[Origin and evolution of genetic code: an idea on the mechanism of emergence of unusual genetic codes].
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Animals↗
Biomedical subjects
T Ueda
Publications and source records attributed to T Ueda.
[Assessment of quality of life after transurethral resection of prostate for benign prostatic hyperplasia].
The quality of life (QOL) after transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) was studied. A total of 113 patients were operated and released, and 86 (76%) cases responded to the TURP follow-up survey. The average age was 69 years and the average time elapsed after the operation was 220 days. Data regarding the patients undergoing TURP was gathered from a questionnaire consisting of 22 questions concerning the preoperative condition and 28 about the post-operative state. Performance status was not changed post-TURP. The patients showed improvements in nocturia, pollakisuria and dysuria. These urological symptoms were in accordance with the findings of uroflowmetry and American Urological Association Symptom Index. Ten questions addressing the patients mental and physical conditions revealed that good quality was generally retained. Sexual activity showed a tendency of gradual decrease in relation to increasing age. Ejaculatory function and actual satisfaction with the sexual act were obviously damaged by the operation. TURP showed no changes in regard to morning erection, sexual desire in an arousing atmosphere, penile hardness at sex and total satisfaction with the sexual life. Social life, family life and mental status were not influenced, but the physical status of 21 (26%) of the patients was decreased by the operation and hospital stay. Over all, 78% of the patients could maintain a good quality of life in post-TURP.
Aged↗
[Incomplete intestinal obstruction].
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Humans↗
Depolarization of Raman scattering from some nucleotides of RNA and DNA.
Depolarization ratios of Raman bands, excited at 488.0 nm, of guanosine-5'-monophosphoric acid, cytidine-5'-monophosphoric acid, adenosine-5'-monophosphoric acid, thymidine-5'-monophosphoric acid, and uridine-5'-monophosphoric acid have been measured in their H2O and D2O solutions in the spectral region from 300 to 1800 cm-1. For comparison, the disodium salt of 2'-deoxyadenosine-5'-monophosphoric acid was also subjected to the depolarization measurement in its H2O solution. The results have been correlated with possible orientations of the principal axes of the Raman scattering tensors as well as with the relative magnitudes of the tensor components. Results should be useful for future polarized Raman studies of synthetic and natural DNA.
DNA↗
Manipulation of amino acid balance in maize seeds.
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Amino Acids↗
Detection of subtle differences in the surface structure of lysozymes by use of an immobilized Fab fragment.
A method was developed to evaluate the association constant at physiological pH (pH 7.5) between a lysozyme and the Fab fragment derived from anti-lysozyme monoclonal antibody 37-7, which was immobilized to the adsorbent for HPLC. Comparison of the association constants between lysozymes and the immobilized Fab fragment indicated that mAb 37-7 recognized the prominently exposed regions (hills and ridges) around His15 of hen lysozyme, but His15 itself was not directly involved in the binding with mAb 37-7. Moreover, the epitope was confirmed by the reactivity of His15 with monoiodoacetic acid in the presence of mAb 37-7. The association constant of 15-carboxymethylated histidine lysozyme (15CM lysozyme) with the immobilized Fab fragment was smaller by one-seventh than that of 15-carboxamidated histidine lysozyme, though the side chains introduced were almost identical in size. From the pH titration of 15CM lysozyme with 13C-enriched carboxyl group by use of 13C-NMR, the pKa of the introduced carboxyl group was evaluated to be 5.06. Since the carboxyl group was fully ionized under the conditions of measurement (pH 7.5), electrostatic repulsion was found to disturb severely the association between mAb 37-7 and hen lysozyme. Moreover, it was demonstrated that, because of the high reproducibility of measurement, the immobilized Fab fragment could detect subtle differences in the surface structure of lysozymes.
Animals↗
Enhancement of cytosine arabinoside cytotoxicity by granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in a human myeloblastic leukemia cell line.
