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Biomedical subjects

K Endoh

Publications and source records attributed to K Endoh.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

[Long-term follow-up of patients with small St. Jude aortic valve prostheses].

Thirty-five patients received small sized 19 or 21 mm valves (group I) and 53 patients received 23 or 25 mm valves (group II). At follow-up a significant reduction in the left ventricular mass was found for both patient groups (p < 0.0001). The patients in group I had higher peak pressure gradients than did those in group II. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups, or any significant correlation between peak pressure gradients and body surface area. Actuarial survival was 84.7% at 15 years for group I and 85.9% at 17 years for group II. Actuarial freedom from valve-related events was 91.4% at 15 years for group I and 82.7% at 17 years for group II. There was no significant difference in survival or valve-related event free curves between the two groups. After implantation of small SIM valves, significant left ventricular mass regression was obtained and the results were comparable to those for valves of other sizes. The long-term performance of aortic valve replacement with small valves was satisfactory as judged by improvement in the functional class of patients, survival statistics, the durability of the prosthesis, and valve related morbidity comparable to that of valves of other sizes.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Circadian rhythm of leucocytes and lymphocytes subsets and its possible correlation with the function of the autonomic nervous system.

There are physiological variations in the levels of leucocytes. Among these, the circadian rhythm is very important in terms of the magnitude. Since newly identified lymphocyte subsets (i.e. extrathymic T cells) have recently been detected, a comprehensive study of the circadian rhythm was conducted. All leucocytes were found to vary in number or proportion with a circadian rhythm and were classified into two groups. One group--granulocytes, macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells, extrathymic T cells, gammadelta T cells, and CD8+ subset--showed an increase in the daytime (i.e. daytime rhythm). The other group--T cells, B cells, alphabeta T cells, and CD4+ subset--showed an increase at night. Humans are active and show sympathetic nerve dominance in the daytime. Interestingly, granulocytes and lymphocyte subsets with the daytime rhythm were found to carry a high density of adrenergic receptors. On the other hand, lymphocyte subsets with the night rhythm carried a high proportion of cholinergic receptors. Reflecting this situation, exercise prominently increased the number of cells with the daytime rhythm. These results suggest that the levels of leucocytes may be under the regulation of the autonomic nervous system.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Risk factors and the effect of interferon therapy in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma: a multivariate analysis in 343 patients.

The aims of the present study were to clarify the risk factors for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and to investigate the effectiveness of interferon (IFN) therapy. We retrospectively studied 343 patients who had been admitted to our hospital; 161 with chronic hepatitis, 49 with liver cirrhosis, 42 with chronic hepatitis bearing HCC and 91 with liver cirrhosis bearing HCC. The mean (+/- SD) observation period was 41.6 +/- 31.1 months. The mean age of HCC and non-HCC patients was 63.5 +/- 7.6 and 56.9 +/- 12.5 years, respectively (P < 0.001). The HCV genotype II (1b) was the most prevalent genotype (92.5%) in HCC patients and the mean age was higher among patients with this genotype (63.6 +/- 7.7 years). Multivariate analysis identified age (P < 0.001), the male gender (P < 0.01), HCV genotype II (1b) (P < 0.05) and excessive alcohol intake (P < 0.05) as independent factors associated with the development of HCC. There was no relationship between the development of HCC and serum HCV levels as quantified by branched DNA assay or competitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The incidence of HCC in patients who had not received IFN therapy was 10.4/100 person-year, while that of patients who had received IFN therapy was 1.2/100 person-year (P < 0.01) by the person-year method. The low incidence of HCC in patients treated with IFN suggests that IFN may prevent the development of HCC.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

[Risk factors for gallbladder cancer in Chilean females].

A case-control study of gallbladder cancer was conducted with 90 Chilean cases registered at one hospital in Santiago city, Chile from January, 1992 to August, 1994. Controls were selected among outpatients of the hospital who received abdominal echography. Each case was assigned 2 age- and sex-matched controls; either with or without gallstone(s). Study subjects were all directly interviewed by well-trained medical students. The present study focused on 74 female pairs and the following findings were obtained: 1) Odds Ratio(OR)s were significantly high for education years less than or equal to 6, body mass index greater than or equal to 24.0, constipation, and consumption of egg, fried meals, green and red chili. Chili pepper consumption of both types in cases showed significantly elevated risks with higher frequency. 2) While high ORs were observed, biliary symptoms such as dyspepsia and past history of cholelithiasis were strongly involved with present gallstone(s) and may not be independent factors for gallbladder cancer. 3) Significantly low ORs were seen for past history of intestinal parasitosis and surgical operation, hormone therapy, all industrial workers and workers in clothes & textile industry. However results may be influenced by more years of education or recall bias. 4) When a conditional logistic model was applied and controls with gallstone(s) were taken as reference, those with the habit of constipation showed a significantly high risk of 2.10 (95% CI: 1.01-4.38), and the consumers of red chili with a frequency > or = 1 time/day had elevated risks of 2.16 (1.27-3.66) vs those < 1 time/day and 4.66 (1.63-13.40) vs non-consumers, respectively. From the above results, the occurrence of gallbladder cancer in Chilean females may be related to constipation and chili pepper consumption, based on the presence of gallstone(s). Further investigations are needed to elucidate whether these are actual risk factors or whether only a false association was detected.

