Recently, there has been an increasing number of reports concerning hearing impairment which musical loud sound is thought to be one of the causes. We are getting more of this musical loud sound as cassette tape recorders with head phones such as Walkman and so forth get popular as well as occasions to attending rock concerts and going to discotheques increase. This hearing impairment is generally called discotheque deafness and the following three types are considered; 1) deafness which have fixed by accumulation of loud sound over a long period of time as seen in people involved in musical performance such as rock musicians and mixing engineers; 2) abrupt noise induced hearing impairment triggered by loud sound and 3) state of deafness which is a progressing stage towards recovery of noise induced temporary threshold shift (NITTS), which occurs temporarily by a loud sound stimulus, and hearing ability recovers afterward. However, it is considered that these musical loud sounds not only changes every moment according to method of performing or type of music, but the volume of the sound actually reaching the auditory sense differs largely by locations and direction of the ear and speakers. So it becomes necessary to measure the accumulation of the noise which each individual is exposed under over a long period of time and at the same time carry out the regular medical checkups including hearing test to check the initiation and advancement of the noise induced hearing impairment. Then we can examine the relationship between loudness of the environmental noise and initiation and advancement of the hearing impairment. However, there has not been a device which is compact and measures noise exposure individually over a long period of time. So we have experimentally produced ultra compact noise dosimeter which we named Noise Badge, and with it we actually measured individual noise exposure over a long time in rock music, noise in discotheque and noisy factory. Then we examined the relationship between these loud sound and noise induced temporary threshold shift (NITTS) in discotheques and noise proof room using simulation of loud sound exposure. Moreover, we measured the most comfortable loudness level of head phones in each examine and different types of music with environmental noise in consideration, thus examining the relationship between musical loud sound and the hearing impairment.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed1986

Thyrotropin binding inhibitor immunoglobulin. Its pathogenetic importance in hypothyroidism.

Two patients with hypothyroidism had detectable serum levels of thyrotropin binding inhibitor immunoglobulin (TBII). Patient 1 was a newborn infant who had transient neonatal hypothyroidism due to transfer of TBII from the mother with nongoitrous autoimmune thyroiditis. Patient 2 was an 8-year-old girl with Down's syndrome who presented with signs of myxedema and central precocious puberty. She had no goiter, and the recognition of thyroid disease was delayed; the histological diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis was established by aspiration biopsy, and TBII had strong thyroid adenyl cyclase-inhibiting activity in vitro. It appears that TBII may be pathogenetically important for occurrence of neonatal hypothyroidism and nongoitrous autoimmune thyroiditis without goiter.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗

PubMed1986

Characterization of kininogen deficiency of Brown Norway rat mutant Katholiek strain.

A deficiency in the plasma kallikrein-kinin system of Brown Norway rat mutant Katholiek strain (B/N-Ka), first reported by Damas et al. was further characterized. The prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) of B/N-Ka rat plasma was corrected by an addition of rat HMW-kininogen, indicating B/N-Ka rat is deficient in HMW kininogen. The study of kinin-release of plasmas of the three strains of rat (B/N-Ka, B/N Ki and SD) by several kininogenases expressed that B/N-Ka rat is deficient in LMW kininogen, in addition to HMW kininogen deficiency. The plasmas of the three strains of rat were gel-filtered through Sephacryl S-200 gel and profiles of kinin-release of the fractions were examined by several kininogenases. The result demonstrated that normal rat plasma contains three kinds of kininogen (HMW and LMW kininogens, and T-kininogen), and B/N-Ka plasma contains only T-kininogen. B/N-Ka rat plasma demonstrated T-kininogen antigen but no HMW kininogen by the study of immunodiffusion using their antisera raised in rabbits.

Animals↗

PubMed1986

The efficacy of cibenzoline and propafenone against inducible sustained and nonsustained ventricular tachycardias in conscious dogs with isolated chronic right ventricular infarction: a comparative study with procainamide.

