6種類の血中膵酵素値に及ぼす加齢および性の影響

The serum levels of some pancreatic enzymes have been reported to be affected by age and gender. Currently, serum total amylase, pancreatic isoamylase (P-amylase) , lipase , trypsin (ogen) , pancreatic phospholipase A(2) (PLA(2)) , and elastase I are utilized in diagnosing pancreatic diseases. We here compared age and gender-related alterations of these six pancreatic enzymes in healthy subjects to delineate different properties among the enzymes. Subjects were 155 males and 172 females between ages 20 and 79 years who were apparently healthy, and were stratified by age and sex. PLA(2) and elastase I were assayed by RIA, trypsin (ogen) by EIA and others by activity. The pancreatic enzymes, except PLA(2), were significantly elevated with age, although they declined in males in the 260 age group. There were significant sex differences in total amylase and P-amylase. Total amylase was significantly higher in females than in males in the 260 age group, P-amylase in the 40-49 age group. Age should be considered in the valuation of serum enzymes except PLA(2), sex difference should be considered in the valuation of amylase (total and P-amylase).ある種の血中膵酵素値は加齢や性により影響を受けることが知られている。現在膵疾患の診断に利用されている6種類の膵酵素，アミラーゼ，P－アミラーゼ，リパーゼ，トリプシン，フォスフォリパーゼA(2)（PIA(2)），そしてエラスターゼⅠの血中値に及ぼす加齢および性の影響を比較検討した。健常者327名（男性：155名，女性：172名，年齢：20－79歳）を対象として，年齢および性により層別化して検討した。PLA(2)とエラスターゼⅠはRIA，トリプシンはEIA，そして他の酵素は活性を測定した。PLA(2)以外の血中月率酵素値は加齢とともに有意に上昇した。しかし男性では60代以降低下した。性差はアミラーゼとP－アミラーゼとに有意差が認められた。すなわち，アミラーゼは60代以降に，P－アミラーゼは40－49歳群でそれぞれ男性より女性において有意の高値を示した。PLA(2)以外の血中膵酵素値を評価する際には加齢による影響を考慮すべきであり，アミラーゼおよびP－アミラーゼの血中値を評価する際には性を考慮すべきである

Measurement and correlates of empathy among female Japanese physicians.

BACKGROUND: The measurement of empathy is important in the assessment of physician competence and patient outcomes. The prevailing view is that female physicians have higher empathy scores compared with male physicians. In Japan, the number of female physicians has increased rapidly in the past ten years. In this study, we focused on female Japanese physicians and addressed factors that were associated with their empathic engagement in patient care. METHODS: The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) was translated into Japanese by using the back-translation procedure, and was administered to 285 female Japanese physicians. We designed this study to examine the psychometrics of the JSE and group differences among female Japanese physicians. RESULTS: The item-total score correlations of the JSE were all positive and statistically significant, ranging from .20 to .54, with a median of .41. The Cronbach\u27s coefficient alpha was .81. Female physicians who were practicing in people-oriented specialties obtained a significantly higher mean empathy score than their counterparts in procedure- or technology-oriented specialties. In addition, physicians who reported living with their parents in an extended family or living close to their parents, scored higher on the JSE than those who were living alone or in a nuclear family. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide support for the measurement property and reliability of the JSE in a sample of female Japanese physicians. The observed group differences associated with specialties and living arrangement may have implications for sustaining empathy. In addition, recognizing these factors that reinforce physicians\u27 empathy may help physicians to avoid career burnout

Anti-HBs antibody of normal human subjects predominantly binds 54 K and 60 K dalton HBs polypeptides.

The structure of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBs) recognized by anti-HBs antibody was analyzed by western blotting using anti-HBs sera obtained from normal subjects, from rabbits immunized with purified HBs and commercially available goat serum. The HBs used had 7 components of 24 K, 27 K, 33 K, 36 K, 39 K, 43 K and 67-72 K daltons. Goat anti-HBs serum bound all of these components, while human and rabbit anti-HBs sera bound only two components (60 K and 54 K daltons), which were hardly visible in the gel even by silver staining. Mixing the 24 K and 27 K components, and the 24 K and 43 K components without reducing reagent produced several polymerized forms of HBs components including 60 K and 54 K polypeptides, which were recognized by anti-HBs rabbit serum. Other combinations of HBs components did not yield any new polymeric forms. Thus, it was concluded that the formation of anti-HBs antibody in normal subjects might predominantly require an antigenic structure of polymeric forms of specific combinations of HBs polypeptides, other than previously known antigenic determinants

Decreased plasma fibronectin in liver diseases correlated to the severity of fibrotic, inflammatory and necrotic changes of liver tissue.

We applied a modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the measurement of human plasma fibronectin and determined the level of plasma fibronectin in 90 patients with various liver diseases and 10 normal subjects. Diagnoses were made by liver biopsy under peritoneoscopy. Plasma fibronectin was significantly decreased in liver cirrhosis patients, but not in acute hepatitis or chronic hepatitis patients. Decreased plasma fibronectin was correlated poorly with 18 laboratory tests, including liver function tests, and inflammatory marker determinations performed prior to peritoneoscopy. A correlation was found between the decreased plasma fibronectin and the severity of fibrotic, inflammatory and necrotic changes of the liver. These results suggested that the level of plasma fibronectin may reflect the severity of tissue injury resulting from chronic liver diseases

Cytoskeletal inhibitors, anti-adhesion molecule antibodies, and lectins inhibit hepatocyte spheroid formation.

