PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Y Hino

Publications and source records attributed to Y Hino.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Sensitive and simple determination of mannitol in human brain tissues by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A simple, reliable and sensitive gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method was devised to determine the level of mannitol in various human brain tissues obtained at autopsy. Mannitol was extracted with 10% trichloroacetic acid solution which effectively precipitated brain tissues. The supernatant was washed with tert.-butyl methyl ether to remove other organic compounds and to neutralize the aqueous solution. Mannitol was then derivatized with 1-butaneboronic acid and subjected to GC-MS. Erythritol was used as an internal standard. For quantitation, selected ion monitoring with m/z 127 and 253 for mannitol and m/z 127 for internal standard were used. Calibration curves were linear in concentration range from 0.2 to 20 microg/0.1 g and correlation coefficients exceeded 0.99. The lower detection limit of mannitol in distilled water was 1 ng/0.1 g. Mannitol was detected in control brain tissues, as a biological compound, at a level of 50 ng/0.1 g. The precision of this method was examined with use of two different concentrations, 2 and 20 microg/0.1 g, and the relative standard deviation ranged from 0.8 to 8.3%. We used this method to determine mannitol in brain tissues from an autopsied individual who had been clinically diagnosed as being brain dead. Cardiac arrest occurred 4 days later.

Autopsy↗
PubMed2001

Blood concentrations of tetracaine and its metabolite following spinal anesthesia.

Blood concentrations of tetracaine and its metabolite, p-butylaminobenzoic acid, were measured after spinal anesthesia with tetracaine which had been administered to patients under going orthopedic surgery. Tetracaine, an ester anesthetic, was given to 10 patients, the dose was 8-14mg, and blood samples were collected 1, 2 and 6h after the injection of tetracaine. We used gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for purposes of analysis. Tetracaine was not detected in any blood sample, but the metabolite was detected in each sample with the mean concentrations of 126.5, 97.9 and 43.3ng/ml at 1, 2 and 6h, respectively. This data will be useful in determination of the cause of death after spinal anesthesia with tetracaine.

4-Aminobenzoic Acid↗
PubMed2001

Inhibition of insulin-induced activation of Akt by a kinase-deficient mutant of the epsilon isozyme of protein kinase C.

Akt, also known as protein kinase B, is a protein-serine/threonine kinase that is activated by growth factors in a phosphoinositide (PI) 3-kinase-dependent manner. Although Akt mediates a variety of biological activities, the mechanisms by which its activity is regulated remain unclear. The potential role of the epsilon isozyme of protein kinase C (PKC) in the activation of Akt induced by insulin has now been examined. Expression of a kinase-deficient mutant of PKCepsilon (epsilonKD), but not that of wild-type PKCepsilon or of kinase-deficient mutants of PKCalpha or PKClambda, with the use of adenovirus-mediated gene transfer inhibited the phosphorylation and activation of Akt induced by insulin in Chinese hamster ovary cells or L6 myotubes. Whereas the epsilonKD mutant did not affect insulin stimulation of PI 3-kinase activity, the phosphorylation and activation of Akt induced by a constitutively active mutant of PI 3-kinase were inhibited by epsilonKD, suggesting that epsilonKD affects insulin signaling downstream of PI 3-kinase. PDK1 (3'-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1) is thought to participate in Akt activation. Overexpression of PDK1 with the use of an adenovirus vector induced the phosphorylation and activation of Akt; epsilonKD inhibited, whereas wild-type PKCepsilon had no effect on, these actions of PDK1. These results suggest that epsilonKD inhibits the insulin-induced phosphorylation and activation of Akt by interfering with the ability of PDK1 to phosphorylate Akt.

3-Phosphoinositide-Dependent Protein Kinases↗
PubMed2001

Revascularization of left subclavian artery for coronary subclavian steal syndrome.

We have experienced 2 patients with coronary subclavian steal syndrome which progressed each to a different prognosis. Both cases received percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for subclavian artery stenosis after coronary artery bypass grafting. Although one case is doing well without any symptoms, the other case required axilloaxillary artery bypass grafting for the subclavian artery restenosis.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

[Effect of latanoprost on the barrier function of corneal epithelium].

