Ca2+-induced activation of ATPase activity of myosin Va is accompanied with a large conformational change.

We succeeded in expressing the recombinant full-length myosin Va (M5Full) and studied its regulation mechanism. The actin-activated ATPase activity of M5Full was significantly activated by Ca(2+), whereas the truncated myosin Va without C-terminal globular domain is not regulated by Ca(2+) and constitutively active. Sedimentation analysis showed that the sedimentation coefficient of M5Full undergoes a Ca(2+)-induced conformational transition from 14S to 11S.

[Detection of myocardial ischemia by analysis of the shape of exercise-induced ST elevation in infarct-related leads].

Objectives: Possible mechanisms of exercise-induced ST elevation in infarct-related leads include ventricular dyskinesis, and myocardial ischemia in the infarct region. Detection of ischemia in viable myocardium in the infarct region is important to determine the therapeutic strategy. This study evaluated whether the analysis of the shape of exercise-induced ST elevation(convex or concave type) is useful to detect myocardial ischemia in the infarct region.

Risk of basal cell carcinoma in relation to alcohol intake and smoking.

We prospectively investigated whether alcohol intake and smoking affect the risk of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in subjects from the United States Radiological Technologists (USRT) cohort study. We evaluated 68,371 radiological technologists certified during 1926-1982 who were free of cancer at the time they answered a first questionnaire (1983-1989) and who completed a second questionnaire (1994-1998). The first questionnaire provided baseline information on numerous risk factors, including smoking and alcohol intake, and the second provided self-reported cancer diagnoses.

A pooled analysis of case-control studies of thyroid cancer: cigarette smoking and consumption of alcohol, coffee, and tea.

Objective: To analyze the role of smoking, alcohol, coffee and tea in relation to thyroid cancer, we conducted a pooled analysis of 14 case-control studies conducted in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Methods: The sample consisted of 2725 thyroid cancer cases (2247 females, 478 males) and 4776 controls (3699 females, 1077 males). Conditional logistic regression with stratification on study, age at diagnosis, and gender was used to compute odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals.

Studies of mortality of atomic bomb survivors. Report 13: Solid cancer and noncancer disease mortality: 1950-1997.

This continues the series of general reports on mortality in the cohort of atomic bomb survivors followed up by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation. This cohort includes 86,572 people with individual dose estimates, 60% of whom have doses of at least 5 mSv. We consider mortality for solid cancer and for noncancer diseases with 7 additional years of follow-up.

Biological effects after prenatal irradiation (embryo and fetus). A report of the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

In its 1990 recommendations, the ICRP considered the radiation risks after exposure during prenatal development. This report is a critical review of new experimental animal data on biological effects and evaluations of human studies after prenatal radiation published since the 1990 recommendations.Thus, the report discusses the effects after radiation exposure during pre-implantation, organogenesis, and fetogenesis.

Dose response and temporal patterns of radiation-associated solid cancer risks.

Findings of the Life Span Study (LSS) cohort of atomic-bomb survivors are a primary source for quantitative risk estimates that underlie radiation protection. Because of the size and length of follow-up, the LSS provides considerable information on both the nature of the dose response and on how radiation-associated excess risks vary with age, age at exposure, sex, and other factors. Our current analyses extend the mortality follow-up by 7 y (through 1997) and add 8 y (through 1995) to the incidence follow-up.

Cancer incidence in the US radiologic technologists health study, 1983-1998.

Background: Workers exposed to low doses of radiation can provide information regarding cancer risks that are of public concern. However, characterizing risk at low doses requires large populations and ideally should include a large proportion of women, both of which rarely are available.

Methods: Among 90305 radiologic technologists in the U.

Joint effects of radiation and smoking on lung cancer risk among atomic bomb survivors.

Results are given on the joint effect of radiation exposure and cigarette smoking on lung cancer risks among A-bomb survivors, based on 592 cases through 1994. Information on smoking was derived from mail surveys and clinical interviews of 45113 persons in the Radiation Effects Research Foundation cohort. Radiation and smoking effects on lung cancer are found to be significantly sub-multiplicative and quite consistent with additivity.

Low-dose tacrolimus for intractable myasthenia gravis.

We treated two patients suffering from intractable myasthenia gravis (MG) with low-dose tacrolimus plus prednisolone. Both patients showed significant improvement of myasthenic signs, accompanied by suppressed serum anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody, waning in compound muscle action potential by repetitive nerve stimulation and IL-2 production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Low-dose tacrolimus plus prednisolone is a promising therapeutic regimen for intractable MG.

Mortality from diseases of the circulatory system in radiologic technologists in the United States.

Although increased mortality from diseases of the circulatory system has been observed in patients treated with radiotherapy, the effects of chronic low-dose radiation exposure are not clear. Among 90,284 US radiologic technologists who responded to a mailed questionnaire during 1983-1989, the authors evaluated mortality from circulatory system diseases through 1997 in relation to job history and work procedures as surrogates for radiation exposure. They used Poisson regression models stratified for sex, race, age, and calendar year and adjusted for smoking, body mass index, alcohol intake, marital status, parity, menopausal status, and history of myocardial infarction.

Simulations of airflow and substance concentration around a human body.

In order to predict airflow and suspended substance concentration around a human body, we developed a geometric model of the human form and generated grids around it for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). According to a CFSV model proposed by us we made a domain that included a geometric human model and generated the grids within this domain. By using this model with the grids and the developed CFD program, it is possible to simulate the airflow and the transfer of a suspended substance around the body.

