Clerodane diterpenoids with NGF-potentiating activity from Ptychopetalum olacoides

Four new clerodane-type diterpenoids, ptychonolide (1), 20-O-methylptychonal acetal (2), and an equilibrium mixture of ptychonal hemiacetal (3) and ptychonal (4), were isolated from the MeOH extract of the bark of a Brazilian plant, Ptychopetalum olacoides. The structure of 1 was elucidated as a clerodane-type diterpenoid on the basis of spectroscopic data, whereas 2 was assigned to an acetal derivative of 1. Compounds 3 and 4 existed as an equilibrium mixture. A mixture of compounds 3 and 4 was found to exhibit neurite outgrowth-promoting activities on NGF-mediated PC12 cells at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 10.0 microM.     

A device for adsorbing unbound, unconjugated bilirubin and its effects in vitro and in a hyperbilirubinemic newborn piglet

AIMS: A novel blood purification material that we previously reported as a superantigen- and cytokine-adsorbing device (SCAD) was evaluated for its ability to adsorb unbound, unconjugated bilirubin (UUBil) in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: In albumin-containing buffer, UUBil was dissolved and circulated through the SCAD column. Also, bilirubin was infused into low-body weight newborn piglets and hemoperfused for 3 h over SCAD columns. RESULTS: In albumin-containing buffer, concentration of bilirubin decreased from 34 to 0.6 mg/dL within 5 h and the SCAD fiber turned brown, indicating that bilirubin was adsorbed onto the surface of the adsorbent and was not degraded during the circulation. Using the hyperbilirubinemia swine, clearances of total bilirubin (TBil), direct bilirubin (DBil), and indirect bilirubin (IdBil) were significantly higher (P<0.01) in the SCAD group compared with the control group. The clearances of TBil, DBil, and IdBil at 3 h after the initiation of the bilirubin infusion were 0.47, 0.53, and 0.45 mL/min, respectively, at a blood flow rate of 2.5 mL/min, and this result indicates that almost 20% of bilirubins were adsorbed to the SCAD column in a single passage. CONCLUSION: These results provide initial evidence that SCAD treatment is effective in the removal of UUBil and can be performed safely in newborn animals.     

Measures of Perceived Neighborhood Food Environments and Dietary Habits: A Systematic Review of Methods and Associations

Access to healthy food is a necessity for all people. However, there is still a lack of reviews on the assessment of respondent-based measures of neighborhood food environments (perceived food environments). The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the measurement tools for perceived food environments by five dimensions of food access and to obtain the overview of their associations with dietary habits among people aged 18 years and older in middle- and high-income countries. Observational studies using perceived food environment measures were identified through a systematic review based on two databases for original studies published from 2010 to 2020. A total of 19 final studies were extracted from totally 2926 studies. Pertaining to the five dimensions of food access, 12 studies dealt with accessibility, 13 with availability, 6 with affordability, 10 with acceptability, 2 with accommodation, and 8 with a combination of two or more dimensions. Perceived healthy food environments were positively associated with healthy dietary habits in 17 studies, but 8 of them indicated statistically insignificant associations. In conclusion, this review found accessibility and availability to be major dimensions of perceived food environments. The relationship between healthy food environments and healthy diets is presumably positive and weak.     

Changes in Mac-1 and CD14 expression on monocytes and serum soluble CD14 level during push/pull hemodiafiltration

