A novel flow-injection analysis system for evaluation of antioxidants by using sodium dichloroisocyanurate as a source of hypochlorite anion.

A flow injection analysis (FIA) system for evaluation of the antioxidant activity of a compound capable of scavenging a hypochlorite anion (OCl⁻), one of the reactive oxygen species (ROS), was developed. Aminophenyl fluorescein (APF), a fluorescence indicator of ROS, was mixed manually with the test compounds and the mixed solution was injected into the FIA system. The injected solution was reacted in-line with OCl⁻, that was produced by using sodium dichloroisocyanurate in the presence of 0.1 M CH3CO2Na in H2O. The fluorescence intensity of fluorescein generated from non-fluorescent APF was significantly attenuated in compounds that had a scavenging effect on OCl⁻. The precision obtained by the FIA system was satisfactory (relative standard deviation < 5.0%) and a rapid assay within 0.5 min per sample was achieved. The proposed FIA system was used to demonstrate that reduced glutathione, dithiothreitol, and 3-methyl-1-phenyl-5-pyrazolone (edaravone) showed a significant scavenging effect on OCl⁻. Therefore, the proposed FIA system can be used as a screening assay for OCl⁻-scavenging compounds.

Connatal tuberculosis in an extremely low birth weight infant: case report and management of exposure to tuberculosis in a neonatal intensive care unit.

UNLABELLED: A case of connatal tuberculosis in an extremely low birth weight infant is reported. The patient was a female with a birth weight of 973 g born in the 27th week of pregnancy. She developed respiratory distress and signs of infection immediately after birth, which did not respond to mechanical ventilation, antibiotics, and corticosteroid therapy. Connatal tuberculosis was confirmed at 48 days of age by isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the infant's tracheal aspirate and the mother's menstrual discharge. The infant died of respiratory failure at 90 days of age. Mantoux tuberculin skin tests (TST) were performed on 99 infants, 144 medical staff members, and two family members. TST conversion occurred in three medical staff members, and preventive therapy with isoniazid was initiated. Eight exposed infants had normal chest X-rays and negative gastric aspirates for acid-fast bacilli and all received preventive isoniazid therapy. No case of tuberculosis developed during the 2-year follow-up period. CONCLUSION: Connatal tuberculosis should be considered in neonatal respiratory infection resistant to antibiotics. Prevention of transmission of tuberculosis on the neonatal intensive care unit by chemoprophylaxis is important.

A prospective clinical study on inhaled nitric oxide therapy for neonates in Japan.

BACKGROUND: This is the first report about a prospective clinical investigation to study the efficacy and safety of nitric oxide (NO) inhalation in infants with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) in Japan. METHODS: Patients in the present study had to meet the following entry criteria: (i) they had to be younger than 7 days of age; (ii) they had to have evidence of PPHN as defined by echocardiograph; (iii) they had to have severe systemic hypoxemia under mechanical ventilation at 100% oxygen supplementation; and (iv) they had to have a failure to respond to conventional therapies. Patients were excluded from this trial if they had any of the following: hypoplastic lung, structural cardiac lesions or severe multiple anomalies. RESULTS: Nitric oxide inhalation therapy was performed in 68 infants who had severe PPHN at 18 hospitals between May 1995 and May 1997. At birth, 21 of 68 infants (31%) weighed less than 1,500 g and 39 infants weighed more than 2,500 g. The diagnoses associated with PPHN were as follows: 27 infants had meconium aspiration syndrome, 15 infants had dry lung syndrome, nine infants had congenital diaphragmatic hernia, six infants had respiratory distress syndrome, three infants had pneumonia and eight infants had other diagnoses. The mean oxygenation index (OI) before NO inhalation therapy in 68 infants was 43.2; 55 infants (81%) had good responses. CONCLUSIONS: These results may be valuable for further randomized controlled and double-blind trials in Japan to evaluate whether NO inhalation therapy is more effective than conventional therapy in infants with severe PPHN.

Measurement of bone mineral density of lumbar spine and whole body in low-birth-weight infants: comparison of two methods.

In the present study, we compared lumbar spinal and whole-body bone mineral density (BMD) measurements to determine which is more suitable for evaluating the bone mineral status of low-birth-weight (LBW) infants. Lumbar spinal and whole-body BMD were assessed simultaneously in a prospective series including 152 Japanese LBW infants (birth weight 453-2400 g, gestational age 24-38 weeks) from the age of 40 weeks post-conception to 2 years of age. Lumbar spinal BMD at 40 weeks post-conception was significantly correlated with birth weight (r = 0.74; P < 0.0001), but wholebody BMD was not correlated with birth weight. No correlation was found between lumbar spinal and whole-body BMD at 40 weeks post-conception. However, after 40 weeks post-conception, a significant correlation was found between lumbar spinal and whole-body BMD (r = 0.65; P < 0.0001). For infants with a body weight of 4 kg or less at the time of measurement, no correlation was found between lumbar spinal and whole-body BMD. However, for infants with a body weight above 4 kg, a significant correlation was found between lumbar spinal and whole-body BMD (r = 0.65; P < 0.0001). Thus, lumbar spinal BMD is more suitable than whole-body BMD for evaluation of the bone mineral status of LBW in early infancy. Therefore, lumbar spinal BMD should be used for serial evaluation of changes in the bone mineral status of LBW infants.

