PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

H Hayashida

Publications and source records attributed to H Hayashida.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

[Transcatheter embolization in the management of pain from metastatic uroepithelial cancer].

Arterial embolization was performed for the relief of pain in 4 patients with symptomatic osseous metastases associated with extensive soft tissue tumors. Two patients had metastatic transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder and renal pelvis, and 2 had metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Three of the 4 patients experienced significant relief of pain and improved performance status. Decrease of tumor size or healing of osteolytic metastasis did not occur. Errant embolization occurred in one patient but did not become a serious problem. In 3 patients post-infarction pain occurred, but subsided within 36 hours. This therapeutic approach may be useful to control the pain associated with a massive advanced uroepithelial cancer.

Aged↗

[Urinary re-diversion from cutaneous ureterostomy to ileal conduit: report of a case].

A 73-year-old man, who underwent bilateral cutaneous ureterostomy following total cystectomy due to tumor, was admitted because he had been suffering from complications, such as pyelonephritic attacks, plugging and removal of the indwelling catheters and pain around the stoma. In order to relieve these complications, ileal conduit construction was performed although the length of ureters was thought to be short for ureteroileostomy. However, it was done easily by making ileal segment twice as long as usual and this conduit neither disturbed the serum electrolyte levels nor deteriorated renal function. Re-diversion to ileal conduit resulted not only in relief from the complications associated with cutaneous ureterostomy but also in improvement of the quality of life for the patient.

Aged↗

Sequence similarity between epidermal growth factor precursor and atrial natriuretic factor precursor.

Computer-assisted analysis for homology of the EGF precursor revealed the presence of two large duplication units, each comprising 5 non-EGF-like homologous segments each of about 40 residues length and 3 or 4 EGF-like segments. The amino acid sequences of the non-EGF-like repeats were subjected to search for homology with 2600 known protein sequences compiled in our database. An unexpected but statistically significant homology has been found, when compared with the atrial natriuretic factor precursor. The functional and evolutionary implications of the homology observed between the two different precursors are also discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Close structural resemblance between putative polymerase of a Drosophila transposable genetic element 17.6 and pol gene product of Moloney murine leukaemia virus.

We have made a computer-assisted search for homology among polymerases or putative polymerases of various viruses and a transposable element, the Drosophila copia-like element 17.6. The search revealed that the putative polymerase (second open reading frame) of the copia-like element 17.6 bears close resemblance in overall structural organization to the pol gene product of Moloney murine leukaemia virus (M-MuLV): they show significant homology to each other at both the N- and C-terminal portions, suggesting that the 17.6 putative polymerase carries two enzymatic activities, related to reverse transcriptase and DNA endonuclease. The putative polymerase of cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) shows striking homology with the putative polymerase of 17.6 over almost its entire length, but it lacks the DNA endonuclease-related sequence. Furthermore, it was shown that the N-terminal ends of the M-MuLV pol product and the CaMV and 17.6 putative polymerases exhibit strong sequence homology with the gag-specific protease (p15) of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) as well as the amino acid sequence predicted from the gag/pol spacer sequence of human adult T-cell leukaemia virus (HTLV). These p15-related sequences contain a highly conserved stretch of amino acids which show a close similarity with sequences around the active site amino acids Asp-Thr-Gly of the acid protease family, suggesting that they have an activity similar to acid protease. On the basis of the alignment of reverse transcriptase-related sequences, a dendrogram representing phylogenetic relationships among all the viruses compared together with 17.6 was constructed and its evolutionary implication is discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Evolution of influenza virus genes.

The nucleotide sequences of the eight different influenza A virus segments (genes) were compared among 14 different subtypes. These comparisons demonstrate the presence of molecular clocks in the viral genes; they accumulated both silent and amino acid-changing substitutions at approximately constant rates with respect to time during evolution. In addition, comparison of the rates of evolution among the eight viral genes, excluding the P2 gene, revealed a rapid and roughly equal rate of silent substitution for different genes. The P2 gene exception is explained as the result of recombination (reassortment) between distantly related strains. The rate of amino acid-changing substitution differs greatly from gene to gene. The rate of silent substitution was estimated to be 1.1 X 10(-2)/site/year on the average--that is, about 2 X 10(6) times higher than eukaryotic gene equivalents, which is remarkable. Strain A/USSR/90/77 was shown to evolve with a rate that is similar to those of other strains but to behave as if replication was frozen during a certain period (Nakajima et al. 1978). The frozen period was estimated to be 25 yr on the basis of the molecular clock. A similar analysis revealed another example of frozen replication--in this case, apparently for a period of about 9 yr--in a duck strain, A/duck/Ontario/77.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

[Clinical experience in renal transplantation].