BACKGROUND/AIM: Employment of treated dialysate as replacement fluid raises concerns about exposure of patients to pyrogenic substances. This study was undertaken to evaluate the safety of treated dialysate as the replacement fluid for push/pull hemodiafiltration. METHODS: In the present study, changes in the expressions of Mac-1 and CD14 on monocytes, which are upregulated by monocyte activation, were analyzed by flow cytometry, and the serum level of sCD14 which elevates by monocyte activation was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) during treatment in 7 patients on hemodialysis with regenerated cellulose (RC) membrane, polysulfone (PS) membranes and by push/pull hemodiafiltration (HDF) with PS membranes in a cross-over fashion. RESULTS: During hemodialysis with RC, hemodialysis with PS or push/pull hemodiafiltration with PS, both Mac-1 and CD14 expressions on monocytes significantly increased by passing through the artificial kidneys, and, accordingly, the respective values downstream of the artificial kidneys were significantly higher than the predialysis values, even when the lipopolysaccharide level in dialysate was not detectable by Limulus assay. There was no significant variation in serum sCD14 levels during any of the hemodialysis with RC, hemodialysis with PS or push/pull hemodiafiltration. However, during hemodialysis with PS or push/pull hemodiafiltration with PS, changes in Mac-1 and CD14 expression on monocytes were significantly smaller than those during hemodialysis with RC. CONCLUSION: Monocytes are activated to a greater extent during hemodialysis with RC membranes than during push/pull HDF with PS membranes. We consider that push/pull HDF may be safer than hemodialysis with RC membrane and that it is as safe as hemodialysis with the PS membrane in terms of monocyte activation, when pyrogen-free dialysate is employed.     

Case of urachal cancer treated by neoadjuvant chemotherapy with FOLFOX4 (oxaliplatin, 5-FU and leukovolin)

A 52-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for treatment of urachal cancer. She complained of supurapubic dull pain and gross hematuria. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed a non-papillary sessile tumor, which was located on the dome of the bladder and invaded the small intestine. The tumor was diagnosed as Sheldon's stage IIIC urachal cancer. After three courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with FOLFOX4 (oxaliplatin, 5-FU and leukovolin), the tumor was reduced from 7 x 6 cm to 5.5 x 5 cm in size. Consequently, the patient underwent an en-bloc resection of the urachal tumor with the dome of the bladder and the parts of the ileum invaded by the tumor. One course of adjuvant chemotherapy (FOLFOX4) was performed. Surgical specimen revealed histologically well differentiated squamous carcinoma and invasion to the propria of the ileum. The surgical margins were negative for the cancer. For 1.5 years after the surgery, no local recurrence or distant metastasis has been observed.     

Influence of head and neck position on cuff position and oropharyngeal sealing pressure with the laryngeal mask airway in children

We studied how head and neck position affect the cuff positionand oropharyngeal sealing pressures of the laryngeal mask airways(LMAs) in children. We studied 39 non-paralyzed healthy childrenaged 1.5–8.0 yr, weighing 10.3–27.0 kg, managedwith size 2 or 2.5 LMAs during elective surgery. Head and neckmovements did not adversely affect airway patency in 97% ofpatients. One child developed apparent airway obstruction withhead and neck flexion, which was relieved in the neutral position.Oropharyngeal sealing pressure was significantly greater duringneck flexion compared with the neutral position (P<0.02).Fibreoptic examination revealed that the epiglottis covereda larger area of the LMA aperture during neck flexion, comparedwith the neutral position (P<0.02). Br J Anaesth 2001; 86: 122–4     

Correlation between diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance imaging and motor-evoked potential in chronic severe diffuse axonal injury

We conducted a study to evaluate the degree of corticospinal tract (CST) dysfunction associated with diffuse axonal injury (DAI) through analyses of both diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTMRI) and motor-evoked potential (MEP). Using DTMRI and MEP with transcranial magnetic stimulation, we evaluated 138 instances of CST in 52 patients with severe chronic DAI and compared them with the findings in 17 normal volunteers. We determined values of fractional anisotropy (FA) on FA maps obtained with DTMRI of six regions of interest (ROIs) in the CST, consisting of the semioval center, coronal radiation, posterior limb of internal capsule, midbrain, pons and medulla oblongata. The lowest value of %FA for each of the six ROIs in each CST was defined as the minimum %FA, and the lowest magnetic stimulation strength that produced MEP was defined as the minimum threshold for MEP. The mean minimum %FA for CSTs in which MEP could not be obtained even with maximum magnetic stimulation (the MEP- group) was significantly lower than that of CSTs in which MEP could be obtained (the MEP+ group). ROIs with the lowest %FA value were the midbrain in the MEP+ group and the medulla oblongata in the MEP- group. In the MEP+ group, a serial decrease in the minimum %FA value significantly correlated with a serial increase in minimum threshold for MEP. These results show that in patients with chronic DAI, physiological motor dysfunction as revealed by MEP correlates significantly with morphological damage to the CST as detected by DTMRI. This strongly suggests that DTMRI can be a valuable tool for evaluating aberrant motor function and for estimating its severity in DAI.     

