Evaluation of stress reactions during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in elderly patients : assessment of mental stress using chromogranin A

Objective : Salivary chromogranin A (CgA) was recently reported to be a useful marker of mental stress. In this study, mental stress during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was evaluated by measuring salivary CgA levels in young and elderly subjects. Methods : The subjects were 9 healthy subjects aged less than 50 years (young group) and 15 subjects aged 70 years or older (elderly group). The heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation level, and salivary CgA concentration were measured before and after upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and compared. Results : In the young group, the CgA level decreased significantly (p<0.05) during endoscopy compared with the level during rest before endoscopy. In the elderly group, it also decreased significantly (p<0.05) during endoscopy compared with the level during rest before endoscopy. However, CgA levels were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the elderly group than in the young group both before and during endoscopy. The decrease in CgA levels was significantly greater (p<0.05) in the young group than in the elderly group. Conclusions : In this study, mental stress associated with endoscopy appears to be higher in elderly subjects than in younger subjects. Attention to complications due to increased stress is considered to be necessary in elderly patients during endoscopy

The effect of G-CSF in a myocardial ischemia reperfusion model rat

Purpose : It has been reported that G-CSF administration improves cardiac function by reducing the area of the infarct in a myocardial infarction model rat. In the present study, myocardial infarction model rats, produced by ligation of the left anterior coronary artery, were prepared. The G-CSF effect for treating cardiac muscle cell disorders by ischemia reperfusion was studied. Methods : Myocardial infarction model rats were produced by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery in 12-week-old Wistar rats. G-CSF was administered subcutaneously daily at a dose of 100 μg/kg/day for 5 days to rats with a complete ligation (MI-G group, n=6) and rats in which the ligated coronary artery was reperfused 30 minutes after the ligation (R-G group, n=6). Physiological saline was subcutaneously administered to rats with a complete ligation and reperfusion (MI-C and R-C groups, respectively, n=6 each), as controls. After 4 weeks, the infarct area ratio (%), cardiac function on echocardiography (left ventricular ejection fraction), and a myocardial histopathological diagnosis were carried out and the results compared among the groups. Results : No significant differences were found in the proportion of the residual heart muscle in the infarct lesion, myocardial wall thickness, or left ventricular ejection fraction between the MI-G and MI-C groups. In contrast, the infarct area, myocardial wall thickness, and left ventricular ejection fraction were significantly improved in the R-G group compared to the R-C group (p<0.05). Conclusions : Any inhibitory effect of G-CSF on the infarct lesion was found in the myocardial infarction reperfusion model rat, but only a small effect was found in rats with a complete ligation-induced myocardial infarction. The findings in the present study, therefore, suggest that G-CSF is effective for treating cardiac muscle cell disorders by ischemia reperfusion

Visualization of cardiac dipole using a current density map : detection of cardiac current undetectable by electrocardiography using magnetocardiography

A close relationship exists between electric current and the magnetic field. However, electricity and magnetism have different physical characteristics, and magnetocardiography (MCG) may provide information on cardiac current that is difficult to obtain by electrocardiography (ECG). In the present study, we investigated the issue of whether the current density map method, in which cardiac current is estimated from the magnetic gradient, facilitates the visualization of cardiac current undetectable by ECG. The subjects were 50 healthy adults (N group), 40 patients with left ventricular overloading (LVO group), 15 patients with right ventricular overloading (RVO group), 10 patients with an old inferior myocardial infarction (OMI group), and 30 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM group). MCGs were recorded with a second derivative superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) gradiometer using liquid helium. Isopotential maps and current density maps from unipolar precordial ECG leads and MCGs, respectively, were prepared, and the cardiac electric current was examined. The current density map at the ventricular depolarization phase showed one peak of current density in the N group. However, in the OMI group, the current density map showed multiple peaks of current density areas. In the RVO group, two peaks of current densities were detected at the right superior region and left thoracic region and these two diploles appeared to be from the right and left ventricular derived cardiac currents, respectively. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the magnitude of the current density from the right ventricle and the systolic pulmonary arterial pressure. The current density map at the ventricular repolarization phase in the N group showed only a single current source. However, abnormal current sources in the current density maps were frequently detected even in patients showing no abnormalities on isopotential maps in the LVO, DM, and OMI groups. The findings herein suggest that opposing dipoles of the ventricular depolarization and repolarization vectors were summed and evaluated as a single dipole in the electrocardiogram. However, MCG facilitated the detection of multiple dipoles because of its superior spatial resolution as well as difference in physical properties between magnetic and electrical fields. Our results suggest that MCG with a current density map is useful for detecting cardiac current undetectable by ECG in an early stage

