Disease-specific expression of VEGF and its receptors in AML cells: possible autocrine pathway of VEGF/type1 receptor of VEGF in t(15;17) AML and VEGF/type2 receptor of VEGF in t(8;21) AML.

Various angiogenic factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and an associated molecule, placenta growth factor (PlGF), are thought to be important for normal and malignant hematopoiesis. This study examined mRNA expression of VEGF, PlGF and receptors for these molecules in AML cells and identified the disease-specific patterns of expression. AML M3 having t(15;17) abnormality showed highest expression of VEGF and VEGF receptor type 1 (VEGFR1), suggesting the autocrine pathway of VEGF-VEGFR1. Then, t(8;21) AML demonstrated augmented expression of VEGF and VEGF receptor type 2 (VEGFR2), suggesting VEGF-VEGFR2 autocrine pathway. Then, addition of VEGFR2 kinase inhibitor in Kasumi-1, a t(8;21) AML cell line, resulted in marked inhibition of cell growth, although growth inhibitory effect of R2 kinase inhibitor to HL-60 was marginal. In addition, cell cycle analysis study showed S-phase cell population reduction by R2 kinase inhibitor in Kasumi-1, but not in HL-60. This observation is thought to be the rationale for novel molecular target therapy directed to angiogenic molecules.

Visualization of signal propagation from sciatic nerve to spinal cord in canine.

The neuroelectric activity that ascends the sciatic nerve and moves to the spinal cord was visualized by measuring the magnetic compound action fields (CAFs) with a superconducting quantum interference device gradiometer. The sciatic nerve of a dog was stimulated electrically, and propagating evoked CAFs were measured non-invasively. Isomagnetic field maps were made on the basis of this data, and the signal propagation was visualized. The evoked magnetic fields presented a quadrupole consisting of two elements: depolarization and repolarization. Measuring the magnetic CAFs of the sciatic nerve on the body surface enabled us to visualize the non-invasively the signal movement continuously from the sciatic nerve to the spinal cord.

Herbimycin, a new antibiotic produced by a strain of Streptomyces.

Herbimycin, a new antibiotic, was isolated from the fermentation broth of Streptomyces hygroscopicus strain No. AM-3672, a soil isolate. The molecular formula of herbimycin was determined to be C30H42N2O9. Herbimycin was found to have potent herbicidal activity against most mono- and di-cotyledonous plants, especially against Cyperus microiria STEUD. However, Oryza sativa showed strong resistance to herbimycin.

Production of 9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyladenine by a new species of Streptomyces and its herbicidal activity.

9-beta-D-Arabinofuranosyladenine (ara-A) was produced by a new species of Streptomyces designated as S. herbaceus. Ara-A was found to have potent herbicidal activity against Echinochloa crus-galli, Digitaria adscendens and Chenopodium ficifolium by the treatment with ara-A before germination of these plants. However, Oryza sativa had strong resistance to ara-A.

Herbimycin B, a new benzoquinonoid ansamycin with anti-TMV and herbicidal activities.

A new benzoquinonoid ansamycin, herbimycin B was isolated from the culture broth of Streptomyces hygroscopicus No. AM-3672, a herbimycin A-producing strain. Herbimycin B showed potent anti-TMV activity. Herbicidal effect of herbimycin B was less than that of herbimycin A.

Reciprocal inhibition in the forearm during voluntary contraction and thinking about movement.