Enhancement of the cytotoxicity of cytosine arabinoside (ara-C) by granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), and the mechanisms involved, were studied in the AML-193 human leukemia cell line. AML-193 cells require GM-CSF and G-CSF(CSFs) for optimum growth, and 24 h deprivation of CSFs decreased DNA synthesis measured in terms of 3H-thymidine incorporation. The DNA synthesis gradually recovered upon addition of CSFs. To examine the sensitivity to ara-C under different growth conditions, two groups of cell suspensions, one pretreated with CSFs after 24 h deprivation (CSFs(+) cells), and the other held continuously under CSFs-free conditions (CSFs(-) cells), were exposed to 1.0 microgram/ml of ara-C for 16 h. In clonogenic assays, CSFs(+) cells showed higher sensitivity to ara-C than CSFs(-) cells. These cell groups showed no significant difference in ara-C triphosphate accumulation or retention, though the amount of ara-C incorporated into the acid-insoluble fraction was two times greater in CSFs(+) cells than CSFs(-) cells, and that difference became even clearer in the retention pools. These data suggest that the enhancement of cytotoxicity by CSFs was due to the promotion of ara-C incorporation into DNA as a result of an increase of the cell fraction in the S phase.
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
A dual staining method for neutral carbohydrates and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) using periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide-silver protein-physical development (PA-TCH-SP-PD) and Feulgen (Hot HCl-Schiff) techniques.
A dual staining method was established for the histochemical detection of neutral carbohydrates and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in light microscopy. The method consisted of combined periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide-silver protein-physical development (PA-TCH-SP-PD) and hot hydrochloric acid (H-HCl)-Schiff (Feulgen) procedures, which produced reaction products of blackish and magenta shades respectively. The present dual staining method is believed to be unusually useful for the light microscopic histochemical studies on neutral carbohydrate-containing cells, since it exhibits a high contrast between these two shades and reveals distinctly the localization of cytoplasmic neutral carbohydrates and nuclear DNA in one and the same tissue section.
Animals↗
[Palliative radiotherapy for local progression of hormone refractory stage D2 prostate cancer].
From 1970 to 1992, 10 patients with hormone refractory stage D2 adenocarcinoma of the prostate presenting themselves with urinary retention and/or gross hematuria were treated by palliative irradiation for local progression at Cancer Institute Hospital. External beam irradiation was delivered to the primary lesion at dose of 38 Gy to one patient and 30 approximately 27 Gy to seven patients. Five of these patients in whom an urethral catheter had been indwelling were able to void without difficulty following the treatment. Of four patients with severe hematuria resulting vesical tamponade, none had hematuria after the treatment. These effect lasted until patients' death or more than 11 months follow-up. In other 2 patients, irradiation had to be discontinued at dose less than 20 Gy because of deteriorated general conditions and no significant effect. Complications of the treatment were minimal. These results indicate that the optimal dose of local palliative irradiation is around 30 Gy. Irradiation is a good choice for palliation of locally progressive hormone refractory prostate cancer in view of its certain and long-lasting effect, low invasiveness and minimal complications. When to institute palliative irradiation is one of the most important question in order to secure a good quality of life for patients. From our experiences, it is our belief that if local progression is symptomatic, palliative irradiation should be initiated as soon as possible.
Adenocarcinoma↗
[Palliative radiotherapy for bone pain in hormone refractory prostate cancer].
From 1970 to 1992, 23 patients were treated with irradiation for palliation of pain caused by bone metastases from hormone refractory adenocarcinoma of the prostate at Cancer Institute Hospital. External beam irradiation was delivered to painful bony metastatic sites using linear accelerator. Numbers of irradiated sites were 1, 2, 3 in 6 patients, 4 in 3 patients and 5 or 7 in one patient. To evaluate the pain relief at the irradiated sites, severity and frequency of pain were measured quantitatively before and 1 month after the treatment. Overall efficacy of palliation was evaluated by summing up results of the irradiated sites in each patient. Pain relief was obtained in all the irradiated sites. Minimal relief, partial relief and complete relief of pain were achieved in 10%, 15% and 75% of the 60 irradiated sites, respectively. No significant dose-response relationship was observed. Complete pain relief was attained less frequently at the sites with severe and constant pain that those with moderate and intermittent pain. Minimal, partial and complete palliation of pain was attained in 9%, 17% and 74% of 23 patients, respectively. In patients with highly extensive bone metastases, many irradiated sites, or many irradiated bones, complete palliation was difficult to obtain. Recurrence of pain was observed in one site. In other 59 irradiated sites, pain relief lasted until patient's death or throughout the follow-up period (maximum 51 months, median 9 months). We concluded that external beam irradiation is an effective palliation therapy for pain of bone metastases from hormone refractory prostate cancer and will play a considerable role in the management of advanced disease.
