Non-ischemic nephron-sparing surgery for small renal cell carcinoma: complete tumor enucleation using a microwave tissue coagulator.

Objective: To determine the methodological usefulness of non-ischemic complete enucleation for small renal cell carcinomas (RCC) using a microwave tissue coagulator (MTC).

Methods: Fifty-nine patients (61 kidneys) underwent non-ischemic complete tumor enucleation by MTC. Of the 59 patients, 46 had an elective indication and 15 kidneys of 13 patients had an imperative indication.

Effects of alcohol restriction on ambulatory blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rate variability in Japanese men.

We investigated the effects of alcohol restriction on ambulatory blood pressure (BP), heart rate, and heart rate variability in 33 Japanese male volunteers (37 +/- 1 years, mean +/- SE), who were all habitual drinkers. Subjects were told either to keep their usual drinking habits for 3 weeks (usual alcohol period), or to reduce alcohol intake by at least half of their usual drinking amount (reduced alcohol period). The ambulatory BP, heart rate, and electrocardiographic R-R intervals were measured during a 24-h period with a portable recorder on the last day of each period.

Two new forceps for use during and after dacryocystorhinostomy.

Purpose: To report two new forceps for use during and after external dacryocystorhinostomy (E-DCR). Description of surgical instruments is provided.

Methods: Interventional case series.

Comparison of the effects of amlodipine and losartan on 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure in hypertensive patients.

Effects of amlodipine (AML), a long-acting calcium antagonist, and losartan (LOS), an angiotensin II receptor antagonist, on 24-hr blood pressure profile were compared in 15 patients with essential hypertension. After 4 weeks of placebo period, the patients were treated with AML or LOS in a random crossover design for 12-16 weeks each. Either drug was given once daily at 0800 and the doses were titrated so that the office blood pressure was reduced lower than 140/90mmHg.

Temporomandibular joint ankylosis: a case report.

This report is based on a case of temporomandibular joint ankylosis discovered in a cadaver during routine student dissection in the Department of Anatomy at Tokyo Dental College. Extensive osseous ankylosis in the left temporomandibular joint was evident in this case which exhibited a distinctive bird-like facial deformity caused by a mandibular growth disorder. This resulted in the underdevelopment of the mental area in particular.

[A case of fundus albipunctatus with a retinol dehydrogenase 5 gene mutation in a child].

Background: We examined a family with fundus albipunctatus in which mutation of the retinol dehydrogenase 5(RDH 5) gene was suspected to be the cause of this disease.

Case: An 8-year-old girl had diffuse multiple white dots in her fundus except for the macula. She had good central vision.

[Comparisons of factors affecting voiding disorders between patients with benign prostate hyperplasia and volunteers].

Purpose: The prostate size and motivation to visit clinics were investigated in patients with prostate hyperplasia.

Objects And Methods: One hundred ninety-five patients who had urinary symptoms and visited our outpatient clinic between September 1994 and October 1999 and 268 age-matched volunteers in Mitaka City who underwent a medical examination of the prostate in June 1997 were compared. International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), Quality Of Life Score (QOL score), residual urine volume, prostate volume and urinary flow rate were measured.

Analysis of second-order kernel response components of multifocal electroretinograms elicited from normal subjects.

Purpose: It has been reported that the second-order kernel response components of multifocal electroretinograms (mERGs) reflect the electrical activity of the inner retinal layers. In this study, we have investigated whether the amplitudes of the second-order kernel response components correlate with the spatial distribution of human retinal ganglion cells.

Methods: Multifocal electroretinograms were recorded using the Veris III system from 5 healthy subjects with different stimulus and recording parameters.

[The significance of early detection for prostate cancer in mass screening].

Purpose: In Mitaka city, mass screening for prostate cancer was conducted for 3 years from 1995 to 1997. Clinical stages were compared between patients found by screening and those diagnosed at our clinic during the same time. The significance of serum-free prostate specific antigen (PSA) in mass screening for prostate cancer was examined.

Histological study of masseter muscle in a mouse muscular dystrophy model (mdx mouse).

