Genomic dissection of the Vibrio cholerae O-serogroup global reference strains: reassessing our view of diversity and plasticity between two chromosomes

Approximately 200 O-serogroups of Vibrio cholerae have already been identified; however, only 2 serogroups, O1 and O139, are strongly related to pandemic cholera. The study of non-O1 and non-O139 strains has hitherto been limited. Nevertheless, there are other clinically and epidemiologically important serogroups causing outbreaks with cholera-like disease. Here, we report a comprehensive genome analysis of the whole set of V. cholerae O-serogroup reference strains to provide an overview of this important bacterial pathogen. It revealed structural diversity of the O-antigen biosynthesis gene clusters located at specific loci on chromosome 1 and 16 pairs of strains with almost identical O-antigen biosynthetic gene clusters but differing in serological patterns. This might be due to the presence of O-antigen biosynthesis-related genes at secondary loci on chromosome 2

Diencephalo-Pituitary Adrenocortical Functions and Role of Frontal Lobe to These Systems in Mental Diseases

As a link in the series of studies on the functions of the diencephalo-pituituitary adrenocortical system in endogenous psychosis, an investigation was carried out on 26 cases of schizophrenia who received the standard bilateral lobotomy, for the purpose to find out how the frontal lobe affects to the endocrine functions and autnomic nervous systems. For this purpose ACTH (25 units) was administered intramuscularly to 17 cases of them, and the m echolyltest was conducted with the other 9 cases, measuring the lelvels of corticoids in serum and urine of both groups. For the controls, ACTH was administered to 9 cases of schizophrenia who did not receive lobotomy. The results of the study may briefly be summarized as follows. 1) In the control group after ACTH adiministration the serum 17-OHCS showed a tendency of a decrease in the cortical reserve capacity, and in the lobotomized group there could be seen an abnormal reaction to ACTH in addition to a decrease in the cortical reserve capacity. 2) Total blood cholesterol after the ACTH stimulation decreased temporarily, showing similar changes up to 30 minutes in both groups, but in the lobotomized group an increase in cholesterol could be observed thereafter, revealing a contrasting phenomenon to the decreasing tendency of the serum 17-OHCS. 3) The blood potassium decreased transiently 10 minutes after the ACTH administration in both groups and such changes were unstable in the control group while the blood potassium in the lobotomized group increased steadily. As for the fluctuations of urine potassium its excretion was decreased transiently after the ACTH administration in both groups, which later rebounded, and this recovery tendency was more marked in the lobotomized group. 4) 17-KS excreted in urine on ACTH stimulation increased accompanying a marked increase in the amount of urine in the case of lobotomized group. 5) The results of the mecholyl test revealed that even the lobotomized patients respond to mecholyl, but there can be observed a decline and delay in the reactivity. 6) Observations on the fluctuations of serum 17-OHCS, urine 17-OHCS and 17-KS conducted simultaneouly with the mecholyl test revealed a declinining tendency in serum free 17-OHCS while total 17-OHCS in urine to be rather increased in the lobotomized group. The quantity of 17-KS excreted in urine decreased at first and then increased, and such a tendency did not parallel with the change in the total 17-OHCS excreted in urine. In the patients showing identically the same pathological conditions there could be recognized no distinct correlation between the type of response to mecholyl and the corticoid picture. 7) While we can recognize a certain correlation between defect symptoms of the frontal lobe and the endocrine functions, when we investigate individual caes, we find complex features in the endocrine function and autonomic nervous system according to the constitution before the lobotomy and the postoperative pathological picture. Namely, in those patients in a quiet mentbal state, though they are not completely cured, both functions maintain the balance in the state of lowered tension. On the other hand, in those who show a premonition of unrest and excitation, both functions have become unstable. Moreover, those who may have hallucination and delusion and are in the state of chronic defect, so long as there occurs no excitation, they show the levels of function close to the normal. 8) Summarizing these findings, it may be said that there is a decreasing tendency of the response to the ACTH stimulation in the functions of the diencephalo-pituitary-adrenocortical system of chronic shizophrenic group, and distribution of the estimated values is larger than that of normal persons, and this tendency is still more pronounced in the lobotomized group. Furthermore, the dissection of the frontal lobe brings about a defective equilibrium in the reaction mechanism of regulating center in endocrine system, but once placed under a strong stimulus, this balance is broken and there occurs a marked disruption in the endocrine rhythm

