The role of Wilms' tumor genes

The constitutional chromosomal deletion within the short arm of one copy of chromosome 11, at band p13, which often correlated with WAGR syndrome consisting of Wilms' tumor with aniridia, genitourinary malformation, and mental retardation, provided the first clue to the genetic events in the development of Wilms' tumor. WT1 gene is encoded by 10 exons, resulting in messenger RNA subject to a complex pattern of alternative splicing. WT1 gene encodes a zinc finger transcription factor, which binds to GC-rich sequences and functions as a transcriptional activator or repressor for many growth factor genes. WT1protein is mainly expressed in developing kidney, testis, and ovary, indicating that it is involved in the differentiation of genitourinary tissues, all thought to be the sites of origin of Wilms' tumor. The point mutation of WT1 results in Denys-Drash syndrome. The other Wilms' tumor gene, WT2 at 11p15.5, is linked to Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome. The possibility that WT1 is involved in the etiology of rhabdoid tumor of the kidney was discussed. WT1 is expressed in immortalized hematologic cells such as EBV-LCL and hematologic malignancies, but not in PBL or IL-2L. High level WT1 expression in leukemia cells and a poor prognosis are linked in patients with leukemia, making the gene a novel marker for leukemia cells. A correlated expression between WT1 and mdr-1 in vincristine resistant cells indicates a close relation with multi-drug resistance and is a promising diagnositic marker for chemoresistance in hematologic malignancies

マスメディア ニ ホウドウ サレタ ケンコウ ジョウホウ : キョウイン ヨウセイ ダイガク ノ コウギ ナイヨウ トシテノ ユウヨウセイ ニツイテ

It is closely related to a success of a lesson whether students are interested in a content of health, since the students of a teachers college do not necessarily become medical specialists. While the number of times of a lesson is restricted, it is impossible to follow in footsteps and to perform the lecture system currently performed in the medical school. Therefore, it is necessary in quality and quantity to build the health education from a viewpoint of differing. Moreover, although students are considered to be interested in medical research, an education effect will not be acquired if the level of a lecture is high superfluously. On the contrary, even if a practical lesson like home medicine is performed, it is not expectable for the students to reach sufficient level in an understanding and applicable side without a medical base. Moreover, it is difficult to pull a participant’s interest too in the content which is completely unrelated to the actual condition of a healthy level or a sick tendency of our country. Therefore, it is necessary to build a content combined rudimentary medicine bases such as human body structure and physiology metabolism with practical health education, in order that the participants can use it for the improvement of their health. The health information reported to an ordinary person can be useful level of health information for the students. Because they are based on current events and the contents of a report are also processed by the level which can be understood by an ordinary person, it is expectable that they bring up a student’s interest and are helpful for a better understanding. Then, the latest health information reported on the websites was analyzed by the medical standpoint, and the tendency and usefulness of the report were considered

センタクテキ チリョウ テイシ ト シュウマツキ イリョウ

A serious decision is urged on families and doctors about treatment and the life-prolonging procedure in the infant with serious illness, patients with the end.stage cancer, the senior citizen or the newborn baby with the serious illness trouble whose recovery cannot be expected. It has been divided among the medical institutions how the life-prolonging procedure should be done to the patient and the child with a hopeless current state. There have appeared some institutions in which hospital indicator or ethical committee for the interests of patients has been set up. The indicator in the United States and Canada decided that cooperation between family and physician is necessary when they decide the discontinuation of the life-sustaining treatment. However, there is a point of problem that the policy is perhaps different in one hospital to another. The author experienced pediatric patients with serious newborn disease or end stage of malignant disease in whom the life-prolonging medical treatment were stopped. In this paper, I consider the judge in the medical treatment done on each occasion to be correct or not by comparing them with a present indicator. In addition, I turn around about the selective treatment stop and the terminal care in the future

ゲンリュウ ノ イシゾウ ト セカイ ノ イガク キョウイク : ワガ クニ ノ イガク キョウイク ノ モンダイテン オ カエリミテ

The medical student is taught an ideal attitude of the medical doctors through the knowledge of Hippocrates oaths or Ogata Koan when they graduate from university. However, it has not been actual that each student formally thinks about the objection of the letters by digging them down. It has been estimated that the doctors attitude is brewed up naturally during the periods of medical education. However, the lifestyle, the structure of population, social and disease, the medical science and the medical technology have been so changed in recent years that the attitude of the young doctors and the patient is influenced by these changes. This is why the proposal is thrown on the improvement of the medical education. Clinician’s research level has declined seriously in the 21st century in the local National Medical Universities, which has been brought about by the change of the training policy, the aim of which has been changed to train the clinical−oriented doctor from to educate the research−oriented doctor. This will be a particularly severe problem because it can become a factor of lowering the level of overall medical science in our country. Tracing predecessors footprints that should be assumed to be a basic philosophy and looking back on the matter of the medical pedagogy may bring up some suggestions on the various problems written above. In this paper, the education system performed in the advanced countries including pedagogy in our country are compared to pick up the idea that will be able to improve the medical education in this country

