Biomedical subjects

Yuki Nakajima

Publications and source records attributed to Yuki Nakajima.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Long-term survival of Askin tumor for 10 years with 2 relapses.

An abnormal shadow was noted on a chest X-ray of a 32-year-old female in a medical check-up in March 1995, 3 months after she had given birth. Thoracic CT detected a tumor in contact with the left thoracic wall, and tumorectomy was performed in May 1995. The tumor was diagnosed as a primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET). After surgery, the thoracic wall to which the tumor adhered was treated with irradiation at 50 Gy. Chemotherapy was considered, but the patient did not wish to undergo this treatment. Lung metastasis occurred 5 years after the first surgery, and the left lower lobe of the lung was partially resected. Four years later, lobectomy of the left lower lobe of the lung was performed, due to further lung metastasis. The patient remains healthy as of April 2005.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Surgical treatment of superior sulcus tumors.

PURPOSE: To access the clinical outcome of patients with superior sulcus tumor. METHODS: We reviewed the records of 16 patients who underwent surgery for a superior sulcus tumor between 1988 and 2003, focusing on the type of surgery. RESULTS: All 16 patients underwent en bloc lung and chest wall resection, which was done as pneumonectomy in 1 patient and lobectomy in 15. Complete resection was achieved in 11 patients, but incomplete resection was done in 5 patients because microscopic examination revealed positive surgical margins. Eight patients underwent partial vertebrectomy and 1 patient had combined resection of the subclavian artery. There was no postoperative mortality. All patients received pre- or postoperative adjuvant therapy, or both. The overall 5-year survival rate was 31.0%. The 5-year survival rate was higher after complete resection than after incomplete resection (59.3% vs 0%, P = 0.08). Patients who underwent complete resection for vertebral invasion and those who did not had 5-year survival rates of 66.7% and 0%, respectively (P = 0.17). Patients who underwent preoperative induction therapy followed by complete resection and those who did not had 5-year survival rates of 80% and 0%, respectively (P = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Although superior sulcus tumors are still complex, preoperative induction therapy followed by complete resection seemed effective for prolonging survival.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Primitive neuroectodermal tumor/Ewing's sarcoma with long-term follow-up.

We have reported a case of primitive neuroectodermal tumor/Ewing's sarcoma (PNET/EWS) in a 32-year-old female who had had no symptoms until the tumor was detected in a general examination after she gave birth. Chest X-ray showed a well-defined, rounded mass in the left lower lung field. Computed tomographic scan of the chest revealed a distinct mass adjacent to the anterolateral thoracic wall. The macroscopic findings had shown a well-capsulated tumor with a stalk emanating from the thoracic wall. PNET/EWS was histologically diagnosed. The tumor was composed of atypical, small round cells. It stained positively with antibodies to the MIC2 gene product. Postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy of 50 Gy was performed. Adjuvant chemotherapies were not performed. Four years later, a small recurrent nodule in the left lung was surgically resected. Since her initial diagnosis, the patient has survived for seven years; in the three years since her second surgery, she has had no other recurrence or metastasis.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Nucleotide specificity of the RNA editing reaction in pea chloroplasts.

A sensitive in vitro editing assay for the pea chloroplast petB editing site has been developed and utilized to study the mechanism of C-to-U editing in chloroplast extracts. The in vitro editing assay was characterized by several criteria including: linearity with extract amount; linearity over time; dependence on assay components; and specificity of editing site conversion. The increase in the extent C-to-U conversion of the petB editing site was nearly linear with the amount chloroplast protein extract added, although the reaction appeared to decline in rate after approximately 30 min. The assay was tested for the importance of various assay components, and the omission of protease inhibitor and ATP was shown to dramatically reduce the extent of the editing reaction. Sequence analysis of cDNA clones obtained after an in vitro editing reaction demonstrated that 12 of 17 (71%) clones were edited, and that no other nucleotide changes in these cDNAs were detected. Thus, the fidelity and specificity of the in vitro editing system appears to be excellent, and this system should be suitable to study both mechanism of the editing reaction and editing site selection. The in vitro editing reaction was strongly stimulated by the addition of ATP, and all four NTPs and dNTPs stimulated the editing reaction except for rGTP, which had no effect. Thus, the nucleotide specificity of the editing reaction is broad, and is similar in this respect to the mitochondrial editing system. Most enzyme or processes specifically utilize ATP or GTP for phosphorylation and the ability to substitute other NTPs and dNTPs is unusual. RNA helicases have a similar broad nucleotide specificity and this may reflect the involvement of an RNA helicase in plant organelle editing.

