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Biomedical subjects

Keiji Hashimoto

Publications and source records attributed to Keiji Hashimoto.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Examination by near-infrared spectroscopy for evaluation of piano performance as a frontal lobe activation task.

The purpose of this study was to reveal the activation of the frontal lobe in piano performance by the use of near-infrared spectroscopy. Participants wereseven healthy volunteer music college students. The results of the examination showed a tendency towards an increase in total hemoglobin volume over a wider area in the frontal part of the brain during an appropriate piano task compared with an easy piano task or the Keio version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The results suggest that piano performance is recognized as a frontal lobe-activating task and that performance of an appropriate piano task can be expected to elicit wider activation of the frontal lobe than an easy one.

Adolescent↗

Laterality of swallowing in healthy subjects by AP projection using videofluoroscopy.

Although anteroposterior projections in videofluoroscopic examination of swallowing (VF) provide clinically important information, the laterality of swallowing in healthy subjects has not been examined fully to date. One hundred sixty-seven healthy volunteers were prospectively studied. The subjects were asked to swallow 5 ml of barium solution three times while X-ray images were taken that showed the pathway of the solution from the pharynx into the esophagus to assess the laterality of swallowing. We classified patterns of swallowing into three types according to passage in the pharyngoesophageal segment as indicated by width: RD (right-side-dominant flow), LD (left-side-dominant flow), and NL (no laterality in flow). Fifty-eight percent of the subjects were classified as NL, 35% as LD, and 7% as RD. The ratio of types in women was NL:LD:RD = 7:2:1. There were no significant differences among the groups according to age. Although classifications in young men (age = 20-30 years) tended to be the same as in women regardless of age, ratios of LD tended to increase with age; 71% of elderly adults (age = 51-75 years) were classified as LD. These results demonstrate laterality in normal swallowing and will be helpful in determining treatment strategies for the patients with dysphagia.

Adult↗

How great is willingness to pay for recovery from sequelae after severe traumatic brain injury in Japan?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the burden on families with a family member suffering traumatic brain injury sequelae in Japan. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: Family members' burden from the sequelae of traumatic brain injury was estimated by use of willingness-to-pay models and the contingent valuation method. A national survey among 1707 members of the Japan Traumatic Brain Injury Association was conducted by postal questionnaire with open-ended questions. A total of 509 (29.8%) of the family members responded (405 men and 104 women). Mean age of patients with traumatic brain injury was 33.4 (SD 14.3) years and of responding family members 53.3 (SD 14.5) years. RESULTS: Willingness-to-pay for the family member's recovery from sequelae of traumatic brain injury (8,694,502 Japanese yen; 79,134 US dollars/year) was similar to that reported for a family member's survival from incurable terminal disease (8,342,953 Japanese yen; 75,934 US dollars/year). CONCLUSION: The data indicate that family members perceive the burden of a family member with traumatic brain injury sequelae as similar to what would have been caused by an incurable terminal disease.

Adult↗

Effectiveness of a comprehensive day treatment program for rehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injury in Japan.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of a day treatment program with a comprehensive team approach for treating outpatients with acquired brain injury, which is offered by the Kanagawa Rehabilitation Hospital. DESIGN: Non-randomized controlled study. SUBJECTS: Twenty-five program graduates and 12 control patients with acquired brain injury. METHODS: A prospective study using 25 brain-injured patients with cognitive dysfunction who were provided with a comprehensive day treatment program at Kanagawa Rehabilitation Hospital. The 25 enrolled patients had treatment sessions lasting 2-4 hours for 2 days a week over a 3-6-month period. Functional Independence Measure/Functional Assessment Measure (FIM/FAM) and the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) were administered before and after the program to compare outcomes between the 25 program participants and the 12 control patients who did not receive the day treatment program. RESULTS: Significant improvements in speech intelligibility, problem solving, memory, attention and social integration scores in the FIM/FAM and scores in social integration and productive activity in the CIQ were evident in the enrolled subjects. In addition, 9 of the 25 patients returned to work or school. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate the effectiveness of this program in helping to rehabilitate patients with acquired brain injury.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Carotenoids in three species of Corbicula Clams, Corbicula japonica, Corbicula sandai, and Corbicula sp. (Chinese Freshwater Corbicula Clam).