We investigated the role of cytoskeletons, adhesion molecules, membrane-glycosylations, and proteoglycans in forming the shape of adult rat hepatocyte spheroids. Isolated hepatocytes were cultured on dishes coated with chondroitin sulfate phosphatidyl ethanolamine (CS-PE). Spheroid-forming ability was observed after adding cytoskeletal inhibitors (cytochalasin D, colchicine, okadaic acid, mycalolide B), anti-adhesion molecule antibodies (anti-E-cadherin, anti-connexin 32, anti-zo-1), a glycosphingolipid synthetic inhibitor (N-butyldeoxynojirimycin), a proteoglycan synthetic inhibitor (p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-xylopyranoside), and several lectins. Localization of actin was studied using confocal microscopy after rhodamine-phalloidin staining. Adding cytoskeletal inhibitors on the initial day resulted in weakly clustered cell aggregates rather than smoothly formed spheroids. These effects disappeared at lower reagent concentrations. When reagents were added on day 3, after the formation of spheroids, only mycalolide B was associated with an irregular spheroid surface; the others had no effect. Adding the anti-E-cadherin, anti-connexin 32 on the initial day showed inhibition of spheroid formation, but anti-zo-1 and proteoglycan synthetic inhibitor had no effects. Among the several lectins, only Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA), Ricinus communis Agglutinin I (RCA-I), and Concanavalin A (ConA) showed inhibition. These results suggest that cytoskeletal conformation and some adhesion molecules are necessary to form spheroids. Based on the interactions between lectins and hepatocytes in the present study, hepatocytes appear to contain an N-linked complex or N-linked hybrid glycosylated chains

New Large Bowel Segmentation on Plain Abdominal Radiography in Comparison with the Conventional Method

Plain abdominal radiography is a very basic examination and plays an important role in primary care. The objectives of this study were to clarify colon distributions on plain abdominal radiographs. Forty-three healthy volunteers underwent gastric fluoroscopy, and 2 hours later, plain abdominal radiography in the supine position. A region of interest (ROI) was defined uniformly on each X-ray image to divide the image into 600 zones. The area corresponding to the large bowel within the ROI was divided into 4 segments (ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, and sigmoid colon＋rectum). The percentage of barium in each segment relative to the total volume of barium used was calculated to evaluate the percent ROI occupancy. The large bowel covered 76.7% of the entire ROI, with the percent duplication being 55%. The duplicated area corresponded to the transverse colon region. When the method proposed by Arhan et al. was used, the percentage of the colon actually present in each segment relative to that determined theoretically was 99.6% for the right colon segment, 92.2% for the left colon segment, and 92.2% for the sigmoid/rectal segment. However, in cases in which the transverse colon descended partially from the fifth lumbar vertebra, the percentage occupied by the sigmoid colon＋rectum decreased to 57.2%. We applied a new large bowel segmentation method especially for patients with ptosis, by devising a line joining the lateral side of the right lesser pelvis and the lower ends of both sacroiliac joints

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Hepatitis C Virus Infection among Myanmar Blood Donors

We studied the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among blood donors from 3 hospitals of Central Myanmar and 7 hospitals of Lower Myanmar in the Yangon area, and analyzed the factors associated with the infection. The study period was from November, 2005 to June, 2007. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain information on age, ethnic group, marital status, tattooing, body piercing, history of receiving transfusions, and liver diseases in self and in sexual partners. Data on seropositivity to hepatitis C, hepatitis B and human immunodeficiency virus infections were recorded. A total of 65,240 blood donors participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 18 years to 60 years (mean±SD＝29.5±9.3). The male-to-female ratio was 6：1. The prevalence of the antibody to hepatitis C was found to be 0.95% with varying rates (0.34 to 2.03) among hospitals. Females had a slightly higher rate (1.06%) than males (0.93%) (p＝0.237). Multivariate analyses revealed the following factors to be related to HCV infection:HIV infection, odds ratio (OR)＝3.0 (p＝0.003);history of liver disease, OR＝8.9 (p＝0.001);and age 30 years and above, OR＝2.6 (p＝0.001). We discuss the varying prevalences of HCV around the world

Effect of Taurine on Acinar Cell Apoptosis and Pancreatic Fibrosis in Dibutyltin Dichloride-induced Chronic Pancreatitis

The relationship between pancreatic fibrosis and apoptosis of pancreatic acinar cells has not been fully elucidated. We reported that taurine had an anti-fibrotic effect in a dibutyltin dichloride (DBTC)-chronic pancreatitis model. However, the effect of taurine on apoptosis of pancreatic acinar cells is still unclear. Therefore, we examined apoptosis in DBTC-chronic pancreatitis and in the AR42J pancreatic acinar cell line with/without taurine. Pancreatic fibrosis was induced by a single administration of DBTC. Rats were fed a taurine-containing diet or a normal diet and were sacrificed at day 5. The AR42J pancreatic acinar cell line was incubated with/without DBTC with taurine chloramines. Apoptosis was determined by using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-digoxigenin nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. The expression of Bad and Bcl-2 proteins in the AR42J cells lysates was detected by Western blot analysis. The apoptotic index of pancreatic acinar cells in DBTC-administered rats was significantly increased. Taurine treatment inhibited pancreatic fibrosis and apoptosis of acinar cells induced by DBTC. The number of TUNEL-positive cells in the AR42J pancreatic acinar cell lines was significantly increased by the addition of DBTC. Incubation with taurine chloramines ameliorated these changes. In conclusion, taurine inhibits apoptosis of pancreatic acinar cells and pancreatitis in experimental chronic pancreatitis