A novel method of 'preparative' myocardial protection using green tea polyphenol in oral uptake

Reperfusion injury has been one of the serious problems in cardiac surgery and medicine. We report a novel method of myocardial protection. Eight Sprague-Dawley rats, group A, were administrated green tea polyphenol orally. Eight other rats, group B, received no medication. Isolated hearts were perfused with a Langendorff's apparatus, and reperfused after 90min arrest. The left ventricular (LV) function, size, weight and the oxidative stress spaciotemporal analysis were performed. The LV size in group B became enlarged by 1.8+/-0.12 (mean+/-SD), but in group A, the LV enlarged only 1.1+/-0.08 times. The heart weight ratio was lighter (1.35+/-0.05) in group A than in group B (1.49+/-0.03, P<0.05). The LV end-systolic pressure volume relationship remained higher in group A. Oxidative stress as shown by 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine was lower in group A (81.5+/-11.6) than in group B (226.9+/-35.6, P<0.0001). Polyphenol labeled FITC was located in the cell membrane of cardiomyocite. Polyphenol can protect a heart from oxidative stress, and maintain good LV function after ischemic arrest and reperfusion. This pre-treatment by polyphenol may add further benefit to current treatments of myocardial protection.     

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) in leukemia: clinical value of plasma ADA activity and characterization of leukemic cell ADA

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity was measured in plasma, erythrocytes, and mononuclear cells from 18 patients with acute and chronic leukemia. High levels of ADA activities were found in plasma, erythrocytes, and mononuclear cells from patients with acute leukemia, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and blastic crisis of chronic myeloid leukemia. Serial determination of plasma ADA activities was done in 9 patients with acute leukemia. All patients untreated or in relapse had an elevation of plasma ADA activity, which decreased to normal or subnormal levels during complete remission. On starch gel electrophoresis, plasma ADA in leukemic patients separated into two bands. The major band showed a mobility identical to that of normal red cells and mononuclear cells, and the minor band corresponded to that of normal plasma ADA. Enzymatic and immunological studies were performed on ADA from leukemic cells of acute myeloid and lymphoblastic leukemia. There were no differences in Michaelis constant for adenosine, thermostability, electrophoretic mobility, immunological reactivity, and specific activity between ADA of leukemic cells and normal mononuclear cells. These results strongly suggest that the increased ADA activity in leukemic cells is caused by an increased synthesis of a structurally normal enzyme and that increased plasma ADA activity in leukemic patients reflects an increment of leukemic cells in bone marrow. Therefore, serial determination of plasma ADA activities seems to provide a good indicator of the total mass of leukemic cells in bone marrow.     

Complete nucleotide sequence of an infectious clone of human T-cell leukemia virus type II: an open reading frame for the protease gene.

The entire nucleotide sequence of an infectious clone of human T-cell leukemia virus type II provirus was determined. This provirus consists of 8952 nucleotides. In addition to long terminal repeats and gag, pol, env, and X, a protease gene that is responsible for processing the gag precursor protein was found. The protease gene is encoded in a different frame from gag and pol and was located between the gag and pol open reading frames. The 5' region of the protease gene overlaps the 3' gag region. Coding regions of the provirus show about 60% homology with those of human T-cell leukemia virus type I at the nucleotide level. The evolutionary relationship between human T-cell leukemia virus types I and II is discussed.