In order to obtain basic knowledge about blood viscosity, which is changed by a variety of factors and disease, this study examined variations in blood viscosity. Sex, age, season, smoking, blood pressure, vibration syndrome, various diseases and exposure to cold were considered.
Blood viscosity levels in several groups were measured with a cone-plate viscometer. The groups consisted of male and female healthy non-smokers among hospital employees, male inhabitans of a mountain village, male subjects with the vibration syndrome found in union shop forestry workers, pulp manufacturing company employees and male and female hospitalized patients.
The following results were obtained:
1) In healthy non-smokers, there were no significant variations in whole-blood viscosity and plasma viscosity with regard to age and season, but whole-blood viscosity levels in males were significantly higher than those in females, at all shear rates. A significant positive correlation was observed beetween whole-blood viscosity and Ht.
2) In an analysis of the influence of smoking, hypertension and vibration syndrome on whole-blood viscosity, three way experimental lay out, smoking, hypertension and vibration syndrome were all found to increase whole-blood viscosity. An interaction between smoking and hypertension was demonstrated which increased whole-blood viscosity. Morever, the same analysis carried out for plasma viscosity, demonstrated that the factors which increased plasma viscosity were again smoking and hypertension.
3) Whole-blood viscosity values in healthy non-smokers before exposure to cold showed lower values than in smokers and hypertensives, morever, whole-blood viscosity levels during exposure to cold in healthy non-smokers increased greatly compared to those in smokers and hypertensives.
4) Whole-blood viscosity levels during exposure to cold in non-hypertensives with vibration syndrome increased greatly, but whole-blood viscosity values in hypertensives with vibration syndrome did not increase. Whole-blood viscosity values in hypertensives with vibration syndrome were already high before exposure to cold.
5) With regard to cold exposure, blood viscosity changes in subjects with or without vibration syndrome showed a similar tendency in both the exposed and non-exposed arms.
6) Whole-blood viscosity values in myocardial infarction, essential hypertension and diabetes mellitus were increased, and those in collagen disease and anemia were decreased. Plasma viscosity in myocardial infarction, coronary arteriosclerosis, cerebral infarction, essential hypertension, collagen disease and diabetes mellitus were increased, and those in anemia were decreased.

View full abstract

Morpholine is a food additive which is widely used as a surface active agent to protect citrus fruit against deterioration. The toxicity of morpholine is relatively low compared with other food additives. But this is one of the secondary amines which may possibly form N-nitrosomorpholine, known as a carcinogen, in the presence of nitrite in vitro and in vitro.
Thus, in order to investigate the residual levels of morpholine in commercial citrus fruits, we attempted to use gas-liquid chromatography (GC) and further studied the removal efficiency of morpholine from the rind by washing and boiling.
We also investigated distribution and elimination of morpholine orally administrated to rats. The effect of several foods against nitrosation of morpholine by in vitro GC method and the preincubation method using Salmonella typhimurium TA 100 in the presence of S-9 Mix was measured.
The results of the investigation were as follows:
1) Morpholine from citrus fruits was extracted by steam distillation and purified by amberlite IR-120 B column chromatography and determined by use of FID-GC with columns packed with 10% Thermon 1000+3% KOH on Shimalite F.
2) Identification of peak on GC was carried out with GC-MS spectrum and mass chromatography.
3) Residual levels of morpholine in 28 commercial citrus fruits and marmalade varied from ND to 71.1ppm.
4) Removal efficiency of morpholine from the rind of fruits by washing with kitchen detergent or boiling for 20-40 mins varied from 24.3 to 87.0%. Removed morpholine was recovered quantitatively from washed or boiled solutions.
5) Morpholine and morpholine oleate orally administrated to rats was largely excreted unchanged in the urine over a period of 2-6 days. The faecal excretion of morpholine oleate appeared to be a little more than that of morpholine.
6) Morpholine and sodium nitrite reacted easily at pH 3.0 and formed nitrosomorpholine quantitatively over a period of 24 hours.
7) It was found that vitamine C, glucose, mannitol, cabbage juice, orange juice, shiitake extract and saliva inhibited the nitrosation of morpholine in vitro. But catechin, epicatechin and tea extract enhanced the same reaction.
8) Further studies were carried out to test the changes of the numbers of His⁺ revertant colonies by the preincubation method.
9) Nitrosomorpholine induced large numbers of His⁺ revertant colonies with S-9 Mix in Salmonella typhimurium TA 100.
10) His⁺ revertant colonies were decreased by the addition of vitamine C, glucose, mannitol, cabbage juice, orange juice, shiitake extract and saliva to the reaction solution of morpholine and sodium nitrite. But in the case of catechin and tea extract, His⁺ revertant colonies were increased.