Chloroplasts↗

PubMed2005

Primary pulmonary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma combined with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and amyloidoma in the lung.

Three abnormal shadows were detected in the right lung on chest X-ray films and computed tomography in a 75-year-old woman during follow-up for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Because a definitive diagnosis was not obtained through general examinations, exploratory thoracotomy was performed for diagnosis and treatment. The main lesion in the right middle lobe was diagnosed as mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma according to histopathological findings, cytogenic studies and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis, and nodular lesions in S(3) and S(7) were diagnosed with Congo-red staining as local deposition of amyloid. The patient had no recurrence of the MALT lymphoma of the lung or other organs for 4 years after surgery. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of primary pulmonary MALT lymphoma combined with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura/lung amyloidoma.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

Surgical treatment for lung cancer patients with poor pulmonary function.

UNLABELLED: This retrospective study was aimed to review the risk factors of postoperative hospital death in lung cancer patients with poor pulmonary reserves. We performed surgery on 30 lung cancer patients (average age: 71 years) with less than 1.0L of preoperative forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1.0 < 1.0L) between 1982 and 2003. The preoperative FEV1.0 of these 30 patients was 0.81+/-0.1L on average. Six of 20 patients who underwent surgery between 1982 and 1997 died during their postoperative hospital stay (hospital death group). Between 1998 and 2003, 10 patients underwent surgery with uneventful postoperative courses. The clinical background was evaluated between the hospital death group (n = 6) and the survivor group (n = 24). The single-variable analysis of the preoperative conditions of the postoperative hospital death revealed the presence of two or more preoperative concomitant diseases (p < 0.001) and a performance status of grade 2 or higher (p = 0.005). Peripheral obstructive pneumonia with abscess and chronic pleurisy with adhesion influenced surgery and related to their postoperative hospital death. Whereas, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) tended to show that pulmonary resection resulted in an improvement of pulmonary functions. CONCLUSION: To achieve better results of surgical treatment for patients with preoperative FEV1.0 < 1.0L, patient selection should be required based on precise evaluation of physical conditions and management of infectious diseases. Moreover, we thought that a preoperative performance status of grade 1 or lower, at most one preoperative concomitant disease, and a COPD are desirable for deciding the surgical indication.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Successful thoracoscopic sympathectomy for primary erythromelalgia in the upper extremities.

Erythromelalgia is known as a rare syndrome of unknown etiology, characterized by redness with burning pain, edema associated with increased skin temperature in the upper and/or lower extremities. Various treatments such as drug therapies and sympathetic blockade were reported. We report two cases including a 57-year-old woman and a 64-year-old woman, showing the successful clinical outcome by bilateral thoracoscopic sympathectomy.

Erythromelalgia↗

PubMed2004

Binding between azurocidin and calreticulin: its involvement in the activation of peripheral monocytes.

We found that azurocidin, a secretory protein in neutrophils, binds to calreticulin, a multifunctional chaperone of the endoplasmic reticulum. Azurocidin is known to induce cytokine production in monocytes, but the mechanism of monocyte activation by azurocidin remains unknown. On the other hand, an antibacterial peptide, KLKLLLLLKLK-NH(2) (L5), is known to bind to cell surface calreticulin of human neutrophils, resulting in their activation to produce O(2)(-). Therefore, we examined whether cell surface calreticulin is involved in the activation of human monocytes by azurocidin to produce IL-6. We found that carlreticulin is in fact located on the surface of monocytes and that the IL-6 production stimulated by an azurucidin is inhibited by anti-calreticulin antibody. Possibly, binding between cell surface calreticulin and azurocidin is prerequisite for the activation of monocytes by azurocidin to produce IL-6.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed2004

Surgical treatment of lung cancer with vertebral invasion.

