Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition improves cardiac fatty acid metabolism in patients with congestive heart failure.

This study aimed to examine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition improved cardiac fatty acid metabolism in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Myocardial 123I-beta-methyl-iodophenylpentadecanoic acid (123I-BMIPP) imaging was performed in 25 patients with CHF and in 10 control subjects. Myocardial 123I-BMIPP images were obtained 30 min and 4 h after tracer injection.

Synthesis of (+)-aptosimon, a 4-oxofurofuran lignan, by erythro selective aldol condensation and stereoconvergent cyclization as the key reactions.

The 4-oxofurofuran lignan, (+)-aptosimon (1), was synthesized from gamma-butyrolactone (9). To construct the two benzylic chiral center of (+)-aptosimon (1), highly erythro selective aldol condensation and stereoconvergent SN1 intramolecular cyclization were used as the key reactions.

Human pulmonary dirofilariasis in a patient whose clinical condition altered during follow-up.

Pulmonary dirofilariasis is a rare disease. We have experienced a case which developed pleural effusion while being followed, rendering it difficult to establish the diagnosis. The patient, a 53-year-old woman, had previously undergone two operations; one for uterine cancer and another for breast cancer.

Substrate specificities of deuterolysin from Aspergillus oryzae and electron paramagnetic resonance measurement of cobalt-substituted deuterolysin.

The substrate specificities of deuterolysin, a 19-kDa zinc-protease (EC 3.4.24.

Open-label compassionate use one year-treatment with pirfenidone to patients with chronic pulmonary fibrosis.

Objective: We attempted to evaluate the feasibility (therapeutic efficacy, tolerance, and clinical courses after treatment) of pirfenidone, an anti-fibrotic drug for patients with chronic pulmonary fibroses such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Methods: Open-label one-year treatment for compassionate-use.

Patients Or Materials: Oral pirfenidone (40 mg/kg body weight) was administered to 8 patients with advanced IPF and 2 with interstitial pneumonia associated with diffuse systemic sclerosis.

Pulsed Doppler tissue imaging for the assessment of myocardial viability: comparison with 99mTc sestamibi perfusion imaging.

The aim of the present study was to examine whether Doppler tissue imaging demonstrated comparable diagnostic performance for the detection of viable myocardium compared to myocardial perfusion imaging with Tc hexakis-2-methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI). We studied 30 patients with old myocardial infarction who underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Myocardial single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with Tc-MIBI and two-dimensional echocardiography were carried out within 7 days before PTCA.

Restitution properties and occurrence of ventricular arrhythmia in LQT2 type of long QT syndrome.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to clarify the ventricular tachyarrhythmia mechanism induced by the I(Kr)-blocking agent E4031, simulating the LQT2 form. Electrophysiologic properties were examined in 13 canines before and after administration of E4031.

Method And Results: Thirty-six needle electrodes were inserted into the anterior left ventricular wall.

Additive effects of amrubicin with cisplatin on human lung cancer cell lines.

Amrubicin (AMR) is a novel, completely synthetic 9-aminoanthracycline derivative. Amrubicinol, the C-13 alcohol metabolite of AMR, inhibits purified human topoisomerase II (topo II). We examined the effect of the combination of cisplatin (CDDP) and amrubicinol in vitro using a small cell lung cancer cell line (SBC-3) and an adenocarcinoma cell line (Ma-1), by WST-1 assay and isobologram analysis.

Synthesis of 1,2-oxygenated 6-arylfurofuran lignan: stereoselective synthesis of (1S,2S,5R,6S)-1-hydroxysamin.

(1S,2S,5R,6S)-6-(3,4-Methylenedioxyphenyl)-3,7-dioxabicyclo[3.3.0]octan-1,2-diol ((+)-1-hydroxysamin 1) was synthesized, starting from olefin 8.

Efficacy of intraoperative mapping to optimize the surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation in cardiac surgery.

Background: Observation during open heart surgery in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation (AF) showed that the activation sequence of the left atrium was regular and that of the right atrium chaotic in most patients. We speculate that the left atrium plays a role as an important electrical driving chamber for AF and by mapping pre-operatively, optimal sites for the cryoablation can be determined to minimize the extensiveness of the cryolesions.

Methods: Forty patients who underwent cardiac surgery and cryoablation guided by epicardial mapping data to eliminate AF originating from the left atrium were included in this study.

Transient expression of juvenile-type neurocan by reactive astrocytes in adult rat brains injured by kainate-induced seizures as well as surgical incision.

Neurocan is one of the major chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans expressed in nervous tissues. The expression of neurocan is developmentally regulated, and full-length neurocan is detected in juvenile brains but not in adult brains. In the present study, we demonstrated by western blot analysis that full-length neurocan transiently appeared in adult rat hippocampus when it was lesioned by kainate-induced seizures.

Effects of a standing aid on loads on low back and legs during dishwashing.

In order to prevent low back pain during dishwashing, we developed a standing aid for supporting the forward bending posture, and then evaluated the effects of the standing aid on decreasing load on the low back and legs. Eight female volunteers were asked to wash plates for 60 minutes in each of three working postures: (a) without the standing aid, (b) with the standing aid under the thighs, and (c) with the standing aid under the shins. The following were measured: electromyogram (EMG), electrocardiogram (ECG), the force applied to the standing aid, the ground reaction force, the bending angle of the trunk, the bending angle of the knee, and local discomfort in body regions.

Resonance Raman spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations reveal structural changes in the active site of photoactive yellow protein.