In Shiga Prefecture, 378 chronic renal failure patients were registered at the end of 1981. In 1982, the Kidney Transplantation Group, composed of the department of Urology and the 1st division of Surgery, was organized in our hospital and 10 living related renal transplantations and 8 cadaver renal transplantations were performed between July 1982 and October 1984. As immunosuppressants, azathioprine, mizoribine, cyclosporine, prednisolone, methylprednisolone and ALG were used. Azathioprine was used mainly for living transplantation and cyclosporine mainly for cadaver transplantation. ALG was used only for the initial 3 living transplantations. Mizoribine was sometimes used in combination with azathioprine to reduce the dose of azathioprine and reduce its severe side effects. Seven episodes of acute rejection were experienced and all episodes were remitted by methylprednisolone pulse therapy. There were 20 major post-transplant complications in 13 recipients and among them 2 pulmonary infections were fetal (1 from aspergillus infection and 1 from cytomegalovirus infection). The 10 living related kidney transplantation recipients are all well and none have undergone hemodialysis. Three of the 8 cadaver renal transplantation are well without hemodialysis. One patient could not obtain diuresis. In addition to our experience of renal transplantation, the preoperative scheduled blood transfusion with combination of azathioprine administration, was briefly discussed.

Adolescent↗

[Clinical study of children with sterile vesicoureteral reflux].

A clinical study of 5 children (3 boys and 2 girls) with primary sterile vesicoureteral reflux is presented. Their ages ranged from 8 to 11 years old. During the same period, we saw 14 children (6 boys and 8 girls) with primary infected vesicoureteral reflux. Their ages ranged from 1 to 13 years old. There were several distinctions between these two reflux groups. Manifestations of the infected reflux group were mainly fever attacks, while those of the sterile reflux group were hypertension, proteinuria and enuresis. The duration from onset to diagnosis was longer in the sterile reflux group because their manifestations did not appear to be severe especially in cases of enuresis. The grade of reflux tended to be more advanced in sterile reflux group. The renal scarrings were identified in all involved kidneys in the sterile reflux, while in 65.2% in the infected reflux group. It is difficult to detect sterile reflux early because the manifestations are not related with urinary tract infection. Recently, reflux nephropathy is a subject of frequent discussion and end stage of reflux nephropathy has been sporadically reported. Therefore, an effort should be made for early detection of sterile reflux. Based on our experiences as well as review of the literature, possible clues to detect sterile reflux are abnormal voiding patterns, such as nocturnal enuresis, incontinence, frequency and so on.

Adolescent↗

Concerted evolution of the mouse immunoglobulin gamma chain genes.

The nucleotide sequences of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain constant region genes of mouse, C gamma 3, C gamma 1, C gamma 2b and C gamma 2a, together with that of a human equivalent C gamma 4 were compared. All the six pairs of genes within the mouse C gamma gene family contain DNA segments that exhibit marked homology, whereas no such segmental homology was found in interspecies comparisons. This result indicates that the four C gamma genes of the mouse evolved concertedly by exchanging parts of their genetic information with each other either by gene conversion or by double unequal crossing-over. Another example of such concerted evolution was found in gene regions encoding membrane domains of the mouse C gamma chains. We also searched for such segmental homologies in other mammalian C gamma gene families and found at least two more examples in man and guinea-pig. In the mouse C gamma gene family, the silent positions of an exon encoding the third domain of C gamma chains show much greater divergence in sequence than other regions, indicating that the genetic information encoded by this gene region was least scrambled during recent evolution. A phylogenetic tree constructed from the nucleotide differences of this exon demonstrates that at least two C gamma genes had already existed before mammalian radiation. Based on these results, evolution of mammalian C gamma gene families is discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

[Clinical effects of goshajinkigan for male infertility].

No study has been reported of the effects of Goshajinkigan on male infertility. Thirty infertile male patients were orally given Goshajinkigan at a daily dose of 5.0 g for three months or more. Sixteen of these patients showed significant improvement in sperm motility. Ten cases showed effective increase in sperm count. Only one patients became pregnant during the period of administration of this drug. Laboratory examination showed no significant change in serum LH, serum FSH or prostaglandin E in seminal fluid. These results suggest that administration of TSUMURA-Goshajinkigan is effective as therapy for male infertility, but how this drug may be involved in promoting fertility should be investigated in future.

Adult↗

Cloning and sequence analysis of cDNA for ovine corticotropin-releasing factor precursor.