A Case Study of Discordant Schizophrenia in one of Uniovular Twins

The authors happened to encounter a discordant schizophrenic case in one of uniovular twins. This patient is still yong so that we intend to follow up this case in the future, but for the time being we present this case as a discordant schizophrenia. 1. By the ovular examination this case has been verified as a uniovular case. 2. In the character test, namely, in Rorschach test and Uchida Kraepelin test, we found abnormalities not only in the patient but also in her twin-sister. This finding is noteworthy, so that it will not only help the ovular diagnosis but also suggests a possible danger of future nosogenesis. 3. By judging environmental differences between the twins, we have studies how these differences were related to the nosogenesis, and obtained the following data: (a) Both twins weighed only 1.5 Kg. at the birth, and the patient's entire body was paler than her twin-sister then. At the age of these both contrasted whooping-cough, but the patient was severer than her sister. It appears that from that time on the patient has the delicate constitution. (b) In the first year of her junior-high school days (13 years old) she received a trauma on the hiatus and she has been worrying ever since, believing she had her hymen broken. (c) As for the direct cause inducing the physiological and mental tension, cystitis which she suffered for one whole year when she was 15 years old may be pointed out. Cystitis seems to be an important factor in this case, because according to Henri Baruck in a cystitic case there are substances in Coli bacillus which are toxicant to the brain, and consequently there is a possibility of presenting a phenomenon like in schizophrenia reaction. These three factors seem to heve played an important role for the onset of schizophrenia in this case

Corticoid Metabolism in the Body: Correlation Pattern of Blood and Urine Corticoids in Psychiatric Patients

To investigate the corticoid metabolism In Vivo of endogenous psychosis, authors have studied the relationship between urinary and serum corticoid patterns. Twenty four hour urine and blood samples were taken from 17 cases of both sexes of schizophrenic patients, 17 cases from both sexes of depressed patients, 17 cases from both sexes of normal control persons, 11 cases of right and left lobotomized chronic schizophsenic patients and 12 cases from both sexes of patients with pituitary tumors, pituitary cysts, craniopharyngeomas, disturbances in hypothalamus and so on. The urinary 17-KS were measured by a modified method of Koch and Holtorff and 17-OHCS were measured by Silber-Porter and Bongiovanni. Bacterial β Glucuronidase was used in hydrolysis. The results were as follows: 1. Free 17-OHCS in the urine and the serum were increased in schizophrenic and depressed patients in aggravating situations without exception. 2. Urinary 17-KS were decreased in aggravating situations in both schizophrenic and depressed patients. 3. The decrease of urinary 17-KS was significant in the male but not in the female. 4. High serum 17-CHCS levels were followed by high urine 17-OHCS values; in other words the values moved parallel in psychotic patients. 5. The value of conjugated 17-OHCS over free 17-OHCS (C/F) in the urine and blood always decreased in schizophrenic and depressed patients. 6. The ratios of urinary 17-KS over free serum 17-OHCS, and urinary total 17-OHCS over free serum 17-OHCS showed significant relationships in both schizophrenic and depressed patients; these ratios are decreased in an aghravating situation. 7. The frontal lobe plays a role in urinary 17-KS excretion. It should be emphasized that separating the frontal lobe from the thalamus or hypothalamus area will cause an increase in urinary 17-KS excretion. 8. Urinary or serum 17-OHCS values du not move in parallel to urinary 17-KS but rather in a reverse manner in psychotic patients

CYP2C19 variants and epoxyeicosatrienoic acids in patients with microvascular angina

Categorization as a cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C19 poor metabolizer (PM) is reported to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) are metabolites of arachidonic acid by CYP2C19 epoxygenases and anti-inflammatory properties, especially in microvascular tissues. We examined the impact of CYP2C19 polymorphisms and EETs on the patients with microvascular angina (MVA) caused by coronary microvascular dysfunction. We examined CYP2C19 genotypes in patients with MVA (n = 81). MVA was defined as absence of coronary artery stenosis and epicardial spasms, and the presence of inversion of lactic acid levels between intracoronary and coronary sinuses in acetylcholine-provocation test or the adenosine-triphosphate-induced coronary flow reserve ratio was below 2.5. CYP2C19 PM have two loss-of-functon alleles (*2, *3). We measured serum dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acid (DHET) as representative EET metabolite. In MVA, the patients with CYP2C19 PM were 34.6% and high sense C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels in CYP2C19 PM were significantly higher than that of non-PM group (0.165 ± 0.116 vs. 0.097 ± 0.113 mg/dL, P = 0.026). Moreover, DHET levels in CYP2C19 PM were significantly lower than that of non-PM (10.4 ± 4.58 vs. 15.6 ± 11.1 ng/mL, P = 0.003 (11, 12-DHET), 12.1 ± 3.79 vs. 17.3 ± 6.49 ng/mL, P = 0.019 (14, 15-DHET)). The decline of EET owing to CYP2C19 variants may affects coronary microvascular dysfunction via chronic inflammation

