Impact of dialysis therapy on insulin resistance in end-stage renal disease: comparison of haemodialysis and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

Background: Insulin resistance contributes to the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and, thus, has an important impact on the mortality of uraemic patients. Haemodialysis (HD) is known to improve insulin resistance observed in uraemia. However, it is not known whether continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) alleviates insulin resistance in adult uraemic patients.

[Experience and clinical usefulness of BACTEC MGIT 960].

Recently, an automatic instrument for culturing acid-fast bacteria in liquid media has been introduced in Japan to accelerate and increase the detection of the bacteria as well as the work e ciency of test lab technicians. We compared the MGIT (Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube) method and the two conventional culture methods used in our lab by testing 176 specimens (130 cases) submitted for acid-fast testing between July 27 and September 18, 1998. BACTEC MGIT 960 (Nippon Becton Dickinson) was used in the MGIT method while Ogawa K medium and Kudo PD medium were used for our conventional culture methods.

The pattern of antiganglioside antibody reactivities producing myelinated nerve conduction block in vitro.

We studied the pattern of human antiganglioside antibody reactivities causing an acute conduction block in rat myelinated nerve fibers, using an in vitro preparation of the sciatic-tibial nerve. With the aid of complements, IgM antibodies reacting with the terminal disaccharide of galactose (beta1-3)N-acetylgalactosamine produced the block. These findings may help us to understand the mechanism in which the conduction block occurs in neuropathies associated with antiganglioside antibodies.

[Primary Sjögren's syndrome with pulmonary hypertension].

A 50-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of dyspnea on exertion. A chest X-ray film showed cardiomegaly and echocardiography revealed right-heart overload. Right heart catheterization studies revealed pulmonary hypertension and no signs of pulmonary embolism or vasculitis.

A loss of functional spinal alpha motor neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

We obtained motor unit number estimates (MUNEs) of the hypothenar and the extensor digitorum brevis muscles in ALS patients by our new technique. One year after symptom onset, the MUNEs had decreased to +/-30% of normal. Accordingly, we suggest that 70% of functional spinal alpha motor neurons are lost in the first post-onset year in ALS.

Analysis of K-ras oncogene mutation directly applied to atypical cell clusters on cytologic smear slides of bile and pancreatic juice.

To develop an objective reference for the cytological evaluation of atypical cells in bile and pancreatic juice, we analyzed K-ras oncogene mutation in atypical cell clusters, which were collected directly from cytological smear slides; 50 samples (cell clusters) from 31 smear slides of 21 patients with carcinomas of the pancreatic head region, and nine samples from eight cases of benign disease. These cell clusters (5-1000 cells/cluster) were selectively suspended in buffer containing proteinase K, and subjected to DNA extraction. K-ras codon 12 mutation was determined by polymerase chain reaction amplification, followed by digestion with BstNI.

Schwann cell proliferation as the cause of peripheral neuropathy in neurofibromatosis-2.

We report a 18-year-old man who developed slowly progressing right drop foot. Bilateral acoustic neurinoma was found and he was diagnosed as neurofibromatosis-2. Right sural nerve biopsy showed multiple small onion-bulb-like structures in the nerve fascicle.

Clonality in nevocellular nevus and melanoma: an expression-based clonality analysis at the X-linked genes by polymerase chain reaction.

The true nature of nevocellular nevus is still unknown and it has been ambiguously classified as a neoplasm or a hamartoma. We studied the clonality of nevocellular nevus and melanoma (malignant melanoma), using an expression-based clonality analysis at the X-linked genes by means of polymerase chain reaction. DNA was extracted from cryostat sections of 20 nevocellular nevi (10 compound and 10 intradermal type) and five melanomas from female patients.

Beneficial effect of alpha-blocker on hemorheology in patients with essential hypertension.

To assess the effect of antihypertensive therapy on hemorheology in essential hypertension, blood viscosity and red blood cell deformability were examined in 45 patients with essential hypertension and 20 age-matched normotensive control subjects. Hypertensive patients were randomly assigned to monotherapy with five different antihypertensive drugs for 6 months and change of blood viscosity and red blood cell deformability were reexamined after the end of the monotherapy with each antihypertensive drug. Blood viscosity increased and red blood cell deformability decreased in hypertensive patients compared to normotensive control subjects.

[A case of spinal hemorrhage associated with abdominal aortic coarctation].

We report a 59-year-old male with abdominal aortic coarctation presented as paraplegia due to spinal hemorrhage caused by the rupture of abnormally dilated spinal artery. In coarctation of aorta, coarctation is usually located in the aortic isthmus which could be the cause of cervical and upper thoracic myelopathy. However, there has been no report of abdominal aortic coarctation with hemorrhagic transverse myelopathy.

Validity of electromyograms and tension as a means of motor unit number estimation.

The purpose of this study was to validate three different techniques for obtaining motor unit number estimates of the rat medial gastrocnemius muscle. These consisted of two electromyographic techniques using unprocessed and digitally averaged unitary muscle action potentials, and one mechanical technique. We also injected subunit B of cholera toxin into this muscle and counted the number of spinal motor neurons labeled by the toxin.

[Immunologic diagnosis of central nervous system viral infection].

Immunologic diagnosis of central nervous system viral infection requires paired sera, obtained at the onset of symptoms and in the convalescent period. Titers of antibodies against a particular virus in these samples should be obtained under the same conditions. As a screening test, the complement fixation or hemagglutination method is used.

Improvement of insulin sensitivity contributes to blood pressure reduction after weight loss in hypertensive subjects with obesity.

To access the role of insulin resistance in obesity hypertension, we examined the change of insulin sensitivity after weight loss in 24 obese hypertensive subjects by the euglycemic hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp method. The results of the 4-week calorie-restricted diet were a weight loss of 10.2% (from 74 +/- 12 to 67 +/- 11 kg, P < .

Protective effect of thromboxane synthetase inhibitor on hypertensive renal damage in Dahl salt-sensitive rats.

1. The effects of OKY-046, a specific thromboxane (TX) synthetase inhibitor, on blood pressure, urinary excretion of TX and its release from blood platelets and renal papilla, and pathological change of glomeruli were evaluated in Dahl salt-sensitive rats. 2.

Effects of swim training on blood pressure, catecholamines and prostaglandins in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

A 6-month program of exercise with a daily swimming time of 30 minutes 3 times a week was carried out in female spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) to assess the roles of catecholamine and prostaglandin metabolism in the antihypertensive effect of chronic exercise conditioning. Swim training resulted in a significant reduction of mean blood pressure in SHR by 13.3 mmHg as compared with sedentary controls (158.