Rotavirus vaccine in Japan and Australia.
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Australia↗
Biomedical subjects
T Nakagomi
Publications and source records attributed to T Nakagomi.
Isolation of a human rotavirus strain with a super-short RNA pattern and a new P2 subtype.
Super-short rotavirus strains that have a rearranged gene segment 11 are rarely found in humans, and only five isolates, all from Southeast Asia, have been described in the literature. We report the first isolation in Japan from an infant with severe diarrhea of a rotavirus possessing a super-short RNA pattern. This strain, designated AU19, had a G1 VP7 and is also the first isolate in Japan that possesses a P2[6] VP4. Furthermore, the P2[6] VP4 carried by AU19 was divergent in the hypervariable region of the amino acid sequence from the P2A[6] VP4s carried by asymptomatic neonatal strains or from the P2B[6] VP4 carried by porcine rotavirus strain Gottfried. Thus, AU19 is likely to represent a new VP4 subtype, which we propose to call P2C. Given the recent emergence of the P2[6] VP4s in India, Brazil, and the United States and the role of VP4 in protective immunity, further scrutiny is justified to see whether the emergence of the previously underrepresented P2[6] VP4 serotype is related to this new P2 subtype.
Base Sequence↗
Relative frequencies of G and P types among rotaviruses from Indian diarrheic cow and buffalo calves.
While an increasing number of studies suggest that there is a high prevalence of rotaviruses with P8[11], a typical P type of bovine rotavirus (BRV), among human neonates or infants in India, no data are available on the distribution of G and P types of Indian BRVs. Thus, fecal specimens were collected from cow and buffalo calves under 1 month of age on organized dairy farms in India during the period between 1994 and 1997, and 36 rotavirus-positive specimens were used to determine the relative frequencies of the G and P types of Indian BRVs. As to the G type, G10 was predominant (83%), followed by G6 (6%). The majority (94%) of BRVs had P8[11], and only one isolate possessed P6[1]. The most common combination of G and P types was G10P8[11] (81%), followed by G6P6[1] (3%) and G6P8[11] (3%). The high prevalence of BRVs possessing P8[11] VP4s strongly supports the hypothesis that BRVs may cross the host species barrier and circulate among neonates in India.
Animals↗
How should a subarachnoid hemorrhage grading scale be determined? A combinatorial approach based solely on the Glasgow Coma Scale.
OBJECT: The purpose of this study was to present a combinatorial approach used to develop a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) grading scale based on the patient's preoperative Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score. METHODS: There are 4094 different combinations that can be used to compress the 13 scores of the GCS into two to 12 grades. Break points, the positions in the scale in which two adjacent scores connote a significantly different outcome, are obtained by a direct comparison of the GCS and the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS). Guided by the break points, the number of combinations to be considered can be limited. All possible combinations are statistically analyzed with respect to intergrade differences in outcome. Single combinations, with the maximum number of grades having maximum intergrade outcome differences for each corresponding set of adjacent grades, must be selected. The authors verified the validity of this combinatorial approach by retrospectively analyzing 1398 consecutive patients with aneurysmal SAH who underwent surgery within 7 days of the last hemorrhage episode. The patients' GCS scores were assessed just before surgery and their GOS scores were estimated 6 months post-SAH. The combinatorial approach yields only one acceptable grading scale: I (GCS Score 15); II (GCS Scores 11-14); III (GCS Scores 8-10); IV (GCS Scores 4-7); and V (GCS Score 3). CONCLUSIONS: The combinatorial approach, guided by the break points, is so simple and systematic that it can be used again in the future when revision of the grading scale becomes necessary after development of new and effective treatment modalities that improve patients' overall outcome.
Age Factors↗
Mild hypothermia reduces the rate of metabolism of arachidonic acid following postischemic reperfusion.
