Focosyltransferases catalize the transfer of ¹⁴C-fucose from GDP-L-fucose-¹⁴C to oligosaccharides from human milk were demonstrated in human saliva.
1) An α- (1→4) -fucosyltransferase that synthesizes lacto-N-fucopentaose II and lacto-N-difucohexaose I from lacto-N-tetraose and lacto-N-fucopentaose I, respectively, was detected in saliva samples of Le (a-b+) secretors and Le (a+b-) non-secretors in which Le^a substance was secreted.
This enzyme activity was not detectable in saliva samples of Le (a-b-) secretors and nonsecretors, in which Le^a substance was absent.
2) An α- (1→2) -fucosyltransferase that synthesizes lacto-N-fucopentaose I from lacto-N-tetraose, was detected in saliva samples from Le (a-b+) secretors, secreted H and Le^b substances, and from Le (a-b-) secretors, secreted only H substance.
3) An α- (1→3) -fucosyltransferase was detected in all saliva samples from donors of different ABO and Lewis blood groups irrespective of their ABH secretor status.
4) The fucosyltransferases were activated by Mn⁺⁺ or Mg⁺⁺ ions, and was inhibited completely with ATP, GTP and EDTA. They had a broad pH optimum between 5.0 and 7.0.
5) Lacto-N-difucohexaose I could be synthesized from lacto-N-fucopentaose I by theα- (1→4) -fucosyltransferase from a saliva of OLe (a-b+) sec.donor.The difucohexaose could not be synthesized from lacto-N-fucopentaose II by the α- (1→2) -fucosyltransferase. Concerning the substrate specificities of the enzymes, it was, therefore, confirmed that H antigens could be converted to Le^b antigens.

抄録全体を表示

Meconium peritonitis is an aseptic chemical peritonitis caused by spill of aseptic meconium in the peritoneal cavity due to perforation of the gut during the last 6 months of the gestation and early postnatal period. It has grave prognosis and only 15 survivors had been reported in Japanese literatures prior to 1975.
A case of fibroadhesive type of the meconium peritonitis in a five-day-old male infant was presented. He was born in June 2, 1974. No abnormalities were found until he was in the 6th day of life, when he began to vomit bile stained fluid. He became distended by the next day and was transfered to the Gunma University Hospital. The scout film on admission (Fig. 1) revealed, a round calcium fleck in the subhepatic area with distended small bowel gas shadows. At laparotomy performed on the day of admission, dense calcified fibrous adhesions were found throughout the abdomen. No free perforation could be found. The adhesion was dissected out in the right lower abdomen and a side-to-side anastomosis was carried out between the bulbous distended portion of the small bowel and the terminal ileum. Immediate postoperative course was uneventful and he was discharged on June 26. However, he was readmitted on 83rd p.o. day in another hospital with fever and jaundice and died of an acute yellow liver atrophy caused by post-transfusion hepatitis on the 88th p.o. day. Hepatitis B antigen was demonstrated by an orcein method in the liver of the autopsied material.

抄録全体を表示

Four autopsy cases of Aortic Dissection (Dissecting Aneurysm) were reported.
Two cases of myocardial infarction, one case of ileus and one case of cerebral apoplexy were principal symptoms in these reported cases. Histologically, there were idiopathic cystic medionecrosis in 3 cases, and syphilitic mesoaortitis was suspected in one case. It seems more compatible to denominate this disease as Aortic Dissection than Dissecting Aneurysm.

抄録全体を表示

A 22-year-old man was admitted to the hospital with the history of frequent attacks of tetany since the age of 17 years.
His elder brother, who died at the age of 27 years, also had tetany since the age of 17 years, short stature, round face, and saddle nose.
Physical examination revealed short stature (145.2cm), round face, and saddle nose. Albright's phenomenon was positive.
Ophthalmologic examination revealed bilateral cataracts.
Neurological examination revealed hyporeflexia. Trousseau phenomenon and Chvostek's sign were positive.
Roentgenological examination revealed short metacarpals and basal ganglia calcification. Other tissures were free of ectopic calcification. X-ray picture of lumbar spine and pelvis revealed marked demineralization.
The electrocardiogram showed QT elongation, while the electromyogram showed repetitive discharge indicating tetany.
The verbal I.Q. was 59, the performance I.Q. 64, and the full scale I.Q. 47.
Blood chemistry revealed Ca 7.0mg/dl, P 7.0mg/dl, LDH 444mU/ml, CPK 430mU/ ml.
Urine Ca was 6.720.9mg/day and urine P was 253473mg/ day.
Renal function tests were within normal limits.
Glucose tolerance test showed a flat curve.
Phosphorus clearance was 2.8ml/min.. %TRP was 96.8 %.
Radioimmunoassay revealed high parathyroid hormone in plasma (2.0ng /ml).
The phosphaturic response to exogenous parathyroid hormone was obviously diminished.