Photoactive yellow protein (PYP) is a bacterial photoreceptor containing a 4-hydroxycinnamyl chromophore. Photoexcitation of PYP triggers a photocycle that involves at least two intermediate states: an early red-shifted PYP(L) intermediate and a long-lived blue-shifted PYP(M) intermediate. In this study, we have explored the active site structures of these intermediates by resonance Raman spectroscopy.

Phosphorylation of neuroglycan C, a brain-specific transmembrane chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, and its localization in the lipid rafts.

Neuroglycan C (NGC) is a brain-specific transmembrane chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan. In the present study, we examined whether NGC could be phosphorylated in neural cells. On metabolic labeling of cultured cerebral cortical cells from the rat fetus with (32)P(i), serine residues in NGC were radiolabeled.

[Clinical usefulness of multi-planar reconstruction images of three-dimensional computed tomographic angiography for internal carotid artery aneurysms].

The usefulness of multi-planar reconstruction (MPR) images of three-dimensional computed tomographic angiography (3D-CTA) for the diagnosis of internal carotid artery (ICA) aneurysms is described. Eleven unruptured ICA aneurysms including six cases of IC-cavernous aneurysm, two cases of IC-ophthalmic artery aneurysm, two cases of IC-posterior communicating artery aneurysm and one cases of IC-anterior choroidal artery aneurysm, were examined by magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), digital subtraction angiography (DSA), 3D-CTA and its MPR images. 3D-CTA and DSA were useful to identify the aneurysmal neck in small aneurysms, but it was difficult to identify the aneurysmal neck in small aneurysms by 3D-CTA-MPR images.

Intraportal venous flow distribution: evaluation with single breath-hold ECG-triggered three-dimensional half-Fourier fast spin-echo MR imaging and a selective inversion-recovery tagging pulse.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intraportal blood flow distribution from splenic and superior mesenteric veins with an unenhanced MR angiographic technique using single breath-hold ECG-triggered three-dimensional (3D) half-Fourier fast spin-echo sequence and selective inversion-recovery tagging pulse.

Subjects And Methods: Seventeen healthy volunteers were included in this prospective study. After obtaining regular single breath-hold ECG-triggered 3D half-Fourier fast spin-echo images without applying a tagging pulse, we placed the selective inversion-recovery tagging pulse on the superior mesenteric vein (TAG-A), the splenic vein (TAG-B), or on both (TAG-C) to study the inflow correlation of tagged or marked blood into the portal vein.

Regional prolongation of ARI and altered restitution properties cause ventricular arrhythmia in heart failure.

The mechanism of arrhythmogenicity in heart failure remains poorly understood. We examined the relationship between electrical abnormalities and ventricular arrhythmia by using experimental heart failure models. Sixty unipolar electrograms were recorded from the entire cardiac surface in control dogs (n = 13) and pacing-induced heart failure dogs (n = 16).

Reverse redistribution of 99m Tc-sestamibi after direct percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in acute myocardial infarction: relationship with wall motion and functional response to dobutamine stimulation.

Reverse redistribution (RR) of 99mTc-sestamibi is observed after direct percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The purpose of this study was to clarify the functional characteristics of myocardial segments with RR after direct PTCA in AMI. Thirty patients with AMI who had undergone direct PTCA were examined.

Investigation of coronary artery bypass grafting for a patient with myelodysplastic syndrome.

A 79-year-old male with unstable angina, who had myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), was treated with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). MDS causes refractory anemia accompanied by various degrees of granulocytopenia and thrombocytopenia. Pancytopenia caused by MDS may complicate patients with major infections and bleeding during cardiac surgery.

Synthesis of cis-lactone lignan, cis-(2S,3R)-parabenzlactone, from L-arabinose.

As a model synthesis on cis-2,3-dibenzyl-4-butanolide lignan, cis-(2S,3R)-parabenzlactone bearing a chiral benzyl alcohol moiety was stereoselectively synthesized from L-arabinose.

First stereoselective synthesis of (+)-magnostellin C, a tetrahydrofuran type of lignan bearing a chiral secondary benzyl alcohol.

(+)-Magnostellin C, which is a tetrahydrofuran type of lignan bearing a chiral secondary benzylic hydroxy group, was stereoselectively synthesized from L-arabinose by using threo selective aldol condensation.

Origin of the hard x-ray emission from the Galactic plane.

The Galactic plane is a strong emitter of hard x-rays (2 to 10 kiloelectron volts), and the emission forms a narrow continuous ridge. The currently known hard x-ray sources are far too few to explain the ridge x-ray emission, and the fundamental question of whether the ridge emission is ultimately resolved into numerous dimmer discrete sources or truly diffuse emission has not yet been settled. In order to obtain a decisive answer, using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, we carried out the deepest hard x-ray survey of a Galactic plane region that is devoid of known x-ray point sources.

Synthesis of optically active olivil type of lignan from L-arabinose using threo-selective aldol condensation as a key reaction.

The threo-selective aldol condensation of (3R, 4S)-3-hydroxy-5-trityloxy-4-pentanolide, which was prepared from L-arabinose, with piperonal was applied to the stereoselective synthesis of the olivil type of lignan, (2R, 3R, 4R)-4-benzyl-4-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethyl-2-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)tetrahydrofuran.

Improved stereoselective synthesis of optically active methylene lactone, key intermediate for the synthesis of 1,2-oxidized furofuran lignan, by direct alpha-methylenation to butanolide.

(3R)-3-[(1R)-1-(tert-Butyldimethylsilyl)oxy-1-(2-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyphenyl) methyl]-2-methylene-4-butanolide, which is a key intermediate for the synthesis of 1,2-oxidized furofuran lignan, was stereoselectively synthesized from L-glutamic acid by applying direct methylenation to butanolide.