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Biomedical subjects

H Komiya

Publications and source records attributed to H Komiya.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Balanitis caused by Streptococcus pyogenes: a report of two cases.

Streptococcus pyogenes (the Lancefield group A streptococcus) is a cause of pharyngitis and impetigo. However, it has rarely been implicated as a sexually transmitted pathogen. We herein report two cases of severe balanitis due to S. pyogenes in sexually active men. It is postulated that penile cellulitis developed following the invasion of S. pyogenes through a traumatic abrasion acquired during fellatio performed by commercial sex workers. Both patients were treated successfully with oral administration of penicillin.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Primary omental gamma/delta T-cell lymphoma involving the central nervous system.

Gamma/delta T-cell lymphoma (GDTL) is an uncommon lymphoma that was initially reported to involve only the liver and spleen. GDTL other than the hepatosplenic type is extremely rare. Frequent primary sites include skin and subcutaneous tissue, intestine, or nasal region. We report a case of GDTL of the omentum in a 54 year-old-man. The tumor cells are CD2-, CD3+, CD4-, CD5-, CD8+, CD56+, TIA-1+, granzyme B+/-. They expressed the identical phenotype of intestinal GDTL. The patient was treated with 2 courses of CHOP which comprised cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisolone, and 3 courses of EPOCH which comprised etoposide, prednisolone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin. However, he failed to obtain remission. During the fourth course of EPOCH, muscle weakness of the lower extremities developed and intracranial masses were observed by computed tomographic scan of the brain. Dissemination of lymphoma to the central nervous system was considered and it may be attributable to the expression of CD56 in this case. High dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) chemotherapy successfully eliminated the omental tumor and reduced the size of the intracranial masses, thus HD-MTX appears to be an effective treatment against GDTL.

Central Nervous System↗
PubMed2004

Comparison of the effects of glimepiride and glibenclamide on adipose tissue tumour necrosis factor-alpha mRNA expression and cellularity.

AIM: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of glimepiride and glibenclamide on tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha expression and adipocyte cellularity in spontaneously diabetic, obese rats. METHODS: Eight-week-old male Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats were randomized to receive glimepiride, glibenclamide or control treatment for 12 weeks, after which TNF-alpha mRNA levels, adipose tissue cellularity and physiological parameters were measured. RESULTS: TNF-alpha mRNA expression in retroperitoneal fat tissue was significantly greater in the glibenclamide group (2.2 +/- 1.1), compared with the control group (0.9 +/- 0.4; p<0.05) or the glimepiride group (0.9 +/- 0.2; p<0.01). The mean fat-cell area in retroperitoneal fat tissue was increased at study endpoint in the glibenclamide group (13,764 +/- 7036 microm2), compared with both the control and glimepiride groups (10,755 +/- 6193 microm2 and 11,317 +/- 5646 microm2 respectively; p<0.05). Investigation of cellularity revealed a decrease in the frequency of small fat cells and an increase in the frequency of large fat cells in both the glibenclamide and glimepiride groups compared with the control group, with a greater increase in large fat cells in the glibenclamide group. At study endpoint, insulin and triglyceride values were significantly higher in the active treatment groups compared with the control group; however, insulin levels were significantly greater in glibenclamide-treated animals compared with glimepiride-treated animals. An oral glucose tolerance test performed at the end of the study showed that there were no significant differences among the three groups in terms of plasma glucose and insulin concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that although both glibenclamide and glimepiride may have a hypertrophisizing effect on fat cells in adipose tissues, this effect is greater with glibenclamide, leading to augmentation of TNF-alpha mRNA expression and possible exacerbation of insulin resistance.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed2000

Moderate noise trauma in juvenile cats results in profound cortical topographic map changes in adulthood.

Cortical topographic map changes have been reported after profound drug-induced hearing loss in neonates, after progressive high-frequency hearing loss, and after mechanically induced lesions in the cochlea of adult animals. The present study demonstrates that exposure of 5-week-old kittens to a loud 6 kHz tone, producing mild to moderate high-frequency hearing loss, induces a profound reorganization of the frequency map in auditory cortex. In the reorganized cortical region, the frequency-tuning curves were of normal sharpness with near normal thresholds. Inhibitory tuning curve bandwidths were similar to those in control animals. Spontaneous activity in the reorganized part of the cortex was significantly increased. In contrast, the strength of the cross-correlation of the spontaneous activity of units recorded on different electrodes was the same in the normal and reorganized part. Minimum first-spike latency was significantly increased in trauma cats, largely for units at the dorsal side of the sampled region. Because most other neural response properties are normal in the reorganized part of cortex, sub-cortical topographic map changes are likely involved in producing the altered cortical topographic maps.