View full abstract

The prevalence rate and the one-day patient rate of cancer of selected sites in Japan are estimated from the data of National Patient Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare for five years from 1976 to 1980.
Observed cancer sites are esophagus (8th Revision of International Classification of Diseases, ICD; 150), stomach (ICD; 151), colon (ICD; 153), rectum (ICD; 154), liver (ICD; 155, 197.8), bile duct (ICD; 156), pancreas (ICD; 157), lung (ICD; 162), breast (ICD; 174), uterus (ICD; 180, 182.0, 182.9), prostate (ICD; 185), bladder (ICD;188) and ovary (ICD; 183.0). The one-day patient rate of stomach cancer is the highest among these sites, that is, 31.1per 100, 000 population for males and 19.4 for females, followed by lung, breast and uterine cancers.
Using the information on the intervals between visits, the prevalence rates of the patients including those treated on the exact day of the survey as well as those regularly visiting the medical facilities but not attended on the day were estimated. The prevalence rate thus estimated is the highest in the stomach, which is 101 in estimation 1 (including all outpatients) and 76 in estimation 2 (outpatients whose interval of visits is 31 days or more are excluded) per 100, 000 population for males and, 77 and 47 for females respectively. The sites which show relatively high rates are as follows: breast (female); 79 and 33, uterine cervix (ICD; 180); 39 and 13 and unspecified uterus (ICD; 182.9); 55 and 19. The prevalence rates of breast and uterine cancer were relatively high when compared with both one-day patient rates and death rates.
The age specific rates were also observed for the sites with rather high frequency in Japan such as the stomach, lung, breast and uterus. The prevalence rate of stomach cancer in females and uterine cancer showed a decreasing tendency with age from the 70s on. The prevalence rate of lung cancer tended to be lower than the mortality rate for all ages while the rates of other sites did not.

View full abstract

The effect of dietary lipids and vitamin E on the susceptibility of lipid peroxidation to near ambient levels of ozone was studied in rats.
Rats were equally divided into four feeding groups and fed each diets for four weeks in order to equilibrate the organs to the contents of the diets, then exposed to 0.48ppm ozone for four hours daily seven days a week for four weeks. The feeding diets contained either lard or lard plus linoleic acid (50%w/w), both of which were supplemented with 100ppm vitamin E or deficient respectively. Because of higher TBA values and glutathione peroxidase activities in the lungs of the rats fed the lard plus linoleic acid, the degrees of susceptibility and protection against lipid peroxidation were considered to be greater in the these groups than those of the lard-fed groups.
Ozone exposure resulted in statistically singnificant increases of TBA values in the lungs and livers and an increase of glutathione peroxidase activity in the lungs of the rats. The activity of superoxide dismutase increased in the livers of the rats fed the lard plus linoleic acid diet depleted with vitamin E by ozone exposure. Morphological examination of rat lungs revealed that many swellings like lung emphysema were seen in the entire alveoli region of all rats ozone-exposed but no other severe changes were found in the trachea and the bronchi of the ozone-exposed rats.

View full abstract

COD_Mn of aliphatic monoamines was investigated using the semimicro determination method. Regular amines have low COD values in an acidic medium and relatively high values in an alkaline medium. Simple quaternary ammonium salts give low COD values in acidic and alkaline media.
The catalytic effect of AgNO₃ on oxidative decomposition could not seen in short alkyl chain tertary amines. In trioctylmethylammonium or benzalkonium salts an increase in COD values resulted from the addition of AgNO₃.
As decomposition products, corresponding and shorter alkyl chain fatty acids were detected. The amino group of amines was released as ammonium ions.
The mean oxidation rate of BOD of amines was 33.9%, a little larger than the alkaline COD rate.
These fundamental results will be useful in the evaluation of the COD of amines, amino acids and related substances.

View full abstract

The effects of dietary carbohydrate on phenobarbital (PB)-, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)- or 3-methylcholanthrene (MC)-induced increase in the activity of cytochrome P-450-linked monooxygenase, a UDP-glucuronyltransferase and a glutathione S-transferase in rats were studied. A low-carbohydrate diet increased the monooxygenase activity for all of the hydrocarbons studied (benzene, toluene, styrene, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, 1, 2-dichloroethane, 1, 1-dichloroethylene and trichloroethylene) without affecting microsomal protein and cytochrome P-450 contents. On the other hand, though causing an increase both in microsomal protein and cytochrome P-450 contents, PB, PCB and MC each produced only a substrate-specific increase in the enzyme activity: PB enhanced the metabolism of toluene, styrene, chloroform and trichloroethylene, but not those of benzene, carbon tetrachloride, 1, 2-dichloroethane and 1, 1-dichloroethylene; PCB increased only the metabolism of toluene, styrene and trichloroethylene; MC did not affect the metabolism of any of the hydrocarbons. A low-carbohydrate diet potentiated the effects of these inducers on the protein and cytochrome P-450, but the augmentation was reflected only in the metabolism of toluene and styrene.
Although PB, PCB and MC each increased both activites of UDP-glucuronyltransferase (substrate, p-nitrophenol) and glutathione S-transferase (3, 4-dichloronitrobenzene), the effect of dietary carbohydrate on these transferases was negligible. In addition, a low-carbohydrate diet failed to augment the enhancing effects of these inducers.
These results indicate that dietary carbohydrate intake is likely to affect the first phase metabolism of volatile hydrocarbons (functionalization reaction) but is not likely to cause a significant influence on the second phase metabolism (conjugation reactions).

View full abstract

A convenient screening method for tracing the amount of anionic surfactants (AS) in environmental water was developed by applying flow injection analysis (FIA) technique, a simple technique for the automation of wet chemical analyses, to the new solvent extraction spectrophotometry of AS (Motomizu, S., et al., Anal. Chem., 54, 392 (1982)). AS in more than 140 points of river and creek waters were determined by employing the screening method to assess the AS pollution of Saga city. The AS pollution was devided into four stages: scarecely or slightly polluted water; 0-0.1ppm (as sodium dodecyl sulphate), polluted water; 0.1-0.5ppm, highly polluted water; 0.5-1.0ppm, and extremely polluted water; 1.0ppm<. About 70% of all samples contained more than 0.1ppm of AS. The main contaminator was assumed to be the AS in waste water from houses. The AS concentration in all streams in the city tended to increase from upstream to downstream. The dynamics of AS were also investigated by monitoring the fluctuation of AS concentration for 24 hours and for 10 days.

View full abstract