Induction of anaesthesia in the lateral decubitus position in morbidly obese patients.
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Adolescent↗
Biomedical subjects
K Ueda
Publications and source records attributed to K Ueda.
Antitumor activity of KF22678, a novel thioester derivative of leinamycin.
KF22678, a novel thioester derivative of leinamycin with the 1-oxo-1,2-dithiolane-3-one moiety, was examined for anti-tumor activity, toxicity in mice and activation mechanism. KF22678 showed a broad antitumor spectrum against human carcinoma xenografts (lung, colon, ovary and prostate). The efficacy of KF22678 was significantly higher than that of cisplatin. KF22678 exhibited low cross-resistance against various drug-resistant cell lines of MDR1 or MRP overexpressing human tumors, and, in addition, exhibited more potent antitumor activity in vivo than ADM against A2780/ADM and KB/MRP xenograft. DL-Buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) pretreatment significantly reduced intracellular glutathione (GSH) level in human lung carcinoma A549 cells, leading to decrease in the cytotoxicity of KF22678, whereas the cytotoxicity of melphalan was augmented by BSO pretreatment. DNA single-strand breaks (SSB) were observed in A549 cells treated with KF22678 and bleomycin. DNA SSB induced by KF22678 was greatly reduced in the presence of BSO in the cells, whereas DNA SSB induced by bleomycin was not. In addition, the antitumor activity of KF22678 against BSO-pretreated human lung carcinoma PC-9 tumor was significantly decreased. These results suggest that the activation of KF22678 by intracellular GSH might be important for DNA SSB and antitumor activity in vitro and in vivo.
Animals↗
Keloids have continuous high metabolic activity.
The adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content of keloids and scars resected from patients was demonstrated by high-performance liquid chromatography. The surface color of hypertrophic scars was red or pink and that of atrophic scars was white. The ATP content of red scars was (in mmol/g protein) 1.06 +/- 0.14, of pink scars 0.12 +/- 0.02, of white atrophic scars 0.19 +/- 0.06, and of keloids 1.06 +/- 0.19. The longer the elapsed time after the trauma, the lower the level of ATP in scar tissues (correlation coefficient = -0.506; p = 0.005 by Spearman's rank correlation). However, ATP levels in keloids were still high 10 years after the injury. Fibroblasts and fibrocytes in keloids and scars were counted in histologic preparations stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The average number of fibroblasts in a definite area (56 x 10(-4) mm at a magnification of x400) was 4.8 in keloids, 5.1 in red scars, 2.4 in pink scars, and 1.3 in white atrophic scars. The number of fibrocytes in the same area was 0.4 in keloids, 0.4 in red scars, 2.3 in pink scars, and 1.3 in white atrophic scars. These results indicate that keloids and red hypertrophic scars have higher ATP levels and contain more fibroblasts than pink or white scars, and they also suggest that the levels of ATP and the number of fibroblasts decrease when red hypertrophic scars change into atrophic scars. In keloids, ATP and fibroblasts seem to remain at high levels for a long time.
Adenosine Triphosphate↗
Survey of hepatitis B virus co-infection in hepatitis C virus-infected patients suffering from chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma in Japan.
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Carcinoma, Hepatocellular↗
Differences in substrate specificity among glutathione conjugates (GS-X) pump family members: comparison between multidrug resistance-associated protein and a novel transporter expressed on a cisplatin-resistant cell line (KCP-4).
The substrate specificity of primary active transporters expressed on two kinds of human epidermoid KB-3-1 derived cell lines, C-A500 and KCP-4, was examined; the former expresses multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP1), whereas the latter is resistant to cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II) (cisplatin). Northern blot analysis indicated that neither P-glycoprotein, MRP1, MRP2 (canalicular multispecific organic anion transporter; cMOAT) nor MRP3 was overexpressed on KCP-4. Membrane vesicles isolated from C-A500 and KCP-4, but not from KB-3-1, exhibited the ATP-dependent uptake of glutathione conjugates (GS-X) such as leukotriene C4 and 2,4-dinitrophenyl-S-glutathione (DNP-SG), indicating the presence of GS-X pumps on these cells. The uptake of these GS-X by membrane vesicles from C-A500 was approximately twice that in the case of KCP-4. Kinetic analysis indicated that the Km and Vmax values for DNP-SG uptake were 2.56 and 1.43 microM, and 570 and 160 pmol/min/mg protein for C-A500 and KCP-4, respectively. In marked contrast, significant ATP-dependent uptake of glutathione-platinum complex was observed only in membrane vesicles from KCP-4, but not those from KB-3-1 and C-A500. The transport properties of estradiol-17beta-D-glucuronide (E(2)17betaG) were also different between the two cell lines. This was reflected in the findings that the ATP-dependent uptake of this conjugated metabolite in membrane vesicles from C-A500 (Km=2.33 microM, Vmax=34 pmol/min/mg protein) was much more extensive than that in the case of KCP-4 (Km=5.5 microM, Vmax=35 pmol/min/mg protein), and that comparable uptake was observed between KCP-4 and KB-3-1. Overall, a clear difference in substrate specificity among GS-X pump family members expressed on resistant tumor cells was demonstrated.
ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗
Effect of functional magnetic particles on radiofrequency capacitive heating.
Magnetic particles (magnetite) were used to make radiofrequency (RF) capacitive hyperthermia effective to a specific site. In an agar phantom experiment, a magnetite-containing agar piece was buried in a large agar phantom and heated by an 8 MHz-RF capacitive heating device. The magnetite-containing agar piece was heated more than the magnetite-free agar phantom, and the specific adsorption rate in the phantom was increased 1.5 times by the magnetite particles. The temperature distribution in the large agar phantom showed that the highest temperature was obtained at the center of the magnetite-containing piece. The rate of temperature increase was approximately proportional to the magnetite concentration to the power 0.8. This method was applied to an in vivo experiment using a pig. Magnetite was prepared as a colloidal material dispersed in a carboxymethylcellulose solution (CMC-Mag) and intramuscularly injected in the pig femur. As a result of 8 MHz-RF heating, the temperature at the CMC-Mag-injected point increased to over 43 degrees C after 7 min, while the temperature at a point without magnetite was under 40 degrees C at the same time. The specific adsorption rate in the magnetite-containing tissue was twice that of the magnetite-free tissue. In addition, the time required to reach a temperature of over 43 degrees C was only 7 min, while it was over 15 min in the case without the CMC-Mag.
Animals↗
[Enterococcus gallinarum septicemia in a patient with acute myeloid leukemia].
A 62-year-old male was admitted with complaints of fever and body weight loss. The patient was diagnosed as acute myeloid leukemia (M1) and chemotherapy was started. About 80 days after admission, the patient developed diarrhea with high fever. And E. gallinarum was isolated from the blood culture. We carried out PCR using primers for vanA, vanB and vanC in our E. gallinarum, and showed the existence of the vanC1. This organism should be considered as one of the possible pathogenes in the infectious complications of the immuno-compromized patient.
Bacteremia↗
[Clinical evaluation of anaerobic infections in patients with bronchopulmonary infections diagnosed by transtracheal aspiration].
We evaluated the clinical and bacteriologic features in the patients with bronchopulmonary infections isolated anaerobes from transtracheal aspirates between April 1990 and March 1998. Some anaerobe was isolated in 42 (10.9%) in 387 patients whom we performed transtracheal aspiration (TTA), in 42 (15.7%) of 268 in whom some organism was isolated from TTA, or in 42 (16.3%) of 257 patients in whom some bacterium excluding acid-fast bacteria, fungi or mycoplasma from TTA. The isolation rate of anaerobic bacteria was 93.3% in the patients with lung abscess, 22.7% in the patients with nosocomial pneumonia, 19.4% in the patients with community-acquired pneumonia, 26.7% in the patients with acute exacerbation of chronic lower respiratory tract infection (CLRTI), 1.6% in the patients with persistent infection of CLRTI, and 3.0% in the patients with acute bronchitis, respectively. The major anaerobes, isolated from TTA, were Peptostreptococcus micros and Prevotella melaninogenica. The aerobic bacteria were isolated with anaerobic bacteria in 32 of 42 patients at the same time. The quantitive grade of colonial growth of anaerobes was equal to or more than aerobes in the patients with lung abscess and pneumonia. We mostly administrated 3rd generation cephems or carbapenems with or without clindamycin for the treatment of anaerobic infections. Forty-one of 42 patients were cured only by the therapy of antimicrobial agents, but pneumonia patient with lung cancer died in spite of adequate antimicrobial therapy. These results suggest that the anaerobic infections are important in the bronchopulmonary infections.
