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Volume 184 (1998)
- Issue 4 Pages 257-
- Issue 3 Pages 159-
- Issue 2 Pages 73-
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Volume 184, Issue 1
January
Displaying 1-8 of 8 articles from this issue
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Regular Contributions
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Tetsuro Sato, Shoichi Kokubun, Yasuhisa Tanaka, Yushin Ishii1998 Volume 184 Issue 1 Pages 1-11
Published: 1998
Released on J-STAGE: January 11, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSSurgeries for thoracic myelopathy for 7 years in a northeastern prefecture (population, 2.26 million) and surrounding areas were reviewed. Eighty-one residents in the prefecture were operated on. The annual operation rate per one million people was 5.1. The rate corresponded to 9% of that reported for cervical myelopathy in the same prefecture. The mean age at operation was 55 years. Fifty-five patients (68%) were male and 26 (32%), female. Twenty-eight % of the patients had preoperative periods longer than two years, and 23% had severe disabilities. Anterior decompression was performed in 27%, posterior decompression in the others. The postoperative recovery rate averaged 48%. The lowest rate was 31% in patients with a preoperative duration of more than 2 years (p<0.05). Sixty-four % of the patients had ossification of the ligamentum flavum ; 20%, posterior spur; 19%, disc herniation ; 16%, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament ; 1%, calcification of the ligamentum flavum ; 1%, degenerative spondylolisthesis. Seventy-nine % had one of the above spinal factors and 21% had two.View full abstractDownload PDF (4619K) -
Kenji Harada, Yasushi Takahashi, Manatomo Toyono, Tomomi Orino, Goro T ...1998 Volume 184 Issue 1 Pages 13-20
Published: 1998
Released on J-STAGE: January 11, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe relation of rate-corrected mean velocity of fiber shortening (mVcfc)-end-systolic wall stress (ESS) is a load-independent index of left ventricular contractility, but involves simultaneous M-mode echocardiography, carotid or axillary pulse tracing and blood pressure determination, which may be impractical in younger infants. We examined whether the relation of the peak systolic wall stress (PSS)-mVcfc could be used as a simpler method of assessing left ventricular contractility in preterm and fullterm infants. In 45 preterm and fullterm infants, mVcfc, ESS, and PSS were determined using echocardiography, axillary pulse tracing and blood pressure measurement. Five patients with left ventricular dysfunction or low cardiac output state were also studied. The relation of PSS and ESS was PSS=5.19+1.04 ESS (r=0.98, p<0.01). The slope of mVcfc=1.58−0.012 ESS (r=−0.78, p<0.01) was nearly identical to that of mVcfc=1.60−0.011 PSS (r=−0.75, p<0.01), with no difference in the regression coefficients. The relationship of PSS and ESS in 5 patients was very close and the slope of the regression line was nearly identical to that of 45 infants. The relation of mVcfc-PSS correlates well with the relation using ESS and can be used as a simple method of assessing left ventricular contractility.View full abstractDownload PDF (423K) -
Nobuaki Ohtake, Seiji Nakata, Jin Sato, Atsushi Koya, Kazuhisa Saruki, ...1998 Volume 184 Issue 1 Pages 21-28
Published: 1998
Released on J-STAGE: January 11, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe concentration of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in serum was measured in 20 brothers or sons in 10 families in which the father and son or brothers had prostate cancer using the E test TOSOH IIPA. The patients were between 32 and 70 years old with a mean age of 48.2 years. The PSA value was between 0.4 and 19.5 ng/ml with a mean value of 3.4 ng/ml. Five patients (25%) had PSA values exceeding the cut-off value of 4.0 ng/ml. After obtaining their consent, systematic prostate needle biopsy by transrectal ultrasonography was performed on 3 patients (15%). Prostate cancer was detected in all of them. Among them 2 patients were brothers, and since the other two brothers already had prostate cancer, all four brothers were confirmed to have prostate cancer. This is the first report of a familial prostate cancer in four brothers in Japan. In the western countries where the incidence of prostate cancer is higher than that in Japan, studies have been performed on the risk factors. Family history is one of the most important risk factors. In Japan, the incidence of prostate cancer is increasing rapidly. Moreover, patients with a prostate cancer family history are expected to increase. In such cases, prostate cancer screening should be performed aggressively from a young age.View full abstractDownload PDF (458K) -
Hiroshi Watanabe, Seiji Yamaguchi, Masahiko Kimura, Akihiro Wakazono, ...1998 Volume 184 Issue 1 Pages 29-38
Published: 1998
Released on J-STAGE: January 11, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSWe designed a simple approach to determine cytosolic acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase (CT) activity for differential diagnosis of ketone body catabolic defects, using rapid cell-subfractionation of cultured lymphocytes with digitonin. Efficiency of cell subfractionation was determined by measurement of lactate dehydrogenase and citrate synthetase as marker enzymes for cytosol and organelle fractions, respectively, and confirmed by immunotitration and immunoblotting using antibodies against cytosolic and mitochondrial thiolases, respectively. In the condition of best separation taken in the presence of 1 mg/ml digitonin, acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase activities in the presence of K+ ion in the cytosol and organelle fractions were 138.3±39.2 and 84.0±16.2 nmol/min/ml, respectively. The thiolase acitivity in the