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Biomedical subjects

N Abe

Publications and source records attributed to N Abe.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

Prognostic significance of carcinoembryonic antigen levels in peritoneal washes in patients with gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Peritoneal metastasis is the most frequent cause of death in patients with gastric cancer. Detection of free cancer cells in the peritoneal cavity at the time of surgery, therefore, is considered to be of great value in predicting the peritoneal recurrence and accordingly in the prognosis in patients with gastric cancer. This study examined the clinical significance of intraoperative determination of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in peritoneal washes (pCEA) in patients with gastric cancer. METHODS: CEA levels in peritoneal washes were correlated retrospectively with several clinicopathologic factors including clinical outcome in 56 patients with resectable gastric cancer. RESULTS: Among several clinicopathologic factors, the depth of tumor invasion significantly and independently correlated with pCEA levels as revealed by multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis. A significant difference in overall survival rates was observed between pCEA-positive and pCEA-negative groups: 5-year survival rates were 95.7% in pCEA-negative and 20% in pCEA-positive patients (P <0.0001). Multivariate analysis indicated that pCEA level is a statistically significant independent prognostic factor for the survival of patients with gastric cancer, and is an important factor for predicting peritoneal recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: pCEA could be a potential predictor of a poor prognosis as well as peritoneal recurrence in patients with gastric cancer. We believe that this information could contribute to determining the optimal intraoperative and postoperative therapeutic plan including adjuvant chemotherapy of gastric cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Pancreatic transection using ultrasonic dissector in pancreatoduodenectomy.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatoenterostomic leakage after pancreatoduodenectomy may be caused partly by pancreatic juice leakage from transected branch pancreatic ducts on the pancreatic cut surface that do not drain into the main pancreatic duct after pancreatectomy. METHODS: We devised a new technique of pancreatic transection using an ultrasonic dissector followed by duct-to-mucosa pancreatojejunostomy, in order to prevent pancreatoenterostomic leakage after pancreatoduodenectomy in patients with a soft pancreas and a small main pancreatic duct. During pancreatic transection, branch pancreatic ducts and blood vessels are adequately skeletonized and securely ligated. The pancreatic duct is anastomosed to the full thickness of the jejunum with four to six interrupted sutures. RESULTS: Ten patients with a nondilated pancreatic duct (2 to 3 mm) underwent pancreatoduodenectomy by the present method. During pancreatic transection, 24 to 35 ducts including the pancreatic ducts and blood vessels were skeletonized and ligated. Postoperatively, no patients developed pancreatojejunostomic leakage. The present method may prevent pancreatoenterostomic leakage after pancreatoduodenectomy.

Anastomosis, Surgical↗
PubMed2001

Troglitazone, an antidiabetic drug, improves left ventricular mass and diastolic function in normotensive diabetic patients.

AIMS: Patients with NIDDM have excessive cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, even in the absence of hypertension. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), which is an ominous prognostic sign and an independent risk factor for cardiac events, is often present in NIDDM patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: NIDDM male patients with (n=10) and without (n=12) hypertension, all of whom had been diagnosed over 10 years ago, were examined in the present study. Normotensive NIDDM patients had not received any anti-hypertensive drugs. All patients were classified according to the left ventricular mass (LVM) index by using M-mode echocardiography and were assessed regarding their systolic (fractional shortening) and diastolic function, which included the maximal early flow velocity (MFV), the mitral valve deceleration time (DT), and the isovolumic relaxation time (IRT) as determined by Doppler indices. Troglitazone (TRO), an antidiabetic drug, was administered to both groups at a dose of 400 mg/day for 6 months. After TRO treatment, a reduction in the LVM index and an improvement in the diastolic function were observed in the normotensive but not in the hypertensive patients. CONCLUSION: The TRO treatment was sensitive for cardiac regression in those normotensive patients. These results suggest that LVH and the diastolic function in NIDDM patients without hypertension may be associated with elevated insulin resistance because TRO has a pharmacological function to increase the insulin sensitivity and to decrease insulin resistance.

Blood Flow Velocity↗
PubMed2001

Purification and characterization of an extracellular poly(L-lactic acid) depolymerase from a soil isolate, Amycolatopsis sp. strain K104-1.

