Measurement of dephasing time using incoherent light in the Kerr shutter configuration

We propose a convenient signal-selective method to measure the dephasing time using incoherent light performed in the Kerr shutter configuration. The advantage of this method is easy alignment, which allows one to obtain a better signal-to-noise ratio than with ordinary forward two-beam degenerate four-wave mixing. The dephasing time of Cresyl Violet doped in a polymethyl methacrylate film obtained by this method is compared with the result from ordinary two-beam degenerate four-wave mixing.

Radioimmunoassay for non-enzymatically glycated serum proteins

We have developed a radioimmunoassay (RIA) for nonenzymatically glycated serum proteins. The polyclonal antibodies prepared against reduced glycated human albumin were specific for the glucitollysine residues of serum proteins. Serum proteins from diabetic patients (n = 25) contained 5.3 +/- 2.8 nmoles of glucitollysine/mg protein, compared to 2.0 +/- 0.2 in controls (n = 20). The intra- and inter-assay variables were 3.2-6.2% and 4.4-8.6%, respectively. Results from this assay procedure correlated well with those from the boronate affinity chromatography procedure (r = 0.94; P less than 0.001). The data suggested that diabetic serum proteins contained at least 2.5 times as much immunochemically detectable glucitollysine residures as normal serum proteins after reduction of the proteins with sodium borohydride.

A radioimmunoassay for an advanced glycosylation endproduct

A competitive radioimmunoassay for an advanced glycosylation endproduct, 2-(2-furoyl)-4(5)-(2-furanyl)-1H-imidazole (FFI) was developed. The immunogen was prepared by coupling of 4-furanyl-2-furoyl-1H-imidazole-1-hexanoic acid to keyhole limpet hemocyanin. The antiserum obtained by immunizing guinea pigs with the immunogen exhibited high affinity binding to FFI, but no cross-reactivity was observed for structurally related compounds containing an imidazole ring or furan ring(s). By using the radioimmunoassay, the levels of FFI in bovine serum albumin incubated with glucose for varying lengths of time were measured. A time-dependent increase was obtained in the amount of acid-liberated FFI and fluorescence. The radioimmunoassay described here had satisfactory reproducibility as judged by the intra-assay precision of 3.4-6.4% and the interassay precision of 7.3-8.9%. The method allows to quantitate FFI on the modified proteins that have been implicated in the complications of diabetes and in normal aging as well.

[Fabrication and clinical application of intrahepatic arterial catheter facilitating repeated infusion therapy and experience]

Balloon occluded arterial infusion (BOAI) is an ideal and widely accepted method for augmentation of the intrahepatic tissue level of anticancer drugs. But this method nakes repeated infusion very difficult because the Seldinger method is needed to cannulate into the hepatic artery. Recently, we made an intrahepatic artery catheter attached with an implantable reservoir, consisting of an intra-arterial catheter, reservoir and cylinder-like device which has a small balloon on its inner part. The cannulation is done at laparotomy. With this method, five cases of nonresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, one metastatic liver cancer and one noncurative hepatocellular carcinoma were treated. Intrahepatic vessels were quite visible by DSA using CO2 gas. Serum concentration level of adriamycin was lower and undetectable at 120 minutes after infusion. No side effects nor catheter complications were observed. Intra-arterial infusion therapy using this device will be a most useful routine method for cancer control in the outpatient clinic.

Determinants of indoor NO2-concentration and the personal exposures of children and their mothers in Japanese homes

In February and in July 1986 the personal exposures to NO2 of 60 children and their mothers were measured and NO2-concentrations in their homes were measured. In the summer also the NO2-concentration in the kitchen was determined during the time that the mother was in the kitchen. The mothers were asked to keep a diary of the activities of her and her child during that day and of the time that the heating appliances, cooking range, etc. were used. In the winter indoor NO2-concentrations and personal exposures of mother and child were much higher than in the summer. In the winter in many cases the Japanese Ambient Air Quality Standard is exceeded. The elevated levels in the winter can be related to the use of NO2-producing heating appliances especially the gas- or oilstove without a flue. Appliance of a flue still causes the indoor NO2-concentrations to be elevated. The division of a study population into two exposure categories on the basis of presence of a non-vented gasstove is therefore inappropriate. An instantaneous gas fired water heater may also contribute to elevated indoor NO2-concentrations and personal exposures, although the present survey could not provide detailed information about the use of a flue and the location of the geyser. The time that a gasrange is being used may influence the indoor NO2-concentrations, but the results from this survey were not clear. Ventilation in the kitchen reduces the indoor NO2-concentrations, although this seems especially true in case the gas range is being used for a long time. In houses with smokers higher NO2-concentrations were found than in houses with non smokers. In the winter the non-vented gas stove is the most important indoor NO2-source. The present study was not able to demonstrate the effect of outdoor NO2-concentrations on the indoor air concentrations. A longer time span would be necessary. The housestructure, i.e. the construction of the house and the number of rooms influence the indoor NO2-concentrations and personal exposure. In the winter all indoor NO2-concentrations are highly intercorrelated and also highly correlated with the personal exposures of mother and child. Multiple regression models based on either measured or time-weighted NO2-concentrations explain about 85 percent of the variance in the personal exposures of child and mother in the winter. The exposures calculated from the time-weighted NO2-concentrations correlate very well with the measured personal exposures. This was not the case in the summer.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Impact of smoking on the concentration and activity of alpha-1-antitrypsin in serum in relation to the urinary excretion of hydroxyproline

The impact of active and passive smoking on the serum levels of alpha 1-AT, the trypsin inhibitory capacity (TIC), the trypsin inhibitory activity (TIA) and the urinary hydroxyproline to creatinine ratio (HOP-ratio) was studied. The subjects used in the study on active smoking were 167 healthy adult men and in the study on passive smoking 189 healthy primary school children. Serum levels of alpha 1-AT in active smokers were significantly higher than those in non-smokers. The TIC as well as the TIA in active smokers decreased with increasing number of cigarettes smoked. The urinary HOP-ratio increased significantly with increasing number of cigarettes smoked. On the other hand, in the case of passive smokers a significant difference was obtained only for the HOP-ratio. The correlations between all markers in active smokers were significant. Less significant correlations were found in the case of passive smokers. These results suggest that the urinary excretion of hydroxyproline can be considered as a marker for the imbalance between proteases and anti-proteases as a result of smoking.