Aging↗
PubMed2000

Neuronal responses in cat primary auditory cortex to natural and altered species-specific calls.

We investigated how natural and morphed cat vocalizations are represented in primary auditory cortex (AI). About 40% of the neurons showed time-locked responses to major peaks in the vocalization envelope, 60% only responded at the onset. Simultaneously recorded multi-unit (MU) activity of these peak-tracking neurons on separate electrodes was significantly more synchronous during stimulation than under silence. Thus, the representation of the vocalizations is likely synchronously distributed across the cortex. The sum of the responses to the low and high frequency part of the meow, with the boundary at 2.5 kHz, was larger than the neuronal response to the natural meow itself, suggesting that strong lateral inhibition is shaping the response to the natural meow. In this sense, the neurons are combination-sensitive. The frequency-tuning properties and the response to amplitude-modulated tones of the MU recordings can explain the responses to natural, and temporally and spectrally altered vocalizations. Analysis of the mutual information in the firing rate suggests that the activity of at least 95 recording sites in AI would be needed to reliably distinguish between the nine different vocalizations. This suggests that a distributed representation based on temporal stimulus aspects may be more efficient than one based on firing rate.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2000

Spontaneous firing activity of cortical neurons in adult cats with reorganized tonotopic map following pure-tone trauma.

We hypothesized that moderate sensorineural hearing loss resulting from acoustic trauma would cause (i) a change in the cortical tonotopic map, (ii) an increase in spontaneous activity in the reorganized region and (iii) increased inter-neuronal synchrony within the reorganized part of the cortex. Five kittens were exposed to a 126 dB sound pressure limit tone of 6 kHz for 1 h at both 5 and 6 weeks of age. Recordings were performed 7-16 weeks after the exposure. Auditory brainstem response thresholds for frequencies above 12 kHz were increased by 30 dB on average relative to those in normal cats. Tonotopic maps in the primary auditory cortex were reorganized in such a way that the area normally tuned to frequencies of 10-40 kHz was now entirely tuned to 10 kHz. Spontaneous firing rates were significantly higher in reorganized areas than in normal areas. In order to test for changes in inter-neuronal synchrony, cross-correlation analysis was done on 225 single-unit pairs recorded in the traumatized cats. For the single- and dual-electrode pairs there was no significant difference in peak cross-correlation coefficients for the firings of simultaneously recorded cells between normal and reorganized areas. However, the percentage of correlations that differed significantly from zero was higher in the reorganized area than in the normal area. This suggests a potential correlation between cortical reorganization, increased spontaneous firing rate and inter-neuronal synchrony that might be related to tinnitus found in high-frequency hearing loss induced by acoustic trauma.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1999

Thiomenthol derivatives as novel percutaneous absorption enhancers.

Thiomenthol derivatives were synthesized and their promoting activity on the percutaneous absorption of ketoprofen from hydrogels was evaluated in rats. The apparent penetration rate (Rp) of ketoprofen absorbed from the hydrogel was estimated by the pharmacokinetic model derived under the assumption of a constant penetration rate through the skin after a lag time. As an index of promoting activity of thiomenthol derivatives, an enhancement factor (Ef) was defined as the ratio of the Rp value with enhancer to the value obtained with the control not containing enhancer. Skin irritancy evoked by these derivatives was investigated microscopically by using a cross-section of the excised skin onto which ketoprofen hydrogel was applied. Total irritation score (TIS) was estimated by summation of each irritation score in several parts of the skin. The physicochemical parameters of thiomenthol derivatives such as a partition coefficient (log P) and a steric energy were calculated and the quantitative relationships between these parameters and the Ef values or TIS values were investigated on the basis of multiple regression analysis. As a result, a parabolic relationship between log P and Ef was noted. A similar relationship was also observed in the case of TIS.

Administration, Cutaneous↗
PubMed1999

A case of aortitis syndrome and IgA nephropathy: possible role of human leukocyte antigens in both diseases.

A 51-year-old woman, who had both aortitis syndrome (Takayasu arteritis) and IgA nephropathy, presented with hypertension, fever, a high erythrocyte sedimentation rate, high C-reactive protein and serum IgG levels, proteinuria, and renal dysfunction. Renal arteriography showed stenosis and poststenotic dilatation at the origin of the right renal artery, as well as tortuosity of the left renal artery branches and marked atrophy of the left kidney. Renal biopsy showed IgA nephropathy with deposits of IgA, C3, and fibrinogen in the glomeruli and arteriolosclerosis. The present patient had human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B 52, which is reported to be related to the aortitis syndrome, as well as HLA-DR 4, which is possibly related to IgA nephropathy, suggesting that HLA status may be involved in the pathogenesis of both diseases.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

In situ localization of messenger ribonucleic acid for an oviduct-specific glycoprotein during various hormonal conditions in the golden hamster.