抄録全体を表示

In one of the buildings of a factory, each of which is provided with its own central air conditioning system, about 1, 000 employees working in it were exposed to trichloroethylene (Tri) gas, diffused from a washing apparatus. The air concentration of the gas was above 100 ppm, and the duration of the exposure was considered to cover several months.
On the other hand, anemic sign on the skin and mucosa was found in many workers by the annual health examination, immediately before the finding of this air pollution by Tri. On account of this, the specific gravity of whole blood, hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Ht) were determined with all the workers of the factory.
According to the relevant literature, negative views appeared predominant concerning the direct connection between the exposure to Tri and development of anemia. We performed study on this connection, using as controls the non-exposed workers of other buildings, with the following results :
1) The concentration of Tri in environmental air, which was determined twice daily (at 11 : 30 a.m and 3 : 30 p.m.) and 70 times in total with the detector tube at 5 fixed points of the polluted building ranged 30-300 ppm. And it exceeded 100 ppm in more than half of the determinations.
2) Urinary excretions of total trichloro-compunds (TTC) and trichloroacetic acid (TCA) from 25 workers of this building ranged 15.4-159.3 mg/4hrs. and 4.8-69 mg/4hrs, respectively. High Tri exposure can be estimated also from metabolites.
3) Mean Hb was significantly lower in both males and females of the exposed group than in the non-exposed (P<0.01). Ht was significantly lower only in exposed males (P<0.01).
4) As for the correlations of urinary TTC to Hb and Ht, both correlation coefficients were negative. But either was not significant statistically.
5) Mean specific gravity of whole blood was, like Hb and Ht, significantly lower in both males and females of the exposed group (P<0.01). Some time after the improvement of environment, the mean specific gravity was elevated in the exposed group, finally becoming equal to that for the nonexposed group in both sexes.
It became clear from these results that the blood values were lower in Tri-expose d than in non-exposed group. The findings indicated that the specific gravity of whole blood was restored to the normal with the liberation from the pollution. It is, however, difficult for the method of the present observation to attribute the above mentioned changes in blood values exclusively to Tri exposure, since these values are easily susceptible to the influences of various factors such as individual living state and nutritional condition.

抄録全体を表示

1417 children, 845 males, 572 females, were referred to the neuropsychiatric clinic of the Gunma University Hospital during past ten years (19651974). Inquiring them, we obtained following results.
1) The number of patients grew with the age, but recently infant patients and child patients seemed to increase gradually.
2) Among disorders, the incidence was as follows : 6.1% oligophrenias, 32.7% convulsive disorders, 8.0% psychosis, 9.3% neurosis, 14.8% psychosomatic manifestations including abnormarity of behaviours and habits, 13.6% peripheral nerves and organic brain diseases, 4.4 % problems of character and disposition, 1.3% other problems of mental development, 5.5 % unknown, 4.2% nothing in particular.
3) The frequency of treatments was once or twice in about 60% of patients, especially patients of oligophrenias, organic brain disorders and problems of character and disposition.
4) Usually non-psychiatric physicians sent us patients with convulsive disorders, and on the other hand licensed psychiatrists tended to refer oligophrenias to us.
Based on these findings, we added some considerations.

抄録全体を表示

Cerebral stroke registry of Gunma Prefecture was studied statistically in terms of time-series analysis and compared with the mortality data during 8 years period.
The major findings were as follows :
1. The overall trend of a registry population was evidently declining.
2. Seasonal variation of the stroke incidences is becoming inapparent in recent years.
3. It was revealed that the number of registry adjusted with time-series analysis still leave an irregularity.
4. Observation of seasonal index for the stroke registry identified several peaks of the incidence in October, January and May in both sexes, suggesting the environmental factors of the disease.
5. Comparing the registry trend with the mortality data, prevalence of the stroke patients was estimated, substantial decrease of the patients from 1966 to the end of 1973 was about 3, 000. However, the supporting evidence of reliability for the registry procedure is lacking.
6. Epidemiologic significance of an introductory use of Z-chart for the registry trend was discussed.

抄録全体を表示

Most previous observations suggest the possibility that sulfhydryl-containing (SH) compunds may play a role in the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism. On the other hand, it is known that alloxan-induced diabetes may be partially prevented by the administration of glutathione and cysteine, which are without effect on streptozotocin (STZ) -induced diabetes. The present investigation was designed to re-examine whether SH-compounds would affect the diabetogenic action of STZ.
Male Wistar rats weighing 200 to 250 gm were used in all experiments. SH-compunds were administered ip or iv 5-30 minutes before an intravenous injection of STZ (65 mg/ kg). There was a tendency to block the development of the STZ-diabetes when cysteine and 2-mercaptopropionyl-glycine were injected ip. The degree of the protective effect, with concomitant elevations of plasma SH content, was markedly enhanced when cysteine (10-1000 mg/kg) was administered iv. Blood SH content was lower in diabetic rats and patients with untreated diabetes mellitus than in controls.
Thus the results of the present study clearly demonstrate that SH-compound could partially prevent the diabetogenic action of STZ. The effect of SH-group appears to be mediated through the common protective mechanism, at least in part, to the attacks of alloxan and STZ on the integrity of the pancreatic beta cell membrane.

抄録全体を表示