Adenocarcinoma↗
[Sequential hormone and radiation therapy for stage D1 prostate cancer].
From 1980 to 1991, 18 patients with pathologically proven stage D1 prostate cancer were treated with sequential hormone and radiation therapy at Cancer Institute Hospital. The patient mean age was 65.5 year old and mean follow-up period was 3.7 years. Diethylstilbestrol diphosphate or chlormadinone acetate was given prior to radiation therapy and 70 Gy of external radiotherapy using linear accelerator was sequentially delivered to the primary lesion in 35 fractions. Hormone therapy was continued following radiation therapy. Complete flattening of the primary lesion on digital examination was achieved in all cases. Complications of the treatment were minimal and transient. Tumor progression was observed in 4 cases and 2 of them died of cancer. Five-year non-progression rate, 5-year overall survival rate, 5-year disease specific survival rate and cancer death rate were 65%, 68%, 82% and 50% respectively. Prognoses of the patients with poorly differentiated cancer were worse than those with more differentiated cancer. Sequential hormone and radiation therapy for patients with stage D1 prostate cancer improved the patients' survival almost comparable to those of patients with stage C disease.
Adenocarcinoma↗
[A case of stage IIIB2 infantile yolk sac tumor of testis achieved complete remission by "COMPE" chemotherapy].
A case of metastatic infantile yolk sac tumor of testis is reported herein. The patient was 23 months old with a painless swelling of the right scrotal contents. Histological examination revealed yolk sac tumor. Six months later, the serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was re-elevated and solitary lung metastasis had developed. After 4 courses of chemotherapy with cisplatin (CDDP), vincristine (VCR), methotrexate (MTX), peplomycin (PEP) and Etoposide (COMPE), serum AFP was normalized and lung metastasis disappeared. He has shown no evidence of disease for 5 years with normal physical growth. Aggressive chemotherapy including CDDP might be used for Stage III infantile testicular cancer.
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
Sequential promotion of normal and leukemic hemopoiesis by recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor during the course of myelodysplastic syndrome.
A 48-year-old man developed refractory anemia with excess of blasts in transformation. Complete response was achieved by low-dose ara-C therapy, but he relapsed 15 months later, with pancytopenia and 13.0% myeloblasts in normocellular marrow. He was treated unsuccessfully with prednisolone, metenolone, and 1-alpha-hydroxyvitamin D3 for 8 weeks. He then developed life-threatening pneumonia and was treated with recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF Filgrastim; 125 micrograms/day s.c.). The pneumonia resolved and, interestingly, he achieved a partial response, with normal blood cell counts and only a few dysmyelopoietic cells in the marrow. However, thrombocytopenia progressed when rhG-CSF administration was tapered. When the dose was increased again, leukemic blasts were found to proliferate. When rhG-CSF was discontinued, blasts rapidly decreased in the peripheral blood. Chromosomal analysis revealed a complex abnormality during the first relapse, a normal 46,XY karyotype during the partial response, and recurrence of the same complex abnormality during leukemic transformation. The stimulation index of marrow mononuclear cells cultured with rhG-CSF increased with disease progression. These findings suggest that rhG-CSF initially stimulated the selective proliferation of normal hemopoietic cells, but the evolution or selection of a leukemic clone responsive to rhG-CSF appears to have occurred subsequently.
Follow-Up Studies↗
[Pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis--is hepatitis C virus involved?].
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a new virus discovered in 1989. Since HCV is known to cause fibrotic changes in the liver, we studied whether HCV is involved in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Firstly, we assessed anti-HCV antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the sera obtained from 66 IPF patients (46 males and 20 females; mean age +/- SEM, 61.5 +/- 10.1). We observed a significantly high prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies in IPF compared with 9,464 age-matched controls (28.8% vs 3.66%, p < 0.05). To confirm the results, recombinant immunoblotting assay (RIBA) was conducted on the 19 ELISA-positive sera, and 8 sera (12.2%) were found to be definitely positive. Secondly, we searched for HCV in the blood of IPF patients by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. As preliminary data, four out of 28 cases (14.3%), all of which were pathologically diagnosed as UIP, were positive for HCV. In conclusion, although further investigation is required, a high prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies and the existence of HCV itself in the blood may suggest the possibility that HCV infection plays an important role in the pathogenesis of IPF.