Hepatocellular carcinoma among atomic bomb survivors: significant interaction of radiation with hepatitis C virus infections.

We conducted a nested case-control study within the cohort of Japanese survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings to study the joint effects of HBV and HCV with radiation on the risk of HCC. Among subjects who received autopsies during 1954-1988, we analyzed archival tissue samples for 238 pathologically confirmed HCC cases and 894 controls who died from diseases other than liver cancer. Using logistic regression and adjusting for potential confounders and other factors, we found a statistically significant, supermultiplicative interaction between A bomb radiation and HCV in the etiology of HCC.

Alcohol, tobacco and breast cancer--collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 53 epidemiological studies, including 58,515 women with breast cancer and 95,067 women without the disease.

Alcohol and tobacco consumption are closely correlated and published results on their association with breast cancer have not always allowed adequately for confounding between these exposures. Over 80% of the relevant information worldwide on alcohol and tobacco consumption and breast cancer were collated, checked and analysed centrally. Analyses included 58,515 women with invasive breast cancer and 95,067 controls from 53 studies.

A pooled analysis of case-control studies of thyroid cancer. VII. Cruciferous and other vegetables (International).

Objective: To investigate the association between cruciferous and other vegetables and thyroid cancer risk we systematically reanalyzed the original data from 11 case-control studies conducted in the US, Asia, and Europe.

Methods: A total of 2241 cases (1784 women, 457 men) and 3716 controls (2744 women, 972 men) were included. Odds ratios (OR) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for each study by logistic regression models, conditioned on age and sex, and adjusted for history of goiter, thyroid nodules or adenomas, and radiation.

M20, the small subunit of PP1M, binds to microtubules.

Myosin light chain phosphatase (PP1M) is composed of three subunits, i.e., M20, MBS, and a catalytic subunit.

Tumors of the nervous system and pituitary gland associated with atomic bomb radiation exposure.

Background: The risk of developing nervous system tumors following exposure to ionizing radiation is not well quantified. We characterized the incidence of nervous system tumors among atomic bomb survivors as a function of radiation dose.

Methods: Tumors of the nervous system and pituitary gland diagnosed between 1958 and 1995 among 80 160 atomic bomb survivors were ascertained using the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tumor registries, medical records, and death certificates.

MALC, a novel microinjection method for loading of macromolecules into cultured neurons.

Microinjection is one of the most useful and important methods in cellular neurobiology. However, direct insertion and retraction of a capillary produce physical stresses inside cells that make it difficult to apply on small and fragile cells, especially the central nervous system (CNS) neurons. In this study, we developed a novel method called MALC (microinjection method assisted with laser activated chromophore) to avoid this disadvantage of the conventional method.

Risk factors for medullary thyroid carcinoma: a pooled analysis.

Objective: To investigate risk factors for medullary thyroid cancer (MTC).

Methods: We conducted a pooled analysis of 14 case-control studies from Europe, North America, and Asia, including 67 medullary cancers (43 women and 24 men) diagnosed in ten studies. Of the original 4776, we selected five controls per case matched on study, gender, and age.

Hsp72 and stress kinase c-jun N-terminal kinase regulate the bid-dependent pathway in tumor necrosis factor-induced apoptosis.

The major inducible heat shock protein Hsp72 has been shown to protect cells from certain apoptotic stimuli. Here we investigated the mechanism of Hsp72-mediated protection from tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced apoptosis of primary culture of IMR90 human fibroblasts. Hsp72 temporarily blocked apoptosis in response to TNF and permanently protected cells from heat shock.

Hair cell development in vivo and in vitro: analysis by using a monoclonal antibody specific to hair cells in the chick inner ear.

The purpose of this study was to establish a hair cell-specific marker and a convenient explant culture system for developing chick otocysts to facilitate in vivo and in vitro studies focusing on hair cell genesis in the inner ear. To achieve this, a hair cell-specific monoclonal antibody, 2A7, was generated by immunizing chick inner ear tissues to a mouse. Through the use of immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy, it was shown that 2A7 immunoreactivity (2A7-IR) was primarily restricted to the apical region of inner ear hair cells, including stereocilia, kinocilia, apical membrane amongst the extending cilia, and superficial layer of the cuticular plate.

Liver cancer in atomic-bomb survivors: histological characteristics and relationships to radiation and hepatitis B and C viruses.

Histological features of primary liver cancer among atomic-bomb survivors and their relationship to hepatitis B (HBV) and C viral (HCV) infections are of special interest because of the increased risk of liver cancer in persons exposed to ionizing radiation and the high and increasing liver cancer rates in Japan and elsewhere. We conducted a pathology review of liver cancers occurring from 1958 to 1987 among subjects in the 120,321 member cohort of 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki residents. A panel of pathologists classified tumor histological types and defined accompanying cirrhotic changes of the liver.

Caldesmon exhibits a clustered distribution along individual chicken gizzard native thin filaments.

Our earlier immuno-gold electron microscopic study indicated that the distribution of caldesmon (CaD) on actin filaments is not uniform and is restricted to the vicinity of the myosin filaments (Mabuchi K, Li Y, Tao T, Wang CLA (1996) J Muscle Res Cell Motil 17: 243). This suggested that CaD could effectively inhibit muscle contraction, if those actin filaments in the vicinity of myosin filaments were saturated with CaD. In the present study we further examined the distribution of CaD along isolated, crude and purified native thin filaments (NTF).