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Biomedical subjects

T Toshima

Publications and source records attributed to T Toshima.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The significance of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) levels for rejection of joint allograft.

This paper describes the efficacy of utilizing Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF) as a detectable parameter of acute rejection after bone allografts. The authors used a bone-joint allograft model, transferring vascularized allograft knee joints across a major histocompatibility barrier, using three groups of rats divided into controls, non-immunosuppressed, and immunosuppressed with cyclosporine. The paper supplies preliminary information suggesting that TNF may be a marker for early bone-joint allograft rejection.

Animals

[Interrelationship between the facial expression and familiarity: analysis using spatial filtering and inverted presentation].

We investigated interrelationship between the facial expression and familiarity using spatial filtering and inverted presentation. The stimuli were facial images (smiling and neutral faces) band-pass filtered in the spatial domain. If the filtering is carried out at low spatial frequencies, the images convey more global features than the local ones, whereas the local features are emphasized in the images filtered at high frequencies. The task of subjects was to judge the expression (Experiment 1) or familiarity (Experiment 2) of such images, which were presented in the upright or inverted orientation. The following results were obtained. 1) Spatial frequency components in the middle range (12.4 and 24.8 cycles/face-width) were important in recognizing both expression and familiarity, 2) there was close relationship between the facial expression and familiarity, and 3) smiling faces were harder to recognize when they are shown in the inverted orientation. These results suggest that there are the common and different recognition processes between facial expression and familiarity.

Adult

[Object-specific priming in apparent motion display].

The perceptual process of an object with multiple features mainly consists of two stages. At first, features are encoded independently at the modular level (feature level). Secondly, they are recombined to build a temporal representation of the object (conjunctive level). Using the apparent motion technique in which stimuli were defined by color and shape, we examined the levels at which the object-specific priming takes place. Although the discrimination of the second stimulus was facilitated when it shared the features with the first stimulus, the priming effects were different according to the number of stimulus items of the first frame. When the first frame contained one stimulus item, the priming benefits were obtained at the both conjunctive and the feature levels. However, the benefit was found only at the feature level when the item number was increased to eight (one of them disappeared in the following frames as the apparent motion stimulus). The roles of modular analysis and attention integration were discussed in terms of the economical validity of feature preservation in object perception.

Adult

[A case of jejunal vein thrombosis due to medroxyprogesterone acetate].

The patient was a 68-year-old woman with advanced breast cancer which had been treated by modified radical mastectomy two years and nine months earlier. After the surgery, tamoxifen citrate (TAM) was orally administered in addition to various types of chemotherapy. Because the patient complained of nausea and weight loss, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) was orally administered instead of TAM. The patient complained of intense abdominal pain on the 35th day of administration. Laparotomy was then performed for her acute abdominal problem. Because necrosis from bleeding due to jejunal vein thrombosis was observed in the jejunum for about 15 cm, resection of the jejunum was carried out. Histological observation demonstrated thrombosis in the vein, and cellular infiltration around the thrombosis. The postoperative prognosis has been favorable and the postoperative course is now being monitored at our clinic (2 months after surgery). The patient has no complications such as diabetes mellitus or hypercholesterolemia. The thrombosis observed in the jejunal vein, which is a rare site for it on the 35th day of MPA administration was induced by MPA. Due attention must be paid to the formation of thrombosis when using MPA.

Administration, Oral

An experimental study on the application of a hydroxyapatite artificial tendon sheath to prevent adhesions after tendon repair (Part 1).

The formation of adhesions around the lacerated flexor tendons in zone II was studied in chickens after using an artificial tendon sheath made of hydroxyapatite (HAp). The flexor sheath was excised between the proximal and distal pulleys in zone II to create a window in the fibro-osseous tunnel. After suturing the severed profundus tendon, an HAp sheath was placed around the suture site followed by 3 weeks of immobilization. The results were compared with controls in which no HAp sheaths were used after the operation. Adhesion formation was assessed both biomechanically and histologically. The mobility of the tendons was better in the HAp group at all the periods studied. HAp sheath was not firmly adherent to either the granulation tissue or the surface of the tendon. Histology at 3 as well as 6 weeks in HAp groups revealed epitenon-like structure on the tendon surface including the tenorrhaphy site and a wide space around the tendon after the HAp sheath was removed. The outer margins of this space was lined by a layer of fibrocyte-like cells and collagen fibers thereby resembling new formed tendon sheath. In the cases of control, marked peritendinous adhesions were observed.

Animals

[Experimental study on vascularized fresh whole-joint allograft transplantation].

The vascularization of fresh whole knee and hip joints was done as part of an allograft transplant procedure involving forty rats (12 weeks old). Cyclosporin and prednisolone were injected into thirty-five recipient rats; five rats did not receive any drugs and were used as the control group. All control group rats with necrotic limbs died two to three weeks after the operation. Eleven of the twenty rats with transplanted knee joints and ten of the fifteen rats with transplanted hip joints began walking with full weight-bearing and the transplanted joints exhibited good mobility one month after the operation. Autopsy findings four, eight and sixteen weeks after the operation showed no degenerative or necrotic changes of the articular cartilage or subchondral bone of the joints. We concluded that this technique of vascularized whole-joint transplantation in rats was successful. This may be clinically applicable to reconstructive surgery after resection of diseased joints.

Anastomosis, Surgical

The comparative and developmental study of auditory information processing in autistic adults.

The present study examined brain functions related to information processing in autistic subjects, using auditory evoked potentials (AEP) and missing stimulus potentials (MSP). In order to study the development of autism, autistic adults served as subjects. Normal adults and children also served as control groups. Both normal and autistic adults showed normal patterns and lateralities with respect to AEP for music stimuli, but normal children did not show such matured patterns and lateralities. On the other hand, with respect to MSP, autistic adults showed matured patterns with a specific laterality. These results suggest that autistic subjects might develop some cognitive functions.

Adult

Effects of pH on the deconjugation of conjugated bilirubin in human bile.

The enzymatic activity of bacterial beta-glucuronidase plays an essential role in the formation of calcium bilirubinate in bile. There are, however, many unsettled problems such as methodology of the assay for its enzymatic activity. In the present study (1) the azopigments from monoconjugated bilirubin (MCB) and unconjugated bilirubin (UCB) in native bile were semiquantitatively determined, (2) the deconjugation of conjugated bilirubin (CB) in bile was estimated with azopigment analysis and (3) factors affecting the deconjugation of CB in bile, especially for pH value, were investigated. CB in bile was stable at physiologic pH during 6-hr incubation at 37 degrees C, but was hydrolyzed at alkaline pH. At physiologic pH, addition of beta-glucuronidase from E. coli hydrolyzed CB in bile and increased MCB and UCB in bile. Based upon the results mentioned above, it is suggested that alkaline pH and enzymatic activity of beta-glucuronidase should cause the increase of UCB in bile. It can be said that beta-glucuronidase is essential for the formation of calcium bilirubinate gallstone at physiologic pH.

Bile