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Biomedical subjects

K Amano

Publications and source records attributed to K Amano.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Fluctuations in plasma levels of thrombomodulin in patients with DIC.

Plasma thrombomodulin (TM) has attracted considerable attention as a marker of endothelial cell membrane injury. We examined fluctuations in plasma TM levels in patients receiving therapy for the disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome (DIC) using an enzyme immunoassay. Sixty healthy controls and 18 patients with DIC were studied. The mean +/- SD of the TM values initially measured immediately after the onset of DIC was 42.00 +/- 20.85 ng/ml, which was markedly increased as compared with the control value of 15.36 +/- 4.85 ng/ml (p < 0.001). Fluctuations in the TM levels over time were studied after dividing the patients according to the presence or absence of improvement in the underlying disease and improvement or lack thereof in the coagulation findings. Group I showed improvement in both categories, Group II showed improvement only in the latter, and Group III showed no improvement in either category. In Group I, the mean +/- SD of initial measured TM levels was 37.02 +/- 10.12 ng/ml and the mean of final values decreased to 58.9% of the initial value. This decrease was significant by paired Student's t-test (p < 0.01). The initial value in Group II was 45.86 +/- 18.86 ng/ml and the final values increased to 117.0% of the initial values, this difference was not significant. The initial value in Group III was 44.48 +/- 21.53 ng/ml and the final values increased to 143.4% of the former. This increase was significant by paired Student's t-test (p < 0.05). The difference in % fluctuations between Group I and Group III was significant by Wilcoxon's test (p < 0.01). These results suggest that the measurement of plasma TM can be useful in the management of DIC.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Unexpected movement disorders in neurosurgical practice: report of three cases.

Hyperkinetic movement disorders may develop as a complication of stereotactic thalamotomy or pallidotomy. However, such movement disorders are uncommon after nonsterotactic intracranial operations. The authors report three cases of involuntary movement disorders unexpectedly developing after intracranial operations. The patients had undergone clipping of an internal carotid aneurysm, removal of an intracerebral hematoma, and resection of a tentorial meningioma. Two patients developed choreic movements and a dystonic posture of the unilateral upper extremity. One patient showed a tremor that had features of both parkinsonism and essential tremor. The symptoms of these patients were medically uncontrollable, and they were successfully treated with stereotactic ventrolateral thalamotomy.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Intrapair differences of physical aging and longevity in identical twins.

The genetic and environmental contributions to physical aging (hair graying, balding, presbyopia) and longevity (age at death) were examined by within-pair comparison in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins in later adulthood. Physical aging was investigated on 135 pairs of adult twins aged over 50. Hair graying and hair loss (baldness) showed significantly higher rates of concordance in the MZ twins than in the DZ twins. The intrapair difference of the degree of hair graying was negligible in 79%, slight in 15% and striking in 5% among the MZ pairs; while negligible in 40%, slight in 50% and striking in 10% among the DZ pairs. The intrapair difference of the degree of hair loss was negligible in 92%, slight in 8% (and striking in none) among the MZ pairs; while negligible in 69%, slight in 25% and striking in 6% among the DZ pairs. The age at onset of presbyopia showed a slightly higher rate of concordance in the MZ than in the DZ pairs. Longevity (age at death) was surveyed on 184 pairs of twins who died at over 40 years of age. The intrapair difference of longevity was 6.65 +/- 5.6 years (maximum 18.0; minimum 0.04) in the MZ pairs, and 8.66 +/- 7.2 years (maximum 18.6; minimum 2.9) in the DZ pairs. The MZ pairs showed a slightly smaller within-pair difference of longevity than the DZ pairs.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

A phage in Bartonella bacilliformis.

Bacteriophage-like particles were found in Bartonella bacilliformis culture. The particles consisted of head (icosahedral), 40 nm in diameter, and tail, 16 nm in length.

Bacteriophages↗
PubMed1992

Structural studies of peptidoglycans in Campylobacter species.

Peptidoglycans (PG) from Campylobacter coli, Campylobacter jejuni, and Campylobacter fetus were composed of muramic acid, glucosamine, alanine, glutamic acid, and diaminopimelic acid in a molar ratio of 1.1:1:1.7:1.1:09. Thirty percent of the amino groups of diaminopimelic acid were involved in cross-linkages between peptides. During cultivation, C. coli and C. jejuni changed from a spiral to a coccoid form. In C. coli, we could isolate PG only from the spiral forms in yields of 0.8-1.2% by dry weight. C. fetus did not change to a coccoid form, and always contained PG. Thus, it is possible that the morphological transformation from the spirals to the coccoid forms of C. coli and C. jejuni is accompanied by, and probably due to, the degradation of PG.