The oviductal epithelium secretes specific glycoproteins that associate with the egg after ovulation. Several published reports including our preliminary studies have suggested that ovarian steroids regulate the secretion of oviduct-specific glycoproteins in several mammalian species. The objective of this study, using golden hamsters, was to analyze the hormonal effects on gene expression of these molecules more precisely during various hormonal conditions (estrous cycle, ontogeny, pregnancy, GnRH analogue treatment, and ovariectomy) by in situ hybridization. The message for the hamster oviduct-specific glycoprotein (HOGP) was detected by a digoxigenin-labeled single-strand specific DNA probe in paraffin sections. Data from these studies show the following. 1) In the oviduct, the signal was detected in both the perinuclear region and the basal region in the ampulla but was predominantly detected in the basal region in the isthmus. 2) The signal intensity was high in the ampulla compared with the isthmus. 3) During a normal estrous cycle, the message level was significantly altered between the estrous and diestrous stages in the ampulla but not in the isthmus. In addition, the signal did not disappear at any stage in either the isthmus or ampulla. 4) The HOGP message was first observed from around 14 days of age and then decreased in parallel with serum estradiol levels during aging. 5) The signal was also observed in the oviductal epithelium of pregnant animals at term and of postpartum animals. 6) When we treated the animals with TAP-144-SR (GnRH analogue) or performed an ovariectomy, which caused diminution of serum estradiol and progesterone levels, the message of HOGP was significantly decreased. Moreover, the message expression was greatly induced after estradiol administration to GnRH analogue-treated animals, whereas a high level of serum progesterone slightly inhibited HOGP message expression. These results suggest that elevation of the serum estradiol/ progesterone level affects the HOGP gene expression in the ampulla. However, a high serum estradiol level did not induce the gene expression rapidly, suggesting that an adequate serum hormonal level over a given period of time may be important for the HOGP gene expression.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Accumulation of hydroxyapatite in the kidney of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat fed a low-zinc diet.

Calcification occurred in the kidney of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats fed a low-zinc diet. The deposits were stained by the von Kossa method and were detected intracellularly in the tubular cells, mainly in the cortico-medullar region. The deposits were found to be a heterogenous substance on electron microscopy. There were various sizes of deposits, and the surfactant was very much distorted. Many deposits grew up to bind small particles, and the core-like substance was observed in the center of the deposit. The component of the deposit was analyzed by an X-ray microanalyzer, and was found to be calcium and phosphorus. The ratio of calcium to phosphorus was 2.159, which coincided with the ratio of standard hydroxyapatite. From these observations, the deposit is believed to be hydroxyapatite. It is thought that the core is formed at first, many particles are then bound to the core, and deposits grow up.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Placental transfer of lidocaine hydrochloride after prolonged continuous maternal intravenous administration.

We treated a patient with arrhythmia during pregnancy with prolonged intravenous administration of lidocaine hydrochloride. This was a case of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and the arrhythmia was caused by ritodrine therapy. In total, 14.1 g lidocaine (50 mg.hr-1 for 282 hr) were used. Since there are no descriptions of human placental transfer of lidocaine after such a prolonged continuous intravenous administration, we measured lidocaine concentrations in maternal and fetal serum, and in the amniotic fluid (AF) at delivery. Fetal serum lidocaine concentrations (donor: 0.83 microgram.ml-1; recipient: 0.82 microgram.ml-1) were lower than in the maternal serum (1.6 micrograms.ml-1), while the AF lidocaine concentrations (donor: 1.05 micrograms.ml-1; recipient: 1.04 micrograms.ml-1) were higher than those of the fetal sera. The fetal/maternal concentration ratios of lidocaine were 0.52 for the donor and 0.51 for the recipient, which were similar to those described previously after administration of lidocaine in labour.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Molecular cloning and characterization of a mouse oviduct-specific glycoprotein.

