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T Fujii

Publications and source records attributed to T Fujii.

At least 379 records · Page 21Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

[Reassessment of the Luria's fist-edge-palm test].

In clinical practice, we often use the Luria's fist edge-palm test (FEP) to detect frontal lobe dysfunction. However, we have sometimes encountered patients with failure in this test following posterior lesions. The aim of our study is to evaluate the sensitivity of this test to frontal lobe damage and to clarify the relationship between the FEP performance and other neuropsychological findings. Forty brain-damaged patients (mean age: 61.7 years) were studied. Thirty-four patients were right-handed and 6 non right-handed. Their lesions were confirmed by CT or MRI scan. Following six tests were performed; 1) imitation of single hand posture, 2) imitation of a sequence of two hand postures (fist-edge), 3) imitation of a sequence of three and postures (FEP), 4) copying a cube, 5) serial drawing, and 6) verbal and non-verbal short-term memory span. Imitation of hand postures were performed with non-paralytic hand. Twenty-four patients, i.e., 60% of the patients tested, failed to perform the FEP sequence. The failure was significantly correlated with the presence of constructional disability, perseveration and short-term memory impairment. There was significant relationship between the failure the FEP and frontal lobe damage. However, we found five patients without frontal lesion who failed in performing the FEP. We conclude that we should be careful in associating the failure in the FEP with frontal lobe damage, although this test is sensitive to brain dysfunction.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

[Boutonneuse fever].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1999

[Estimation of pulmonary hypertension in lung and valvular heart diseases by perfusion lung scintigraphy].

To estimate pulmonary hypertension, we measured postural differences in pulmonary blood flow for the lateral decubitus positions on perfusion lung scintigrams with Tc-99 m macro-aggregated albumin, applying the method devised by Tanaka et al (Eur J Nucl Med 17: 320-326, 1990). Utilizing a scintillation camera coupled to a minicomputer system, changes in the distribution of pulmonary blood flow caused by gravitational effects, namely, changes in the total count ratios for the right lung versus the left lung in the right and left lateral decubitus positions (R/L), were obtained for 44 patients with lung disease, 95 patients with valvular heart disease, and 23 normal subjects. Mean standard deviation in the R/L ratios was 3.09 +/- 1.28 for the normal subjects, 1.97 +/- 0.89 for the patients with lung disease, and 1.59 +/- 0.59 for the patients with valvular heart disease. The R/L ratios correlated with mean pulmonary arterial pressure and cardio-thoracic ratios in the lung disease and valvular heart disease groups, with pulmonary arteriolar resistance in the former, and with pulmonary capillary wedge pressure in the latter. Defining pulmonary hypertension (> 20 mmHg) as an R/L ratio of less than 1.81, which is the mean-1 standard deviation for normal subjects, the sensitivity and the specificity of the R/L ratio for the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension were 62.9% and 76.2%, respectively, for the lung disease patients, and 80.3% and 61.8%, respectively, for the valvular heart disease patients. This method seems to be useful for the pathophysiologic evaluation of pulmonary perfusion in cases of lung disease and valvular heart disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

[Reoperation of tetralogy of Fallot for the transannular patch neo-intimal stenosis: a case report].

A 3-year-old male patient underwent right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction with a glutaraldehyde-preserved equine pericardium for tetralogy of Fallot. Because of progressive severe pulmonary restenosis with over systemic right ventricular pressure, tricuspid regurgitation, and abnormal high echoic shadow in the distal main pulmonary artery on echocardiogram, he required reoperation a year after the first correction. In the reoperative findings, the pseudointima was thickened heavily and detached from glutaraldehyde-preserved equine pericardial patch. The patch was removed and the right ventricular outflow was reconstructed widely to the pulmonary bifurcation with porcine pericardial patch again. Patho-histological findings showed foreign body giant cells and macrophages in the pseudointima. Four years after the reoperation, echocardiogram shows 41 mmHg for the right ventricular pressure and 22 mmHg for the pressure gradient of right ventricular outflow tract, and the patient is doing well now.

Cardiac Surgical Procedures↗
PubMed1999

[A case of abulia without memory disturbance due to infarction of the bilateral genua of the internal capsules].