Free fatty acid (FFA) accumulation during cerebral ischemia has been described as an indicator of ischemic damage. Furthermore arachidonic acid (AA) metabolites, liberated from glycerophospholipids, have been confirmed to induce disturbances of membrane functions. Are there differences in AA levels in the hippocampus of normo- and hypothermic gerbils following ischemia-reperfusion? In an attempt to answer this question, we first studied the time course of changes in the amount of AA liberated from glycerophospholipids using gerbils subjected to 5 min of ischemia-reperfusion under normo- and mild hypothermia. FFAs (including AA) were separated from total lipids by Bond Elut (NH2) column chromatography and analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography. Mild intra-ischemic hypothermia (MIH) did not affect the ischemia-induced AA accumulation following of 5 min of forebrain ischemia. The accumulated AA amounts under MIH tend to decrease more slowly to baseline levels from 15 to 30 min of reperfusion than do the levels under normothermia. These results suggested that MIH reduced the rate of metabolism of AA after reperfusion and might suppress the generation of free radical, eicosanoids and other bioactive metabolites.
Animals↗
Enhanced protein synthesis in the ipsilateral substantia nigra following middle cerebral artery occlusion in the rat.
Following focal cerebral ischemia, neuronal cell death is detected in remote areas of the brain, including the ipsilateral thalamus and substantia nigra (SN), as well as in the ischemic core. We have investigated protein synthesis in the remote areas of rats exposed to focal ischemia using autoradiography. The proximal portion of the left middle cerebral artery (MCA) was permanently occluded, and at various periods (6 h, 2, 4 and 7 days and 2 and 4 weeks following ischemia) animals received a single dose of L-[2,3-3H]valine (6.7 mCi/kg). Brain sections containing the thalamus and SN were processed for autoradiography. In the ipsilateral cerebral cortex and striatum, marked impairment of protein synthesis was observed and was never completely recovered during the experiment. No changes in protein synthesis in the ipsilateral thalamus were detected during the experiment. However, a change in protein synthesis was demonstrated in the ipsilateral SN. At 2 days after MCA occlusion, incorporation of [3H]valine into the whole zona reticulata of the ipsilateral SN was slightly enhanced and the increase became evident at 4 days after ischemia. Increased incorporation of [3H]valine began to be localized in the lateral portion of the zona reticulata after 7 days and continued up to 4 weeks following ischemia. Enhanced protein synthesis during the early stage (2 and 4 days after ischemia) may be due to the activated function of the neurons in the zona reticulata and that during the late stage (7 days and 2 and 4 weeks) after ischemia to astroglial proliferation
Animals↗
Preconditioning in vivo ischemia inhibits anoxic long-term potentiation and functionally protects CA1 neurons in the gerbil.
Preconditioning with sublethal ischemia induces tolerance to subsequent lethal ischemia in neurons. We investigated electrophysiologic aspects of the ischemic tolerance phenomenon in the gerbil hippocampus. Gerbils were subjected to 2 minutes of forebrain ischemia (preconditioning ischemia). Some of them were subjected to a subsequent 5 minutes of forebrain ischemia 2 to 3 days after the preconditioning ischemia (double ischemia). Hippocampal slices were prepared from these gerbils subjected to the preconditioning or double ischemia, and field excitatory postsynaptic potentials were recorded from CA1 pyramidal neurons. Capacity for long-term potentiation triggered by tetanic stimulation (tetanic LTP) was transiently inhibited 1 to 2 days after the double ischemia but then recovered. Latency of anoxic depolarization was not significantly different between slices from preconditioned gerbils and those from sham-operated gerbils when these slices were subjected to in vitro anoxia. Postanoxic potentiation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated transmission (anoxic LTP) was inhibited in slices from gerbils 2 to 3 days after the preconditioning ischemia, whereas it was observed in slices from sham-operated gerbils and gerbils 9 days after the preconditioning ischemia. These results suggest that protection by induced tolerance is (1) not only morphologic but also functional, and (2) expressed in inhibiting postischemic overactivation of NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic responses.
Animals↗
Traumatic chiasmal syndrome presenting with bitemporal hemianopsia.
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Accidents, Traffic↗
[Rotavirus vaccines as a model vaccine against enteric viral infections].
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Enteritis↗
[Changes in acetylcholine level and its related enzyme activities in rat brain following focal ischemia].