[A case of leiomyosarcoma of the prostate]

A 50-year-old man with the symptom of anal pain was treated by pelvic exenteration, ileal conduit diversion and artificial anus. The pathologic diagnosis was leiomyosarcoma of the prostate. At 5 months post-operatively, the patient had no evidence of metastasis or recurrence.

Antibodies to nonenzymatically glucosylated albumin in the human serum

The existence of antibodies to nonenzymatically glucosylated albumin was investigated in nondiabetic and diabetic subjects. The sera from both the nondiabetic and the diabetic subjects were shown to contain the proteins which bound to reductively glucosylated albumin. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay demonstrated that the antibodies specific for reductively glucosylated albumin existed in the sera containing the binding proteins. For binding the antibodies glucitollysine as the glucose adduct in reductively glucosylated albumin was an effective competitor. The hexose alcohol epimers glucitol and mannitol were also effective competitors compatible with glucitollysine. Our results suggest that the antibodies to reductively glucosylated albumin are widely present not only in the diabetic subjects but also in the nondiabetic subjects and cross-react with the hexose alcohol.

Mechanism of hepatic megamitochondria formation by ammonia derivatives. Correlation between structure of chemicals and their ability to induce the formation of megamitochondria

Correlation between the chemical structure and the ability to induce hepatic megamitochondria formation was studied by feeding mice and rats diets containing a wide spectrum of ammonia derivatives. Ammonia derivatives with electron-releasing groups, such as hydrazine, phenylhydrazine, hydroxylamine and aniline were effective in inducing megamitochondria. Ammonia derivatives with electron-withdrawing groups, such as formamide, sulfamic acid, acetamide were ineffective in inducing megamitochondria. Inducibility of ammonia derivatives with electron-releasing groups plus electron-withdrawing groups for the megamitochondria formation was dependent upon nucleophilicity of the chemical: 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine induced megamitochondria, while acetanilide did not induce megamitochondria. The megamitochondria formation induced by ammonia derivatives was a reversible process. Freeze-fracture studies on megamitochondria indicated that megamitochondria were formed by the fusion of adjacent mitochondria. Phosphorylating capacity of megamitochondria (hydrazine-induced megamitochondria, for example) were normal despite morphological changes. These data might suggest that the nucleophilicity of chemicals plays a key role in the induction of hepatic megamitochondria. These data might also suggest that the phenomenon is an adaptive process to changes of intracellular milieu.

Induction of megamitochondria in the mouse and rat livers by hydrazine

The correlation between structures of chemicals and their inducibility for megamitochondrial formation was investigated. Since the chemical structure universal to the inducers of megamitochondria previously reported (cuprizone and isonicotinic acid derivatives) is the carbazoyl group (-CONHNH2), semicarbazide (NH2NHCONH2) was tested first. Then, hydrazine (NH2NH2) was tested, replacing the carbazoyl group of semicarbazide by an amino group (-NH2). The present study demonstrates that (1) megamitochondria were induced in mouse and rat hepatocytes by feeding the animals with a diet containing semicarbazide or hydrazine, suggesting that the carbazoyl group was not essential for megamitochondrial formation; (2) hydrazine-induced megamitochondrial formation was a reversible process. Coupling efficiencies and activities of ATPase and cytochrome oxidase of megamitochondria induced by hydrazine were slightly decreased, while the activity of monoamine oxidase was moderately decreased. Freeze-fracture electron microscopy revealed particle-free regions in the outer membranes of megamitochondria fixed with glutaraldehyde at 22 degrees C; the regions disappeared at 25 degrees C, indicating that the temperature of the liquid crystalline to gel state lipid phase transition in the megamitochondrial outer membrane was elevated. It is speculated that chemical structure of inducer of megamitochondria could be simplified to NH2-G (G, substituting group).

A study on the exchange rate of magnesium with ATP

The exchange process of Mg2+ with ATP was found to be, in many cases, dominated by Mg2+ exchange between ATP and ATP-Mg (a bimolecular reaction) rather than the Mg2+ off-process from ATP-Mg to solution (a unimolecular reaction). The Mg2+ off-rate from ATP-Mg and the rate constant of the bimolecular reaction were determined at 10 and 25 degrees C at pH 7.3, using 31P-NMR at 145.7 MHz. At this resonance frequency intermediate to slow exchange phenomena with respect to the NMR time scale of 2.5 . 10(3) s-1 were observed in ATP resonances. Various implications of these results to studies of biological systems have been pointed out.

Successive approximation for determining the hydroxyl rotational temperature

A successive approximation is presented for determining the hydroxyl rotational temperature from a comparison of successively approximated intensities of the rotational lines, which are, in the state of raw data, resolved as the [P(1) (4) +P(2) (4)I, [P(1) (3) + P2 (3)1, and [P1 (2) + P(2) (2)l lines. It is found that the determination of rotational temperatures using this successive approximation is far less time-consuming and more convenient than the usual synthetic spectra method, especially in treating numerous spectra from OH bands. As an example, the nighttime variations of the rotational temperature obtained every 6 min with this successive approximation are presented.