Bone mineral density of the lumbar spine in very-low-birth-weight infants: a longitudinal study.

UNLABELLED: To examine osteopenia in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants we used repeated dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in a prospective study of lumbar spinal bone mineral density (BMD) in Japanese VLBW infants (birthweight 426-1498 g; n = 61, group 1) aged 40 weeks postconception to 3 years of age. Control subjects were Japanese infants with birthweight 1500-1999 g (group 2), 2000-2499 g (group 3), or more than 2500 g (group 4). BMD in group 1 during the early period after birth was very low, increased rapidly for 1 year, and then gradually increased until 3 years of age (r = 0.931, P < 0. 0001). BMD at the age of 40 weeks postconception was 0.085 +/- 0.026, 0.132 +/- 0.039, 0.178 +/- 0.042, and 0.196 +/- 0.046 g/cm(2) in groups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively (P < 0.0001). However, at 1 and 2 years of age no differences were observed among the groups in BMD. CONCLUSION: This study shows that lumbar spinal BMD in VLBW infants can normalize by the age of 2 years.

Levels of epidermal growth factor in human cord blood.

Levels of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in the cord serum of 13 full-term and 84 preterm infants were measured using a radioimmunoassay. Detectable levels of immunoreactive EGF were present in the cord blood at 23 weeks gestation and rose gradually with increasing gestational age. EGF levels correlated significantly with birth weight and placental weight. In small-for-gestational-age infants with birth weights smaller than 3 SD below the mean, EGF levels were lower than those in appropriate-for-gestational-age infants. These results suggest that EGF may play a role in fetal growth, but low EGF levels may also be the result of growth retardation.

Measurement of growth promoting activity in human milk using a fetal small intestinal cell line.

To evaluate the effect of the growth promoting activity in human milk on intestinal cells, a bioassay method was established using a fetal intestinal cell line (FHS 74 Int, ATCC CCL 241), since the developing intestine is considered to be a target organ for the growth factors present in human milk. Human milk had a growth promoting activity on the cultured human fetal intestinal cells. The activity level was very high in colostrum and decreased gradually during lactation, while formula products had no activity. The epidermal growth factor (EGF) concentration in human milk was significantly correlated with the growth promoting activity measured by bioassay. Thus, EGF may be the main growth factor for the proliferation of intestinal cells. These results suggest that human milk may stimulate the proliferation of intestinal cells in newborn infants, especially in very-low-birth-weight infants, and accelerate the maturation of the intestinal portion of the digestive system.

[Extremely low birth-weight infant with hydrocephalus; management of hydrocephalus using a miniature Ommaya's reservoir].

Use of the miniature Ommaya's reservoir in the treatment of extremely low birth-infant (under 1,000 mg) with hydrocephalus was studied in a series of five patients. The reservoir has a small-caliber with a 3 cm ventricular catheter. For these infants, this miniature Ommaya's reservoir is extremely useful for protection of the cortical mantle until a definitive procedure can be carried out after increase of body weight. The clinical course in five cases are summarized.

Trial production and application of an optical system for measuring the movements of organs composed of soft tissue.

A new optical system to measure movements of less accessible organs composed of soft tissue is proposed. The sensor unit is composed of a phototransistor and two light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The LEDs act as light sources and are driven by two phase signals with a phase shift of 90 degrees. The distance between the sensor and the measuring object can be obtained as a function of the phase angle of reflected light detected by the phototransistor. This system can be easily constructed and simultaneously records data from multiple points in real time. The relative precision was 0.5 mm and the resolution was 0.05 mm. Output characteristics of this system were not significantly affected by the reflection factor of the object. Tongue movements in speech production were observed by use of this system.

[Observation of oral actions using digital image processing system].

UNLABELLED: A new digital image processing system to observe oral actions is proposed. The system provides analyses of motion pictures along with other physiological signals. The major components are a video tape recorder, a digital image processor, a percept scope, a CCD camera, an A/D converter and a personal computer. Five reference points were marked on the lip and eyeglasses of 9 adult subjects. Lip movements were recorded and analyzed using the system when uttering five vowels and [ka, sa, ta, ha, ra, ma, pa, ba[. RESULTS: 1. Positions of the lip when uttering five vowels were clearly classified. 2. Active articulatory movements of the lip were not recognized when uttering consonants [k, s, t, h, r[. It seemed lip movements were dependent on tongue and mandibular movements. Downward and rearward movements of the upper lip, and upward and forward movements of the lower lip were observed when uttering consonants [m, p, b[.

[Development and application of an optical system to measure the movements of organs with soft tissue].

We proposed a new optical system to measure the movements of less accessible organs with soft tissue. The sensor unit is composed of a phototransistor and two LEDs. Two LEDs of light sources are driven by two phase signals with phase shift of 90 degrees. The distance between the sensor and the measuring object can be obtained as the function of the phase angle of reflex light signal detected by the phototransistor. The system can be easily constructed and provides simultaneous recordings of multiple points with the fast response in real time. The Relative precision is 0.5 mm and the resolution is 0.05 mm. Output characteristic of the system was less affected by the reflection factor of the object. We conducted to observe the tongue movements in speech production.