Bacteria, Anaerobic↗
Two distinct mechanisms cause heterogeneity of 16S rRNA.
To investigate the frequency of heterogeneity among the multiple 16S rRNA genes within a single microorganism, we determined directly the 120-bp nucleotide sequences containing the hypervariable alpha region of the 16S rRNA gene from 475 Streptomyces strains. Display of the direct sequencing patterns revealed the existence of 136 heterogeneous loci among a total of 33 strains. The heterogeneous loci were detected only in the stem region designated helix 10. All of the substitutions conserved the relevant secondary structure. The 33 strains were divided into two groups: one group, including 22 strains, had less than two heterogeneous bases; the other group, including 11 strains, had five or more heterogeneous bases. The two groups were different in their combinations of heterogeneous bases. The former mainly contained transitional substitutions, and the latter was mainly composed of transversional substitutions, suggesting that at least two mechanisms, possibly misincorporation during DNA replication and horizontal gene transfer, cause rRNA heterogeneity.
Base Composition↗
Geographic dimorphism of the wild silkworm, Bombyx mandarina, in the chromosome number and the occurrence of a retroposon-like insertion in the arylphorin gene.
Individuals of the wild silkworm, Bombyx mandarina, collected in South Korea (Taegu City) and Japan (Tsushima Islands and Fukuoka City) had the chromosome number of 2n = 54, while those collected in China (Hangzhou City) had the chromosome number of 2n = 56. Analysis by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) showed that the 66-bp-long retroposon-like insertion known in the arylphorin gene was present in the B. mandarina specimens with 2n = 54, but not in those with 2n = 56. Thus, dimorphism in the chromosome number coincided with the occurrence of the insertion. It is likely that the boundary dividing the two geographic B. mandarina populations lies somewhere in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
Animals↗
Osteopontin expression in prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia.
OBJECTIVES: Osteopontin (OPN), a secreted adhesive glycoprotein, has been shown to be produced in excessive amounts in a variety of experimental models of malignancy. Increased levels of OPN exist in blood from the lungs, breasts, and gastrointestinal tracts of cancer patients with metastases. However, there have been no reports on the expression of OPN in human urological malignancies. The present study investigates the presence of OPN in adenocarcinoma of the human prostate and in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using prostate tissue from 34 patients with primary prostate cancer, 13 patients with prostate cancer after having undergone hormonal therapy, and 12 patients with BPH, formalin-fixed paraffin sections were prepared. Specimens were obtained by needle biopsy or radical prostatectomy. Immunohistochemical staining (ABC method) was then performed. Staining was divided into either negative or positive categories. RESULTS: Positive staining of OPN was observed on cancer cells and macrophages in 52.9% of the primary prostate cancers and 14.5% of the prostate cancers after hormonal therapy. In BPH specimens, 66.7% of the cases displayed positive staining of OPN. The staining level of OPN showed no correlation with serum prostate-specific antigen, but did correlate with stage, differentiation, and Gleason's score. CONCLUSIONS: The result postulates that the expression of OPN is an indicator of cell differentiation; however, it cannot be used as a marker of malignancy in prostate cancer.
Adenocarcinoma↗
Direct amplification of Escherichia coli O157 vero toxin genes from human faeces by the polymerase chain reaction.
Direct amplification of DNA from clinical specimens, such as blood and faeces, by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is most often hindered by endogenous inhibitory substances, including haemoglobin and bile acids. We tested whether Ampdirect A (Shimadzu), a novel reagent cocktail that has been shown to suppress the inhibitors in blood, is also useful for faecal samples, and found that the vero toxin genes (VT1 and VT2) of Escherichia coli O157 could be efficiently amplified from the supernatant of boiled faeces by PCR in the presence of this cocktail without prior extraction of DNA. We compared the efficiency of amplification with and without the cocktail, using the supernatant of boiled normal faeces supplemented with E. coli O157. PCR without the cocktail failed to amplify the vero toxin genes from the supernatant diluted < 6400-fold or containing > 0.02% (final concentration) of boiled faeces. By contrast, PCR with Ampdirect A amplified the toxin genes in the mixture containing as much boiled faeces as 0.5% and as few E. coli as 4 to 8 colony-forming units (CFU). The minimum limit for E. coli O157 detection by this method was estimated to be about 10(4) CFU/g faeces. The results obtained by this direct method agreed well with those obtained by the indirect method using DNA pre-extracted from patients' faeces (the detection limit being 10(3) CFU/g faeces).