Histological changes in the masseter muscle were observed over time in mdx mice, a muscular dystrophy model. It was found that marked necrosis occurs about the time of weaning at around 4 weeks of age; then the tissue actively regenerates at 8 weeks and stabilizes as regenerated muscle with centronuclei at 15 weeks old. This study examined the centronucleus in regenerated muscle.

[A case of familial juvenile gouty nephropathy associated with a right renal tumor].

We present a case of familial juvenile gouty nephropathy which was associated with a right renal tumor that was found incidentally. The patient was a 27-year-old woman who initially presented with acute gouty arthritis at the age of twenty years. Her mother and her sister had been attacked with acute gouty arthritis in their early twenties.

The anti-dementia drug nefiracetam facilitates hippocampal synaptic transmission by functionally targeting presynaptic nicotinic ACh receptors.

Nefiracetam, a pyrrolidone derivative developed as an anti-dementia drug, persistently potentiated currents through neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptors (alpha7, alpha4beta2) expressed in Xenopus oocytes, and the potentiation was blocked by either the selective protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors, GF109203X and staurosporine, or co-expressed active PKC inhibitor peptide. In primary cultures of rat hippocampal neurons, nefiracetam increased the rate of nicotine-sensitive miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents, without affecting the amplitude, and the increase was inhibited by GF109203X. In addition, the drug caused a marked increase in the glutamate release from electrically stimulated guinea pig hippocampal slices, and the effect was abolished by the nicotinic ACh receptor antagonists, alpha-bungarotoxin and mecamylamine.

Role of nitric oxide in the epileptogenesis of EL mice.

Purpose: To understand the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the regulation of seizures, we measured the extracellular levels of the NO metabolites nitrite and nitrate as indices of NO generation in the parietal cortex, hippocampus, and temporal cortex of EL mice. Furthermore, alterations of neuronal, endothelial, and inducible nitric oxide synthetase (nNOS, eNOS, and iNOS, respectively) were observed to correlate them with epileptogenesis.

Methods: EL mice of 20 weeks and 30 weeks of age (before and after the establishment of epileptogenesis, respectively) were used.

Functional expression of Fas and Fas ligand on human colonic intraepithelial T lymphocytes.

The expression of Fas, a cell surface receptor directly responsible for triggering cell death by apoptosis, and its ligand (FasL) was investigated on both human colonic intraepithelial T lymphocytes (IELs) and peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocytes (PBMLs). FACS analysis indicated that IELs have increased expression of Fas compared with PBMLs, together with the progress activation marker, CD45RO. A discrete fraction of freshly isolated IELs also constitutively expressed FasL, perhaps as a result of recent in vivo activation.

Artifact removal procedure distorts multifocal electroretinogram.

Purpose: To study whether the Artifact Removal procedure available for eliminating artifacts in multifocal electroretinograms (mERG) works correctly or not.

Methods: A test response was made using a photo-diode circuit. mERGs were recorded from 3 well-trained normal subjects using the Veris III system, and were then analyzed by the procedure that is included in the Veris Science (Artifact Removal) software program.

Cellular mechanism of action of cognitive enhancers: effects of nefiracetam on neuronal Ca2+ channels.

Cellular mechanisms underlying the cognition-enhancing actions of piracetam-like nootropics were studied by recording Ca2+ channel currents from neuroblastoma x glioma hybrid (NG108-15) cells and Xenopus oocytes expressing Ca2+ channels. In NG108-15 cells, nefiracetam (1 microM) produced a twofold increase in L-type Ca2+ channel currents. A similar, but slightly less potent effect was observed with aniracetam, whereas piracetam and oxiracetam exerted no such effects.

Presynaptic nicotinic acetylcholine receptors as a functional target of nefiracetam in inducing a long-lasting facilitation of hippocampal neurotransmission.

Nefiracetam (1-10 microM), a nootropic (or cognition-enhancing) agent, persistently potentiated currents through Torpedo acetylcholine (ACh) receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes as a result of interacting with a protein kinase C pathway and the ensuing protein kinase C phosphorylation of the receptors. A similar effect was found in neuronal nicotinic ACh receptors (alpha4beta2 and alpha7). In contrast, the other nootropic agents such as piracetam and aniracetam had no potentiating action on the receptors.