PURPOSE: We evaluated the effect on corneal epithelium barrier function of instillation of prostaglandin F2 alpha ophthalmic solution (latanoprost) for one month. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten healthy volunteers and nine glaucoma patients were enrolled in this study. The barrier function was determined as uptake of topically applied sodium fluorescein by the central cornea measured with an anterior fluorophotometer(FL-500, Kowa Co. Ltd). Healthy volunteers and glaucoma patients received 0.005% latanoprost instillation once daily for one month. We measured the uptake of fluorescein by the cornea of each subject before and one month after instillation. RESULTS: Fluorescein uptake before the instillation was 22.2 +/- 16.0 ng/ml (mean +/- standard deviation) and 26.4 +/- 15.1 ng/ml one month after the treatment in the normal group, and it was 55.0 +/- 25.0 ng/ml before treatment and 57.8 +/- 37.0 ng/ml after treatment in the glaucoma group. There was no significant difference in the uptake of fluorescein before and after treatment in either of two groups. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that the barrier function of corneal epithelium was not compromised after the instillation of latanoprost for at least one month.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Bypass graft material and myocardial protective procedure in combined coronary artery bypass grafting and valve surgery.

OBJECTIVE: The aortic cross clamping time is prone to be longer when coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is combined with valve surgery. Therefore, the myocardium that is revascularized by in-situ internal thoracic artery graft is at risk to ischemia, and, myocardial protection is especially important in such operation. In this study, the effect of myocardial preservation of combined antegrade, retrograde and terminal warm blood cardioplegia during combined valve surgery and CABG using the internal thoracic artery as a bypass conduit was evaluated. METHODS: From November 1992 to August 1999, 15 patients received combined CABG and valve surgery. Among these 15 patients, 13 patients who did not need hemodialysis were divided into 2 groups, and a comparative study was done. In Group I (n = 5), only the saphenous vein graft was employed for combined CABG and valve surgery, and myocardial protection was done by combined antegrade and terminal warm blood cardioplegia. In Group II (n = 8), at least 1 in-situ internal thoracic artery graft was employed for CABG and valve surgery, and myocardial protection was done by combined antegrade, retrograde and terminal warm blood cardioplegia. RESULTS: Despite longer aortic cross clamping time in Group II, the peak creatine kinase-MB of Group II was significantly lower. In addition, the postoperative administration of dopamine tended to be less in Group II. CONCLUSION: Myocardial protection by combined antegrade, retrograde and terminal warm blood cardioplegia may be an effective adjunct to combined valve surgery and CABG employing the in-situ internal thoracic artery graft.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Absolute measurement of 166mHo radioactivity and development of sealed sources for standardization of gamma-ray emitting nuclides

Holmium-166m has a long half life (1200 yr) and emits a large number of gamma-rays between 80 and 1400 keV. These characteristics are very suitable for gamma-ray calibration sources, therefore, the absolute activity of 166mHo was measured and several sealed sources were produced to be used as reference sources for the secondary standardization systems for gamma-ray emitting nuclides. In this project, seven metal sealed sources and ten point sources were produced and several of these sources were transferred to the secondary standard laboratories to complete the traceability scheme.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Effects of word frequency and spelling-to-sound regularity in naming with and without preceding lexical decision.

The effects of word frequency and spelling-to-sound regularity were examined using standard naming, standard lexical-decision, go/no-go naming, and go/no-go lexical-decision tasks. In both the standard and go/no-go naming tasks, tasks requiring phonological coding, a significant Frequency x Regularity interaction was observed. That is, the regularity effect was limited to low-frequency words. In the standard and go/no-go lexical-decision tasks, tasks not requiring phonological coding, no Frequency x Regularity interaction was observed. These results indicate not only that the Frequency x Regularity interaction is a product of phonological coding processes but also that these processes are similar in the standard and go/no-go naming tasks. Results are discussed in terms of the dual-route and the parallel distributed processing frameworks.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Sensitive and selective determination of tetracaine and its metabolite in human samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A sensitive and reliable method was developed for the determination of tetracaine and its metabolite, p-butylaminobenzoic acid, in human samples. Tetracaine and the metabolite, effectively extracted using a liquid-liquid extraction procedure from 0.5 g of sample, were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Tetracaine was analyzed without derivatization, and the metabolite was analyzed after tert-butylolimethylsilyl derivatization. Dibucaine and p-dimethylaminobenzoic acid were used as internal standards for tetracaine and the metabolite, respectively. The calibration curve for each compound was linear in the concentration range from 10 to 1,000 ng/0.5 g, and the lower limits of detection were 10 ng/g for tetracaine and 0.6 ng/g for the metabolite in whole blood and tissues. The accuracy and precision of the method were evaluated in whole blood and brain at the concentrations of 50 ng/0.5 g and 500 ng/0.5 g for tetracaine and 10 ng/0.5 g and 100 ng/0.5 g for the metabolite. The coefficients of variation ranged from 0.8 to 3.0% for tetracaine and 2.4 to 9.8% for the metabolite. We used this method to determine tetracaine and its metabolite in human whole blood and tissues of an autopsied patient who died during spinal anesthesia induced by tetracaine.