Bacterial Toxins↗
Establishing the independent culture of a strictly symbiotic bacterium Symbiobacterium thermophilum from its supporting Bacillus strain.
Symbiobacterium thermophilum is a strictly symbiotic thermophile, the growth of which is dependent on the coexistence of an associating thermophilic Bacillus sp., strain S. S. thermophilum grows only in mixed culture with the Bacillus strain in liquid media, and does not form visible colonies on solid media. To measure the growth of this symbiotic bacterium and to analyze its growth requirements, we developed a quantitative PCR method by using its specific sequences in a putative membrane translocator gene tnaT as primers. According to this method, independent growth of S. thermophilum was first confirmed in a dialyzing culture physically separated from Bacillus strain S with a cellulose membrane. Independent growth of S. thermophilum was also managed by adding conditioned medium prepared from the culture filtrate of the Bacillus strain, but the growth in the conditioned medium stopped at a very limited extent with appearance of filamentous cells, suggesting the uncoupling of cellular growth and cell division. Formation of micro-colonies of S. thermophilum was observed on the conditioned agar medium under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, but the colony-forming efficiencies remained below 1%. Several other bacterial species, such as Bacillus stearothermophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Thermus thermophilus, and even Escherichia coli, were also found to support the growth of S. thermophilum. These results indicate that S. thermophilum essentially requires some ubiquitous metabolite(s) of low molecular weight produced by various bacterial species as growth factor(s) but coexistence of the living partner cells is still required, probably to maintain an effective level of the putative factor(s) in the medium.
Bacillus↗
Cloning and sequencing of a bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) interleukin-1alpha and -1beta complementary DNAs.
The bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) IL-1alpha and IL-1beta cDNA were cloned from mitogen stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) RNA utilizing the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The sequences of these cDNAs showed that dolphin IL-1alpha and IL-1beta clones contained open reading frames encoding 265 and 266 amino acids, respectively. Comparison of the deduced amino acid showed that dolphin IL-1alpha sequence shared 77, 77, 77, 74, 71, 65 and 57% similarity with the bovine, ovine, porcine, equine, feline, human and mouse IL-1alpha sequences, respectively. Similarly, the amino acid sequence showed that dolphin IL-1beta shared 77, 77, 74, 69, 65, 64 and 63% similarity with the bovine, ovine, porcine, equine, feline, human and mouse IL-1beta sequences, respectively. The relatedness of dolphin IL-1alpha and IL-1beta were relatively distant with 21% amino acid homology.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Torsades de pointes in a case of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with special reference to the pathologic findings of the heart including the conduction system.
A clinicopathologic study was performed in a 77-year-old female with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who had experienced recurrent syncopal attacks due to Torsades de Pointes (TdP) following QT prolongation and atrioventricular block. She died suddenly two years later while eating dinner. Pathologic findings of the heart showed a dilated and hypertrophied left ventricle. The heart weighed 550 g. There were two foci of localized endocardial fibroelastosis (EFE) beneath the aortic valve, one with a size of 3.5 x 3.5 cm, and the other (2 x 1 cm) located on the upper ventricular septum. Histologic findings showed hypertrophy and disarray in the left ventricular myocardium. The conduction system using serial sectioning revealed remarkable bilateral bundle branch fibrosis and hypertrophied Purkinje fibers in the left bundle branch adjacent to the EFE on the ventricular septum. These findings were thought to be related to the occurrence of TdP.
Aged↗
Effects of pH on contraction and Ca2+ mobilization in vascular smooth muscles of the rabbit basilar artery.