The significance of the free-to-complexed prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ratio in prostate cancer detection in patients with a PSA level of 4.1-10.0 ng/mL.

Objective: To compare the ratio of free prostate specific antigen (fPSA), total PSA (tPSA) and complexed PSA (cPSA, measured using a novel immunoassay) with other variables used to detect prostate cancer in patients with intermediate serum PSA levels of 4.1-10.0 ng/mL.

Molecular characterization and physiological role of ascorbate peroxidase from halotolerant Chlamydomonas sp. W80 strain.

A cDNA clone encoding an ascorbate peroxidase was isolated from the cDNA library from halotolerant Chlamydomonas W80 by a simple screening method based on the bacterial expression system. The cDNA clone contained an open reading frame encoding a mature protein of 282 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 30,031 Da, preceded by the chloroplast transit peptide consisting of 37 amino acids. In fact, ascorbate peroxidase was localized in the chloroplasts of Chlamydomonas W80 cells; the activity was detected in the stromal fraction but not in the thylakoid membrane.

Anticonvulsant actions of nefiracetam on epileptic EL mice and their relation to peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptors.

Anticonvulsant actions of the nootropic drug nefiracetam were studied using EL mice, an animal model of epilepsy, in which peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptors (PBRs) might be involved in their epileptogenesis. Nefiracetam, when administered orally t o EL mice, inhibited convulsions induced by the PBR agonist, Ro 5-4864, with an ED(50) of 17.2 mg/kg, whereas it did not inhibit the drug-induced convulsions in control DDY mice.

A basic investigation of multifocal electroretinogram: reproducibility and effect of luminance.

Purpose: To investigate the reproducibility as well as the effect of luminance in multifocal electroretinogram (mERG).

Methods: Multifocal electroretinogram recordings were repeated on different days in 6 normal subjects using the Veris III system. The mean luminance of the monitor displaying the stimuli was randomly varied by five kinds of neutral density (ND) filters.

Enhancing effect of 5 alpha-cyprinol sulfate on mucosal membrane permeability to sodium ampicillin in rats.

Effect of 5 alpha-cyprinol sulfate, a bile alcohol sulfate specific to carp bile, on rectal membrane permeability to sodium ampicillin (AMP Na) was examined in rats. AMP Na is not easily absorbed through rat rectal membrane without aid. 5 alpha-Cyprinol sulfate significantly enhanced the rectal membrane permeability to AMP Na even at a low concentration (6.

Bile acid sulfonate and 7-alkylated bile acid analogs: effect on intestinal absorption of taurocholate and cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase activity in cultured rat hepatocytes.

The effects of sulfonate analogs of cholic (C), chenodeoxycholic (CDC), and ursodeoxycholic acid (UDC) and three 7-alkylated CDCs--7-methyl-, 7-ethyl-, and 7-propyl-CDCs--on taurocholate absorption from rat terminal ileum in situ and on cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase activity in primary culture of the rat liver were investigated. The sulfonate analogs of two dihydroxy bile acids CDC and UDC, but not C, significantly decreased the absorption of taurocholate. Taurine conjugates of 7-alkylated CDC slightly decreased the taurocholate absorption, and tauro-7-propyl-CDC significantly suppressed the absorption.

REP-1 gene mutations in Japanese patients with choroideremia.

Background: Choroideremia (CHM) is an X-linked progressive dystrophy of the choroid, retinal pigment epithelium, and retina. Recently, the REP-1 gene was isolated and the causative mutations in the gene were detected in patients with CHM. In a previous study, we described a Japanese family with CHM who had a mutation in the REP-1 gene.

Production of radioactive endovascular stents by implantation of 133Xe ions.

A coronary stent was made radioactive by implantation of 133Xe ions for the purpose of suppressing the renarrowing of the part of blood vessel in which the stent is implanted. Electrons of relatively low energies emitted in the decay of 133Xe may give an antiproliferative effect of ionizing radiation to the intimal cells within a limited range of 1 mm. A 133Xe+ beam accelerated at 40 or 60 keV was directed to several stainless steel stents mounted on a target-holder table that could revolve and move up and down to distribute the 133Xe+ ions within a stent as well as among the stents.