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Biomedical subjects

J Ogura

Publications and source records attributed to J Ogura.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Primary pericardial mesothelioma: a case report.

The imaging features of primary pericardial mesothelioma have rarely been described. Herein we present a case report of its diagnostic-pathologic features. Chest computed tomography (CT) revealed an irregularly enhanced mass occupying the entire pericardial space and surrounding the superior vena cava. At autopsy, the tumor was found to fill the pericardial space completely, and to extend to the superior vena cava through the superior pericardial sinus. The CT features of the tumor were correlated well with those revealed at autopsy, and provided satisfactory information regarding the presence and the extension of the tumor.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

Study on the concentration of circulating primordial germ cells (cPGCs) in early chick embryos.

Experiments were conducted to elucidate the factor that influences the concentration of circulating primordial germ cells (cPGCs) in two-day old chick embryos. The concentration of cPGCs was observed to be highest at stage 14 (66.9 +/- 23.2 microliters) and decreased thereafter. However, considerable egg to egg variations in cPGC concentration, especially at stages 13, 14, 15, and 16 were observed. After conducting experiments to elucidate the source of egg to egg variation in cPGC concentration among embryos, it was revealed that there are hens that lay eggs which contain either constantly high (more than 80 PGCs/microliter) or constantly low (less than 30 PGCs/microliter) concentration of cPGCs. The results obtained from the present experiments showed that one of the major source of egg to egg variation in the concentration of cPGCs was due to the individual differences among females that produced the eggs.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Mesenteric schwannoma.

Schwannoma is a benign neurogenic tumor arising from the sheath of peripheral nerves. It occurs very rarely in the mesentery, where it is difficult to diagnose. Herein we describe a case in which contrast-enhanced CT and gadolinium-DTPA-enhanced MR showed a locally enhanced well-defined tumor with a cystic component just anterior to the duodenum. These findings corresponded well to the resected specimen.

Contrast Media↗
PubMed1996

"Neuritic conglomerates" in the cerebral cortex of a patient with Creutzfeld-Jakob disease.

In the cerebral cortex of a patient with Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (CJD), we found peculiar glomeruloid or skein-like structures which have not previously been described. The patient was a 67-year-old man, whose clinical features and neuropathological findings were consistent with CJD. The glomeruloid or skein-like structures were distributed in the deep layers of the cortex and consisted of intricately entangled masses of thick argyrophilic fibers. These structures were immunostained with anti-neurofilament antibodies and were considered to have originated from neuronal cytoplasmic processes, most likely axons. The pathogenesis and pathological significance of these structures, which were tentatively termed "neuritic conglomerates," remains unclear. However they probably represent an overgrowth of the distal portion of axons and indicate the plasticity of the injured neurons.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Treatment of pathologic emotionality with thyrotropin-releasing hormone.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) has been reported to be effective in some neuropsychiatric diseases. We examined the effect of TRH on the syndrome of pathologic laughing or crying in four patients with multiple cerebral infarction and one with olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy (OPCA). We found a marked therapeutic effect of the peptide on pathologic laughing with a slight improvement in ataxia in a patient with OPCA. A marked diminution in frequency of their pathologic crying with TRH was achieved in two patients with multiple cerebral infarction. The two other patients did not respond to TRH. Levodopa was administered to these patients to compare with TRH in therapeutic efficacy on the symptom and was effective in only one of four patients. The concentration of homovanillic acid in cerebrospinal fluid had diminished in two of the four patients. The results suggest that the tripeptide is effective in the control of this syndrome. We discuss the underlying mechanism(s) of the syndrome and the mode(s) of action of TRH.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1989

[Three patients with hypopituitarism accompanied by primary empty sella presenting mental symptoms].