A 68-year-old right handed man with treated hypertension presented with acute-onset somnolence without hemiparesis, dysarthria or sensory disturbance. Although he became laconic and his verbal responses were only in short terms, his replies were accurate and judgmental. A cranial MRI in axial, coronal, and sagittal section revealed small hemorrhagic infarcts essentially limited to the bilateral capsular genua without involvement of the inferior thalamic peduncles. A 123I-IMP single photon emission CT disclosed remarkable hypoperfusion in the bilateral frontal cortex. After a week of somnolence, he gradually became wakeful, but was still abulic. Neuropsychological examinations revealed no memory disturbance. We consider that disconnection of the thalamo-frontal projection at the genua of the internal capsules caused somnolence, apathy, and abulia in our case. The hitherto reported cases of the genu infarcts that showed memory disturbance had the lesion involving both the inferior thalamic peduncle and its nearby mamillothalamic tract. In contrast, our case without memory disturbance had infarcts confined to the genua apparently sparing the two tracts, implicating that memory function may be preserved when such structures are intact.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

[Two cases of fluent aphasia with selective difficulty of syllable identification].

We report two aphasic patients who could discriminate Japanese syllables but could not identify them. Case 1 was a 51-year-old right handed woman with 12-year education. Case 2 was a 50-year-old right handed man with 9-year education. They developed fluent aphasia after a cerebral infarction. Brain MRI of case 1 revealed widely distributed lesions including inferior frontal, superior temporal, angular and supramarginal gyri. Lesions revealed by Brain CT in case 2 included the left superior and middle temporal, angular and supramarginal gyri. Both showed severe impairment of repetition and confrontation naming. No difference of performance was present between repetition of single syllables and polysyllabic words. On the contrary, oral reading of Kana characters were preserved. We examined their ability to perceive syllables in detail. In the discrimination task, they judged whether a pair of heard syllables was same or different. Case 1 was correct in 85% of the tasks and case 2 in 98%. In an identification task, they heard a syllable and chose a corresponding Kana, Kanji, or picture out of 10 respective candidates. Case 1 was correct only in 30% and case 2 in 50% of these tasks. On the other hand, selection of a correct target in response to a polysyllabic word was much better, i.e. 70% in case 1 and 90% in case 2. Based on these data we concluded that (1) syllabic identification is a different process from syllabic discrimination, and (2) comprehension of a polysyllabic word can be achieved even when the precise phonological analysis of continuent syllables are impaired.

Aphasia, Wernicke↗
PubMed1999

[Utility and intricacy of molecular diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy].

To diagnose spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), we examined the deletion of exons 7 and 8 of the survival motor neuron (SMN) gene and exon 5 of the neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein (NAIP) gene in 7 patients from 6 unrelated families, using the polymerase chain reaction method. Two patients with type I and two with type II SMA had the deletion in SMN, whereas 2 of the 3 patients with type III had no deletion in these genes. Thus, the method was not as useful in type III as in type I and II for making a diagnosis of SMA. Together with the data previously reported by others, our data indicated the possibility that the deletion frequency in type III SMA is lower in Japanese patients (< 40%) than in non-Japanese patients (> 80%). Two siblings had SMA of different severity; the older brother having type III and the younger brother type II. Both had the same deletion in the SMN gene. The different phenotypes in these siblings with the same genotype indicated that caution is required when utilizing molecular data for genetic counseling or prenatal diagnosis of SMA.

Child↗
PubMed1999

[Episodic and semantic memory after traumatic brain injury in a child].

In an early-life, a memory disturbance affects the learning and school record directly. Furthermore, it may cause the problem of maltreatment or adaptation difficulty for school life. We report a child amnesia caused by a traumatic brain injury when she was 9 years old. We examined her episodic and semantic memory. We developed 3-steps tasks of recognition and recall for the post-accident episodic memory. First, the examiner presented the patient with four words orally including a label of her episode, and asked her to choose one that she felt familiar with (the recognition of the episodic label). Second, if the word she selected was correct, she was required to recall the episode related to the word (the recall of the episode). Third, if she could not recall the episode herself correctly, she was required to choose a correct sentence about the episode (the recognition of the episode). She could not recall episodes correctly, but produced confabulation instead. She showed, however, good recognition of each episode. Furthermore, we performed recognition tests of time, person, and place about the same post-accident episodes, which were poor especially for time. In semantic memory tasks, we examined about kanji characters (ideogram) learned from the first grade to the sixth grade and mathematical knowledge learned from the second grade to the sixth grade at elementary school ("What centimeters is equal to one meter?" or "Tell me the formula of the size of a circle." etc). We found that she showed a retrograde impairment for about one year. For both episodic and semantic memory, she showed an anterograde impairment. Because of the anterograde amnesia she could not acquire new facts, and also showed para-amnesia or confabulation. In a child with brain damage, neuropsychological assessment is important in predicting effect of rehabilitation and recovery of school performance.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Identification, characterization and mapping of the human ZIS (zinc-finger, splicing) gene.