Campylobacter↗
PubMed1992

Serological studies of antigenic similarity between Japanese spotted fever rickettsiae and Weil-Felix test antigens.

Acute and convalescent-phase sera obtained from 10 patients infected with a Japanese strain of spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsia were tested by the indirect immunoperoxidase test, the Weil-Felix test, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and immunoblotting. By the Weil-Felix test, the reactivity of these sera to the OX2 antigen was higher than those to the OX19 antigen, as is the case with sera from persons infected with other SFG rickettsiae. By ELISA, the titers of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies against OX2 corresponded to the Weil-Felix test titers of these sera against OX2 but not to the titers obtained with IgG antibodies. The reactivity of the patient sera with the OX2 antigen in the Weil-Felix test was probably due to IgM antibodies against antigens which OX2 and SFG rickettsiae have in common. By immunoblotting tests, both IgG and IgM antibodies from the patient sera reacted with lipopolysaccharides from SFG rickettsiae and Proteus strain OX2. These results may show that these lipopolysaccharides contain similar epitopes.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMed1992

Stereotactic mesencephalotomy for pain relief. A plea for stereotactic surgery.

Rostral mesencephalic reticulotomy (RMR) for pain relief was performed in 34 patients with intractable pain. Most of these patients have been followed for a long period of time postoperatively, the longest follow-up period being 11 years. Contrary to the commonly prevailed bias in the past that mesencephalotomy may be a surgical intervention with potential risk, these patients of RMR have continued to substantial improvement postoperatively in terms of their preoperative intractable painful dysesthesia after a long period of time. The results of pain relief for denervation pain as well as for nondenervation pain are surprisingly good even after unilateral procedures. There was no operative mortality. Postoperative disturbance of ocular motility has been reduced. RMR has its scientific basis in that the medial part of the reticular formation rather than the classical lateral spinothalamic tract has more significance in the central conduction of nociceptive impulses through the midbrain level, which was verified by intraoperative neuronal recording with a tungsten microelectrode. The present report emphasizes that stereotactic mesencephalotomy, if performed meticulously and precisely, is a safe surgical procedure for pain relief. Results of MRI and sensory manifestations of a patient 11 years after RMR are also presented.

Follow-Up Studies↗
PubMed1992

[Group theoretical approach to the cognition of transformational structures and goodness of patterns].

In this article, we tried to reformulate the transformational structure theory of goodness judgment of patterns within the framework of the group theory. We found that reformulation based on the group concepts results in a more general theory, which we call the transformation group theory of goodness judgment of patterns. Main properties of the generalized theory are: 1. Each of the basic cognitive transformations is replaced by a transformation group. 2. They are the dihedral group consisting of mirror-image transformations and a cyclic transformation, the translation group, and the value-reversal transformation group. These groups are derivable independently of the given configurations. 3. The transformation group has the following properties: duality of invariance, non-divergency of transformations produced, and availability of indirect test of invariance. These properties are convenient for cognition of transformational structure of patterns in goodness judgment. 4. The intraconfigurational transformation structure of configurations can be defined by the transformation group so that order among goodness judgments can be predicted, in parallel with the existing transformational structure theory.

Cognition↗
PubMed1992

The reactivity between rickettsiae and Weil-Felix test antigens against sera of rickettsial disease patients.