We report here three patients with hypopituitarism accompanied by primary empty sella, whose first manifestations were various mental symptoms. Endocrine studies revealed that two patients showed panhypopituitarism and the other had isolated adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) deficiency. Although several different types of pituitary dysfunctions have been described in a mild form, empty sella is usually asymptomatic. Their first manifestations were mental symptoms; consciousness disturbance, psychomotor agitation, visual hallucination and delusion. Isolated ACTH deficiency is an uncommon disease which etiology is still undetermined. A case with isolated ACTH deficiency associated with an empty sella has been reported before. It is suggested that empty sella might have a role in pathogenesis of isolated ACTH deficiency. The empty sella was confirmed by metrizamide cisternography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These imaging studies are good tools to disclose empty sella. Replacement with cortisone and levothyroxine resulted in an improvement in the mental symptoms in two patients with panhypopituitarism. No alteration was observed following cortisone administration in the patient with isolated ACTH deficiency. Delusion and visual hallucination in this patient poorly responded to treatment with neuroleptics.

Empty Sella Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

[A case of tuberculous encephalopathy with multiple intracranial tuberculomas].

A case of 56-year-old man with tuberculous encephalopathy following pulmonary tuberculosis was reported. Computed tomography (CT) revealed low density virtually confined to the white matter of the cerebral hemisphere. Contrast enhanced CT demonstrated intracranial multiple spotted lesions, all of which were homogeneously enhanced, supporting multiple intracranial tuberculomas. Magnetic resonance miss spelling imaging (MRI) suggested brain edema and demyelination of the white matter. Clinically this case was characterised by evidence of diffuse cerebral involvement in the form of convulsions, abnormal behavior and consciousness impairment without significant signs of meningitis. Antituberculous chemotherapy improved both clinical symptoms and intracranial lesions on CT and MRI. These findings strongly suggested the diagnosis of tuberculous encephalopathy with multiple tuberculomas. No adult case of tuberculous encephalopathy with multiple intracranial tuberculomas has been previously reported.

Brain↗
PubMed1986

Unilateral spatial neglect due to hemorrhage in the thalamic region.

In a series of 33 cases of thalamic hemorrhage, unilateral spatial neglect (USN) was found in 11 patients all of whom had right-sided lesions. An analysis of results suggests that the posteromedial portion of the thalamus plays an important role in the pathogenesis of USN and that extensive lesions beyond the thalamus involving nearby structures may be necessary to cause persistent USN.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

[On the hemispheric asymmetry of unilateral spatial neglect].

Many investigators were interested in unilateral spatial neglect (USN) and studied it in various respects. Especially the between-hemispheric difference of USN has been broadly argued. It can be considered as a well accepted fact that there is a difference of frequency of USN between left and right brain-damaged patients, however, there is no consistent opinion whether there are differences of severity and quality. To settle this dispute, 239 right-handed unilateral brain-damaged subjects were investigated on USN. 125 subjects suffered from left hemisphere lesions and 114 from right hemisphere lesions. Two tests; copy of drawings and finger imitation; were performed. On copying of drawings, each patient was required to copy line drawings of cubes, complex two-dimensional geometrical figures and simple two-dimensional geometrical figures. Those who failed to complete either the left- or right-hand side of any one of these drawings were classified as showing USN. Then failures of USN were divided into two different patterns; unilateral omission and unilateral distorsion. Again imitation of various finger patterns was tested with the hand homolateral to lesions. These items were presented by two methods. The subjects saw the dorsal side of the examiner's hand in the first, and palmar side in the second. On the copying of drawings, right brain-damaged subjects had about twice higher incidence of total USN than left brain-damaged subjects. As for omission alone, the incidence with the right hemispheric group was three times as high as the incidence with the left hemispheric group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Brain Mapping↗
PubMed1984

[Transcortical sensory aphasia produced by lesions of the anterior basal ganglia area].