From a human fetal brain cDNA library, we isolated two transcripts (ZIS-1 and ZIS-2) corresponding to the human ZIS gene, an ortholog of the rat Zis (zinc finger, splicing). A comparison of base sequences of the cDNA and its corresponding genomic DNA (a P1-derived artificial chromosome clone) revealed that both transcripts have an ORF of 1011bp and encodes 337 amino acids, but ZIS-1 has 10 exons and ZIS-2 contains 11 exons. Although both transcripts share the first nine exons, exon 10 of ZIS-2 is lacking in ZIS-1, and instead, exon 11 (10th exon) of ZIS-1 is larger in size, leading to the longer 3'-UTR. Thus, the two transcripts result from differential splicing. A Northern blot analysis on various adult and fetal tissues revealed that 5.2- and 3.2-kb transcripts were ubiquitously expressed, and 3.9- and 1.9-kb transcripts were highly expressed in the fetal brain and kidney, respectively. There were several other transcripts that may be alternatively processed forms of the human ZIS. Considering the ZIS gene size, the 3.2-kb transcripts most likely corresponds to ZIS-1 and may act as a major transcript of ZIS. The human ZIS has a high homology to the rat Zis for the coding DNA sequence with 91% identity and for the amino acid sequence with 87% identity. ZIS and Zis contain the same numbers of exons and introns. Both genes have unusually long 3'-UTR, and their encoding proteins contain similar components, i.e. a zinc finger domain, a nuclear localization signal, an Asp-Glu region, and a Ser-Arg-rich region. Furthermore, the expression patterns of the two genes in tissues are similar each other. Thus, the human ZIS may act as a transcriptional factor to regulate transcription and/or splicing, as does the rat Zis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1998

Structure/function relationship of CYP11B1 associated with Dahl's salt-resistant rats--expression of rat CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 in Escherichia coli.

Dahl's salt-resistant normotensive rats (DR rats) have been previously reported to express cytochrome P-450 (CYP11B1) containing five missense mutations [Matsukawa, N., Nonaka, Y., Higaki, J., Nagano, M., Mikami H., Ogihara, T. & Okamoto, M. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 9117-9121]. To investigate structure-function relationships of CYP11B, wild-type rat CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 and DR-CYP11B1 (mutant CYP11B1 in Dahl's salt-resistant rats) have been successfully expressed in Escherichia coli. Steroid 11beta-hydroxylase (11beta-OHase) activity observed with DR-CYP11B1 was similar to that of wild-type CYP11B1, while 18-hydroxylase (18-OHase) activity of DR-CYP11B1 was lower than that of wild-type CYP11B1. Mutant CYP11B1s containing a single or a double amino acid substitution associated with DR-CYP11B1 have been also expressed in E. coli to investigate effects of the substitutions on enzymatic activity. Each of the single mutant enzymes showed lower 18-OHase activity than wild-type CYP11B1, but not as low as DR-CYP11B1. A double mutant CYP11B1 with V381L and I384L showed 18-OHase activity at a similar low level to that of DR-CYP11B1. The 19-hydroxylation (19-OHase) activity of DR-CYP11B1 was about one-third of that of the wild-type enzyme and this low activity appeared due to the V443M mutation. These results suggest that three of five amino acid substitutions present in DR-CYP11B1 account for the decreased 18-OHase and 19-OHase activities. A decrease in these enzyme activities may be responsible for the normotension of the DR rats when fed a high-salt diet.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1998

Endothelium-independent and -dependent vasoactivity of 6-nitronorepinephrine.

Vasoactivities of 6-nitronorepinephrine were investigated using rat aorta. 6-Nitronorepinephrine (> 100 microM) caused dose-dependent contraction in both endothelium-intact and -denuded aorta, although the latter showed greater contraction than the former. Prazosin (> 3 nM), an alpha1-adrenoceptor antagonist, attenuated significantly the 6-nitronorepinephrine-induced contractions, thereby suggesting the alpha1-adrenoceptor involvement. Aortic rings prepared from reserpine-pretreated rats showed the 6-nitronorepinephrine-induced a contraction to the extent similar to those from untreated rats, suggesting that endogenous norepinephrine does not play a role in the 6-nitronorepinephrine-induced contraction. 6-Nitronorepinephrine (> 10 microM) potentiated norepinephrine-induced contraction only in the presence of endothelium. The augmentation was attenuated by catalase (1200 U/ml). H2O2 (10-300 microM) augmented the norepinephrine-induced contraction only in the endothelium-intact rat aortic rings. 6-Nitronorepinephrine attenuated significantly acetylcholine-induced relaxation. Catalase prevented the 6-nitronorepinephrine-induced inhibition of the acetylcholine-induced relaxation. These results suggest that 6-nitronorepinephrine has a weak alpha1-adrenoceptor agonistic property and that the endothelium-dependent potentiation by 6-nitronorepinephrine of the norepinephrine-induced contraction is mediated through production of H2O2.

Acetylcholine↗