Of the sera which were positive to Rickettsia tsutsugamushi by indirect immunoperoxidase test, approximately 80% sera were positive to a Proteus OXK antigen by Weil-Felix test at 10 or more days after the onset of fever, while only 10% sera were positive within 9 days from the onset of fever. In ELISA using the OXK antigen, almost all of the paired sera of tsutsugamushi disease (TD) patients increased on the IgM antibody titres with the rise of their titres by Weil-Felix test, whereas the IgG antibody titres of these sera were unrelated with the titres of Weil-Felix test. We suspect that the reactivity of TD patients sera to the OXK antigen in Weil-Felix test was derived from the reactivity of the IgM antibody against the OXK antigen common with R. tsutsugamushi. The patient sera infected with a Japanese isolate of spotted fever group rickettsia (SFGR) cross-reacted with the Thai Tick Typhus (TTT) strain of SFGR by indirect immunoperoxidase test. In Weil-Felix test, the reactivity of these sera to OX2 antigen were higher than that to OX19 antigen, like the sera infected with other SFGR, except of R. rickettsii. These sera also reacted with TTT and OX2 antigens by ELISA. The titres of IgM antibody against OX2 antigen in the sera in ELISA were in parallel with the titres of the sera against OX2 antigen in Weil-Felix test, but not the titres of IgG antibody. We suggest that the reactivity of the patient sera infected with SFGR to OX2 antigen of Weil-Felix test is dependent on the IgM antibody.

Antigens, Bacterial↗
PubMed1992

[Effect of suppletory estrogen or 1,25(OH)D3 on bone mineral content].

Post-menopausal changes in bone mineral content (BMC) and the effect of suppletory estrogen or 1,25(OH)D3 was studied. BMC was evaluated by means of quantitative computed tomography. Post-menopausal BMC (age 45-49) was 158.4 +/- 42.0 mg/cm3 which was significantly lower than in other subjects in the same aged group (192.3 +/- 27.1 mg/cm3). At two years, ten years and more than ten years post-menopause it decreased significantly by 17%, 30%, 55% respectively, compared with that of pre-menopausal BMC. The administration of conjugated estrogen (0.625 mg) or 1,25(OH)D3 was effective in preventing bone loss, although a transient decrease in BMC was observed in some cases to which 1,25(OH)D3 was administered. In cases of pre-menopausal bilateral oophorectomy, BMC was found to decrease significantly to the post-menopausal level about two years after operation. However, long-term estrogen replacement therapy tends to inhibit the decrease.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

[Studies on clinical remission of rheumatoid arthritis].

Clinical remission was observed in 19 out of 276 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Remission rate was higher in male patients. In order to determine the clinical characteristics of remission cases, comparative study was performed. Although the time between initiation of treatment and clinical remission varied from case to case, the remission was related to early diagnosis and use of immunomodulating drug. No exacerbation was observed in our 19 patients with remission for the periods of 17 observation months. However, serial X-ray examination of hands disclosed that the erosive changes developed even after clinical remission.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed1991

6-Deoxy-D-talan and 6-deoxy-L-talan. Novel serotype-specific polysaccharide antigens from Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans.

Serotype-specific polysaccharide antigens from Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans ATCC 29523 (serotype a) and NCTC 9710 (serotype c) were extracted from whole cells by autoclaving and purified by ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration. Analysis of component sugars by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, high performance liquid chromatography, and NMR together with optical rotation data showed that the serotype a antigen was composed solely of 6-deoxy-D-talose, whereas the serotype c antigen consisted of 6-deoxy-L-talose. Structural analysis indicated that both of these antigens were composed of closely related repeating units, -3)-6-deoxy-alpha-D-Talp-(1-2)-6-deoxy-alpha-D-Talp-(1-(sero type a) and -3)-6-deoxy-alpha-L-Talp-(1-2)-6-deoxy-alpha-L-Talp-(1-(sero type c). 1H and 13C NMR analysis showed that both of these serotype antigens contained one acetyl group/2 sugar residues. These acetyl groups localized at the O-2 position of 3-linked 6-deoxy-D-talose (serotype a) or O-4 position of 3-linked 6-deoxy-L-talose residues (serotype c), respectively. These results coupled with our previous findings on the serotype b antigen (Amano, K., Nishihara, T., Shibuya, N., Noguchi, T., and Koga, T. (1989) Infect. Immun. 57, 2942-2946) showed that the serotype antigens from A. actinomycetemcomitans are a group of novel polysaccharides with structural features closely related biosynthetically.

Actinobacillus↗
PubMed1991

An ultrasound-guided stereotactic apparatus for intracranial mass lesions.

One of disadvantages of conventional stereotactic operation for intracranial mass lesions is that it is basically a blind procedure even if the operation is performed in a gantry of a CT scan. High resolution ultrasound image gives real-time information on intracranial pathology such as bleeding, remaining cyst fluid or haematoma. The authors report an ultrasound guided stereotactic apparatus which gives real-time images of the lesion during operation.

Biopsy, Needle↗