Carotenoids were investigated in three species of corbicula clams, Corbicula japonica, Corbicula sandai, and Corbicula sp. (Chinese freshwater corbicula clam). Forty-three carotenoids were isolated. Among them, 7,8-didehydro-beta-cryptoxanthin (12), peridininol 5,8-furanoxide (38), pyrrhoxanthin 5,8-furanoxide (40), and pyrrhoxanthinol 5,8-furanoxide (43) are newly reported as naturally occurring carotenoids. Their structures were characterized on the basis of UV-vis, FAB-MS including MS/MS experiments, and 1H NMR spectroscopic data. The total carotenoid contents in C. japonica, C. sandai, and Chinese freshwater corbicula clam were found to be 5.3, 2.6, and 0.3 mg/100 g in the edible part (wet weight), respectively. Peridinin (34) and its derivatives were found to be major carotenoids in C. japonica, which inhabits brackish water. On the other hand, lutein (13) was found to be the major carotenoid in C. sandai and Chinese corbicula clams, which inhabit freshwater. These patterns well reflected the carotenoids in their dietary algae. 7',8'-Didehydrodeepoxyneoxanthin (19), corbiculaxanthin (21), corbiculaxanthin 3'-acetate (22), and 6-epiheteroxanthin (24) were found in all three species of corbicula clams and have not previously been found in other shellfishes. They were assumed to be peculiar carotenoids in corbicula clams.

Animals↗

Structure of new carotenoids from corbicula clam Corbicula japonica.

Six new carotenoids, named corbiculaxanthin (1), corbiculaxanthin 3'-acetate (2), 6-epiheteroxanthin (3), 7',8'-didehydrodeepoxyneoxanthin (4), cyclopyrrhoxanthin (5), and hydratoperidinin (6), were isolated from the corbicula clam (Shijimi in Japanese), Corbicula japonica. Their structures were determined by chemical and spectral data.

Animals↗

Structure of new carotenoids with a 3,4-dihydroxy-beta-end group from the oyster Crassostrea gigas.

Three new carotenoids with a 3,4-dihydroxy-beta-end group were isolated from the oyster Crassostrea gigas. These structures were determined to be 3,4,3',8'-tetrahydroxy-beta,kappa-caroten-6'-one (1), 3,4-dihydroxy-3',6'-epoxy-1',2',5',6'7',8'-hexahydro-6'-methyl-16'-nor-beta,-carotene-1',8'-dione (2), and 3,6-epoxy-5,3',4'-trihydroxy-12',13',20'-trinor-beta,beta-caroten-19,11-olide (3) based on chemical and spectral data.

Animals↗

Futile short-patch DNA base excision repair of adenine:8-oxoguanine mispair.

8-oxo-7, 8-dihydrodeoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG), one of the representative oxidative DNA lesions, frequently mispairs with the incoming dAMP during mammalian DNA replication. Mispaired dA is removed by post-replicative base excision repair (BER) initiated by adenine DNA glycosylase, MYH, creating an apurinic (AP) site. The subsequent mechanism ensuring a dC:8-oxo-dG pair, a substrate for 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1), remains to be elucidated. At the nucleotide insertion step, none of the mammalian DNA polymerases examined exclusively inserted dC opposite 8-oxo-dG that was located in a gap. AP endonuclease 1, which possesses 3'-->5' exonuclease activity and potentially serves as a proofreader, did not discriminate dA from dC that was located opposite 8-oxo-dG. However, human DNA ligases I and III joined 3'-dA terminus much more efficiently than 3'-dC terminus when paired to 8-oxo-dG. In reconstituted short-patch BER, repair products contained only dA opposite 8-oxo-dG. These results indicate that human DNA ligases discriminate dC from dA and that MYH-initiated short-patch BER is futile and hence this BER must proceed to long-patch repair, even if it is initiated as short-patch repair, through strand displacement synthesis from the ligation-resistant dC terminus to generate the OGG1 substrate, dC:8-oxo-dG pair.

8-Hydroxy-2'-Deoxyguanosine↗

Characterization of epoxy carotenoids by fast atom bombardment collision-induced dissociation MS/MS.

The characterization and structure of epoxy carotenoids possessing 5,6-epoxy, 5,8-epoxy and 3,6-epoxy end groups conjugated to the polyene chain were investigated using high-energy fast atom bombardment collision-induced dissociation MS/MS methods. In addition to [M - 80](+*), a characteristic fragment ion of an epoxy carotenoid, product ions resulting from the cleavage of C-C bonds in the polyene chain from the epoxy end group, such as m/z 181 (b ion) and 121 (c ion), were detected. On the other hand, diagnostic ions of m/z 286 (e-H ion) and 312 (f-H ion) were observed, not in the 5,6-epoxy or 5,8-epoxy carotenoid but in the 3,6-epoxy carotenoid. These fragmentation patterns can be used to distinguish 3,6-epoxy carotenoids from 5,6-epoxy or 5,8-epoxy carotenoids. The structure of an epoxy carotenoid, 3,6-epoxy-5,6-dihydro-7',8'-didehydro-beta,beta-carotene-5,3'-diol (8), isolated from oyster, was characterized using FAB CID-MS/MS by comparing fragmentation patterns with those of related known compounds.

Animals↗

[Examination of NIRS for evaluation of frontal lobe function in diffuse axonal injury (DAI) patients].

The purpose of this study is to compare diffuse axonal injury (DAI) patients with healthy controls by using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Keio Version (KWCST), a standard task paradigm to detect human frontal lobe dysfunction was set as a method. The result of the examination showed that compared with DAI patients, wider increase of total hemoglobin was admitted in the frontal part of the brain of healthy people during the KWCST. This suggests that NIRS would serve as an objective indicator to evaluate the frontal lobe function in DAI patients.