4-Aminobenzoic Acid↗
PubMed2000

[The effective smoking corner in an office].

We installed an effective, practical and low-cost smoking corner in an office to protect against passive smoking. The smoking corner was separated from the non-smoking area with transparent, nonflammable screens. Four exhaust fans were installed in the smoking corner so that there was no leakage of environmental tobacco smoke. The required exhaust air rate in the smoking corner was pre-calculated from the volume of the smoking corner and the rate of consumption of cigarettes. The suspended airborne particle concentration definitely decreased in the non-smoking area after installation of the smoking corner. The result of a questionnaire survey also revealed the improvement in the air quality in this office.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed2000

[Risk factors of anastomotic leak following operations for gastric cancer in the elderly].

The risk factors of anastomotic leak in the elderly following operations for gastric cancer were evaluated by multiple logistic model analysis. Data were taken from 705 operations over a 14-year period. The mean age of patients was 75.8 +/- 7.6 years. The significant risk factors for anastomotic leak were amounts of intra-operative bleeding and male gender. No other factors were significant, including age, preoperative associated diseases, preoperative nutritional states and postoperative complications, some of which were, however, significant factors by univariate analyses. We conclude that we should make every endeavor to lower the amount of intra-operative bleeding in order to prevent postoperative anastomotic leaks in the elderly, especially in male patients.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

[Insulin signalling system and mechanism of insulin resistance].

Insulin exerts wide variety of biological effects through interaction with its specific receptor, which belongs to a large family of receptor tyrosine kinases. The activated insulin receptor phosphorylates the intracellular substrate IRS protains, which then bind various signalling molecules that contain Src homology 2 domains. The first downstram molecule that was shown to associate with IRS protains is PI3-kinase. PI3-kinase contributes to a wide variety of biological actions. Both Akt(PKB), a serine-threonine kinase with a PH domain, and atypical PKC(PKC zeta, PKC lambda) have been implicated as downstream effectors of PI3-kinase. Insulin resistance contributes to the pathogenesis of NIDDM. Both primary, genetically, and secondary, environmentally factors are important for insulin resistance. The secondary factors include hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, obesity, TNF alpha, FFA(free fatty acid).

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Workplace exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and high density lipoprotein cholesterol among nonsmokers.

There are few epidemiologic studies among adult nonsmokers on the effects of workplace environmental tobacco smoke on high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). The authors investigated this relation, using data from health examinations conducted in 1995 on 3,062 Japanese nonsmokers in a total of 27 municipal offices with few smoking restrictions. Multiple regression analysis with adjustments for age, body mass index, alcohol drinking, and sports activities showed that in women, and in men lacking both alcohol consumption and sports activities characteristics, there were inverse linear relations between workplace smoking indices and HDL-C levels. Multivariate logistic regression showed that nonsmoking women in the upper two thirds of offices ranked by smoking intensity had an increased risk of low HDL-C levels (<45 mg), taking those in the lowest third of offices as reference (the medium third: odds ratio = 1.7; 95% confidence interval: 1.2, 2.5; the highest third: odds ratio = 1.6; 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 2.4). The results indicated that workplace environmental tobacco smoke exposure is associated with HDL-C among nonsmokers. However, the lack of data on home exposure limits causal inferences about the effects of workplace exposure.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Dominant negative forms of Akt (protein kinase B) and atypical protein kinase Clambda do not prevent insulin inhibition of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene transcription.

Transcriptional regulation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), the rate-limiting enzyme in hepatic gluconeogenesis, by insulin was investigated with the use of adenovirus vectors encoding various mutant signaling proteins. Insulin inhibited transcription induced by dexamethasone and cAMP of a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene fused with the PEPCK promoter sequence in HL1C cells stably transfected with this construct. A dominant negative mutant of phosphoinositide (PI) 3-kinase blocked insulin inhibition of transcription of the PEPCK-CAT fusion gene, whereas a constitutively active mutant of PI 3-kinase mimicked the effect of insulin. Although a constitutively active mutant of Akt (protein kinase B) inhibited PEPCK-CAT gene transcription induced by dexamethasone and cAMP, a mutant Akt (Akt-AA) in which the phosphorylation sites targeted by insulin are replaced by alanine did not affect the ability of insulin to inhibit transcription of the fusion gene. Akt-AA almost completely inhibited insulin-induced activation of both endogenous and recombinant Akt in HL1C cells. Furthermore, neither a kinase-defective mutant protein kinase Clambda (PKClambda), which blocked insulin-induced activation of endogenous PKClambda, nor a dominant negative mutant of the small GTPase Rac prevented inhibition of PEPCK-CAT gene transcription by insulin. These data suggest that phosphoinositide 3-kinase is important for insulin-induced inhibition of PEPCK gene transcription and that a downstream effector of phosphoinositide 3-kinase distinct from Akt, PKClambda, and Rac may exist for mediating the effect of insulin.

