Acute hemodynamic effects of intravenous bolus injection of isosorbide dinitrate in aged patients with congestive heart failure]

In order to investigate whether intravenous bolus injection of isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) is a safe and efficient therapy in aged patients with congestive heart failure, we studied acute hemodynamic effects in 11 patients. Peak effects on preload were observed after 5 to 10 minutes of bolus injection and unloading effects continued effectively for 60 minutes. At peak effect, pulmonary systolic pressure decreased from 50.2 +/- 2.6 to 36.2 +/- 2.6 mmHg (-28.5%, p less than 0.01) and pulmonary end diastolic pressure decreased from 25.0 +/- 2.2 to 18.5 +/- 2.1 mmHg (-26.0%, p less than 0.01). Mean pulmonary artery wedge pressure decreased from 23.4 +/- 2.2 to 16.0 +/- 2.1 mmHg (-31.6%, p less than 0.01). Mean right atrial pressure decreased from 10.5 +/- 1.8 to 7.4 +/- 2.0 mmHg (-29.5%, p less than 0.01). Blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac index, systemic and pulmonary vascular resistance showed no significant changes. Thus, intravenous bolus injection of ISDN showed a potent vasodilator effects on preload, and may be a safe and useful treatment for aged patients with acute congestive heart failure.     

Recent trends in bagassosis in Japan.

The only workers presently exposed to bagasse dust in Japan are the employees of sugar refineries and lacquerware factories. A follow up study of six former cases of bagassosis from among the retired employees of a paper board factory, closed since 1973, showed that none of the subjects still had bagassosis. Examinations of 70 employees of a sugar refinery for allergic reactions also showed no case of bagassosis. Seven cases with suspicious shadows of bagassosis on chest radiographs and four cases with positive serum precipitin to stored bagasse were, however, found among those 70 subjects. The results show the disappearance of a past episode of bagassosis and the possibility of a new occurrence of bagassosis among the employees of sugar refineries and lacquerware factories in the near future in Japan.     

A case of renal pelvic carcinoma in situ]

A 72-year-old female visited our hospital with the complaint of macroscopic hematuria on Jan. 29, 1990. Cystoscopic examination revealed hematuria flowing out from the left ureteral orifice. A 1 cm mass was found in the left upper calyx by retrograde pyelography (RP). Urine cytology obtained by RP was class IIIb. Later, the mass was found in the left middle calyx by CT. Repeated RP revealed no mass and the wall of the left upper calyx was irregular. Washing cytology from the left renal pelvis was class V. Left total nephroureterectomy was performed on Feb. 2, 1990. Macroscopically, no tumor mass was apparent. Microscopically, transitional cell carcinoma in situ was widely spread from the left renal pelvis to the middle ureter. The preoperative upper calyceal mass was thought to have been a blood clot. At twelve months after the operation, there has been no evidence of tumor recurrence.     

Availability of 4'galactosyllactose (O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1----4)-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1----4)- D-glucopyranose) in rat

O-beta-D-Galactopyranosyl-(1----4)-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1----4)-D- glucopyranose (designated as 4'GL) is produced from lactose by Cryptococcus laurentii. The influence of chronic ingestion of 4'GL on body weight gain, organ weight, serum lipids, and liver lipids was investigated in rats. The body weight gains of the 5% and 10% 4'GL-diet groups were higher than that of the control group. Food intake and fecal dry weight were significantly increased (p less than 0.05) by 4'GL feeding. The 4'GL diet produced a significant increase (p less than 0.01) in the wet weight and contents of both the cecum and the colon. However, no significant increase was observed in the weight of the stomach, small intestine, liver, or other organs. The effects of 4'GL on serum and liver lipid levels were not observed in this experiment. The digestion of 4'GL was measured in vitro using the artificial gastric juice, alpha-amylase of human saliva, alpha-amylase of hog pancreas, and mucosa of rat intestine. 4'GL was not hydrolyzed by these enzymes. Long-term ingestion of 4'GL did not cause any induction of 4'GL hydrolyzing enzyme activity in the rat small intestine.     

Evidence that monoclonal antibodies against the 55kD subunit of the rat IL-2 receptor do not inhibit the development of suppressor cells generated in mixed lymphocyte culture

Although the ability of Ts to prevent allograft rejection has been well established, their intrinsic characteristics and dependence upon lymphokines remain poorly defined. The cells from unmodified LEWxBN bulk 5-day rat MLR inhibit both proliferation in test MLR and generation of CTL, as well as prolonging the survival of donor-specific test cardiac allografts following adoptive transfer. We have examined the effects of a panel of mAb directed against functionally distinct epitopes on the p55 subunit of rat IL-2R on the generation and in vitro/in vivo activity of MLR-generated Ts. ART-18 (which blocks IL-2-dependent T cell growth) was the only mAb from the panel that profoundly suppressed alloreactive T cell proliferation in primary MLR (47.5%). However, the generation of Ts was never affected by any mAb (% suppression in test MLR = 40-60%). Neither ART-18 nor ART-65 (which does not affect T cell proliferation) interfered with the efficacy of Ts to inhibit CTL generation in fresh bulk MLR. Adoptive transfer of cells (3-10 x 10(6] from ART-18 or ART-65-modulated MLR into naive LEW rats prolonged (LEW x BN)F1 test cardiac allograft survival to 11-13 days (P less than 0.05 as compared with acutely rejecting hosts). All in vitro and in vivo effects exerted by MLR-generated cells were antigen-specific. In unmodified MLR, Ts were IL-2R+ (ca. 50% of total blasts), as shown by cell separation using magnetic beads. In contrast, in MLR with ART-18 added, Ts were primarily IL-2R- (ca. 10% of blasts). Thus, antirat p55 subunit IL-2R mAb do not inhibit MLR-generated Ts functionally operative in vitro and in vivo. IL-2R- Ts precursors requiring lymphokine(s) other than IL-2 may differentiate into IL-2-dependent Ts effectors. Such divergent IL-2 requirements for Ts growth in vitro may explain the Ts-sparing effects in allograft recipients treated with anti-IL-2R mAb.     

