubMed1998

Blood coagulation activity during microsurgery.

The authors investigated blood coagulation activity in patients who underwent microsurgery. Hemostatic parameters were measured in 9 patients (10 operations) who were undergoing free tissue transfers. These parameters included prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinopeptide A (FPA), prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 (F1 + 2), and thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT). The flap totally necrosed owing to vasospasm in 1 patient with osteomyelitis of the heel, and the FPA, F1 + 2, and TAT values significantly increased. Reexploration was required because of flap cyanosis in 1 patient with a hemangioma on the wrist, and the F1 + 2 and TAT values increased during the salvage procedure. These molecular markers could be important in indicating hypercoagulable state sensitivity, and they serve as a warning of possible vascular compromise to a surgeon.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Innovation in nursing education: development of computer-assisted thinking.

In order to enhance students' active thinking, faculty members at International University of Health and Welfare developed the CAT (Computer Assisted Thinking) program. The CAT program is different from CAI (Computer Assisted Instruction), which mainly asks users to choose correct answers. Instead, the CAT program asks users to type in short sentences. There are two functions in the CAT program: one is to keep the students' action log each time they use the program and the other is to serve as medical dictionary. An analysis of the action log revealed that the students demonstrated little skill in inferential thinking. Their observations were very concrete. In order to help the students to develop their abstract thinking skills, we need to review our curriculum.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗
PubMed1997

[Studies on penetration of cefepime into respiratory tract using broncho-alveolar lavage and sputum].

We investigated broncho-alveolar distribution of cefepime (CFPM), a fourth generation cephem, using 38 BALF specimens from 19 serious pneumonia patients who underwent artificial respiratory system control. The mean broncho-alveolar CFPM level was 3.44 microgram/ml (5.34% of the mean peak blood level). We thus observed that the BALF level after a single dose of 1 g of CFPM exceeds the MIC90 of the drug against RTI causing bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Haemophillus influenzae, Branhamella catarrhalis, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Cutaneous tumour-like lesions due to poxvirus infection in Chilean flamingos.

Cutaneous tumour-like growths were observed on the face and other areas of the body surface of young Chilean flamingos. In the cells of these lesions, avian pox-specific cytoplasmic inclusion bodies were observed by light microscopy and virus particles were detected under an electron-microscope. It was diagnosed as avian pox.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Heterotopic gastric mucosa of the small intestine in laboratory beagle dogs.

Out of the 365 young laboratory beagle dogs which were used in 17 toxicity bioassays, 15 cases (4.1%) were diagnosed as having congenital heterotopic gastric mucosa of the small intestine. Its incidence in the male dogs (12 cases out of 187) was higher than in the female dogs (3 cases out of 178). Grossly, the lesions were seen as an ulcerous focus of the small intestine, 25 cm to 88 cm proximal to the ileocecal valve. All of the lesions were quite similar histologically and electron microscopically to the normal gastric mucosa, which are composed of the surface mucous cells, chief cells, parietal cells, mucous neck cells and basal granulated cells of the stomach. And consequently, they were considered to be that of a congenital heterotopic tissue in the small intestine. The only morphological characteristic of these lesions different from the regular gastric mucosa was an association with the tubular structure seen in the basal region of these mucosal layers. These cells were considered to be of mucous-secreting cell origin because of secreting type III mucous evident from paradoxical concanavalin A or periodic acid Schiff stains. They seemed to be protecting the surrounding intestinal mucosa from gastric acid.

Animals↗