At 1 to 4 weeks following middle cerebral artery occlusion in Wistar rats, levels of acetylcholine, which is neuro-transmitter, were measured. In the hippocampus, which plays an important role in memory, levels of acetylcholine in the ischemic group could not be detected the significant difference compared with those in the sham-operated group. But in the anterior cortex and the caudate-putamen, levels of acetylcholine in the ischemic group were recognized the significant difference compared with those in the sham operated group. Moreover activities of choline acetyltransferase, which is the synthetic enzyme of acetylcholine, and activities of acetylcholinesterase, which is the degradative enzyme of acetylcholine, were measured in the anterior cortex which was recognized decrease of the acetylcholine level and the hippocampus which could not be detected the difference of the acetylcholine level. Activities of both enzymes in the hippocampus could not be recognized the significant difference between the ischemic group and the normal group. But in the anterior cortex activities of both enzymes in the ischemic group were significantly decreased compared with those in the normal group. These results suggest that these decreases in the ischemic group were due to damage of injection of cholinergic neuron from Meynert nucleus (basal nucleus of Meynert) to anterior cortex.
Acetylcholine↗
[Japan Coma Scale as a grading scale of subarachnoid hemorrhage: a way to determine the scale].
BACKGROUND: The grading scale for subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) with inter-grade outcome differences is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of newly developed therapeutic modalities. Although Hunt's grade and WFNS scale have been widely used, these grading scales do not meet this requirement. We previously proposed a revised WFNS scale based solely on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) that has intergrade outcome differences of high-level significance. The Japan Coma Scale (JCS) has been long and widely used in Japan. The purpose of this study is to show whether it is possible to determine a reasonable SAH grading scale based on the JCS and to show a way to determine an SAH grading scale. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 1398 consecutive cases of aneurysmal SAH operated on within Day 7 of the latest onset. The preoperative JCS and GCS were evaluated just before the surgery and the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS), analyzed with numerical transformation (1 = dead to 5 = good recovery), was estimated at 6 months after the onset. All 510 possible combinations of scores of JCS were statistically tested under the following 2 assumptions; (1) JCS = 0 and JCS = 100 fall into a single independent grade. (2) No other single JCS score should fall into a single grade. RESULTS: The outcome differences between JCS 0 and 1, and 100 and 200 are significant. The outcome difference between JCS 30 and 100 is relatively higher than any other set of 2 scores of JCS. Only 5 combinations are practical among the candidates to be analyzed. Out of 510 combinations, the following combination shows the highest inter-grade outcome differences; I (JCS = 0, n = 375, mean GOS = 4.78) II (JCS = 1, 2; n = 310; mean GOS = 4.47) III (JCS = 3-30; n = 476; mean GOS = 3.96) IV (JCS = 100; n = 96; mean GOS = 3.10) V (JCS = 200, 300; n = 141; mean GOS = 2.33). In JCS, the mean outcome of JCS = 3 is worse than those of JCS = 10, 20, and 30. The outcome difference between JCS 0 and 1 is only significant in patients over 60 years old. CONCLUSION: Taking all the 510 possible combinations of JCS into consideration, we obtained a reasonable combination containing 5 grades. Although this grading scale showed good inter-grade outcome differences, JCS is not preferable to GCS as a consciousness evaluation system in the acute phase of SAH. We emphasize the importance of this way to determine a grading scale with a combinatorial approach, which can be applicable for re-evaluating the grading scales in the future.
Age Factors↗
Bovine rotavirus strain 678 possesses VP4 of serotype P7[5] specificity.
Bovine rotavirus strain 678 is the first G8 strain of bovine origin but the literature is confusing as to its P type. In this study, two-way cross neutralization between 678 and 0510, a prototype G6P7[5] virus, was shown by plaque-reduction neutralization assays, establishing the P type of 678 as being P7[5]. The P7[5] specificity of 678 VP4 was reinforced by the finding that the VP8* portion of 678 VP4 had the highest amino acid identity with those of P7[5] bovine rotaviruses. Apparent contradiction with previous serological studies relates to intricacy of antigenicity and immunogenicity of UK VP4 in reassortants.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Conserved structural features of nonstructural glycoprotein NSP4 between group A and group C rotaviruses.
The nonstructural glycoprotein NSP4 of group C human rotavirus strain Ehime 9301 was determined to be 150 amino acids in length and 96% identical with the NSP4 of another group C human rotavirus strain Bristol. Both NSP4 sequences were virtually unrelated to group A rotavirus NSP4s. However, the structural features of group A and group C rotavirus NSP4s were similar with hydrophobic domains being in the amino terminus and a coiled coil domain after the membrane-spanning domain, although group C rotavirus NSP4 lacked one amino-terminal hydrophobic domain.