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed1997

[Destructive spondyloarthropathy of the cervical spine in hemodialyzed patients].

To assess the prevalences and neurological symptoms of destructive spondyloarthropathy (DSA) and other cervical spinal diseases in long-term hemodialysis, a questionnaire survey of the medical histories and subjective sensory-motor symptoms was taken on 191 patients undergoing dialysis for 0.2-23 years (mean 8.6 +/- 6.3) with a mean age of 56.6 +/- 11.8 years (range 23-86). Furthermore, plain radiographic examinations of the cervical spine were carried out in 90% of the patients, and neurologic examinations were also performed on 29 patients. DSA was diagnosed in 18 cases (10%): moderate narrowing of the intervertebral space (NIS-I) in 8, severe narrowing (NIS-II) in 18, ossification of posterior longitudinal ligaments (OPLL) in 6, cervical spondylosis (CS) in 12 and other abnormalities in 6; 104 cases were normal. NIS-I was considered to reflect an early stage of DSA. The age of patients with DSA (mean 61.5 +/- 10.2 years), as well as with CS, was significantly higher than the normal group (52.2 +/- 10.6; p < 0.001), but younger than CS (68.5 +/- 10.0). The duration of dialysis in DSA patients (mean 12.1 +/- 6.0 years) was the longest and significantly longer than normal (7.7 +/- 6.5; p < 0.01) and (:S patients (3.8 +/- 3.0; p < 0.001). Through comparative evaluations of prior histories of the diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, carpal tunnel syndrome, amyloid osteoarthropathy (AOA) and parathyroidectomy, along with large calcification of the nuchal soft tissues on plain films, it was found that DSA, in conjunction with NIS-I, correlated with only AOA (p < 0.05). Subjective sensory symptoms, which consisted chiefly of arthralgic type followed by polyneuritic type, were noted in 60% of all patients and 56% of DSA patients. No significant differences were evident between any two particular groups. The score of subjective motor symptoms of the lower extremities in 5 patients with myelopathy was significantly higher than that in 5 other patients without neurological disorders (p < 0.05). Thirty-eight percent of DSA patients showed myelopathy; the frequency was higher than those of previous similar studies (0 = 5%). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that 1) DSA occurred in 10% of dialysis patients, which was also evident in previous reports (9 = 10%); this prevalence was higher than those of CS or OPLL, 2) DSA correlated with the duration of dialysis and AOA, 3) subjective motor symptoms of the lower extremities could indicate presence of myelopathy whereas subjective sensory symptoms contributed little to differential diagnosis, and 4) a careful neurologic examination can more frequently disclose myelopathy in patients with DSA than so far believed.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Comparison of mutagenic activity of bile between Chilean and Japanese female patients having cholelithiasis.

The mutagenic activity of bile was compared between Chilean and Japanese female patients having cholelithiasis by the Ames assay using Salmonella typhimurium tester strain TA98 in the presence of S9 mix with blue rayon adsorption technique. A reason for conducting the present investigation is that Chile and Japan have the highest mortality rates for the gallbladder cancer (GBC) in the world. Of 24 bile samples collected in Chile, 20 (83.3%) samples showed mutagenicity. In the case of Japanese bile, 21 (80.8%) of 26 and 5 (19.2%) of 26 cases were mutagenic in samples from high- and low-risk areas for GBC, respectively. Therefore, both the Chilean and the Japanese samples collected in high-risk areas showed higher mutagenic rates than the Japanese ones in a low-risk area, with a statistical significance (p < 0.001), chi-square test). The average number of revertant colonies were 128 +/- 92 (mean +/- SD), 62 +/- 14 and 66 +/- 13, respectively, when the blue rayon extracts of 200 microliters bile were applied to the Ames test. Thus, Chilean bile had a tendency to show a higher mutagenic activity than Japanese.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Mutagenicity of 24-hour duplicate of Japanese diet.