The regulatory mechanism for the interaction of agonist and antagonist muscles is not still clear. In these studies we investigated reciprocal inhibition during voluntary contraction and thinking about movement by using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and the H reflex technique. Magnetic stimuli, with intensities 10% above threshold, were delivered at the scalp under 3 experimental conditions; at rest, during voluntary isometric weak contraction and during thinking about movement. Surface EMG responses were taken from extensor carpi radialis (ECR) and flexor carpi radialis (FCR) muscles in 14 normal subjects. Inhibitions of antagonist muscles induced by thinking about agonist movement occurred in 8 ECR and 10 FCR muscles, but most of them were not statistically significant. H reflexes were obtained from the FCR muscles in 10 normal subjects under the same conditions. Voluntary wrist extension and thinking about wrist extension produced inhibition of the H reflex in the FCR muscles. Reciprocal inhibition of antagonist muscles may occur at the cortical and spinal cord levels. The excitability of motoneurons has effects on the H reflex amplitude. Motor evoked potential (MEP) response to TMS might be affected by the combination of input from the motor cortex and the spinal cord. TMS may evoke simultaneous facilitatory and inhibitory volleys to antagonist muscles. This may explain why the inhibitions in the TMS study were weaker than those in the H reflex study.

Shoulder pain and subluxation after stroke: correlation or coincidence?

OBJECTIVE: Few studies have concomitantly examined shoulder subluxation and other potential causes of shoulder pain in persons who have had a stroke. This study explores whether shoulder pain after stroke is related to shoulder subluxation, age, limitations in shoulder range of motion, and upper extremity motor impairment. METHOD: Shoulder pain was measured with a visual analog scale in 20 subjects admitted to a rehabilitation hospital within 6 weeks of onset of their first stroke. Degree of shoulder pain was correlated with vertical, horizontal, and total asymmetries of glenohumeral subluxation; age; shoulder flexion, abduction, and external rotation; and the upper extremity subscore of the Fugl-Meyer Motor Assessment. RESULTS: Shoulder pain after stroke was not correlated with age (rk = .019, p = .916); vertical (rk = .081, p = .324), horizontal (rk = .126, p = .241), or total asymmetry (rk = -.098, p = .288); shoulder flexion (rk = .049, p = .390) or abduction (rk = -.074, p = .337); or Fugl-Meyer scores (rk = -.123, p = .257). In contrast, shoulder pain was strongly correlated with degree of shoulder external rotation (rk = -.457, p = .006). CONCLUSION: These results do not support a strong relationship between shoulder subluxation and pain after stroke. Appropriate precautions should be taken to prevent range of motion limitations that may result in shoulder pain.

[Treatment of Diphyllobothrium latum and Taenia saginata infections with aminosidine (author's transl)].

Recently, it has been known that the aminosidine has marked anthelmintic efficacy against tapeworm. In this investigation, aminosidine was used for treating 14 cases with Ciphyllobothrium latum infection and 5 cases with Taenia saginata infection. Aminosidine was administered orally in a single dose of 50 mg/kg, followed by a purge after the treatment. Fourteen patients with D. latum infection and 5 patients with T. saginata infection expelled long strobila in all cases. Although only 7 scolices of 18 worms of D. latum were found in the stool and no scolex of T. saginata was found, follow-up examination for a long period showed no evidence of remaining infection with one exception of D. latum. Mild nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain were observed in only one of 19 cases given aminosidine. But in the other 18 cases, no side effects were encountered. It was concluded that aminosidine is safe, effective therapeutic agent for the treatment of cestodiasis in man.

Use of an ultra-miniaturized IMU-based motion capture system for objective evaluation and assessment of walking skills.

The increasing age of the world population is posing new challenges to our society, such as how to keep this aging population healthy and active despite of the age. In recent years, there has been a lot of interest for gait analysis for rehabilitation purposes as well as for performance assessment of this aging population. While current systems work well, they still have several limitations. Cost, need for specialized personnel, need to be used in a research center, and sporadic measurement prevent these systems from being widely used. The authors propose the use of extremely miniaturized, portable measurement systems, which can be worn by the users during their everyday life, and can monitor their gait over a long timespan. This paper presents the preliminary experiments with such a system.

[An experimental study on acute rhabdomyolysis in vitro--the influence of a local anesthetic on whole muscle and single muscle fiber function].