Cell Line↗
PubMed1999

Requirement for Akt (protein kinase B) in insulin-induced activation of glycogen synthase and phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 (PHAS-1).

The roles of Akt (protein kinase B) and the atypical lambda isoform of protein kinase C (PKClambda), both of which act downstream of phosphoinositide 3-kinase, in the activation of glycogen synthase and phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 (PHAS-1) in response to insulin were investigated. A mutant Akt (Akt-AA) in which the phosphorylation sites targeted by growth factors are replaced by alanine was shown to inhibit insulin-induced activation of both Akt and glycogen synthase in L6 myotubes. Expression of a mutant Akt in which Lys179 in the kinase domain was replaced by aspartate also inhibited insulin-induced activation of glycogen synthase but had no effect on insulin activation of endogenous Akt. A kinase-defective mutant of PKClambda (lambdaDeltaNKD), which prevents insulin-induced activation of PKClambda, did not affect the activation of glycogen synthase by insulin. Insulin-induced phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 was inhibited by Akt-AA in Chinese hamster ovary cells. However, lambdaDeltaNKD had no effect on 4E-BP1 phosphorylation induced by insulin. These data suggest that Akt, but not PKClambda, is required for insulin activation of glycogen synthase and for insulin-induced phosphorylation of 4E-BP1.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1999

Complete genome sequence of an aerobic hyper-thermophilic crenarchaeon, Aeropyrum pernix K1.

The complete sequence of the genome of an aerobic hyper-thermophilic crenarchaeon, Aeropyrum pernix K1, which optimally grows at 95 degrees C, has been determined by the whole genome shotgun method with some modifications. The entire length of the genome was 1,669,695 bp. The authenticity of the entire sequence was supported by restriction analysis of long PCR products, which were directly amplified from the genomic DNA. As the potential protein-coding regions, a total of 2,694 open reading frames (ORFs) were assigned. By similarity search against public databases, 633 (23.5%) of the ORFs were related to genes with putative function and 523 (19.4%) to the sequences registered but with unknown function. All the genes in the TCA cycle except for that of alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase were included, and instead of the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase gene, the genes coding for the two subunits of 2-oxoacid:ferredoxin oxidoreductase were identified. The remaining 1,538 ORFs (57.1%) did not show any significant similarity to the sequences in the databases. Sequence comparison among the assigned ORFs suggested that a considerable member of ORFs were generated by sequence duplication. The RNA genes identified were a single 16S-23S rRNA operon, two 5S rRNA genes and 47 tRNA genes including 14 genes with intron structures. All the assigned ORFs and RNA coding regions occupied 89.12% of the whole genome. The data presented in this paper are available on the internet homepage (http://www.mild.nite.go.jp).

Archaea↗
PubMed1999

Alteration of perceived fragrance of essential oils in relation to type of work: a simple screening test for efficacy of aroma.

The perceptional change of fragrance of essential oils is described in relation to type of work, i.e. mental work, physical work and hearing environmental (natural) sounds. The essential oils examined in this study were ylang ylang, orange, geranium, cypress, bergamot, spearmint and juniper. In evaluating change in perception of a given aroma, a sensory test was employed in which the perception of fragrance was assessed by 13 contrasting pairs of adjectives. Scores were recorded after inhaling a fragrance before and after each type of work, and the statistical significance of the change of score for 13 impression descriptors was examined by Student's t-test for each type of work. It was confirmed that inhalation of essential oil caused a different subjective perception of fragrance depending on the type of work. For example, inhalation of cypress after physical work produced a much more favorable impression than before work, in contrast to orange, which produced an unfavorable impression after physical work when compared with that before work. For mental work, inhalation of juniper seemed to create a favorable impression after work, whereas geranium and orange both produced an unfavorable impression then. From these studies, together with those conducted previously with lavender, rosemary, linalool, peppermint, marjoram, cardamom, sandalwood, basil and lime, we thus concluded that the sensory test described here might serve not only as a screening test for efficacy of aroma but also as a categorized table for aroma samples which can act as a reference to each other.

Adult↗