Adult↗

[Lowered VIQ level following traumatic brain injury].

A patient with traumatic brain injury (TBI) is often associated with incidence of cognitive dysfunction as a sequela. We have conducted WAIS-R to 237 patients who were diagnosed as TBI at the Kanagawa Rehabilitation Hospital in order to assess their intellectual function. Twelve patients, whose VIQ being marked significantly lower than PIQ, were retrospectively analyzed in terms of their Functional Independence Measure (FIM), neuropsychological test results and lesions found in diagnostic images. In consequence, presence of a patient group whose VIQ level is significantly lowered due to the TBI sequela is recognized, in addition to a finding that trauma sites of cerebral contusion or other incidents are not necessarily corresponding to the results of neuropsychological test. Furthermore, based on an observation that those patients with lowered VIQ level are also associated with aggravation of PIQ 'digit symbol', Trail Making Test, or word fluency levels. This result was before similar with the result of "32 cases of DAI (diffuse axonal injury)" which authors reported, and it was guessed anew that the main factor of a cognitive dysfunction was damage on axon.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Fidelity of DNA polymerase delta holoenzyme from Saccharomyces cerevisiae: the sliding clamp proliferating cell nuclear antigen decreases its fidelity.

DNA polymerases delta and epsilon (pol delta and epsilon) are the two major replicative polymerases in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The fidelity of pol delta is influenced by its 3'-5' proofreading exonuclease activity, which corrects misinsertion errors, and by enzyme cofactors. PCNA is a pol delta cofactor, called the sliding clamp, which increases the processivity of pol delta holoenzyme. This study measures the fidelity of 3'-5' exonuclease-proficient and -deficient pol delta holoenzyme using a synthetic 30mer primer/100mer template in the presence and absence of PCNA. Although PCNA increases pol delta processivity, the presence of PCNA decreased pol delta fidelity 2-7-fold. In particular, wild-type pol delta demonstrated the following nucleotide substitution efficiencies for mismatches in the absence of PCNA: G.G, 0.728 x 10(-4); T.G, 1.82 x 10(-4); A.G, <0.01 x 10(-4). In the presence of PCNA these values increased as follows: G.G, 1.30 x 10(-4); T.G, 2.62 x 10(-4); A.G, 0.074 x 10(-4). A similar but smaller effect was observed for exonuclease-deficient pol delta (i.e., 2-4-fold increase in nucleotide substitution efficiencies in the presence of PCNA). Thus, the fidelity of wild-type pol delta in the presence of PCNA is more than 2 orders of magnitude lower than the fidelity of wild-type pol epsilon holoenzyme and is comparable to the fidelity of exonuclease-deficient pol epsilon holoenzyme.

DNA Polymerase II↗

[Cognitive dysfunction in 32 diffuse axonal injury cases].

In acute stage of traumatic brain injury, it is not easy to diagnose diffuse axonal injury (DAI) by computer imaging. Even in chronic stage, DAIs occasionally show no remarkable abnormality by ordinal CT or MRI images. We retrospectively studied 32 DAI cases by the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), a battery of neuropsychological tests and CT or MRI films of acute and chronic phase. The result showed decrease of cognitive function in 32 DAI cases. The degree of enlargement of the ventricles in chronic stage did not correlate with cognitive dysfunction.

Adult↗

Fidelity of DNA polymerase epsilon holoenzyme from budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

DNA polymerases delta and epsilon (pol delta and epsilon) are the major replicative polymerases and possess 3'-5' proofreading exonuclease activities that correct errors arising during DNA replication in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This study measures the fidelity of the holoenzyme of wild-type pol epsilon, the 3'-5' exonuclease-deficient pol2-4, a +1 frameshift mutator for homonucleotide runs, pol2C1089Y, and pol2C1089Y pol2-4 enzymes using a synthetic 30-mer primer/100-mer template. The nucleotide substitution rate for wild-type pol epsilon was 0.47 x 10(-5) for G:G mismatches, 0.15 x 10(-5) for T:G mismatches, and less than 0.01 x 10(-5) for A:G mismatches. The accuracy for A opposite G was not altered in the exonuclease-deficient pol2-4 pol epsilon; however, G:G and T:G misincorporation rates increased 40- and 73-fold, respectively. The pol2C1089Y pol epsilon mutant also exhibited increased G:G and T:G misincorporation rates, 22- and 10-fold, respectively, whereas A:G misincorporation did not differ from that of wild type. Since the fidelity of the double mutant pol2-4 pol2C1089Y was not greatly decreased, these results suggest that the proofreading 3'-5' exonuclease activity of pol2C1089Y pol epsilon is impaired even though it retains nuclease activity and the mutation is not in the known exonuclease domain.

Base Sequence↗