Vertebral body invasion by lung cancer has been problematic due to uncertainty regarding a clear surgical resection margin. Therefore, additional chemoradiotherapy has been performed to assist clearance of the surgical margin. We reviewed our experience of surgical treatment for lung cancer patients with vertebral invasion. Between 1982 and 2003, 1,070 patients underwent lung cancer surgery at the Nippon Medical School Hospital. Eight patients (0.74%) of this group underwent a combined vertebral body and chemoradiotherapy. Seven lobectomies and one pneumonectomy with mediastinal lymphadenectomy were performed. All patients underwent partial vertebrectomy. The percentage with vertebral tumor involvement was 15%. A defect of vertebral cortical bone was reinforced with implantation of rib in one patient. There was no postoperative mortality. Postoperative complications were pneumonia and arrhythmia. The median follow-up period was 19 months (range from 4 to 69.7 months). The overall actuarial survivals at 1-year, 3-year and 5-year were 68.6%, 22.9% and 22.9%. Local recurrence occurred in three patients and distant metastasis was evident in five. Even though the number of patients was small, partial vertebrectomy with chemoradiotherapy offer reduction of severe pain and an improved prognosis. However, a patient with further progressive disease should be treated with a multidisciplinary approach.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Surgical treatment of lung cancer combined with interstitial pneumonia: the effect of surgical approach on postoperative acute exacerbation.

UNLABELLED: Postoperative acute exacerbation of interstitial pneumonia (IP) is known to be a serious complication in the surgical treatment for primary lung cancer combined with IP. This retrospective study was conducted to investigate the influence of three different approaches to the thorax on postoperative acute exacerbation of IP in lung cancer patients. Forty-seven lung cancer patients who developed it underwent pulmonary resection between 1982 and 2003. Among them, approaches to the thorax consisted of posterolateral thoracotomy (PLT) (n=15), muscle-sparing thoracotomy (MST) (n=15), and video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) (n=17). Seven of 47 suffered from acute exacerbation of IP. Single variable analysis suggested that exertion dyspnea (Hugh-Jones classification), serum C-reactive protein, serum lactate dehydrogenase and total lung capacity were considered to be preoperative risk factors of acute exacerbation. As for the VATS patient, there was little frequency of postoperative complication in comparison with the other two approaches. However no significant difference was shown in the incidence of acute exacerbation between the three approaches. CONCLUSION: The use of VATS did not prevent acute exacerbation of IP. However, the incidence of postoperative complications in VATS seemed to be low, therefore further trials are required.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed2003

Video-assisted lobectomy for a lung cancer patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

OBJECTIVES: This retrospective study was conducted to see whether a video-assisted lobectomy is beneficial in lung cancer patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease regarding preservation of pulmonary function compared to lobectomy by standard thoracotomy. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Between 1982 and 2002, 67 patients who underwent lobectomy for primary lung cancer showed 55% or less of preoperative forced expiratory volume in one second/vital capacity. Among them, 25 patients were enrolled in this retrospective study. The remaining 42 patients were excluded because of no presence of a postoperative pulmonary function test. Nine of 25 patients underwent a video-assisted lobectomy between 1994 and 2002 and the remaining 16 patients who underwent a lobectomy by standard thoracotomy between 1982 and 1994 were employed as a historical control. Perioperative conditions and changes in pulmonary function were compared between two groups. RESULTS: A parameter of chest wall damage was minor in video-assisted lobectomy compared to that in lobectomy by standard thoracotomy. Changes between pre- and postoperative percent of vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in one second and maximal ventilatory volume showed significantly minor deterioration or even improvement in video-assisted lobectomy patients. Predicted postoperative pulmonary function tended to be underestimated for postoperative values in video-assisted lobectomy patients. CONCLUSIONS: Video-assisted lobectomy seemed to be profitable in preservation of pulmonary function in lung cancer patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Prediction of postoperative pulmonary function should be revised due to the underestimation for postoperative values in video-assisted lobectomy, which could offer profitable surgical treatment for lung cancer patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Surgical therapy in Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is usually considered to be manageable by levothyroxine (L-T4) administration, which can reduce the thyroid volume and supplement the lack of hormone. However, we sometimes encounter a huge goiter that has not shrunk in response to L-T4 therapy. These goiters continue to produce symptoms of compression and an unsightly appearance. Here we discuss the surgical indication and procedure for HT. Thirteen patients with clinically diagnosed Hashimoto's thyroiditis involving a huge diffuse goiter that produced pressure symptoms or nodular lesions were treated with surgery. The gender, age distribution, total dose and period of L-T4 administration prior to the operation, and clinical symptoms caused by the large goiter were evaluated in each case. The titer of antibodies was extremely elevated in 8 HT patients with a diffusely enlarged goiter. The total period of L-T4 medication ranged from 6 to 25 years. A subtotal thyroidectomy in which a small amount of thyroid was left in the posterior area of the bilateral lobes was performed in the 8 cases of diffusely enlarged goiter. Pressure symptoms and the unsightly appearance caused by the goiter were relieved by the surgery in all cases. No surgical complications developed. In conclusion, the surgery is an effective therapy for HT patients who have persistent compression symptoms and/or an unsightly neck appearance due to a large goiter despite long-term L-T4 treatment.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Microtetraspora malaysiensis sp. nov., isolated from Malaysian primary dipterocarp forest soil.

