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Biomedical subjects

T Inui

Publications and source records attributed to T Inui.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

Glucose stimulates insulin release without altering cyclic AMP production or inositolphospholipid turnover in freshly obtained human insulinoma cells.

Glucose, forskolin, IBMX and carbachol all stimulated insulin release from freshly obtained human insulinoma cells. In these same cells, cellular cyclic AMP levels were raised by forskolin and IBMX but not by glucose and carbachol. On the other hand, of all the insulin secretagogues examined, only carbachol stimulated the formation of 3H-inositol trisphosphate in these cells. Thus, in these insulinoma cells, glucose apparently induces insulin secretion without altering cyclic AMP production or inositolphospholipid turnover.

1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine↗

[82 drawings and their most common names, image agreement, adequacy of complexity, and familiarity].

For use in experiments investigating semantic processing of nonverbal materials, 82 drawings of familiar objects are presented, along with their most common names, the mean ratings of image agreement, adequacy of complexity, and familiarity. Most concepts were exemplars from one of 10 familiar categories (animals, insects, vehicles etc.). Names and ratings were obtained from 81 undergraduates and graduate students. The moderate correlation (r = .40) was found between percentage of the most common name and image-agreement rating, but the other correlations were negligible. The mean ratings of three variables except adequacy of complexity were compared with those of Matsukawa (1983), obtained from Japanese subjects using Snodgrass and Vanderwart's (1980) drawings. The high correlation between familiarity of both studies (r = .88) indicates that this variable is not affected by visual characteristics of the particular stimulus set. The possible uses of the present stimulus set were suggested.

Adolescent↗

Skeletal muscle pathology of mannosidosis in two siblings with spastic paraplegia.

Deficiency of alpha-D-mannosidase was found in two siblings with muscle weakness and spastic paraplegia. A biopsy of the vastus lateralis muscle was studied by light and electron microscopy. Cryostat sections showed mild fiber size variation but no necrosis. Semithin Epon sections revealed many vacuoles in the muscle cells and fibroblasts. Electron microscopy showed that the vacuoles, presumably lysosomal, had a single limiting membrane and contained finely granular or granulo-reticular material, membranous structures, and electron-dense ovoids. The vacuoles were identical with those in lymphocytes and other cells of patients with mannosidosis. Disorganization of sarcomere alignment and widening of intermyofibrillar spaces were also observed. Deficiency of alpha-D-mannosidase is considered to cause slowly progressing degeneration of muscle fibers.

Adult↗

Rats with congenital tremor and curled whiskers and hair.

In a colony of Kyo: Wistar strain of rats, we found animals with curled whiskers and hair. These rats exhibited tremor when they moved. There were no sex differences in phenotype and behavior, and the affected animals of both sexes were sterile. Among pairs that produced at least one tremulous offspring, 21.8% of the females and 21.7% of the males were affected; these proportions suggest that the anomaly is caused by an autosomal recessive gene. When the presumed heterozygous males were crossed with WAG/Rij females, about half of their female F1 hybrids were heterozygous, and they produced 26.1% (43/165) of the affected offspring when backcrossed to the sires. Again these results suggested that the disorder is caused by an autosomal recessive gene. We tentatively designated the gene as tremor (tm). The main pathological changes were seen in the gonad and central nervous system. The gonads of both sexes were aplastic even in adult animals. Vacuole formation was seen widely in the central nervous system and sometimes exhibited a spongy appearance. After administration of alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine, the norepinephrine content of the cerebellum was high, indicating that some anomalies of catecholamine release were present. The mutation is being maintained by random mating of the littermates of affected animals. Detailed pathological, endocrinological, neuropharmacological, and genetical studies are proceeding.

Animals↗

The effect of changes in visible area on facial recognition.

The proportion of a human face which needs to be visible for correct identification was investigated. Photographs of familiar public faces were presented under two conditions: (i) the facial photographs were original photographs with local information; and (ii) the facial photographs were blurred, with high spatial frequencies removed and with no local information. Subjects could scan the face as they wished through a moveable window generated by a TV system and had to identify the depicted person as quickly as possible. Window size was varied systematically. The main study showed that, in spite of including only its local features, a familiar facial photograph could be perfectly identified when the visual window covered one-fifth of the whole face, and that a global image of the whole face was obtained when nearly half of the whole face was processed simultaneously. The structure of the memory image of the face is discussed in the light of the results obtained.

Adult↗

Retinal sensitivity and spatial summation in amblyopia.

The retinal sensitivity and the spatial summation function in the foveal and parafoveal regions of unilaterally amblyopic patients with eccentric fixation were studied psychophysically by means of a refined fundus perimeter; the device made possible continuous and simultaneous monitoring of the subject's fundus, fixation behavior and location of the stimulus on the retina, and enabled us to obtain selectively reliable data. In 9 out of 10 amblyopic eyes, the retinal sensitivity was the highest at the subject's eccentric fixation locus, demonstrating central relative scotoma. In the fovea of amblyopic eyes, the spatial summation curve showed an abnormal gradient when tested with small stimuli, suggesting an enlarged spatial summation area at the amblyopic fovea. On the other hand, the spatial summation curve at the eccentric fixation locus was comparable to that at the corresponding eccentric locus of the nonamblyopic fellow eye, suggesting the spatial summation function at the peripheral retina was normal in the amblyopic eye.

Adolescent↗

Interaction of new anthracycline antibiotics with DNA. Effects on nucleic acid synthesis and binding to DNA.

The effects of various new anthracycline antibiotics on DNA and RNA synthesis were studied using DNA polymerase I (EC 2.7.7.7), RNA polymerase (EC 2.7.7.6) obtained from Escherichia coli and reverse transcriptase obtained from avian myeloblastosis virus. Aclacinomycin A, its analogues, baumycins A1 and A2, adriamycin and daunomycin showed potent inhibitory effects on these polymerases, with calf thymus DNA as template, with IC50 values of 10-30 microM. With poly(rA) x d(pT)10 as template for reverse transcriptase, aclacinomycin A and daunomycin showed IC50 values higher than 500 microM. Baumycins B1, B2, C1, and C2 showed high IC50 values on three polymerases. Addition of excess template DNA to the reaction mixture reversed the inhibitory effect of anthracyclines. Addition of calf thymus DNA to anthracyclines caused a bathochromic and hypochromic change in the visible spectrum. Apparent binding constant for aclacinomycin A, its analogues, and adriamycin were in the range of (1-2) X 10(6) M-1. Aclacinomycin A and adriamycin also bind to heat denatured DNA, but not strongly to yeast RNA. From these results, the structure-activity relationships of new anthracyclines on DNA binding and polymerase reactions are discussed.

Animals↗

Length perception in degeneratio pigmentosa retinae cases and normal subjects with limited visual field.

To investigate quantitatively the visual disturbance in cases of degeneratio pigmentosa retinae, the effect of the visual field size on length perception was studied. In the experiment, 3 patients were asked to compare the length of two lines presented on the screen for 5 seconds under monocular and free viewing conditions. The difference threshold value for stimulus length was estimated by the descending method of limit. Three normal subjects participated in this experiment under two conditions; one was the free viewing condition mentioned above and the other was a limited visual field condition. In the latter case, subjects viewed through a pinhole on the Lo-Vac contact lens. With this contact lens, they had almost the same visual field size and visual acuity as the patients. In these cases, subjects could move the eye and head freely. The results suggested that accurate length comparison is possible only when the lines are perceived simultaneously.

Adult↗