In the present study, we have isolated the cDNA for the mouse oviduct-specific glycoprotein (MOGP) by screening the mouse oviduct cDNA library with the bovine oviduct-specific glycoprotein (BOGP)-cDNA probe and by the 5' rapid amplification of the cDNA end (5'RACE). The total length of cDNA was determined to be 2525 base pairs (bp) by sequence analysis. The coding region contained 2163 bp translating to 721 amino acids. Based on comparisons with the N-terminal amino acid sequences of purified-BOGP and of hamster oviduct-specific glycoprotein (oviductin), it was inferred that the derived amino acid sequence contained a signal peptide region of 21 amino acids and a mature MOGP (core protein) region of 700 amino acids (76,515 daltons). It was also inferred that the mature MOGP contained three potential N-linked glycosylation sites and 24 possible O-linked glycosylation sites, and had the unique seven-residue repeat sequence (21 repeats) within the predicted sequence in the C-terminal side. The amino acid sequence of a portion of MOGP was highly homologous to that of BOGP (71% identity), baboon oviduct-specific glycoprotein (61% identity), and human oviduct-specific glycoprotein (77% identity). Significant homologies were also observed with two mammalian secretory proteins that were reported as a mammalian member of a chitinase protein family. Northern blot hybridization with a DIG-labeled probe indicated that a single message of 2.8 kb was present in total RNA prepared from oviductal tissue. In situ hybridization using MOGP-cDNA showed that a MOGP message was only detected in the oviductal epithelial cells. These results strongly suggest that a significant degree of homology exists among oviduct-specific glycoproteins of various mammalian species.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Bulimia nervosa with and without alcoholism: a comparative study in Japan.

To characterize females with bulimia nervosa and alcoholism, this study compared the social and family backgrounds, as well as the clinical symptoms of alcoholics with bulimia and patients with bulimia only. The subjects were 22 Japanese female patients with both bulimia nervosa and alcoholism; the comparison group comprised 22 age-matched female patients with bulimia nervosa but without alcoholism. Patients with both bulimia and alcoholism had more borderline personality disorders and pathological symptoms such as stealing, suicide attempts, and liver injuries than the nonalcoholic comparison group. The subjects' average body weight was significantly less than that of the comparison group. Whereas the clinical characteristics of females with bulimia and alcoholism differ in many respects from those with bulimia only, it is suggested that alcoholic bulimia patients form a distinct clinical subgroup among patients with bulimia nervosa.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Crystallographic structure of the nitrogenase iron protein from Azotobacter vinelandii.

The nitrogenase enzyme system catalyzes the ATP (adenosine triphosphate)-dependent reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia during the process of nitrogen fixation. Nitrogenase consists of two proteins: the iron (Fe)-protein, which couples hydrolysis of ATP to electron transfer, and the molybdenum-iron (MoFe)-protein, which contains the dinitrogen binding site. In order to address the role of ATP in nitrogen fixation, the crystal structure of the nitrogenase Fe-protein from Azotobacter vinelandii has been determined at 2.9 angstrom (A) resolution. Fe-protein is a dimer of two identical subunits that coordinate a single 4Fe:4S cluster. Each subunit folds as a single alpha/beta type domain, which together symmetrically ligate the surface exposed 4Fe:4S cluster through two cysteines from each subunit. A single bound ADP (adenosine diphosphate) molecule is located in the interface region between the two subunits. Because the phosphate groups of this nucleotide are approximately 20 A from the 4Fe:4S cluster, it is unlikely that ATP hydrolysis and electron transfer are directly coupled. Instead, it appears that interactions between the nucleotide and cluster sites must be indirectly coupled by allosteric changes occurring at the subunit interface. The coupling between protein conformation and nucleotide hydrolysis in Fe-protein exhibits general similarities to the H-Ras p21 and recA proteins that have been recently characterized structurally. The Fe-protein structure may be relevant to the functioning of other biochemical energy-transducing systems containing two nucleotide-binding sites, including membrane transport proteins.

Adenosine Diphosphate↗
PubMed1991

Three-dimensional structures of acidic and basic fibroblast growth factors.

Members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family of proteins stimulate the proliferation and differentiation of a variety of cell types through receptor-mediated pathways. The three-dimensional structures of two members of this family, bovine acidic FGF and human basic FGF, have been crystallographically determined. These structures contain 12 antiparallel beta strands organized into a folding pattern with approximate threefold internal symmetry. Topologically equivalent folds have been previously observed for soybean trypsin inhibitor and interleukins-1 beta and -1 alpha. The locations of sequences implicated in receptor and heparin binding by FGF are presented. These sites include beta-sheet strand 10, which is adjacent to the site of an extended sequence insertion in several oncogene proteins of the FGF family, and which shows sequence conservation among the FGF family and interleukin-1 beta.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Dissecting aneurysms of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery.

The authors present three cases of dissecting aneurysms of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA). A literature search revealed only three previous cases. Analysis of these six cases showed a unique clinical picture. Three patients developed subarachnoid hemorrhage, and the other three had ischemia. All patients complained of occipital headache or neck pain, regardless of the initial symptoms. Heralding episodes were recorded in four cases. Angiography showed a characteristic fusiform dilatation of the PICA and a narrowing proximal to and distal to the lesion. Various surgical treatments were performed in five cases. Intraoperative observation showed a sausage-like swelling of the PICA or one of its branches with various discoloration depending on the age of the intramural clot. The outcomes were favorable.

Adult↗