Algorithms↗
Effect of L-arginine and NG-nitro-L-arginine on delayed neuronal death in the gerbil hippocampus.
To assess the role of nitric oxide (NO) in cerebral ischemia, we investigated the effect of L-arginine, a substrate of NO synthase (NOS), and NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA), a NOS inhibitor, on neuronal death in the CA1 hippocampal region. Seventy-two Mongolian gerbils were used in the study. Both carotid arteries were occluded for 4 min to induce forebrain ischemia. Temporal muscle temperature was strictly maintained at 37.5 +/- 0.3 degrees C during the ischemia. L-arginine (10 and 100 mg kg-1) or L-NNA (1, 10 and 100 mg kg-1) was administered intraperitoneally 4 times: 30 min before, 3 h, 6 h and 24 h after induction of ischemia. Four days after ischemic insult, the animals were perfusion-fixed, and the neuronal densities in the medial, middle and lateral CA1 subfield were estimated. Average neuronal cell density of the control group was 2-3 mm in each subfield. L-arginine at doses of 10 and 100 mg kg-1 did not prevent neuronal death. L-NNA at doses of 1 and 10 mg kg-1 did not protect neuronal cells from ischemia either. However, in ischemia gerbils treated with 100 mg kg-1 L-NNA, the average neuronal cell density in the lateral CA1 subfield was 54.4 +/- 19.1, L-NNA (100 mg kg-1) significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the occurrence of neuronal death in the lateral CA1 subfield. The present results suggest that NO plays an important role in the development of neuronal injury after global ischemia.
Animals↗
Efficacy and risk of ventricular drainage in cases of grade V subarachnoid hemorrhage.
We retrospectively evaluated efficacy and risk of external ventricular drainage which was performed in early management of high grade subarachnoid hemorrhage. Acute ventricular drainage was performed on 36.6% of 93 patients with grade V subarachnoid hemorrhage. The percentage of patients whose GCS improved following ventricular drainage were 14.3% from GCS 3, 61.5% from GCS 4, 42.9% from GCS 5 and 42.9% from GCS 6. The occurrence rate of rebleeding was approximately three-fold higher in patients who underwent ventricular drainage than in patients who did not. Aneurysmal surgery performed after ventricular drainage, compared with acute aneurysmal surgery, resulted in the smaller percentage of patients who became persistently vegetative and in the larger percentage of patients who became severely disabled, while it did not change the percentage of patients who resulted in favorable outcome and death. These results of retrospective study suggested that ventricular drainage performed on grade V subarachnoid hemorrhage increased the risk of rebleeding and did not increase the percentage of patients who resulted in favorable outcome although it reduced the percentage of patients who resulted in persistent vegetative state.
Adult↗
Isolation of serotype G8, P6[1] bovine rotavirus from adult cattle with diarrhea.
Two electrophoretically identical strains of group A rotavirus were isolated from diarrheic cows aged 3, 4, and 7 years on a dairy farm in Japan. They had a rare serotype combination of G8 and P6[1] and were shown by RNA-RNA hybridization to be most closely related to bovine strain NCDV-Lincoln (G6P6[1]).
Animals↗
Isolation from diarrheal and asymptomatic kittens of three rotavirus strains that belong to the AU-1 genogroup of human rotaviruses.
A survey of 143 stool specimens collected during a 17-month period in Japan from diarrheal and asymptomatic kittens identified three rotavirus strains that were similar in their genomic RNA constellation to human rotavirus AU-1 (G3P3[9]), lending strong support to the view that rotaviruses belonging to the same genogroup are circulating in both the human and the feline population.
Animals↗
Molecular epidemiology of human rotaviruses: genogrouping by RNA-RNA hybridization.
RNA-RNA hybridization performed under high stringency conditions allows rotavirus isolates to be grouped together based on the overall similarity of their genomic RNA constellation. Classification by this scheme has been termed "genogrouping". Genogrouping has advanced molecular epidemiology of human rotaviruses. Major observations include (i) Interspecies transmission occurs in nature and (ii) Intergenogroup reassortment occurs in nature with or without exchange of serotype-determining genes. Genogrouping is a particularly valuable asset for determining the gene constellation of unusual rotavirus isolates.
Animals↗