Poly(L-lactic acid) (PLA)-degrading Amycolatopsis sp. strains K104-1 and K104-2 were isolated by screening 300 soil samples for the ability to form clear zones on the PLA-emulsified mineral agar plates. Both of the strains assimilated >90% of emulsified 0.1% (wt/vol) PLA within 8 days under aerobic conditions. A novel PLA depolymerase with a molecular weight of 24,000 was purified to homogeneity from the culture supernatant of strain K104-1. The purified enzyme degraded high-molecular-weight PLA in emulsion and in solid film, ultimately forming lactic acid. The optimum pH for the enzyme activity was 9.5, and the optimum temperature was 55 to 60 degrees C. The PLA depolymerase also degraded casein and fibrin but did not hydrolyze collagen type I, triolein, tributyrin, poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate), or poly(epsilon-caprolactone). The PLA-degrading and caseinolytic activities of the enzyme were inhibited by diisopropyl fluorophosphate and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride but were not significantly affected by soybean trypsin inhibitor, N-tosyl-L-lysyl chloromethyl ketone, N-tosyl-L-phenylalanyl chloromethyl ketone, and Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor. Thus, Amycolatopsis sp. strain K104-1 excretes the unique PLA-degrading and fibrinolytic serine enzyme, utilizing extracellular polylactide as a sole carbon source.

Actinomycetales↗
PubMed2001

Helical computer assisted tomography in pulmonary hypertension complicating left-to-right shunts--correlation with pulmonary hemodynamics.

The present study analyzed the helical computer-assisted tomography (CAT) findings in 30 patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with left-to-right shunts; specifically, ventricular septal defect, 23; atrioventricular septal defect, 6; patent ductus arteriosus, 1. Eight patients had 21 trisomy. Age ranged from 1 to 18 (mean, 4.1) months, and body weight ranged from 2.6 to 10.7 (mean, 4.9) kg. In all patients, the chest CAT revealed patchy areas of high and low attenuation (mosaic pattern) and regional atelectasis in the lung fields. The volume of low attenuated lesions and of atelectasis, and the total lung volume were derived from integration of areas measured on the CAT image. The ratios of low attenuated lesion/total lung volume (Lo), volume of atelectasis/ total lung volume (Ate) and low attenuated lesion and volume of atelectasis/total lung volume (Lo&Ate) were compared with hemodynamic parameters measured at cardiac catheterization. The pulmonary to systemic resistance ratio correlated with Lo (r=0.61, p<0.01) and Lo&Ate (r=0.69, p<0.01), whereas the pulmonary vascular resistance correlated with Ate (r=0.53, p<0.01). Lo, Ate and Lo&Ate in the chest CAT are reliable parameters that can be used to estimate pulmonary vascular resistance in patients with PH associated with left-to-right shunts.

Cardiac Catheterization↗
PubMed2001

Suppression of gingival inflammation induced by Porphyromonas gingivalis in rats by leupeptin.

In this study, we developed a procedure to produce gingivitis in rats by inoculation of Porphyromonas gingivalis and studied the contribution of the bacterial cysteine proteinases, Arg-gingipain (Rgp) and Lys-gingipain (Kgp), to the pathology in the gingiva. To adhere the bacterium to periodontal tissues, a cotton thread was inserted between the first and second molar of right maxillary sites of rats. Rats in group A were administered with vehicle alone after bacterial (strain W83) inoculation. In group B, the bacteria were inoculated in combination with leupeptin, a potent inhibitor of Rgp and Kgp, and then leupeptin alone was administered the week after. Rats in group C were administered leupeptin for 6 weeks after bacteria inoculation. All left maxillary gingiva in three groups showed no inflammatory changes. Right maxillary gingiva of group A showed most of the clinical landmarks of gingivitis. Leupeptin exhibited only a little inhibitory effect on this gingivitis in group B, whereas it had a strong inhibitory effect on the inflammation in group C. These results suggest that P. gingivalis-induced gingivitis is attributable to Rgp and Kgp and that leupeptin is more effective in the late phase than the early stage of gingivitis.

Adhesins, Bacterial↗
PubMed2001

Influence of Ni2+ and Co2+ on methanogenic activity and the amounts of coenzymes involved in methanogenesis.

The requirement of Ni2+ and Co2+ addition on methanogenic activity and the coenzymes involved in methanogenesis were investigated in anaerobic continuous cultivation with synthetic wastewater using acetate as the sole carbon source. Addition of Ni2+ and Co2+ to the synthetic wastewater drastically increased the maximum dilution rate of the cultivation. The concentrations of coenzymes F430 and corrinoids in the biomass increased to 0.62 micromol-Ni/g-VSS and 0.67 micromol-Co/g-VSS, respectively with the increase of the dilution rate. Methanogenic activity of the culture broth also increased with an increase of dilution rate. However, without addition of Ni2+ and Co2+, F430 and corrinoids were not detected in the biomass and methanogenic activity was only a trace level at a dilution rate of 0.025 d(-1). When the amounts of Ni2+ and Co2+ added at a dilution rate of 0.6 d(-1) were lowered in steps, the concentrations of F430 and corrinoids in the biomass and methanogenic activity decreased with decreasing amounts of Ni2+ and Co2+ added. These results suggest that Ni2+ and Co2+ were required for the methane-producing reactions via increases of coenzymes F430 and corrinoids.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Sorbicillinol, a key intermediate of bisorbicillinoid biosynthesis in Trichoderma sp. USF-2690.