We reported three cases of an aphasic syndrome caused by unusual lesion distribution. Our patients, language disorders could be summarized as transcortical sensory aphasia and showed following symptoms; (1) fluent paraphasic verbal output, (2) anomia which was not facilitated by cueing, (3) impaired comprehension of spoken language, (4) preserved capacity of repetition, (5) preserved ability of reading aloud with impaired comprehension of the written material and (6) agraphia. In addition, all had no associated physical neurological signs such as hemiparesis or hemianopsia. All were right handed. All three cases showed the similar lesion distribution by computed tomographic scanning of the brain. All had low density areas in the anterior portion of the left basal ganglia including the head of the caudate nucleus, the anterior portion of the putamen, the anterior portion of the anterior limb of the internal capsule and the nearby white matter. Case 2 also had the small right hemisphere lesion in the white matter near the anterior portion of the lateral ventricle. Transcortical sensory aphasia with this lesion distribution has not been reported. We attributed the causative damage to lesions of the white matter and not to lesions of the basal ganglia per se. It was also speculated that fluent aphasia can be produced by the anteriorly situated white matter lesion if issuing fibers from the Broca's area were spared. Finally a possible anatomoclinical correlation for "transcortical alexia" (preserved oral reading and impaired reading comprehension) was attempted. The symptom is probably a reflection of the fact that the posterior speech area including the angular gyrus was left intact.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

[Finger imitation difficulty, constructional disorder and classical apraxias].

In the field of apraxia study, difficulty of finger pattern imitation was generally considered as parts of classical apraxias, i.e. ideomotor apraxia or limbkinetic apraxia. But there were some authors who considered it more related to constructional ability. To bring some clarity to this ambiguity, we studied 139 right-handed unilateral brain-damaged subjects: 70 with left hemisphere lesion and 69 with right hemisphere lesion: on various tasks. Three types of manual movements, i.e. object manipulation, representational movement to verbal command and finger imitation, and constructional task were tested. As for manual praxis, response patterns elicited were recorded according to Kaplan's original method, which was slightly modified. Responses were categorized as apractic only when either no movement was elicited, or when the response was amorphous or parapraxic. Of the 139 subjects tested, 35 subjects were classified as apractic in at least one category of the three types of manual praxis and 60 subjects were categorized as showing constructional disorder. Object manipulation disturbance was observed in 9 subjects. Finger imitation difficulty was seen in 16. Disturbance of representational movement to verbal command was confirmed in at least 17 subjects and was not determined in 7 more subjects who had comprehension difficulty to spoken language. With regard to relationship between apractic disorders and laterality of hemisphere lesions, object manipulation difficulty and deficient representational movement to verbal command was seen only in the left hemisphere lesions. On the contrary, finger imitation difficulty was found in either hemisphere lesion and has no tendency toward lateralization.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Apraxias↗
PubMed1981

Squamous carcinoma of the base of the tongue: a clinicopathologic study of 81 cases.

Ninety-one patients were treated for squamous cell carcinoma of the base of the tongue between 1960 and 1974. Eighty-one of those patients were treated in a consistent manner, either by radiotherapy alone or preoperative radiotherapy plus total en bloc excision with a radical neck dissection. Eighteen patients were treated by radiotherapy alone (1800-7900 rads) to the primary site and bilaterally to the neck. Fifteen of these patients died within five years. Sixty-three patients were treated with preoperative irradiation (1800-7900 rads) followed by total primary excision with ipsilateral neck dissection. This latter group had a 50% five-year survival. Death due to uncontrolled tumor occurred within five years, whereas death after five years postinitial therapy was due to unrelated reasons. Unfavorable prognostic features were poor differentiation of the tumor, lack of histologic evidence of radiation-induced regression of the tumor, and more than three neck lymph node metastases in the initial neck dissection. Cox regression analysis showed that absence of histologic response to therapy was associated with a failure rate 4.05 times higher than that seen in patients whose tumors did respond. Primary tumor size did not affect prognosis as long as the tumor was technically resectable. Primary recurrences occurred in at least 20% of cases regardless of the presence or absence of surgical margin involvement.

Adult↗