Aged↗
[A case of testicular choriocarcinoma achieving pathological complete response by "COMPE" chemotherapy, consisting of cisplatin, vincristine, methotrexate, peplomycin, and etoposide].
We report a case of pure choriocarcinoma of the left testis in a 27-year-old male. He consulted a physician with left back pain in August, 1990. Intravenous pyelography (IVP) revealed left hydronephrosis. Abnormal computerized tomography (CT) revealed para-aortic lymph node swelling. The chest X-ray revealed bilateral multiple coin lesions. The genital examination revealed a left testicular nodule 8 mm in diameter. Left high inguinal orchiectomy was performed. Histopathological diagnosis was pure choriocarcinoma. After 4 courses of the PVB (cisplatin, vinblastine, bleomycin) therapy, tumor regression rate of the pulmonary metastases was 41.9%. He was transferred to our hospital on December 3, 1990 and was admitted 3 days later. "COMPE" chemotherapy, consisting of cisplatin, vincristine, methotrexate, peplomycin, and etoposide, was administered. After seven courses of "COMPE" chemotherapy, he achieved a partial response (the regression rate of the pulmonary metastases and the retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis were 78.8% and 69.1%, respectively) and the residual masses in the lungs and the retroperitoneum were removed. Necrosis and xanthogranulomatous fibrosis were found in the resected material. The patient showed no evidence of disease one year after thoracotomy.
Adult↗
A novel anti-HIV synthetic peptide, T-22 ([Tyr5,12,Lys7]-polyphemusin II).
Tachyplesin and polyphemusin are antimicrobial peptides recently isolated from the hemocytes of horseshoe crabs (Tachypleus tridentatus and Limulus polyphemus). We synthesized them and their analogs and examined their antiviral activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 in vitro. The infection of human T cells with the virus was markedly inhibited by some of them at low concentrations. In this structure-activity study, we found that [Tyr5,12, Lys7]-polyphemusin II, which was designated as T22, had extremely high anti-HIV activity. Its 50% inhibitory concentration (EC50) was 0.008 micrograms/ml, while its 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50) was 54 micrograms/ml and these values were comparable to those of AZT. This result indicates that T22 would be a potential candidate for the therapy of HIV infection.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Interleukin 6/B cell stimulatory factor-II is expressed and released by normal and transformed human bronchial epithelial cells.
Airway epithelial cells have a potential to participate in local immune and inflammatory responses via releasing biologically active compounds. We studied the expression and release of interleukin 6 (IL-6), a multifunctional cytokine possibly involved in tissue immune responses. Primary culture of normal human bronchial epithelial cells and its transformed cell line BEAS-2B released significant amount of biologically and immunologically intact IL-6 into media. A protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide abolished the IL-6 release, suggesting a de novo synthesis. Northern blot analysis demonstrated the expression of the specific IL-6 mRNA. Human bronchial epithelial cells can produce IL-6 and contribute to the local activity of IL-6, suggesting that these cells may play a role in the regulation of airway immune responses.
Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
[Intraarterial urokinase infusion therapy with superselective catheterization for acute occlusive cerebrovascular disease].
Intraarterial urokinase infusion therapy with superselective catheterization was performed on 11 patients for acute occlusive cerebrovascular disease. The subjects were five men and six women with a mean age of 70 years (range, 48-83 years). Nine of 11 patients had middle cerebral artery occlusion and two had basilar artery occlusion. The interval from onset to infusion ranged from 3.5 to 9 hours, and the total dosage of urokinase from 24 x 10(4) to 150 x 10(4) IU. Recanalization of the occluded artery was achieved in nine patients (82%), and favorable clinical outcome was achieved in seven patients (64%). Six of whom were discharged with no neurologic deficits. Hemorrhagic infarction occurred in two patients without clinical deterioration. Our observations suggest that intraarterial urokinase infusion therapy with superselective catheterization may be very useful in the acute stage of occlusive cerebrovascular disease.
Acute Disease↗