The taxonomic position of three actinomycete strains isolated from Malaysian soil was established by using a polyphasic approach. The isolates formed chains composed of four spores on the tip of sporophores branching from the aerial mycelium, and their chemotaxonomic properties were common to those of members of the family Streptosporangiaceae. These phenotypic properties as well as a phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that they should be classified in the genus Microtetraspora. The three isolates showed a unique pattern of cultural, physiological and biochemical properties that distinguished them from previously described species of the genus Microtetraspora. The isolates showed more than 72% DNA relatedness to each other, but only 58% or less relatedness to any previously described species. On the basis of the data presented, a new species of the genus Microtetraspora, Microtetraspora malaysiensis, is proposed. The type strain of the new species is strain H47-7(T) (=JCM 11278(T)=DSM 44579(T)).

Actinobacteria↗

PubMed2003

Determination of antioxidant activity of herbs by ESR.

Water extracts of 32 herbs that are constituents of curry and curry powder were screened for superoxide anion radical (O2.-) scavenging activity. Among the screened samples, only clove, allspice, and basil were shown to decrease DMPO-O2.- adduct yields by more than 50% at 0.25 mg/mL as measured by an ESR spin trapping technique based on the HPX-XOD reaction. To study the mechanism of the O2.- scavenging activity, Km values were obtained from a Lineweaver-Burk plot for XOD in the presence of different concentrations of HPX, and the IC50 values at different DMPO concentrations were compared. Clove and basil directly eliminated O2.- like superoxide dismutase (SOD), whereas allspice reduced the amount of O2.- by inhibition of formation of O2.-.

Antioxidants↗

PubMed2002

A method to evaluate the renin-angiotensin system in rat renal cortex using a microdialysis technique combined with HPLC-fluorescence detection.

A microdialysis (MD) technique, combined with HPLC-fluorescence (FL) detection, was developed for the evaluation of the tissue-specific renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the rat renal cortex. An MD probe constructed with a hydrophilic hollow fiber dialysis tubing, AN69, showed high recovery (more than 50%) in vitro for all four angiotensins: angiotensin I (Ang I), Ang II, Ang III, and Ang (1-7). Angiotensins, successfully derivatized with m-BS-ABD-F, a water-soluble fluorogenic reagent that has a 2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (benzofurazan) structure, could be simultaneously determined by coupled-column HPLC. The detection limit for Ang I, Ang II, Ang III, and Ang (1-7) were 94, 44, 47, and 83 fmol, respectively. All these peptides were determined with good linearity (0.0125-3.1 microM, equivalent to 0.25-62 pmol, correlation coefficient >0.99) and good precision (recovery >91%). In the MD studies, generation of Ang (1-7) and Ang II was observed when Ang I was perfused, and Ang (1-7) was the major biologically active angiotensin found in the dialysate samples. The concentration of Ang (1-7) and Ang II in the dialysate samples showed good correlation to that of Ang I in a MD perfusate (20-100 microM). Cleavage of Ang I to Ang (1-7) was drastically suppressed by the co-perfusion of phoshoramidon (0.5-5 mM), an inhibitor of neprilysin, which generates Ang (1-7) from Ang I. These results are consistent with the previously reported characteristics of tissue-specific renal RAS, suggesting that our MD/HPLC-FL system may have the potential to be employed to evaluate tissue-specific RAS in the rat renal cortex.

Angiotensins↗

PubMed2002

Participation of two N-terminal residues in LPS-neutralizing activity of sarcotoxin IA.

Sarcotoxin IA is a cecropin-type antibacterial peptide of flesh fly. Using a mutant sarcotoxin IA lacking two N-terminal residues, we demonstrated that these residues are indispensable for its antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and LPS-binding. Contrary to the native sarcotoxin IA, the mutant sarcotoxin IA could not neutralize various biological activities of LPS. It was suggested that sarcotoxin IA firmly binds to the lipid A core of LPS via these two N-terminal residues and forms a stable binding complex that exhibits no appreciable biological activity like native LPS.

Amino Acids↗