Vitamin K2 promotes 1alpha,25(OH)2 vitamin D3-induced mineralization in human periosteal osteoblasts.

The effect of vitamin K on mineralization by human periosteal osteoblasts was investigated in the absence and presence of 1alpha, 25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3). Vitamin K1 and K2, but not vitamin K3, at 2.5 microM enhanced in vitro mineralization when cells were cultured with vitamin K for 20 days after reaching confluence in vitro.

Programmed cell death of chondrocytes and aberrant chondrogenesis in mice homozygous for parathyroid hormone-related peptide gene deletion.

In previous work we showed that the chondrodysplastic phenotype of mice homozygous for a null mutation of the PTH-related peptide (PTHrP) gene was due in part to reduced proliferation and aberrant differentiation of growth plate chondrocytes. In the present study we have extended those observations by examining chondrocytes for evidence of PTH/PTHrP receptor expression, proliferation, and programmed cell death. Receptor messenger RNA and protein were expressed in chondrocytes in the resting and proliferative zones of both wild-type and mutant mice.

Precipitated kappa-opioid receptor agonist withdrawal increase glutamate in rat locus coeruleus.

Extracellular fluid levels of excitatory amino acids (glutamate, Glu; and aspartate, Asp) in the locus coeruleus and the behavioral signs during naloxone-precipitated withdrawal from kappa-opioid receptor agonists, butorphanol and (5 alpha, 7 alpha, 8 beta) -(+)-N-methyl-N-[7-(1-pyrrolidinyl)-1-oxaspiro[4,5]dec-8-yl]-be nzaneacetamide (U-69,593), were investigated by in vivo microdialysis. Increases in levels of Glu, but not of Asp, were noted after naloxone (12 or 48 nmol/5 microliters, locus coeruleus)-precipitated withdrawal in the rats which had been intracerebroventricularly infused with butorphanol (26 nmol/1 microliters/h) or U-69,593 (26 nmol/10 microliters/h) for 3 days. The Glu levels in the locus coeruleus increased following administration of naloxone before and during the first 15-min sample after the precipitation of withdrawal in the butorphanol- or U-69,593-dependent rats.

The untranslated first exon 'exon 0S' of the rat estrogen receptor (ER) gene.

Recently, we have isolated the untranslated first exon 'exon ON' of the rat estrogen receptor (ER) gene from the liver by the use of the 5'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends (5'-RACE) method. To investigate the existence of other untranslated first exon(s), we further analyzed the 5'-untranslated region (UTR) of ER mRNA in the rat liver in this study. Total RNA from the livers of 8-week-old male Wistar rats was subjected to 5'-RACE with the antisense primers located in exon 1 of the rat ER gene.

A method of measuring dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC): effect of dexamethasone on DPPC secretion in fetal rat alveolar type II cell culture.

Objective: To establish a method by which to measure dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), which is the most prevalent phospholipid in lung surfactant, by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and to measure DPPC secretion in type-II alveolar cell culture to determine whether glucocorticoid has a direct accerelating effect.

Method: Type-II alveolar cell suspensions were made with fetal rat lungs and then cultured. Dexamethasone, (10(-9), 10(-8) M) was added to some of the culture dishes.

Uterine cervical clear-cell adenocarcinoma with a choriocarcinomatous component: a case report.

A 55-year-old woman presented with vaginal bleeding. A tumor was found in the cervix; it was composed of 2 distinctive elements: a clear-cell adenocarcinoma and a choriocarcinoma. Histologic findings suggested that the choriocarcinomatous element was derived from a preexisting clear-cell adenocarcinoma through a metaplastic process.

Effects of BIBR-277, an angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist, on stunned myocardium in dogs.

Background: Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors can protect the myocardium from ischaemic damage. We examined the effect of BIBR-277, an angiotensin II receptor type 1 antagonist, on myocardial stunning in dogs.

Methods: Pentobarbital-anaesthetized open-chest dogs were subjected to 20 min ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery, followed by reperfusion for 60 min.

Evaluation with MIB1 antibody of proliferative activity in ovarian clear cell adenocarcinoma.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether proliferative activity is a prognostic factor in ovarian clear cell adenocarcinoma. The paraffin-embedded sections from eight cases of ovarian clear cell adenocarcinoma were immunostained with monoclonal antibody MIB1 using microwave oven heating for antigen retrieval. The difference in survival (Kaplan-Meier) between patients with high and low MIB1 expression was estimated with the generalized Wilcoxon test.

Fertilization and development of mouse oocytes injected with isolated sperm heads.

To determine whether spermatozoa must be structurally intact before microsurgical injection into oocytes for normal fertilization, intact spermatozoa, as well as sperm heads separated from tails by sonication, were individually injected into oocytes. When whole spermatozoa were injected immediately after their immobilization, the majority of the oocytes were fertilized and developed normally. Sonication in the presence or absence of Triton X-100 decapitated more than 95% of spermatozoa.

The relationship between acridine orange fluorescence of sperm nuclei and the fertilizing ability of human sperm.

Objective: To determine whether the outcome of IVF can be predicted by acridine orange (AO) nuclear fluorescence of sperm.