I examined the effect of Marcain on the intact and skinned muscle fibers. The whole extensor digitorum longus muscle of rats was mounted in a small bath containing Krebs-Ringer solution. Marcain, when added to the incubation medium, produced a large contracture and markedly increased release of creatine kinase. But the contracture and the release of CK were suppressed with the omission of Ca ion. On pathological examinations of muscle incubated in Marcain solution, muscle fibers were hypercontracted. On the electron microscopy, the sarcomere was shortened and Z-line was partly obscure. The plasmalemma was focally disrupted. In the study on the skinned fiber, Marcain mainly interfered the function of the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Activity of the Ca uptake was inhibited. Ca-induced Ca release and leakage of Ca were facilitated. It was concluded from the present study that regulation of intracellular Ca ion was disturbed by Marcain, causing acute rhabdomyolysis.

[Effects of caudal traction of the spinal cord on evoked spinal cord potentials in the cat].

This study attempts clarify the mechanism of neurological deficits in tethered cord syndrome using evoked spinal cord potentials (ESCPs). ESCPs in response to both sciatic nerve (SN-ESCP) and spinal cord stimulation (SC-DESCP) were recorded from the dorsal epidural space. With a fixed degree of caudal traction on the spinal cord in ten cats for 2-4 hours, ESCPs were increased in amplitude in the N1 and N2 deflections of the SC-DESCPs to 158% and 154% at L5 and decreased to 91% and 76% after transient augmentation at L3. On the other hand, the amplitude in the N1 deflection of the SN-ESCPs at L3 and L5 was decreased to 40% and 68%. These findings suggest that not only the force but also the duration of traction influence the degree of the spinal cord dysfunction. When the spinal cords of 17 cats received compression with traction and without traction, the SN-ESCPs of the former became positive earlier than that of the latter. The extent of the recovery in amplitude of both SC-DESCPs and SN-ESCPs propagated over compression site was far limited in the former than in the latter. These results would indicate that the spinal cord subjected to traction is vulnerable to compression.

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia: epidemiology in Japan, and cyst concentration method.

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia has been markedly increasing recently in Japan. Most cases are seen after receiving anti-cancer and immunosuppressive therapy against their underlying diseases. No cases have been found in undernourished or premature infants. The authors proposed a new method which can concentrate the cysts efficiently from the human and animal lungs, and express the density of infection quantitatively at the same time. This method will especially be valuable to demonstrate the organism in light infection such as latent infection, after treatment, and so on.

Isolation of (+)-abscisin II from dormant aerial tubers of Dioscorea batatas.

The occurrence of at least three growth inhibitors was demonstrated in the dormant aerial tubers of Dioscorea. One of the inhibitors was isolated in crystalline form and identified as (+)-abscisin II by the infrared and ultraviolet spectra as well as by the optical rotatory dispersion.

Facilitatory effect of thinking about movement on motor-evoked potentials to transcranial magnetic stimulation of the brain.

Two experiments using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) were undertaken to investigate facilitatory effects of thinking about a specific movement without voluntary discharges on motor-evoked potentials (MEP). First, surface electromyographic (EMG) responses from the abductor pollicis brevis were recorded with maximal stimulator output in the three conditions: the muscle being at rest, contracting with 10% of maximal muscle activity, and with the subject "only thinking" about thumb abduction (nine subjects). Median value of MEP amplitudes during "only thinking" was twice that at rest (P = 0.008) and one-half that during voluntary contraction (P = 0.008). Second, needle EMG responses from the first dorsal interosseus were compared at rest, during thinking about index finger abduction, and during TMS at threshold intensity. Four normal subjects were tested with stimulation of each cerebral hemisphere for a total of eight tests. The number of detectable MEP responses of 20 stimuli to one hemisphere was counted for each condition of rest or thinking. The mean MEP response rate during thinking (58%) was higher than that at rest (12%) (P < 0.005). These results demonstrate that thinking about a specific movement has facilitatory effects on MEP and that the degree of facilitation in thinking is smaller than in voluntary contraction.

Shoulder subluxation after stroke: a comparison of four supports.

