Histo-chemical and cytochemical studies on the succinic dehydroge-nase system with three ditetrazolium salts, NT, Nitro-NT, and Nitro-Bt

1. Histochemical and cytochemical studies with respect to the sites of reaction were made on the succinic dehydrogenase system activity of human and animal tissues using ditetrazolium salts, namely, neotetrazolium chloride, nitro-neotetrazolium chloride, and nitra-blue tetrazolium chloride. 2. The advantages and disadvantages of each ditetrazolium salt for histochemical and cytochemical purposes and the reaction taking place in frozen tissue sections and that in fresh tissue blocks were compared, and the method of procedure suitable for each condition was established with some modification. 3. Selecting conditions suitable for cytochemical purpose, it was shown that the reaction took place at the sites coinciding with mitochondria, and the distribution of the enzyme reaction was also examined. In addition, several new findings in the brains and other tissues cytochemically made clear were pointed out.</p

Amitriptyline, but not pregabalin, reverses the attenuation of noxious stimulus-induced analgesia after nerve injury in rats.

学位記番号：医博甲1562

Is refraction with a hand-held autorefractometer useful in addition to visual acuity testing and questionnaires in preschool vision screening at 3.5 years in Japan?

The vision-screening program for 3.5-year-old children in Japan consists of 3 steps:questionnaires and home visual acuity testing, visual acuity testing by nurses and inspection by medical officers at regional Public Health Centers, and examinations by ophthalmologists. In this study, we tested refraction with a hand-held autorefractometer in addition to visual acuity testing and inspection to reveal whether or not autorefraction leads to better detection of eye problems. Autorefraction was performed in 6 consecutive sessions by a single examiner in 265 children at 3.5 years of age who all visited the same center. The children were sent to the third step of examinations by ophthalmologists based on refractive error criteria:3 diopters myopia or 1 diopter hyperopia, and/or 2 diopters astigmatism in either eye, in addition to the current criteria:1) failure in either eye for 0.5 visual acuity at the center, 2) eye-related symptoms revealed by the questionnaires, or 3) eye problems detected by medical officers. Notices to visit ophthalmologists were issued for 64 children (24%), and 37 of those (58%) made the visits, so that documents containing final diagnoses were sent back to the Public Health Office. Of the 64 children, 12 were sent to ophthalmologists based on the current criteria only, 10 based on both the current criteria and the refractive error criteria, and 42 based on the refractive error criteria only. Twelve of the 13 children visiting ophthalmologists by the current criteria had diagnoses such as amblyopia and strabismus. In contrast, 15 of 24 children visiting ophthalmologists by only the refractive error criteria had mainly diagnoses of refractive errors, with no serious problems. In conclusion, autorefraction in addition to visual acuity testing and inspection led to detection of only one additional case of an eye disease at 3.5 years, while tripling the number of children sending to the third-step examination by an ophthalmologist. Thus, from a cost-effectiveness standpoint, autorefraction is not recommended as an additional test when the current system is conducted as designed.</p

Systems Biology Graphical Notation: Process Diagram Level 1

Standard graphical representations have played a crucial role in science and engineering throughout the last century. Without electrical symbolism, it is very likely that our industrial society would not have evolved at the same pace. Similarly, specialised notations such as the Feynmann notation or the process flow diagrams did a lot for the adoption of concepts in their own fields. With the advent of Systems Biology, and more recently of Synthetic Biology, the need for precise and unambiguous descriptions of biochemical interactions has become more pressing. While some ideas have been advanced over the last decade, with a few detailed proposals, no actual community standard has emerged. The Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN) is a graphical representation crafted over several years by a community of biochemists, modellers and computer scientists. Three orthogonal and complementary languages have been created, the Process Diagrams, the Entity Relationship Diagrams and the Activity Flow Diagrams. Using these three idioms a scientist can represent any network of biochemical interactions, which can then be interpreted in an unambiguous way. The set of symbols used is limited, and the grammar quite simple, to allow its usage in textbooks and its teaching directly in high schools. The first level of the SBGN Process Diagram has been publicly released. Software support for SBGN Process Diagram was developed concurrently with its specification in order to speed-up public adoption. Shared by the communities of biochemists, genomicians, theoreticians and computational biologists, SBGN languages will foster efficient storage, exchange and reuse of information on signalling pathways, metabolic networks and gene regulatory maps

Design and synthesis of biotin- or alkyne-conjugated photoaffinity probes for studying the target molecules of PD 404182.

To investigate the mechanism of action of the potent antiviral compound PD 404182, three novel photoaffinity probes equipped with a biotin or alkyne indicator were designed and synthesized based on previous structure-activity relationship studies. These probes retained the potent anti-HIV activity of the original pyrimidobenzothiazine derivatives. In photoaffinity labeling studies using HIV-1-infected H9 cells (H9IIIB), eight potential proteins were observed to bind PD 404182

Photorefraction with Spot Vision Screener versus Visual Acuity Testing as Community-Based Preschool Vision Screening at the Age of 3.5 Years in Japan

Nationwide in Japan, a community-based vision-screening program in 3.5-year-old children is conducted in three steps: questionnaires and home visual acuity testing as the primary screening; visual acuity testing by nurses and pediatricians’ inspection in community health centers as the secondary screening; and examinations by ophthalmologists as the tertiary screening. In this study, we introduced photorefraction with a Spot vision screener in addition to visual acuity testing to answer the clinical question of whether photorefraction could better detect eye diseases and potentially replace visual acuity testing. Photorefraction was performed on 813 consecutive 3.5-year-old children in a center. The children were sent to tertiary examinations, which were based on the Spot vision screener standard, in addition to the visual acuity testing standard: failure in either eye to pass 0.5 visual acuity in a center. A notice to visit ophthalmologists was issued for 95 children (11%), and documents with the diagnosis were sent back to the Heath Office for 76 children (80%). The rate of children with anisometropic or ametropic amblyopia or accommodative esotropia as treatment-requiring diseases was highest in cases of no pass at both standards (10/15 = 66%), and higher in cases of no pass only at the Spot vision screener standard (13/45 = 28%), compared with cases of no pass only at the visual acuity testing standard (6/33 = 18%, p = 0.0031). Photorefraction, in addition to visual acuity testing and inspection led to additional eye diseases detection at 3.5 years. Visual acuity testing at home would not be omitted in the introduction of photorefraction