Peroxyl radical scavenging capability of fish sauces measured by the chemiluminescence method

Oxygen-related free radicals have been suggested as a cause of aging and various diseases, for example, various cancers and rheumatoid arthritis. A radical scavenger as an antioxidant has been sought in foods. Fish sauces are traditional Asian fermented seasonings. Using the luminol chemiluminescence method, the peroxyl radical scavenging capability of fish sauces was examined. From the IC50 values, many fish sauces have been shown to have a strong scavenging capability as well as soy sauces. A scavenging mechanism is also proposed.     

Use of glycopeptidolipid core antigen for serodiagnosis of mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary disease in immunocompetent patients

We report the development of a serodiagnostic method for Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) disease with an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) with the MAC-specific glycopeptidolipid (GPL) core as the antigen. In this study, we confirmed by EIA that the GPL core antibody was in the sera of immunocompetent patients with MAC disease. The EIA for quantifying the GPL core antibody was evaluated as a clinical tool for serodiagnosis of pulmonary MAC disease. A significant increase in GPL core antibodies (immunoglobulins G, A, and M) was detected in sera of patients with MAC pulmonary diseases when they were compared to patients who were colonized with MAC, patients with Mycobacterium kansasii disease or tuberculosis, and healthy subjects. The sensitivities and specificities of the GPL core-based EIA for diagnosis of MAC pulmonary disease were 72.6% and 92.2%, respectively, for IgG, 92.5% and 95.1%, respectively, for IgA, and 78.3% and 91.0%, respectively, for IgM. The best sensitivity and specificity were obtained by measuring immunoglobulin A antibodies against GPL core antigen. The level of GPL core antibodies reflected disease activity, since it decreased in cured MAC patients who had responded to chemotherapy. Measurement of serum antibodies against GPL core is useful for both diagnosis and assessment of disease activity in MAC disease of the lung.     

MORPHOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES OF A CASE OF MUCOPOLYSACCHARIDOSIS II (HUNTER'S SYNDROME)

An autopsy case of a 19-year-old boy who had shown typical gargoyle features, strictly consistent with mucopolysaccharidosis type II (Hunter's syndrome) was reported. Histologically, cytoplasmic vacuolar change was found In hepatocytes, sinusoidal epithelium of spleen, follicular cells of thyroid, Sertoli cells of testis, chromophobe cell of pituitary and generalized fibroblast-like cells including meninges, cardiac valve and periosteum. The vacuoles consisting of membrane-bound structures with flocculus protein-like material and occasional electron dense bodies on electron microscopy, were considered to be the site of mucopolysaccharide deposition by histochemical analysis. Deposition of lipid material consistent with so-called membranous cytoplasmic body was observed in the neurons of central, peripheral and autonomic nervous system. Hepatosplenomegaly could be explained by cytoplasmic deposition, but the cause of cardiomegaly remained further to be studied. Biochemically hepatic mucopolysaccharide was identified as heparan sulfate, while in the kidney dermatan sulfate and heparan sulfate were detected. The correlation between morphology and biochemistry, and between deposition and degeneration was discussed.     

Histamine downregulates CD14 expression via H2 receptors on human monocytes

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) binds to LPS-binding protein (LBP) in plasma and is delivered to the cell surface receptor CD14 on human monocyte. LPS is transferred to the transmembrane signaling receptor toll-like receptor (TLR) 4. In the present study, the effect of histamine on the expression of CD14 on human monocytes was investigated. Histamine concentration- and time-dependently decreased the expression of cell surface CD14, whereas histamine did not decrease mRNA for CD14 nor increase soluble CD14 (sCD14). The inhibitory effects of histamine on CD14 expression were antagonized by H2-receptor antagonist, but not by H1 and H3/H4 antagonist. The effects of selective H2-receptor agonists, 4-methylhistamine and dimaprit, on CD14 expression mimicked that of histamine indicating that histamine regulated CD14 expression through the stimulation of H2-receptors. The pretreatment with histamine partially inhibited the LPS-induced TNF-alpha production in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Such inhibition might be due to the down-regulation of CD14 expression on monocytes by histamine.     