ホゴシャ キョウイク ガ ホカン スル ショウニ キュウキュウ イリョウ

In our country, the infant emergency health care system has not been approved by the reduction and the closing of the hospital pediatrics department since child\u27s medical demand decreases by the acceleration of demographic falling birth rate in recent years. It can be said that the environment that surrounds the infant emergency medical treatment is in a critical situation. In an attempt to solve the difficulty in the infant emergency care system, the situation of physician and patients, the proposal of the Japan Medical Association, and current measures of the country are clarified. In addition, the problem and the background of the infant medical treatment of our country are dug up referring to the system of the infant health medical treatment of world\u27s industrialized countries. The strategy that solves the problem of the infant medical treatment of our country is considered on that

Multidrug resistance in hematological malignancy

The recent treatment of hematological malignancies appears to be unsatisfactory in child and adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia and adult patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia. A major problem in the treatment of leukemia is caused by the development of drug resistance to chemotherapeutic agents, which is already present at diagnosis or after chemotherapy as a minimal residual disease, their resistance having originated from genetic or epigenetic mutations during prior growth of the leukemia clone. It was suggested that the mechanisms of drug resistance consist of drug resistance proteins, which work as a drug efflux pump. These are the permeability- related glycoprotein (P- Gp), the multidrug-resistance associated protein(MRP), the lung resistance protein(LRP), and other MDR proteins such as the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP), anthracyclin resistance associated protein (ARA), MRP 2-7, and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP). In addition, anti-apoptosis mechanisms, alterations of tumor suppressor genes, altered immunogenicity, drug resistance mechanisms for individual drugs, and clinical risk factors such as white blood cell count, age, and other factors have been reported to act in drug resistance singly or in combinations. Here we describe the update of research on the biology of MDR in the hematological malignancies and also discuss how to overcome MDR and adapt the updated treatment methods in the clinical medical field

Effect of evodiamine on catecholamine secretion from bovine adrenal medulla

The effect of evodiamine on catecholamine secretion from bovine adrenal medulla was investigated. Evodiamine, a bioactive component isolated from dry unripened fruit of Evodia rutaecarpa Bentham, was found to stimulate the secretion of catecholamine from perfused bovine adrenal medulla at a concentration of 10 μM and its effect persisted for at least 30 min. This stimulatory effect of evodiamine was abolished by omission of Ca2+ from the perfusion fluid. Evodiamine (0.1-10 μM) markedly enhanced the secretion of catecholamine from the adrenal medulla induced by acetylcholine (100 μM) or high K+(56 mM). The secretion of catecholamine was promptly enhanced by acetylcholine or high K+, but returned to the control level on treatment for 20 min. However, when evodiamine was added to the perfusion fluid after acetylcholine or high K+ stimulation for 10 min, the secretion of catecholamine again increased greatly. These results indicate that evodiamine not only stimulated the secretion of catecholamine from bovine adrenal medulla but also reversed insensitivity of these cells to acetylcholine or high K+ stimulation

Current status of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and umbilical cord blood bank in Chugoku-Shikoku area

The hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is rapidly and widely spreading in the treatment strategy of various types of cancers, since peripheral and umbilical cord blood (CB) have been introduced as new sources of transplantable cells in addition to ordinary bone marrow cells. In this report, the current status of HSCT was reviewed. CB is rich in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, which have high proliferative potential. T cells in CB are speculated to be immature and immune-tolerable cells with less potential to cause acute or chronic graft versus host disease (GVHD), which are directly related with transplant-related morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, transplants with CB are not strictly restricted by a HLA-disparity. On the other hand, the less number of collected cells from CB is a major problem when the cells are applied for clinical transplantation, because the lower number of infused cells often result in engraftment failure. Further, we have no data of the viability after long term cryopreservation. We must carefully judge the usefulness of CB as a cell source for transplantation, but the benefits of CB may have a possibility to overcome these disadvantage in the near future. Finally, the activity of cord blood bank in Chugoku-Shikoku area, which was started from August 1998, was also introduced