PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Masaru Ichida

Publications and source records attributed to Masaru Ichida.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Circulating endothelial progenitor cells in congestive heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) circulate in the adult peripheral blood and contribute to neovascularization. EPCs are considered to be included in CD34 positive mononuclear cells (CD34+ MNCs). Kinetics of circulating EPCs in congestive heart failure (CHF) has not been fully investigated. METHODS: We determined the numbers of white blood cells (WBCs), plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), serum erythropoietin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and thrombomodulin levels in 16 mild CHF patients (NYHA I, II), 10 severe CHF patients with acute exacerbation (NYHA III, IV), and 22 control subjects. The number of CD34+ MNCs in peripheral blood was quantified by flow cytometry. RESULTS: The ratio of CD34+ MNCs:10(3) WBCs in mild CHF patients was higher than that in control subjects (P<0.05). Interestingly, the ratio of CD34+ MNCs:10(3) WBCs in severe CHF patients at admission was significantly lower than that in control subjects (P<0.005) or in mild CHF patients (P<0.05). Levels of BNP and erythropoietin in severe CHF patients were significantly higher than those in mild CHF patients. However, VEGF and thrombomodulin levels were not different between mild and severe CHF patients. In addition, the ratio of CD34+ MNCs:10(3) WBCs in severe CHF patients increased in proportion to the amelioration of CHF during hospitalization, and this increase correlated with the decrease in BNP level. CONCLUSIONS: The ratio of CD34+ MNCs:10(3) WBCs was decreased in severe CHF. These findings suggest that impaired EPC recruitment might be involved in the pathophysiology of severe CHF.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

[Questionary research on individual psychotherapy of borderline personality disorder (BPD)].

The authors researched individual psychotherapy of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in Japan using a questionnaire given to expert therapists. To select the expert therapists, a database search for the keywords "borderline personality disorder" and "border-line case" was carried out in the Japanese literature on psychiatry and clinical psychology. Thus, 280 expert therapists, who were authors of articles related to the psychotherapy of BPD, were selected. Qestionnaires on individual psychotherapy of BPD were sent to them, and 128 responses were obtained. About 60% of these therapists were performing structured individual psychotherapy. This was about half of the psychiatrists and almost all of the clinical psychologists. Most of the structured psychotherapy was performed once a week, with 50 minute sessions. But there also were biweekly, 30-39 minute, 40-49 minute, and 20-29 minute sessions. The basic therapeutic methodology was psychoanalytic psychotherapy, supportive psychotherapy, and eclectic therapy, with each of them constituting about one third of the total, in this order of percentage. In the case of structured individual psychotherapy, what the majority of the therapists performed is as follows. They talked about therapeutic goals. When talking about therapeutic goals, the focus was on realistic issues such as improving social adaptation, controlling impulsive behavior or reducing the symptoms. In the face of self-harm behavior, they talked about the meaning and the utility of self-harm behavior, listened to the progression of the episodes, or said it was definitely not a good thing to do. If the self-harm behaviors were repeated, they told the patients that it was necessary for them to be confined to the closed-ward, or told them that the continuation of psychotherapy might become difficult. When there was intense anger toward the therapists, they validated the rightful parts of it. Concerning the anger and depression of the therapists, they restrained their feelings and considered them later, talked about it with their colleagues and experts, or communicated to the patients their honest feelings. In the case of frequent telephone calls, they told their patients to reduce their calls as much as possible, but when the calls came, talked with them briefly. Or they allotted the times the patients could make a call. Disclosure of the private information of the therapists was not done at all, or was done sometimes according to the situation. They actively talked about the limitations of the therapists and the patient-therapist relationship. They appreciated and praised the achievements of the patients. They talked about the termination of the psychotherapy. When they happened to meet the patients outside of the therapy, they responded to the patients only when they were addressed, or they addressed the patients by themselves but just briefly. The clinical situation of the BPD individual psychotherapy in Japan was not made clear so far. Our research clarified the situation, though there was the methodological limitation of the questionnaire research.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

An anti-ulcer drug, geranylgeranylacetone, suppresses inducible nitric oxide synthase in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells.

OBJECTIVE: Geranylgeranylacetone (GGA) is commonly used as an anti-ulcer drug. If GGA affects inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the vascular tissue, it could influence disease progression in coronary arteries. We investigated the effects of the anti-ulcer drug GGA on iNOS activity in vascular smooth muscle cells. METHODS: We measured the production of nitrite, a stable metabolite of nitric oxide, in cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells with the Griess reagent. iNOS protein and mRNA expressions were assayed by western blotting and northern blotting, respectively. The levels of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB proteins in nuclear extracts were analyzed by gel retardation assay. Heat shock protein 70, a cytoprotective molecule, was evaluated by western blotting. RESULTS: Incubation of cultures with interleukin-1beta for 24 h caused a significant increase in nitrite generation. Interleukin-1beta-induced nitrite production by vascular smooth muscle cells was significantly suppressed by GGA in a dose-dependent manner. GGA-suppressed nitrite production was accompanied by decreased iNOS mRNA and protein accumulations. GGA by itself did not modulate the basal level of nitrite production. Interleukin-1beta induced NF-kappaB activation in vascular smooth muscle cells, and the addition of GGA further inhibited this NF-kappaB activation. GGA itself induced heat shock protein 70 expression in a dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrated that GGA suppresses iNOS expression in cytokine-stimulated cultured vascular smooth muscle cells partially through the suppression of NF-kappaB activation, suggesting that GGA may modulate the pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis. In addition, this effect may be associated with heat shock protein 70 production by GGA.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

[Ganser syndrome].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disord↗
PubMed2002

Identification of a specific molecular repressor of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma Coactivator-1 alpha (PGC-1alpha).

The nuclear co-activator PGC-1alpha is a pivotal regulator of numerous pathways controlling both metabolism and overall energy homeostasis. Inappropriate increases in PGC-1alpha activity have been linked to a number of pathological conditions including heart failure and diabetes mellitus. Previous studies (Puigserver, P., Adelmant, G., Wu, Z., Fan, M., Xu, J., O'Malley, B., and Spiegelman, B. M. (1999) Science 286, 1368-1371) have demonstrated an inhibitory domain within PGC-1alpha that limits transcriptional activity. Using this inhibitory domain in a yeast two-hybrid screen, we demonstrate that PGC-1alpha directly associates with the orphan nuclear receptor estrogen-related receptor-alpha (ERR-alpha). The binding of ERR-alpha to PGC-1alpha requires the C-terminal AF2 domain of ERR-alpha. PGC-1alpha and ERR-alpha have a similar pattern of expression in human tissues, with both being present predominantly in organs with high metabolic needs such as skeletal muscle and kidney. Similarly, we show that in mice physiological stimuli such as fasting coordinately induces PGC-1alpha and ERR-alpha transcription. We also demonstrate that under normal conditions PGC-1alpha is located within discrete nuclear speckles, whereas the expression of ERR-alpha results in PGC-1alpha redistributing uniformly throughout the nucleoplasm. Finally, we show that the expression of ERR-alpha can dramatically and specifically repress PGC-1alpha transcriptional activity. These results suggest a novel mechanism of transcriptional control wherein ERR-alpha can function as a specific molecular repressor of PGC-1alpha activity. In addition, our results suggest that other co-activators might also have specific repressors, thereby identifying another layer of combinatorial complexity in transcriptional regulation.

Binding Sites↗