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Biomedical subjects

S Kanba

Publications and source records attributed to S Kanba.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Questionnaire survey on the prescribing practice of Japanese psychiatrists for mood disorders.

The answers to a questionnaire on the practical prescription in mood disorders from 298 Japanese psychiatrists was obtained. As the first-line treatment, a majority of respondents chose newer tricyclic agents (TCA) or non-TCA for moderate depression and older TCA for severe depression both with and without psychotic features. Combination therapy with antidepressants and anxiolytics was fairly popular in moderate depression, while antidepressant/neuroleptic combination was more common in severe psychotic depression. Sulpiride was the most favored drug for dysthymia. Although lithium was the most popular for bipolar mania, respondents were divided on the treatment of bipolar depression.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗
PubMed1999

Algorithms for the pharmacotherapy of major depression.

We have shaped a practical and rational treatment algorithm for major depression. This algorithm is based on evidence obtained by collecting documents from overseas and within Japan, considering the actual state of drug selection in Japan. Because of the characteristics of the drug treatment algorithm, there are several items that are important but could not be discussed, such as psychotherapy, light therapy, and so-forth. Both mild and moderate depression are outlined on the same algorithm because these two cannot be distinguished from the perspectives of pharmacotherapy available in our country.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1998

Aberrant interleukin-2 receptor-mediated blastoformation of peripheral blood lymphocytes in a severe major depressive episode.

BACKGROUND: We examined interleukin-2 (IL-2) related immune pathways in depression to elucidate mechanisms underlying various immunological disturbances associated with depression. METHODS: Subjects comprised 35 unmedicated patients with a major depressive episode without psychotic features and 36 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. The immune parameters examined included the numbers of B and T cells, IL-2 receptor-mediated blastoformation (IL-2R-mediated blastoformation), IL-2 production and expression of the IL-2 receptor alpha-subunit. RESULTS: The patients with a severe episode showed significantly lower IL-2R-mediated blastoformation than the controls. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between IL-2R-mediated blastoformation and the severity of depression at the time of entry. CONCLUSION: The reduced IL-2R-mediated blastoformation may partly explain several previously reported abnormal immune functions associated with depression.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1998

Validity of sleep log compared with actigraphic sleep-wake state.

Seven women and 11 men, mean age 30.1 years, kept a sleep log for 5-7 days, and their wrist activity was monitored each minute. Sleep-wake state in the sleep log and actigraphic sleep-wake state were compared, and the sensitivity and specificity of the sleep log were calculated for each subject. The ratio of agreement between these two parameters was computed for each subject. The sensitivity and specificity of the sleep log were 72.73-97.56% (mean 86.71%) and 92.85-99.68% (mean 97.04%), respectively. The agreement ratio was 87.30-97.85% (93.48%), but 1-h agreement ratios from midnight dropped during the sleep onset period.

Activity Cycles↗
PubMed1998

Use of herbal medicine for treating psychiatric disorders in Japan.

Alongside the Western pharmacotherapy that is now the major medical modality in Japan, we continue to offer a number of traditional remedies. We prefer to allow patients to choose between these two approaches, after explaining the advantages and potential adverse effects of each. Research into the traditional treatments continues, and we now have a number of studies available concerning the efficacy of oriental herbal medicine (Kampo medicine) in Japan. There are about 120 different prescriptions available for treatment. Herbs are believed to affect both the psyche and soma, and Kampo medicine does not differentiate between them. Improvement brought about by herbal medicine is usually mild and slow, but sometimes very drastic. Side effects are rare. Those that do occur are mostly allergic reactions to natural substances. Therefore, herbal medicine is especially useful for elderly patients and patients with physical complications. Prescription is traditionally selected by judging Sho of a patient. Sho is equivalent to a syndrome, but comprises psycho and somatic symptoms and signs obtained by traditional physical examination that focuses constitution, general physical condition, pulse, abdominal signs, and examination of the tang. However, currently modern diagnoses are also applied to deciding upon the prescription. Western physicians can select the appropriate preparation without having a special knowledge of Oriental medicine.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Monoamine oxidase genes polymorphisms and mood disorder.

We investigated a genetic association between mood disorders (bipolar and unipolar) and the alleles of monoamine oxidase (MAO) A and B (MAOA and MAOB). One hundred and twelve unrelated Japanese patients (60 bipolar, 52 unipolar) and 100 controls were genotyped for three markers of MAOA and for one marker of MAOB. No statistically significant difference in the distribution of the alleles existed between cases and controls. Therefore, our results did not support the involvement of the alleles at MAOA and MAOB in the etiology of mood disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Association between dopamine D4 receptor (D4DR) exon III polymorphism and novelty seeking in Japanese subjects.