In order to elucidate the genotoxicological characteristics of the Japanese diet, the mutagenicity of 24-h duplicate of the diet samples were investigated. The mutagenicity of blue rayon extract was examined in the Ames Salmonella/microsome assay. Thirty-two (91.4%) of 35 samples revealed mutagenicity toward Salmonella typhimurium TA98 in the presence of S9 mix. The mutagenic activities showed significant correlations with the consumption rates of broiled fish (r = 0.517, p = 0.0021) and broiled meat (r = 0.494, p = 0.0036). In other test conditions, 6 (17.1%), 5 (14.3%) and 8 (22.9%) samples were mutagenic to Salmonella typhimurium TA98 without S9 mix, TA100 with S9 mix and TA100 without S9 mix, respectively. Findings in the present study suggest that high consumption of broiled fish and broiled meat are important as the source of mutagens/carcinogens in the Japanese diet. In the present study, however, biological inference of these findings could not be made in relation to the occurrence of cancers, especially of the gastric cancer, which is the most prevalent form of cancer in Japan.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

Thymic lymphoblastic lymphoma of committed natural killer cell precursor origin: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Recently, it was demonstrated that the human fetal thymocyte contains a bipotential progenitor capable of both T lymphocyte and natural killer (NK) cell differentiation. However, prior to this report a malignant neoplasm arising from these cells had not been documented. METHODS: A Japanese female age 38 years was examined by morphology of light and electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, 3-color flow cytometry, cytotoxic assay, and Southern blotting. RESULTS: The patient presented with a mediastinal mass and pleural effusion. Leukemic progression was identified following chemotherapy and complete clinical remission. Immunophenotyping of lymphoma revealed CD45++, c-kit dim+, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-<+, CD38++, CD34+<++, CD33+<-, CD13dim+approximately+, HLA-DR+, CD7+, cytoplasmic CD3 (cCD3)+, surface CD3 (sCD3)-, CD2dim+, CD56+, CD16-, CD11b+, CD57-, CD1a-, CD5-, TCR alpha beta-, TCR gamma delta-, CD4-, CD8-, CD28-, CD10-, CD19-, CD20-, CD22-, surface immunoglobulins-, and CD14-. Functional NK activity of the lymphoma cells was extremely low. DNA analysis revealed no gene rearrangement in TCR beta, gamma, and delta or immunoglobulin heavy and light chain genes. CONCLUSIONS: Lymphoma cells of this case were derived from a distinct subtype of lymphocyte that originate from a thymic precursor committed to NK cell differentiation. This category is different from those of thymic T or precursor B cell pheno-/genotype.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Comparative study of bone mineral density estimated by various methods of single- and dual-energy quantitative computed tomography: the capability of the four-equation four-unknown method.

A dual-energy (DE) quantitative computed tomography (QCT) method, the four-equation four-unknown method (DEQCT 4E-4U), was assessed and compared to single-energy (SE) QCT and standard DEQCT (two-line method). The results of this study indicate that bone mineral density (BMD) was more accurately estimated by the present method than by the SEQCT or standard DEQCT techniques on the basis of a phantom study when a large fat content was present. The results of both the phantom study and a human study also showed that the present method corrected for fat in estimating BMD in the presence of high-fat content. These findings suggest that use of this method for estimating BMD can provide useful information in studies assessing the metabolic state of bone. We propose that CT numbers estimated from excised vertebral bone marrow can serve as a soft-tissue correction for the present method.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Preneoplastic lesions and gallbladder cancer: an estimate of the period required for progression.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Scarce biological information exists about the importance of preneoplastic lesions in gallbladder cancer. The aim of this study was to estimate the time required for the sequence of dysplasia (DY) to carcinoma of the gallbladder. METHODS: Eighty-four cases of DY, 60 cases of early carcinomas (ECs), 181 cases of advanced carcinomas (ACs), and 121 cases of metastatic (ME) gallbladder cancer were analyzed. Age was used as the main parameter. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Among all cases, the mean age of female patients was lower than the mean age of male patients (P = 0.001). A significant difference in mean age between sexes by specific type of lesion was also observed (P < 0.001). The mean age was 46.3 years (SD, 16) in the DY group, 57.5 years (SD, 16.7) in the EC group, 59 (SD, 13.7) in the AC group, and 61.1 (SD, 12.1) in the ME group. Multiple regression analysis showed statistically significant differences (r = 0.386; P < 0.001) in the mean age of patients with dysplastic lesions compared with the carcinoma group. CONCLUSIONS: According to these observations, the period required to progress from dysplasia to advanced gallbladder carcinoma would be around 15 years, observing a continuum in the progression of the lesions.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Cellular signals regulating antibiotic sensitivities of bacteria.