OBJECTIVE: Shoulder subluxation is a well-known sequela of stroke. This study quantitatively compares the reduction of shoulder subluxation using four supports: the single-strap hemisling, the Bobath roll, the Rolyan humeral cuff sling, and the Cavalier support. DESIGN/SETTING: Anteroposterior shoulder radiographs of 20 consecutive first-time stroke survivors in a freestanding rehabilitation hospital were taken within 6 weeks of stroke onset. Vertical, horizontal, and total asymmetries of glenohumeral subluxation compared with the unaffected shoulders were measured before and after fitting of each support. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Group means were compared to find which supports altered subluxation asymmetries and approximated the unaffected shoulder. Individual data were tallied to detect how often each support best reduced subluxation asymmetries. RESULTS: The single-strap hemisling eliminated the vertical asymmetry of subluxation over the entire study group, but each support corrected the vertical asymmetry best in some subjects (55%, 20%, 40%, and 5%, respectively). The Bobath roll and the Cavalier support produced lateral displacements of the humeral head of the affected shoulder (p = 0.005, 0.004, respectively). The Rolyan humeral cuff sling significantly reduced total subluxation asymmetry (p = 0.008), whereas the single-strap hemisling, Bobath roll, and Cavalier support did not alter total asymmetry (p = 0.091, 0.283, 0.502, respectively). CONCLUSION: When treating shoulder subluxation, several different types of supports should be evaluated to optimize the function of the affected extremity and the reduction of the shoulder subluxation.

Evaluation and treatment of shoulder subluxation in hemiplegia: relationship between subluxation and pain.

Shoulder subluxation in hemiplegic patients has been recognized as a difficult problem to manage. In the study contained herein, our aims are to evaluate shoulder subluxation, to clarify if shoulder subluxation causes pain, and to discuss the treatment of shoulder subluxation. The study included 75 hemiplegic patients with shoulder subluxation. Each patient was evaluated for the degree of shoulder pain, motor recovery of the upper limb, and shoulder range of motion. Some indexes for evaluating subluxation were measured with radiographs of the shoulders. Arthrograms of the affected shoulder joint were taken in 23 patients. The following results were found: (1) shoulder pain was significant more frequently in left hemiplegia; (2) vertical disparity was strongly correlated with discrepancy of the descendant ratio; (3) severe inferior subluxation had a tendency to show medial displacement of the humeral head; (4) there were correlations between shoulder pain and shoulder range of motion, especially external rotation; (5) adhesive changes in the arthrograms were seen in most subjects. These results indicate that there is no relation between shoulder subluxation and pain, and adhesive capsulitis is a main cause of shoulder pain. We conclude that correct positioning and shoulder range of motion exercises are advisable in hemiplegic patients with shoulder subluxation.

Prevention of secondary osteoporosis postmenopause in hemiplegia.

OBJECTIVES: To study secondary osteoporosis postmenopause in women with hemiplegia and to show the therapeutic effects of etidronate and how osteoporotic conditions relate to the activities of daily living (ADL). DESIGN: Eighty-one postmenopausal women with hemiplegia were admitted within 6 mo of their first cerebrovascular accident. The bone mineral density (BMD) and biochemical markers of bone turnover were measured at the time of admission. Forty women (treatment group) received a 2-wk administration of etidronate. Forty-one women (control group) were not administered etidronate. RESULTS: After completing a 3-mo rehabilitation program, BMD levels were remeasured. ADL was evaluated by FIM. The low ADL group had a larger decrease in BMD than the high ADL group. For the control group, the BMD rate of change on the paretic side of the femoral neck was -9.6%/3 mo for the low ADL group. BMD loss was reduced significantly by the administration of etidronate for the low ADL group. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that ADL corresponds to the progression of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women with hemiplegia and that increasing the level of ADL will reduce the progression of osteoporosis. Use of etidronate has also been proven to have a suppressive effect on the BMD decrease in women.