This study was designed to assess the association between novelty seeking and D4DR gene polymorphism in the Japanese population. The 48 bp repeat polymorphism in the third exon of the dopamine D4 receptor gene of 153 normal female students was correlated with personality feature results from the Japanese version of Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory. The Novelty Seeking subscale of Exploratory Excitability had a significant association with long alleles of the polymorphic exon III repeat sequence of D4DR. Our results suggest that there is an association between long alleles of the polymorphic exon III repeat sequence of D4DR and the personality traits of the Novelty Seeking subscale of Exploratory Excitability, regardless of racial differences in the frequencies of D4DR exon III repeat polymorphism.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Endothelium-dependent and -independent vasoactive actions of a Japanese kampo medicine, Saiko-ka-ryukotsu-borei-to.

Saiko-ka-ryukotsu-borei-to (TJ-12) is a Japanese kampo medicine used clinically for the treatment of hypertension and atherosclerosis. We investigated the effects of TJ-12 on the contraction of rat thoracic aorta induced by norepinephrine, 5-hydroxytryptamine and high potassium. TJ-12 relaxed endothelium-denuded rings, which had been precontracted with 1 microM norepinephrine, in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 of 50 micrograms/mL. However, in the presence of TJ-12, endothelium-intact rings initially showed enhanced norepinephrine-induced contraction, followed by relaxation. Interestingly, TJ-12 dose-dependently reversed nitric oxide (2 microM)-induced relaxation of norepinephrine-induced precontraction ofendothelium-denuded rings, with an IC50 of 20 micrograms/mL. In serotonin-contracted rings, TJ-12 caused slight, though statistically significant, relaxation only at high doses (> 200 micrograms/mL). In constrat to these receptor-mediated contractions, TJ-12 failed to affect the tension produced by high potassium 40 mM). These results suggest that the antihypertensive effects of TJ-12 could be related to inhibition of norepinephrine-induced vasoconstriction. In addition, our in vitro experiments revealed an inhibitory effect on nitric oxide-induced relaxation.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1997

Low superoxide dismutase activity in schizophrenic patients with tardive dyskinesia.

BACKGROUND: Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a therapy-resistant adverse effect of neuroleptics. Although the exact pathophysiology of TD is unknown, oxygen radicals have been speculated to play a role in TD based on several lines of evidence. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is a key enzyme which scavenges oxygen radicals. The authors investigated the association between erythrocyte SOD activity and TD. METHODS: Erythrocyte SOD activities were measured, blinded as to the presence or absence of TD. In 30 patients with schizophrenia who had been on typical neuroleptics for more than 10 years. TD severity was independently assessed, using the abnormal involuntary movement scale (AIMS), by two raters. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in erythrocyte SOD activity in the definite TD group (N = 10) as compared with the no TD (N = 8) and questionable TD (N = 12) groups. Erythrocyte Cu,Zn-SOD activities correlated with AIMS scores. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with TD had low SOD activities as compared to those without TD. As a causal link between SOD activity and TD was not established in this study, larger prospective studies are warranted to determine whether patients with low SOD activity are susceptible to neuroleptic-induced TD.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Immobilization stress increases mRNA levels of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist in various rat brain regions.

1. Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), as well as the interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) gene response to immobilization stress (IMS), was examined in the rat brain. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was employed to determine mRNA levels. 3. IL-1 beta and IL-1Ra mRNA levels peaked at approximately 0.5 and 2-4 hr, respectively. The maximum mRNA levels of IL-1 beta were 15-fold higher than pre-IMS levels, whereas those of IL-1Ra were 250-fold higher in the hypothalamus. 3. After the biosynthesis of IL-1 beta has peaked, IL-1Ra may contribute to attenuation of the IL-1 activity which has been enhanced by IMS.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Dexamethasone and nitric oxide synthase gene expression in brain.

Systemic administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which causes endotoxemia and systemic inflammation, has been reported to induce expression of the gene for type II inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in peripheral organs. This study was carried out to examine whether intraperitoneally injected LPS elicits the expression of iNOS messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) in the rat brain. We also investigated whether intraperitoneal treatment with dexamethasone (DEX) prevents this induction. To determine levels of iNOS mRNA, a quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method was employed. Treatment with LPS induced the expression of iNOS mRNA in various brain regions, accounting for approximately 1 x 10(5) to 4 x 10(5) molecules per micrograms of poly A+ RNA, and these inductions were markedly suppressed by DEX. The results suggest that, during systemic inflammation, iNOS mRNA induction occurs in brain through a DEX-sensitive mechanism.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Induction of interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist mRNA by chronic treatment with various psychotropics in widespread area of rat brain.

We investigated whether psychotropics orally administered to rats affect levels of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) mRNA in the hypothalamus, hippocampus, frontal cortex, and brain stem, using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction method. The psychotropics tested were chlorpromazine, haloperidol, imipramine, maprotiline, fluvoxamine, and diazepam. Treatment for 28 days raised the levels of both mRNAs. The increase in IL-1Ra mRNA was 6-112 times larger than that of IL-1 beta mRNA in most brain regions examined. These results suggest that chronic treatment with psychotropics causes greater amplifying effects on IL-1Ra mRNA than IL-1 beta mRNA in the brain.

Animals↗