organelle fraction was doubled by the presence of K+ ion, whereas that in the cytosol fraction was not affected. The thiolase activity in the organelle fraction was reduced by the treatment of anti-mitochondrial acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase (T2) antibody but not by anti-CT antibody. On the other hand, that in the cytosol fraction was significantly decreased by anti-CT antibody but not by anti-T2 antibody. These data suggested that T2 was collected in the organelle fraction, and that CT activity could be assessed by measurement of the thiolase activity in the cytosolic fraction. Succinyl-CoA: 3-ketoacid CoA transferase (SCOT), whose defect is the third inherited disorder of ketone body catabolism, was collected in the organelle fraction. Hence, this method will prove to be useful for accurate assessment of defects of CT as well as T2 or SCOT, all involved in ketone body catabolism.View full abstractDownload PDF (668K) -
Akira Arakawa, Sei-ichi Ishiguro, Kazuo Ohki, Makoto Tamai1998 Volume 184 Issue 1 Pages 39-47
Published: 1998
Released on J-STAGE: January 11, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSLiposomes encapsulating adenosine triphosphate (ATP) were prepared by sonication, and the liposomes were evaluated for use in a drug delivery system. The liposomes, which were composed of phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol, were about 1.1 μm in size, as observed under a microscope. From their size, the vesicles were thought to be multilamellar. The maximum concentration of ATP in the liposomes was 1.0 mM, when the initial concentrations of lipid and ATP were 20 mM and 300 mM, respectively. The maximum entrapment ratio of ATP in the liposomes was 88%, when the initial concentrations of lipid and ATP were 20 mM and 500 mM, respectively. About 4% of ATP was encapsulated in these experiments. When liposomes contained 4-7% of cholesterol, about 35% of encapsulated ATP was released from the liposomes for 90 hours at 37°C in vitro. These findings indicated that liposomes encapsulating ATP could be used for the treatment of ischemic retina.View full abstractDownload PDF (1194K) -
Mikio Imamura, Hiroki Takahashi, Yukio Mikami, Hidemi Yamauchi1998 Volume 184 Issue 1 Pages 49-59
Published: 1998
Released on J-STAGE: January 11, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSTo clarify a physiological role of endogenous peptide YY(PYY) on pancreatic exocrine secretion, gastrointestinal transit and bile flow, a hyper-PYY-emia model was constructed by performing a massive small bowel resection using rats. (1) 75% resection of the small intestine was performed at its distal side. Two weeks after surgery, these rats were fed a liquid meal, and intestinal transit of contents was observed and plasma PYY and secretin concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay. (2) Two weeks after the same surgery, a liquid meal was infused into the duodenum, and both pancreatic juice and bile were collected separately under general anesthesia. Transit of the intestinal contents from the pyloric ring, plasma CCK concentrations, pancreatic juice flow, amylase output, and bile flow were determined. Hyper-PYY-emia occurred following surgery both at fasting and after feeding, accompanied by retardation of gastrointestinal transit, increase of pancreatic juice flow and decrease of bile flow. Plasma secretin levels were elevated slightly, while CCK levels remained unchanged. In conclusion, massive small bowel resection is a useful model to induce hyper-PYY-emia in rats. It is considered that, in a malnutritional state after small intestinal resection, a colonic regulatory mechanism, via humoral factors such as PYY, participates in the feedback regulation of proximal intestinal as well as of pancreatic function.View full abstractDownload PDF (657K) -
Hiroki Watanabe, Munekado Kojima, Shuichi Nakagawa1998 Volume 184 Issue 1 Pages 61-65
Published: 1998
Released on J-STAGE: January 11, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSWith the aim of revealing the natural history of prostatic cancer, the distribution of age was examined in relation to disease progression in patients detected by mass screening programs. Between 1975 and 1996, such programs detected a total number of 132 patients with prostatic cancer. The mean ages of patients with Stage B, Stage C and Stage D disease were 71.2, 73.8 and 75.3 years, respectively. This might suggest that the difference of 3 years in mean age between Stage B and Stage C disease reflects the time interval of the progression of prostatic cancer from the early (Stage B) to the advanced (Stage C) stage. These results coincided well with the natural history of prostatic cancer, which we proposed previously based upon the “size of ranking” analysis of latent prostatic cancer and doubling time obtained from ultrasonic measurement of prostatic volume. An epidemiological study of prostatic cancer detected by mass screening would offer data of value for the elucidation of the natural history of that disease.View full abstractDownload PDF (301K)
Case Report
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Hitoshi Goto, Masahito Hatori, Shoichi Kokubun, Mutsuo Makino1998 Volume 184 Issue 1 Pages 67-72
Published: 1998
Released on J-STAGE: January 11, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSA case of a myositis ossificans occurring in the distal portion of the finger is reported. An 18-year-old female noticed a small nodule in the tip of the left thumb for 11 months. Plain radiographs showed calcified shadow and there was a radiolucent zone between the mass and the distal phalanx. The excised mass was diagnosed as myositis ossificans. To our best knowledge, there has been no report of a myositis ossificans in the tip of the finger in literature.View full abstractDownload PDF (3702K)
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