The effects of bacterial masses upon the drug resistance of neighboring bacteria were investigated. The experiments were performed with plastic Petri dishes divided into two identical compartments. A growing mass of Bacillus subtilis (signal emitter cell) in one compartment exerted enhancing effects upon the erythromycin and streptomycin resistance of Bacillus carboniphilus (signal recipient) cells, sparsely seeded in the other compartment, through the plastic wall and the air. These effects of the growing mass of cells are attributed to the emission of "sonic" signals.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1996

Long-term results of emergency coronary artery bypass grafting.

During a 20-year period, 364 patients underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for the treatment of ischemic heart disease. Among these patients, 28 underwent emergency surgery. The reasons for performing emergency CABG were unstable angina in 15 patients, impending myocardial infarction in 12 patients and congestive heart failure in 1 patient. Eleven patients died postoperatively. Eight variables were examined by univariate analysis for their influence on the occurrence of a hospital death. Lack of a history of myocardial infarction, intraaortic balloon pumping (IABP) and acute coronary occlusion were all found to be predictors of hospital death. Seventeen patients were followed up for 12 years. There was no cardiac death and actuarial survival at 12 years was 63%. The 14 survivors are now in NYHA functional class I or II. Although the operative mortality rate is high after emergency CABG, a fair prognosis can be expected if the patients survive surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Roles of stem cell factor in the in vitro growth of blast clonogenic cells from patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia.

We investigated the effects of stem cell factor (SCF) on the growth of blast clonogenic cells from 27 patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) and 3 patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia in myeloid crisis. SCF alone showed a significant stimulatory activity in 15 of 30 patients (50%). A marked reduction in the number of blast cell colonies supported by SCF alone was noted by the addition of neutralizing antibody (Ab) against granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Ab against interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) also moderately reduced the number of colonies, whereas Ab against granulocyte CSF (G-CSF) failed to do so. All four Ab together completely abolished the growth in 5 of 6 patients tested. c-kit antisense oligonucleotides reduced the colony formation supported by IL-3 or G-CSF or, in the absence of growth factor, in only 2 of 10 patients tested. SCF caused stimulation by acting synergistically with G-CSF, GM-CSF, IL-3, IL-6, IL-9, IL-11, and IL-12 in 20 of 27 (74%), 17 of 27 (63%), 14 of 28 (50%), 9 of 28 (32%), 1 of 15 (7%), 3 of 28 (11%), and 2 of 15 (13%) patients, respectively. Thus, SCF alone or in combination with some other factor stimulated the growth in 27 of 30 (90%) patients. Of 3 nonresponders, 2 were AML, M3 at presentation. G-CSF at the optimal concentration increased the sensitivity of blasts to SCF. Taken together, SCF acting in combination with other factors, but not alone, stimulates the growth of blast clonogenic cells. GM-CSF, IL-6, and TNF-alpha may be produced endogenously, whereas G-CSF and SCF may be supplied exogenously. Autocrine regulation of the growth of blasts seems to increase the responsiveness of the cells to any of these factors, allowing them to achieve a highly active growth state.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Studies on carbon material requirements for bacterial proliferation and spore germination under stress conditions: a new mechanism involving transmission of physical signals.

The growth of bacteria is often enhanced by addition of carbon materials such as graphite or activated charcoal to the growth medium. In this work, bacterial strains that strictly require such carbon materials under the ordinarily lethal stress caused by high concentrations of salt were isolated. The organisms were gram-positive, spore-forming, sugar-nonfermenting aerobic bacilli and were provisionally designated "Bacillus carbophilus" Kasumi after examination of their phenotypic traits. The growth- and germination-promoting effects of graphite and activated charcoal were demonstrated either quantitatively on agar plates containing fine crystals of the carbon materials mixed with a nonpermissive growth medium or qualitatively on agar plates on nonpermissive growth media half-covered with fine carbon particles. Further experiments demonstrated a novel feature of the phenomenon; i.e., the ability to induce colony formation on the nonpermissive plate was transmissible through the air, as well as through plastic or glass barriers. The mechanism probably involves transmission of physical signals regulating cell growth.

Bacteria↗