Previously, Guillemin and Rosenberg and Saffran and Schally demonstrated the presence of hypothalamic factors that stimulated the secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) by the pituitary gland. Recently, Vale et al. have isolated and sequenced an ovine hypothalamic peptide of 41 amino acids, which is believed to represent the major physiological corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) (reviewed in refs 5, 6). Available data suggest that hypothalamic CRF enhances both the synthesis and secretion of ACTH and related peptides such as beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin (beta-LPH) (reviewed in ref. 6), which are all derived from the common precursor, termed ACTH-beta-LPH precursor or preproopiomelanocortin (reviewed in ref. 7). Because CRF mediates the neural control of the pituitary-adrenocortical system, the characterization of its biosynthetic precursor and the gene encoding it is essential for understanding the molecular mechanism underlying the endocrine response to stress. We have now cloned DNA sequences complementary to the ovine hypothalamic mRNA encoding the CRF precursor (referred to hereafter as prepro-CRF). The nucleotide sequence of the cloned cDNA, reported here, has revealed the primary structure of prepro-CRF. The carboxyl end represents the CRF sequence preceded by the tetrapeptide, Arg-Lys-Arg-Arg, and followed by the dipeptide, Gly-Lys. Comparison of the amino acid sequence of prepro-CRF with those of the ACTH-beta-LPH precursor and the arginine vasopressin-neurophysin II precursor suggests that these precursor proteins may be evolutionarily related.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Unusual evolutionary conservation and frequent DNA segment exchange in class I genes of the major histocompatibility complex.

From comparisons of homologous DNA sequences for many different genes, it was shown that the silent positions of protein-encoding regions and introns evolve at high and remarkably similar rates for different genes. In addition, both silent positions and introns behave like clocks; they accumulated base substitutions at approximately constant rates with respect to geological time. The rates of evolution were estimated to be 5.5 X 10(-9), 3.7 X 10(-9), and 5.3 X 10(-9) per site per year for silent positions, short introns (less than approximately equal to 300 base pairs), and long introns (more than approximately equal to 500 base pairs), respectively. Contrary to expectation from the evolutionary clocks, DNA sequence comparison between pHLA 12.4 (a cloned HLA sequence) of man and Ld together with other H-2 genes of mouse, the class I genes of the major histocompatibility complex, revealed a surprisingly small amount of base substitution for both the introns and the silent positions; the degree of divergence is only about 60% of that of standard genes in the same species comparison. Furthermore, several segmental homologies have been observed between the class I genes of mouse, suggesting the frequent occurrence of gene conversion or double unequal crossing-over in evolution. Interrelations between the extreme polymorphism of the class I genes, the low evolutionary drift of the introns and the silent positions, and the frequent gene conversion or unequal crossing-over within the mouse genes are discussed.

Animals↗

The nucleotide sequence of the mouse immunoglobulin epsilon gene: comparison with the human epsilon gene sequence.

We have determined the nucleotide sequence of the immunoglobulin epsilon gene cloned from newborn mouse DNA. The epsilon gene sequence allows prediction of the amino acid sequence of the constant region of the epsilon chain and comparison of it with sequences of the human epsilon and other mouse immunoglobulin genes. The epsilon gene was shown to be under the weakest selection pressure at the protein level among the immunoglobulin genes although the divergence at the synonymous position is similar. Our results suggest that the epsilon gene may be dispensable, which is in accord with the fact that IgE has only obscure roles in the immune defense system but has an undesirable role as a mediator of hypersensitivity. The sequence data suggest that the human and murine epsilon genes were derived from different ancestors duplicated a long time ago. The amino acid sequence of the epsilon chain is more homologous to those of the gamma chains than the other mouse heavy chains. Two membrane exons, separated by an 80-base intron, were identified 1.7 kb 3' to the CH4 domain of the epsilon gene and shown to conserve a hydrophobic portion similar to those of other heavy chain genes. RNA blot hybridization showed that the epsilon membrane exons are transcribed into two species of mRNA in an IgE hybridoma.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Extraordinarily high evolutionary rate of pseudogenes: evidence for the presence of selective pressure against changes between synonymous codons.

Comparisons of nucleotide sequences of several pseudogenes described to date, including alpha- and beta-globin and immunoglobulin kappa-type variable domain pseudogenes, with those of functional counterparts revealed that pseudogenes accumulate mutations at an extremely high rate uniformly over their entirety. It is remarkable that the evolutionary rate exceeds the rate of changes between synonymous codons, the highest known rate, in functional genes. Because no pseudogenes appear to function, this result strongly supports the neutral theory. In addition this result apparently indicates the presence of selective pressure against changes between synonymous codons in functional genes. Close examinations of codon utilization patterns in pseudogenes and functional genes revealed a significant correlation between the rate of changes at synonymous codon sites and the strength of bias in code word usage. This implies that even synonymous codon changes are not completely free from selective pressure but are constrained in part, although presumably weakly, depending on the degree of bias in code word usage. We also reexamined alignment between mouse beta h3 (pseudogene) and beta maj sequences and found a unique structure of the beta h3 that is homologous in sequence to the beta maj gene overall but contains a long deletion (about 150 base pairs) in the middle of the gene.

Animals↗