Validation of ECRHS Questionnaire in Japanese to use for nation-wide prevalence study of adult asthma]

PURPOSE: To enable international comparison of prevalence in asthma, we translated and evaluated ECRHS Questionnaire, which is introduced in GINA. Considering COPD prevalence in elder people, we added two questions to the ECRHS Questionnaire. METHOD: The Japanese edition of ECRHS Questionnaire was responded by 366 patients who were diagnosed asthma without COPD, 61 patients who were diagnosed COPD without asthma, and 137 healthy persons who were not diagnosed asthma or COPD. We analyzed the answers of the each group and evaluated the validity of the questionnaire to use for the nation-wide prevalence study of adult asthma in future. RESULTS: The question of 'Wheezing at any time in the last 12 months' had the highest Youden's index and validity to pick up asthma patients. The questions of 'Waking up with a feeling of tightness in chest at any time in the last 12 months' and 'Waking up by an attack of shortness of breath at any time in the last 12 month' had the highest specificity to pick up asthma patients. Most of the questions which were related asthma were able to be answered by asthma patients properly, but some questions were improperly answered by patients and healthy persons in elderly. The results in this study showed the less recognition of their diseases in elderly patients than younger patients and the limitation of the study with written questionnaire for elderly people. Not a few COPD patients complained wheezing or whistling in the chests as same as asthma patients in this study. CONCLUSION: We concluded that we had almost enough reliability in the Japanese edition of the ECRHS questionnaire for screening survey of asthma prevalence in Japan.     

Chromosome 1q terminal deletion resulting fromde novo translocation with an acrocentric chromosome

Summary Distal deletion of chromosome 1q has been reported in nearly 30 patients, all being associated with a deletion ranging from the 1q42 or q43 band to 1qter region. Here, we describe a girl with 1q terminal deletion resulting from an unbalancedde novo translocation t(1;D or G)(q44; p11), as revealed by the presence of a satellited feature and an NOR-stained region at the tip of 1q. We suggest that most of the phenotypic abnormalities seen in patients with 1q distal deletion are attributable to the monosomy for band 1q44.     

Phase stability after aging and its influence on pin-on-disk wear properties of Ce-TZP/Al2O3 nanocomposite and conventional Y-TZP

Recently zirconia/alumina composites have been examined by many researchers as the new generation of bearing materials in total joint replacements. In this study, the phase stability of a Ce-TZP/Al(2)O(3) nanocomposite and conventional Y-TZP after aging, and its influence on wear resistance, were investigated. Very slight phase transformation was observed in both types of ceramics 18 months after the implantation of Ce-TZP/Al(2)O(3) or Y-TZP samples into rabbit tibiae. However, Y-TZP showed marked phase transformation (approximately 80%) after aging in an autoclave (121 degrees C) for 190 h or in physiological saline at 62 degrees C for 18 months, whereas the new composite remained almost resistant to degradation. According to the results of self-pairing pin-on-disk wear tests using ceramic specimens with or without autoclave aging, the wear factor was almost the same between Ce-TZP/Al(2)O(3) samples with and without aging (6.74 +/- 0.36 x 10(-8) and 6.04 +/- 0.95 x 10(-8) mm(3)/Nm, respectively). In contrast, although non-aged Y-TZP had the lowest wear factor (4.88 +/- 0.51 x 10(-8) mm(3)/Nm) of all specimens tested, aged Y-TZP showed 10-fold greater wear than nonaged Y-TZP. The present study suggests that Ce-TZP/Al(2)O(3) nanocomposite has much greater phase stability than Y-TZP, and that its wear properties are not influenced by aging.     

Generators of visual evoked potentials for faces and eyes in the human brain as determined by dipole localization

Human visual evoked potentials were recorded during presentation of photos of human and animal faces and various face features. Negative waves with approximate peak latencies of 165 msec (N170) were bilaterally recorded from the occipito-temporal regions. Mean peak latencies of the N170 were shorter for faces than eyes only. Analyses of amplitudes of evoked potentials indicated that the N170 elicited by faces reflected activity of a specific neural system which was insensitive to detailed differences among individual faces regardless of species, and consequently suggest that this system might function to detect existence of faces in general. On the other hand, the mean amplitude of the N170 elicited by human eyes was significantly larger than those by animal eyes. These differences in response latencies and amplitudes of the N170 suggest existence of at least 2 different visual evoked potentials with similar latencies (i.e., N170) which are sensitive to faces in general and human eyes, respectively. Dipole source localization analysis indicated that dipoles for the N170 elicited by eyes were located in the posterior inferior temporal gyrus, and those for faces, located initially in the same region, but moved toward the fusiform and lingual gyri at the late phase of the N170. The results indicated that information processing of faces and eyes separated at least as early as the latency of the N170 at the posterior inferior temporal gyrus as well as the fusiform and lingual gyri, and might provide neurophysiological and anatomical bases to an initial structural encoding stage of human faces.