In the course of our screening program for free radical scavengers from Trichoderma sp. USF-2690, we found an unidentified metabolite (1) that appeared by the method used for HPLC analysis. Metabolite 1 gradually decreased with the production of bisorbicillinoids and was easily missed during the general isolation procedure. The LC-ESI-MS (negative) analysis for 1 gave m/z 247 as the (M-1)- ion peak. The hydrolysis of synthetic 6-O-acetylsorbicillinol (+/- -2) by 0.05 M KOH and acetylation of product 1 in an aqueous solution indicated that the structure of 1 was (6S)-4-(2,4-hexadienoyl)-3,6-dihydroxy-2,6-dimethyl-2,4-cyclohexadien-1-one, designated sorbicillinol, a quinol that has been postulated to be important in bisorbicillinoid biosynthesis.

Bepridil↗
PubMed2001

Cavernous pancreatic ductal ectasia with smooth muscle proliferation causing recurrent acute pancreatitis.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cystic lesions have various etiologies, including pseudocyst (inflammatory cyst), retention cyst, congenital cyst, and neoplastic cyst. RESULTS: This report describes a previously unreported, unique pancreatic cyst-like lesion causing recurrent acute pancreatitis. A 23-yr-old man had an 8 x 5 x 3-cm pancreatic head mass which contained multiple 3-7-mm cysts communicating with the main pancreatic duct on imaging studies. Pancreatoduodenectomy with mass excision prevented further attacks of acute pancreatitis. Pathological examination showed multiple cystic dilatations of branch pancreatic ducts surrounded by proliferating smooth muscle tissue, probably associated with hamartomatous changes. CONCLUSION: We consider the present lesion to represent cavernous pancreatic ductal ectasia with smooth muscle proliferation because of its striking cholangiopancreatographic similarity to Caroli disease.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2001

Arg-gingipain is responsible for the degradation of cell adhesion molecules of human gingival fibroblasts and their death induced by Porphyromonas gingivalis.

Arg-gingipain (Rgp) and Lys-gingipain (Kgp) are two major cysteine proteinases produced by the oral anaerobic bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis, which has been shown to act as major pathogen in the development and progression of periodontal diseases. These enzymes are also important for this organism to proliferate and survive in periodontal pockets. Here we show that Rgp is responsible for the disruption of fibronectin-integrin interactions in human gingival fibroblasts by P. gingivalis. Fibroblasts incubated with the culture supernatant of P. gingivalis showed a time-dependent loss of the adhesion activity. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting revealed that fibronectin and integrin subunits alpha2, beta1 and beta3 in the fibroblast culture largely disappeared with the treatment. The detached cells became committed to death by disruption of contacts between adhesion molecules. In contrast, the culture supernatants from the Rgp-deficient mutants produced no significant changes in either cell adhesion or viability. Prior treatment of the culture supernatant of P. gingivalis with an Rgp inhibitor, but not a Kgp inhibitor, strongly inhibited the detachment of fibroblasts followed by cell death. These results suggest that Rgp disrupts the integrin-fibronectin interactions in fibroblasts, thereby contributing to the damage of periodontal tissues in periodontal diseases caused by P. gingivalis.

Adhesins, Bacterial↗
PubMed2001

[Survey of residual antibiotic agents in cultured fish and shellfish].

A survey of residual antibiotic agents in cultured fish and shellfish purchased from the Tokyo Central Market was carried out. Out of 240 samples tested, OTC was detected in 14 samples which consisted of flatfish, yellowtail, seriola and eel. Synthetic antibiotic agents were not detected. The highest level of OTC was 0.36 microgram/g in skin of flatfish. In the case of flatfish, the concentration of OTC was highest in skin, followed by liver, then muscle. OTC was detected in livers of all yellowtail, seriola and eel, and the concentration was higher than that in muscle or skin.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

[Survival after oozing type cardiac rupture associated with subepicardial aneurysm evaluated by echocardiography: a case report].

A 64-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with acute myocardial infarction. She underwent emergent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed mild pericardial effusion on the third day. Pericarditis or cardiac rupture were suspected, so transthoracic echocardiography was repeated serially. On the sixth day, transthoracic echocardiography showed increasing pericardial effusion and abrupt interruption of the apical myocardium of the left ventricle and intact epicardial imaging with systolic expansion. The diagnosis was oozing type cardiac rupture of a subepicardial aneurysm. Surgical treatment was successful and the accuracy of the echocardiographic diagnosis was established.

Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary↗
PubMed2000

Diminution of the AML1 transcription factor function causes differential effects on the fates of CD4 and CD8 single-positive T cells.

In the thymic cortex, T lymphocytes are positively selected to survive and committed either to the CD4 single-positive (SP) or the CD8 SP lineage. The SP cells then pass through a step of maturation in the medulla and are delivered to peripheral lymphoid tissues. We examined the role of AML1, the gene encoding a transcription factor, in the above processes by using the transgenic mice expressing a dominant interfering form of AML1 as well as mice targeted heterozygously for AML1. One phenotypic change seen in the AML1-diminished mice was the reduction in the numbers of both CD4 SP and CD8 SP thymocytes, reflecting the partial impairment of the transition from the double-positive to SP stage. In addition, distinct from the above abnormality, perturbed were several aspects of SP cells, including the maturation of SP thymocytes, the recent thymic emigration, and the proliferative responsiveness of peripheral T cells to TCR stimulation. Interestingly, the AML1 diminution caused inhibitory and enhancing effects on the CD4 SP and CD8 SP cells, respectively. These differential effects are most likely related to the reduction in the peripheral CD4 SP/CD8 SP ratio observed in the AML1-diminished mice. The AML1 transcription factor thus maintains the homeostasis of each SP subset by functioning at the later stages of T lymphocyte differentiation.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Pancreatic duct cell carcinomas express high levels of high mobility group I(Y) proteins.

The high mobility group I (HMGI) family of proteins in mammals belongs to a group of nonhistone nuclear proteins known as architectural transcriptional factors. They function in vivo as both structural components of chromatin and auxiliary gene transcription factors. In an earlier study (N. Abe et al, Cancer Res., 59: 1169-1174, 1999), we demonstrated that the expression level of the HMGI(Y) gene/proteins was significantly increased in colorectal adenocarcinoma and colorectal adenoma with severe cellular atypia. In the current study, we analyzed HMGI(Y) expression in several human pancreatic lesions to investigate (a) whether HMGI(Y) overexpression is also observed in pancreatic carcinoma, and (b) the role of HMGI(Y) in the diagnosis of pancreatic neoplasms. To this end, HMGI(Y) expression was determined at the protein level by immunohistochemistry using a HMGI(Y)-specific antibody in 6 surgically resected specimens of nonneoplastic tissue (4 specimens of normal pancreatic tissue and 2 specimens of chronic pancreatitis tissue), 8 pancreatic cystic neoplasms (5 intraductal papillary mucinous adenomas, 1 serous cystadenoma, and 2 solid pseudopapillary tumors), and 15 duct cell carcinomas of the pancreas. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed intense nuclear staining in the pancreatic carcinoma cells, whereas only very faint nuclear staining was seen in the nonneoplastic cells. There was a strong correlation between HMGI(Y) protein overexpression and a diagnosis of carcinoma (P = 0.000018). Thus, an increased expression level of the HMGI(Y) proteins was clearly associated with the malignant phenotype in pancreatic tissue. In addition, a low level of protein expression was also apparent in two of the cystic neoplasms that exhibited cellular atypia, but not in those that did not exhibit cellular atypia. Based on these findings, we propose that the HMGI(Y) proteins could be closely associated with tumorigenesis in the pancreas and that HMGI(Y) could serve as a potential diagnostic molecular marker for distinguishing pancreatic malignancies unambiguously from normal tissue or benign lesions.

Carcinoma↗
PubMed2000

Laparoscopic pancreatic cystgastrostomy.

Internal drainage of acute pancreatic pseudocysts is indicated 6 weeks after the first documentation of pseudocyst. It is also indicated for symptomatic chronic pseudocysts 6 cm or more in diameter. When pseudocysts are located in close contact with the posterior wall of the stomach, they are best drained by pseudocyst-gastrostomy. This procedure can also be completed making use of intragastric surgical techniques. Under standard laparoscopic observation, three intragastric ports are placed through the abdominal and anterior gastric walls, establishing working channels for a telescope and hand instruments. After the presence of pseudocysts is confirmed, the posterior wall of the stomach and the cyst wall can be incised by electrocautery. After a sufficient drainage orifice is made and the cyst contents are thoroughly debrided, the intragastric ports are removed and defects in the gastric wall are closed with sutures placed via the standard laparoscopic approach. This approach is much less invasive than the conventional approach, which entails a large gastrotomy in the anterior wall of the stomach. This procedure should be the method of choice when interventional radiology or endoscopic intervention fails to effectively drain retrogastric pseudocysts.

Drainage↗