Liquid crystal thermography; a reliable method for detecting soda lime exhaustion

The dynamic and functional state of soda lime can be more precisely assessed by measuring changes in wall temperatures of the absorption chambers rather than observing color change of the soda lime granules. We demonstrated in this report that the liquid crystal thermometer is an inexpensive and reliable measuring device for this purpose.     

p53 mutations in non-small cell lung cancer in Japan: association between mutations and smoking.

The p53 gene has been implicated as a tumor suppressor gene involved in the pathogenesis of lung cancer. Our previous study revealed that the p53 gene is frequently mutated with a distinct nucleotide substitution pattern in small cell lung cancer specimens in Japanese patients. In this study, we examined 30 primary, resected non-small cell lung cancer samples in Japanese patients using complementary DNA-polymerase chain reaction and sequencing. Mutations changing the p53 coding sequence were found in 14 of 30 tumor samples (47%), while G:C to T:A transversions which are uncommon in other cancers such as colon cancer were the most frequently observed mutations, in agreement with an earlier report on non-small cell lung cancer in American patients. Furthermore, the present study shows for the first time that in univariate and multivariate analyses, the presence of p53 mutations is closely associated with lifetime cigarette consumption.     

Cyclic tensile stretch load and oxidized low density lipoprotein synergistically induce lectin-like oxidized ldl receptor-1 in cultured bovine chondrocytes, resulting in decreased cell viability and proteoglycan synthesis.

Mechanical stimulation is known to be an essential factor in the regulation of cartilage metabolism. We tested the hypothesis that expression of lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1) can be modulated by cyclic tensile stretch load in chondrocytes. Cyclic loading of repeated stretch stress at 10 cycles per minute with 10 kPa of stress for 6 h induced expression of LOX-1 to 2.6 times control in cultured bovine articular chondrocytes, equivalent to the addition of 10 microg/mL oxidized low density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) (2.4 times control). Application of the cyclic load to the chondrocytes along with 10 microg/mL ox-LDL resulted in synergistically increased LOX-1 expression to 6.3 times control. Individual application of cyclic loading and 10 microg/mL ox-LDL significantly suppressed chondrocytes viability (84.6% +/- 3.4% and 80.9% +/- 3.2% of control at 24 h, respectively; n = 3; p < 0.05) and proteoglycan synthesis [81.0% +/- 7.1% and 85.7% +/- 5.2% of control at 24 h, respectively; p < 0.05 when compared with 94.6% +/- 4.6% for native-LDL (n = 3)]. Cyclic loading and 10 microg/mL ox-LDL synergistically affected cell viability and proteoglycan synthesis, which were significantly suppressed to 45.6% +/- 4.9% and 48.7% +/- 6.7% of control at 24 h, respectively (n = 3; p < 0.01 when compared with individual application of cyclic loading or 10 microg/mL ox-LDL). In this study, we demonstrated synergistic effects of cyclic tensile stretch load and ox-LDL on cell viability and proteoglycan synthesis in chondrocytes, which may be mediated through enhanced expression of LOX-1 and which has important implications in the progression of cartilage degeneration in osteoarthritis.     

An in vivo 19F NMR study of isoflurane elimination as a function of age in rat brain.

In vivo 19F NMR at 4.7 T has shown that the biphasic elimination of the vapor anesthetic isoflurane from rat brain is ca 15% slower in old (23-24 months) animals compared with young (5-6 months) animals. The fast kinetic component has a t1/2 of ca 7-9 min and the slow event, 100-115 min. Gas chromatographic measurement of arterial blood elimination displays age attenuation to the same extent, although a monophasic kinetic process (6-7 min). The slow wash-out from brain is thought to involve elimination from intracranial fatty tissue as postulated by others in rabbit brain. Longitudinal relaxation time measurements show monoexponential recovery and essentially identical values for young (1.09 + 0.11 s) and old (1.04 +/- 0.09 s) animals. For dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine vesicles the monoexponential recovery also suggests rapidly exchanging averaged homogeneous lipid environments for the anesthetic, but the longer T1s (2.75 +/- 0.25 s) imply less restricted mobility compared with brain. Single T2 values were obtained in vivo, indicating either a single compartment or rapid exchange between multiple environments. These measurements were inconsistent, undoubtedly as a result of B1 inhomogeneity. The age-attenuated elimination kinetics for isoflurane are consistent with poorer cardiopulmonary function, whereas the T1 data suggest similar environments for the anesthetic in young and old brain tissue.