The efficacy of intravenous cibenzoline (3 mg/kg), propafenone (4 mg/kg), and procainamide (20 mg/kg) against inducible sustained and nonsustained ventricular tachycardias (VT) was evaluated in 12 conscious dogs with chronic isolated right ventricular (RV) infarction. RV infarct was caused by permanent occlusion of the right coronary artery in the closed-chest dog by intracoronary balloon inflation. Three to 10 days following the occlusion period, programmed electrical stimulation reproducibly induced sustained and/or nonsustained VT, allowing evaluation of antiarrhythmic drug efficacy. Propafenone was effective in preventing the induction of sustained VT in only one out of six dogs tested, but caused a significant (p less than 0.05) slowing of VT rate (269 +/- 13 to 230 +/- 10 bpm). Procainamide had effects similar to those seen with propafenone. Propafenone and procainamide were ineffective against nonsustained VT, and on established sustained VT once induced. Cibenzoline was effective in preventing the induction of sustained VT in two out of seven dogs, an effect which was not significantly different from either propafenone or procainamide. However, cibenzoline was significantly (p less than 0.05) more effective than either procainamide or propafenone in terminating an established induced sustained VT (four out of six dogs). Furthermore, cibenzoline converted nonsustained to sustained VT in four out of seven dogs tested. Histopathologic studies have shown infarction of the basal two thirds of the RV (38.5 +/- 7.8% of the RV) with no left ventricular involvement. It is concluded that the isolated RV infarction model is highly suitable for serial drug testing against inducible VT in conscious dogs, and this model of VT appears to be fairly resistant to standard and newer antiarrhythmic drug therapy.

Animals↗

PubMed1986

Why are cadaveric renal transplants so hard to find in Japan? An analysis of economic and attitudinal aspects.

In view of the fact that in Japan treatment of end-stage renal disease depends disproportionately heavily on hemodialysis and almost negligible on transplants from cadaveric donors (hemodialysis 44.4/100,000; renal transplants 0.31/100,000 per year; cadaveric renal transplants 0.11/100,000 per year (1983 data)), we analysed the cost-effectiveness of hemodialysis and renal transplantation, predicted economic gains under expected changes in variables and described attitudes of the Japanese hampering cadaveric renal transplantation. Adjusted life expectancy of transplant recipients (live and cadaveric combined) under the current technical conditions is longer than that of those on hemodialysis (18.3 vs. 14.7 years) and the cost per year for maintaining the transplant is approximately one third of hemodialysis ($12,000 vs $32,000). If the proportion of cadaveric transplant recipients would increase to the levels of the USA (hemodialysis 30.8/100,000; transplants 2.6/100,000 per year; cadaveric transplants 1.9/100,000 per year (1983 data)) along with improvement in graft survival rate, the life expectancy for transplant recipients in Japan could increase by 2 years, thus reducing the annual cost even further. The current number of patients starting hemodialysis (11,500 cases per year) coupled with their life expectancy predicts the number of patients on hemodialysis to reach equilibrium at around 174,000 in a decade (Japanese population 110 million). Based on current price, their annual cost will be about 5.3 billion dollars. Medical expenditure of this magnitude for such a small fraction of people is expected to become an increasingly strong economic incentive for cadaveric renal transplantation. A review of studies on Japanese attitudes toward cadaveric renal transplantation in both urban and rural areas shows that approximately 60% are in favor of donating their kidney after death, though with the majority of cases the donation is contingent upon agreement of their family. It was suggested that the paucity of cadaveric kidney supply stems mainly from the custom of the Japanese to make decisions by consensus. It was also reported that more than 80% of physicians supported the donation of cadaveric grafts while this rate fell to 40% in case of brain death. As the first heart transplantation was carried out in 1968 under both medically and ethically dubious circumstances, distrust toward the diagnosis of brain death appears to be still quite strong. (Not a single heart transplantation has been attempted in Japan in the past 18 years).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed1986

Infantile hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with QT prolongation.

An infant who died at 5 months with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy accompanied by QT prolongation was examined at autopsy. At the age of 16 days, serum IgM level was elevated (226 mg/dl). Microscopic examination revealed characteristics of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with myocardial cell hypertrophy with disarray and healed myocarditis with patchy fibrosis and mononuclear cell infiltration. The histological findings were compatible with those of postmyocarditic cardiomegaly developing during the fetal period.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗

PubMed1986