Dystrophin is a 427 kD protein localized to the cytoplasmic face of sarcolemma. The absence of dystrophin is the primary cause of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and the X chromosome-linked ...dystrophic (mdx) mice. Dystrophin is associated with several proteins (dystrophin-associated proteins ： DAPs) which are more or less reduced in DMD and mdx skeletal muscles suggesting the loss is causatively related to the diseases. We have found that a large dystrophin-associated oligomeric glycoprotein complex binds with specified site of dystrophin supporting the function of dystrophin as an anchor of the sarcolemmal glycoprotein complex to the subsarcolemmal cytoskeleton. These findings indicate that the efficiency of dystrophin gene therapy will depend not only on replacing dystrophin but also on restoring the DAPs. Dystrophin deficiency in the skeletal muscle of mdx mice can be partially restored by implanting of non-dystrophic myoblasts. Therefore, myoblast transfer has been proposed as one of the methods of dystrophin gene therapy. We reported appearance of a large number of dystrophin-positive muscle fibers after inplanting of normal muscle cell line C2 myoblasts into skeletal muscles of mdx nude mice. In the present study, we found that DAPs were also restored in these dystrophin-positive muscle fibers.
Anodic stripping method had been studied for the determination of trace amounts of nickel in rare earth oxides. Potassium thiocyanate has been found to be the most suitable supporting electrolyte for ...this purpose. Nickel is electrodeposited at -1.0 V (vs. SCE) for 15 min or 1 hr on a platinum wire electrode. An anodic dissolution curve is then recorded by linearly varying potential over a range of -1.0 to 1.0 V (vs. SCE) at a rate of 2.4 V/min. Platinum wire electrode is polished previously with aluminum oxide powder (about 200 mesh) and with a small piece of filter paper on which a small amounts of sodium bicarbonate is put. It is then treated at +0.4 V (vs. SCE) for about 5 min in the supporting electrolyte solution after washing with nitric acid and water. The electrode could be used many times over. Suitable concentration range of supporting electrolyte solution was from 0.4 to 0.6M. Dissolution peak current showed the highest and constant value over the pH range from 5.0 to 5.5. The more pre-electrolysis potential was negative, the higher dissolution peak current was obtained. Gas liberation was found however on the electrode at more negative potential than -1.05 V (vs. SCE), and it seemed to interfere with the electrodeposition of nickel. Good linear relationship between the concentration of nickel over a range of 1 × 10-8 to 1 × 10-6M and the dissolution peak current. The coefficient of variation was 3.2% in the case of 1 × 10-6M of nickel concentration. Dissolution current depended on the square root of the scanning rate of voltage obeying to the Sevcik's equation. Nitrate and sulfate did not interfere but chloride more than 0.1M and tartrate, citrate and phosphate interfered. Although many other metal ions interfered with the determination of nickel, these interference could be eliminated by using dithizone-carbon tetrachloride and dimethylglyoxime-chloroform extraction methods. Following analytical procedure is proposed : dissolve 0.25 to 2.0 g of rare earth oxides with hydrochloric acid (in the case of ceric oxide, nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide are used) and adjust the pH of the solution to 1.0 after addition of ammonium citrate. Remove copper in the sample solution by the dithizone-carbon tetrachloride extraction method. Then extract nickel with dimethylglyoxime-chloroform solution after adjusting the pH to 9.510.0 and determine the amount of nickel as described above after destruction of organic matter with nitric and sulfuric acids. About 0.1 to 3 ppm of nickel in the rare earth oxides was determined by the proposed method.
3-(1-Methyl-2-hydroxyethyl)-benzophenone (F025) is a close structural analogue of ketoprofen, in which the carboxylic acid of ketoprofen is reduced to a carbinol moiety. The in vitro effects of F025 ...on platelet aggregation, cyclooxygenase and hypotonic NaCl-induced erythrocyte hemolysis were examined in comparison with those of ketoprofen. Although the inhibitory activity of F025 on collagen, arachidonic acid and ADP-induced platelet aggregation was between 2 and 20 times that of ketoprofen in healthy volunteers, guinea pigs, rabbits and rats, F025 had only one-tenth of the inhibitory action of ketoprofen on sheep seminal vesicle cyclooxygenase F025, but not ketoprofen, inhibited hypotonic NaCl-induced erythrocyte hemolysis in guinea pigs. The substantial antiplatelet activity of F025 may be due to membrane stabilization as well as to cyclooxygenase inhibition.
Although endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) was developed originally for non-surgical removal of common bile duct stones, indication for this procedure has recently been extended to some other purposes. ...We apllied EST for the diagnosis of bile duct cancers which diagnoses were not confirmed with other methods ; 3 of 4 cases were cancers of inferior common bile duct and one was cancer of the ampulla of Vater. Symptoms of these patients were iaundice, epigastralgia, right hypochondralgia and fever. ERCP showed a dilatation of the common bile duct with a filling defect and irregular stenosis in the distal third. In all patients periampullary mucosa showed no abnormalities, though in one case the ampulla of Vater was slightly enlarged. The diagnoses of these patients were made with histological examination of specimens obtained by endoscopic biopsy after EST. We concluded that this procedure is very useful and necessary in establishing diagnoses of these diseases.
We investigated the prediction of the outcome of gait prognosis in stroke patients, who could not keep the standing position in their early stage. Forty-seven first occurrence stroke patients were ...evaluated their static and dynamic sitting balance. The results were as follows: 1) Static sitting balance score may have poor predictive value for gait prognosis. 2) The group (N = 12) of gait independence at discharge showed significantly greater scores than the dependent group, on dynamic sitting balance test. In conclusion, it was important to evaluate dynamic sitting balance for the prediction of gait prognosis in the stroke patients.
A series of heparinized hydrophilic polymers (H-RSD) composed of a hydrophobic element, a nonionic hydrophilic element, a cationic element and ionically bound heparin was synthesized. The ...permeability of the H-RSD polymers with various chemical compositions and water contents was investigated. From the studies on the permeability, it has been found that in order to maintain good permeability after heparinization, the nonionic hydrophilic element is necessary. In addition, the microencapsulation of activated charcoal granules using a H-RSD polymer with a similar permeability to that of Cuprophan was examined. In vitro adsorption studies and in vivo direct hemoperfusion studies on the activated charcoal microencapsulated with the H-RSD polymer, show that the H-RSD coating prevents clot formation without loss of the absorption power of the activated charcoal.
Three β-substituted pyridine N-oxides (I, II and III) were subjected to 1, 3-dipolar cycloaddition with phenyl isocyanates having an ortho, meta or para substituent group. 3-Methyl- (I) and 3, ...5-dimethyl-pyridine N-oxide (II) afforded the 2, 3-dihydropyridine derivatives, and the 3, 5-dibromo compound (III) afforded a 2, 3-dihydro-2-oxo-oxazolo-4, 5-b pyridine (IX) by the elimination of hydrogen bromide from the 2, 3-dihydropyridine thus formed. The presence of an o-substituent group or nitro group in the phenyl isocyanate resulted in a reduced cycloaddition yield. The structures of the 2, 3-dihydropyridine adducts were determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis.
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