Helicobacter pylori Seropositivity in Patients with Interleukin-1 Polymorphisms Is Significantly Associated with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

Helicobacter pylori infection and interleukin-1 polymorphisms are associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer. We examined the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori seropositivity and interleukin-1 polymorphisms between ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome patients.We recruited consecutive acute coronary syndrome patients, and 101 non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome patients and 103 ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients were enrolled. Interleukin-1 polymorphism analyses were performed for single nucleotide polymorphism in interleukin-1 beta-511 and the variable number of tandem repeats polymorphism in the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist by polymerase chain reaction. Immunoglobulin G antibodies against Helicobacter pylori and high sensitivity C-reactive protein were also measured.The rates of the simultaneous presence of interleukin-1 polymorphisms and Helicobacter pylori-seropositivity between non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction groups were 25.7% and 42.7%, respectively (P = 0.012). Helicobacter pylori-seropositive subjects with interleukin-1 polymorphisms showed significantly higher levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (0.04-0.12 vs. 0.02-0.05; P<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the carriage of Helicobacter pylori-seropositivity and interleukin-1 polymorphisms was significantly associated with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (odds ratio, 2.32; 95% confidence interval, 1.23-4.37; P = 0.009). The C-statistic of conventional risk factors was 0.68 (P<0.001) and that including Helicobacter pylori-seropositivity and interleukin-1 polymorphisms was 0.70 (P<0.001); continuous net reclassification improvement was 34% (P = 0.0094) and integrated discrimination improvement was 3.0% (P = 0.014).The coincidence of Helicobacter pylori-seropositivity and interleukin-1 polymorphisms was significantly associated with higher levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein and the increased risk of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

チイキ コウレイシャ ニ タイスル エイヨウ キョウイク ノ コウカ

「高齢者の食生活は、栄養教育により変容し得る」という視点から、高齢者に短期継続的栄養教育を行い、その効果判定を試みた結果は次のとおりであった。 1.身体的健康度:体脂肪率は増加傾向、血圧値は低下傾向にあり、女性の収縮期血圧は有意に低下した(pく0.01)。 2.精神的健康度:女性の精神生活得点は有意に高まり(pく0.01)、男女とも社会生活得点、休養・余暇生活得点が後期に高まっていたが、女性にのみ有意であった(pく0.01)。家族形態別では一人暮らし高齢者に最も改善がみられた。 3.食品群・栄養素等摂取の変化:食品群摂取は、第5群(穀類、芋類、砂糖類)以外は男女とも所要量充足率が上がり、食生活の改善がみられた。特に女性の第4群(果物類)、第6群(油脂類)摂取増は有意であり(p<0.05)、そのため女性の栄養素摂取も改善した。一方家族形態別では、最も改善がみられたのは一人暮らし高齢者であり、次いで拡大家族高齢者、夫婦のみの家族高齢者であった。Nutrition education for the elderly was conducted. We compared the situation before and after the study, and examined their food intake and their physical and mental health. The results are as follows. 1.Physical health : The rate of body fat rose, though statistically not significant. Blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic lowered. 2.Mental health : Looking over their lifestyle, women\u27s mental conditions improved. Social score and rest-leisure score increased for both men and women, though statistically not significant. Elderly people in elderly couples changed the score remarkably, when compared with the others. 3.Food and nutrition : Eating habits improved significantly(p<0.05)in groups 4(fruits) and 6(fats and oiles)of the food classification. Elderly\u27s consumption of the foods in group 5(grains, potatoes and sugars)remained unchanged. 0n the whole, women\u27s nutrition was improved greatly. We concluded that the dietary habit of elderly people living in a rural area of hills was improved through nutrition education