Design: Based on the fact that AO nuclear fluorescence color after acid treatment reflects maturity (green fluorescence) or immaturity (yellow to red fluorescence) of spermatozoa, the relationships between sperm maturity and the outcome of IVF, subzonal insemination, or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were investigated.

Setting: The IVF program at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Fukushima Medical College.

[Effect of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphism on vitamin D therapy for postmenopausal bone loss].

In order to assess the effect of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms on vitamin D3 therapy for postmenopausal bone loss. Thirty-four Japanese postmenopausal women, administered vitamin D3 (Alfarol 1.0 microgram/day) and Ca (2.

Local production of the p40 subunit of interleukin 12 suppresses T-helper 1-mediated immune responses and prevents allogeneic myoblast rejection.

The p40 subunit of interleukin 12 (IL-12p40) has been known to act as an IL-12 antagonist in vitro. We here describe the immunosuppressive effect of IL-12p40 in vivo. A murine myoblast cell line, C2C12, was transduced with retro-virus vectors carrying the lacZ gene as a marker and the IL-12p40 gene.

Effects of adenine nucleotide analogues on myocardial dysfunction during reperfusion after ischemia in dogs.

We examined effects of adenine nucleotide on ischemic myocardial stunning in dogs. Pentobarbitalanesthetized open-chest dogs were subjected to 20-min ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), followed by reperfusion for 30 min. Either saline, 5 mM 8-bromo-5'-AMP (tributyryl-AMP), or 30 mM N6, 2', 3'-tributyryl-5'-AMP (tributyryl-AMP), 5 mM 5-amino-4-imidazole carboxamide riboside (AICAr) as a positive reference, was infused at 0.

Early detection of platelet activation after coronary angioplasty.

Background: Although platelet activation has been considered an important reaction after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), it is still difficult to detect the activated platelets in vivo directly.

Methods: To detect platelets activated at an early stage after PTCA, blood samples were take from the coronary sinus and the aorta in 22 patients with coronary artery disease, who underwent PTCA for a lesion of the left anterior descending artery. Ten patients with coronary artery disease, who underwent diagnostic coronary angiography only, were compared with them.

Acute myocardial infarction during pregnancy.

We report a 30-year-old woman who developed an acute myocardial infarction at 24 weeks of gestation. She did not undergo any kind of acute intervention. On the 8th hospital day, premature delivery was performed safely following premature rupture of membrane.

A mechanism of ischemic preconditioning during percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.

Manifestation of ischemic preconditioning and its mechanisms during percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) was evaluated. Twenty-two patients with angina pectoris, who had one-vessel coronary artery disease of the proximal left anterior descending artery but without visual collateral circulation, underwent elective PTCA performed by balloon inflations of 90 s, repeated three times or more. Changes in standard 12-lead electrocardiogram, hemodynamics and oxygen saturation of the great cardiac vein by a fiber-optic catheter were analyzed.

Relationship of thallium-201 clearance on exercise stress myocardial scintigraphy to coronary flow reserve in patients with coronary artery disease.

Objective: We evaluated thallium-201 (201Th) clearance measurement during exercise myocardial scintigraphy in patients with coronary artery disease, for the assessment of coronary circulatory function and diagnosis.

Design: The clearance rate of 201Th was compared with the coronary flow reserve measured by Doppler coronary flow velocimetry.

Methods: We selected 20 patients who had chronic stable angina with single-vessel coronary artery disease of the left anterior descending artery (LAD) and underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA).

Correlation of semen characteristics with acrosin, hyaluronidase, tubulin, dynein, and actin of spermatozoa.

The distribution of acrosin (AC), hyaluronidase (HY), tubulin (TU), dynein (DY), and actin (ACT) has been examined by indirect immunofluorescent measurement in sperm preparations from infertile patients to investigate the sperm fertilizing ability. The fluorescence scores were determined by the chromatically positive rates of each antibodies. In cases in which semen showed lower concentration (oligozoospermia and oligoasthenozoospermia), the scores of these proteins were all significantly lower than those of normozoospermia.

Systemic amyloidosis following ankylosing spondylitis associated with congestive heart failure. A case report.

We report the case of a 38-year-old man who developed fatal, systemic amyloidosis following ankylosing spondylitis. He was admitted for symptoms of congestive heart failure. Based on parotid gland biopsy and echocardiography, he was diagnosed as having systemic amyloidosis following active ankylosing spondylitis.

[Quality of life, subjective health status and health and life satisfaction in rheumatoid arthritis].

A Japanese version of Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS) was developed after the original AIMS Version 2 and utilized for Quality of Life (QOL) measurement in 691 patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Various medical (physical and laboratory) examinations, which are widely used in the clinical settings for the assessment of RA activity and severity, were also performed by physicians. Interrelationships between QOL, patient subjective health status, and health and life satisfaction were analyzed with the following results: 1: The effect of QOL impairment by RA upon patients' subjective health rating and health satisfaction were not constant over the range of severity of disease status.

Effects of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors on mitochondrial respiration in ischaemic dog hearts.

1. Effects of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, pravastatin and simvastatin, on the myocardial level of coenzyme Q10, and on mitochondrial respiration were examined in dogs. 2.