The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of extracellular pH (pHe) and intracellular pH (pHi) on 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)-induced contraction and Ca2+ mobilization in vascular smooth muscles. Strip preparations of the rabbit basilar artery without endothelium were loaded with 40 microM fura-2-AM and 2 microM BCECF-AM and mounted in an organ bath. The isometric tension was recorded by using a force displacement transducer. Administration of 5-HT caused dose-dependent contraction in the rabbit basilar arteries. Acidification of pHe from 7.40 to 6.90 reduced the 5-HT-induced contraction and [Ca2+]i transients. Alkalinization of pHe from 7.40 to 7.90, on the other hand, enhanced the contraction and elevation of [Ca2+]i. In the other series of experiments, pHi (7.12 in normal PSS) was selectively altered by adding either butyric acid or trimethylamine. Intracellular acidification (pHi = 6.89) and alkalinization (pHi = 7.35) without changes in pHe produced qualitatively similar effects to those caused by extracellular acidification and alkalinization, respectively. Ca-sensitivity, which is defined as Deltatension/Delta[Ca2+]i, was not affected by the alteration of pHe nor pHi. In the Ca2+-free solution, the addition of 5-HT produced transient increases in [Ca2+]i and isometric tension that were much smaller than those in the normal physiological salt solution. The 5-HT-induced responses of [Ca2+]i and tension in the Ca2+-free solution were not affected by acidification nor alkalinization. These results suggest that a 5-HT-induced contraction is significantly modulated by pH through changing the [Ca2+]i transients, and that the change of pHi plays, at least in part, a role in the alteration of 5-HT-induced contraction resulting from acidosis or alkalosis in the rabbit basilar artery.
Animals↗
Correlation between the blood supply and grade of malignancy of hepatocellular nodules associated with liver cirrhosis: evaluation by CT during intraarterial injection of contrast medium.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the correlation between the intranodular blood supply revealed by CT during intraarterial injection of contrast medium, mainly using helical CT, and the grade of malignancy of hepatocellular nodules associated with liver cirrhosis as classified by the International Working Party of the World Congress of Gastroenterology. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We studied 201 histologically proven nodules (101 resected and 100 biopsied nodules), including 47 low-grade dysplastic nodules (low-DNs), 56 high-grade dysplastic nodules (high-DNs), 24 well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinomas (wd-HCCs), and 74 moderately or poorly differentiated HCCs (mp-HCCs), in 139 cirrhotic patients. Findings on CT during arterial portography (n = 201) and CT during hepatic arteriography (n = 74) were reviewed and compared with the histologic diagnosis. RESULTS: CT findings were classified into four types relative to the surrounding liver: type A (isodense), type B (slightly hypodense), type C (partially hypodense), and type D (markedly hypodense) on CT during arterial portography and type I (isodense), type II (hypodense), type III (partially hyperdense), and type IV (hyperdense) on CT during hepatic arteriography. On CT during arterial portography, the distributions of each type were low-DN (n = 47 [A, n = 36; B, n = 8; C, n = 3]), high-DN (n = 56 [A, n = 18; B, n = 20; C, n = 10; D, n = 8]), wd-HCC (n = 24; [B, n = 4; C, n = 13; D, n = 7]), and mp-HCC (n = 74 [D, n = 74]). On CT during hepatic arteriography, the distributions were low-DN (n = 26 [I, n = 18; II, n = 7; III, n = 1]), high-DN (n = 19 [I, n = 6; II, n = 7; III, n = 4; IV, n = 2]), wd-HCC (n = 15 [I, n = 1; III, n = 8; IV, n = 6]), and mp-HCC (n = 14 [IV, n = 14]). We found a statistically significant correlation between the four types and the grade of malignancy of these nodules. CONCLUSION: Findings on CT during arterial portography and CT during hepatic arteriography correlated positively with histologic grading when overlap in appearance between dysplastic nodules and HCCs occurred. The concept revealed in this study can apply to diagnoses made on the basis of Doppler sonography, dynamic CT, and MR imaging.
Aged↗
Dual inhibitory effects of dimethyl sulfoxide on poly(ADP-ribose) synthetase.
Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a solvent popularly used for dissolving water-insoluble compounds, is a weak inhibitor of poly(ADP-ribose) synthetase, that is a nuclear enzyme producing (ADP-ribose)n from NAD+. The inhibitory mode and potency depend on the concentration of substrate, NAD+, as well as the temperature of the reaction; at micromolar concentrations of NAD+, the inhibition by DMSO is biphasic at 37 degrees C, but is monophasic and apparently competitive with NAD+ at 25 degrees C. DMSO, on the other hand, diminishes dose-dependently and markedly the inhibitory potency of benzamide and other inhibitors. Other organic solvents, ethanol and methanol, also show a biphasic effect on the synthetase activity at different concentrations.
Benzamides↗