審査論文 ヒト線維芽細胞培養系を用いたセイヨウオトギリソウ抽出物の創傷治癒に及ぼす効果

セイヨウオトギリソウは、発熱性疾患の解熱、利尿促進、創傷治癒など様々な疾患に効く薬草として、古くから使用されている。最近、セイヨウオトギリソウは軽度のうつ症状を改善する薬草として着目され、うつ症状改善の分子機構の解析も精力的に行われている。一方、創傷治癒促進効果の機構については不明な点が多く、また分子機序を調べた研究が非常に少ない。本研究では、セイヨウオトギリソウ成分をエタノールで抽出し、ヒト線維芽細胞を用いたin vitro 創傷治癒モデル系における影響を調査した。セイヨウオトギリソウ抽出物は、2%ウシ胎児血清を含む培養条件では、4 μg/mL以下の低濃度においてヒト線維芽細胞の創傷部位とみなされる隙間空間への移動を促進した。6-8 μg/mLでは濃度依存的に細胞の移動促進効果が失われ、10 μg/mLでは、細胞の移動を阻害した。1%ウシ胎児血清を含む培養条件では、セイヨウオトギリソウの阻害効果の方が強く、移動促進のピークは観察されなかった。また、線維芽細胞の創傷部位への移動に関与するフィブリン溶解活性、およびウロキナーゼ型プラスミノーゲン活性化因子およびプラスミノーゲン活性化因子阻害因子-1の発現は、4-6 μg/mLのセイヨウオトギリソウ抽出物添加により促進されたが、10 μg/mLでは促進効果が消失した。以上の結果より、セイヨウオトギリソウ抽出物には、in vitro モデル系における創傷治癒を促進する成分と阻害する成分の両者を含むことが示唆された

O ensino de história: um trabalho interdisciplinar na educação de jovens e adultos

O Projeto de Educação de Jovens e Adultos (PEJA)/ UNESP/ Campus Assis propõe uma a articulação entre ensino-pesquisa-extensão, proporcionando práticas educativas que possibilitem uma participação mais efetiva dos indivíduos na vida econômica, política e cultural da nação. Suas salas de aula localizam-se na periferia do município de Assis, atendendo a alunos do 1 e do 2 segmentos do Ensino Fundamental, ou seja, de 1 a 4 série e de 5 a 8 série. Na UNESP/ Campus Assis, foi constituída, a partir de 2003, uma classe do PEJA, também sob minha responsabilidade docente, integrada, inicialmente, por funcionários da própria instituição, mais tarde por funcionários terceirizados e, hoje constituída também por moradores do município. Esta classe, destina-se, mais especificamente aos conteúdos do 2 segmento do Ensino Fundamental, com vistas também à tematização dos conteúdos do Ensino Médio, nas áreas de Língua Portuguesa, Língua Inglesa, História, Geografia, Matemática e Ciências Naturais, numa perspectiva interdisciplinar. O trabalho interdisciplinar tem como objetivo geral a complementaridade dos conteúdos trabalhados entre os educadores e, na perspectiva da disciplina de História apresenta como objetivo específico, a conscientização da concepção de tempo histórico, possibilitando aos educandos a percepção dos conceitos de anterioridade, posteridade e de simultaneidade dos acontecimentos em diferentes espaços. Valoriza a heterogeneidade e a diversidade cultural na sala de aula, com vistas à problematização do cotidiano dos educandos e dos educadores. Este trabalho baseia-se na metodologia da ação-reflexão-ação, tendo sido iniciado a partir da escolha e da definição dos eixos temáticos (Poder, Terra e Propriedade, Diversidade Cultural e Tecnologia), pelos educadores das diferentes disciplinas e do diálogo com os alunos. O estudo dos referidos eixos temáticos possibilita aos alunos uma visão não linear dos acontecimentos, dos fatos históricos, favorecendo a construção da noção de tempo histórico como processo dinâmico e, com isso, a problematização, ou seja, a reflexão sobre o cotidiano vivido do aluno. Isto possibilita uma melhor compreensão do contexto histórico regional, nacional e internacional, criando oportunidades para uma participação social mais significativa e para um melhor exercício da cidadania

Mechanism of Action of T-705 against Influenza Virus

T-705, a substituted pyrazine compound, has been found to exhibit potent anti-influenza virus activity in vitro and in vivo. In a time-of-addition study, it was indicated that T-705 targeted an early to middle stage of the viral replication cycle but had no effect on the adsorption or release stage. The anti-influenza virus activity of T-705 was attenuated by addition of purines and purine nucleosides, including adenosine, guanosine, inosine, and hypoxanthine, whereas pyrimidines did not affect its activity. T-705-4-ribofuranosyl-5′-triphosphate (T-705RTP) and T-705-4-ribofuranosyl-5′-monophosphate (T-705RMP) were detected in MDCK cells treated with T-705. T-705RTP inhibited influenza virus RNA polymerase activity in a dose-dependent and a GTP-competitive manner. Unlike ribavirin, T-705 did not have an influence on cellular DNA or RNA synthesis. Inhibition of cellular IMP dehydrogenase by T-705RMP was about 150-fold weaker than that by ribavirin monophosphate, indicating the specificity of the anti-influenza virus activity and lower level of cytotoxicity of T-705. These results suggest that T-705RTP, which is generated in infected cells, may function as a specific inhibitor of influenza virus RNA polymerase and contributes to the selective anti-influenza virus activity of T-705

Functional effects of distinct innervation styles of pyramidal cells by fast spiking cortical interneurons

Inhibitory interneurons target precise membrane regions on pyramidal cells, but differences in their functional effects on somata, dendrites and spines remain unclear. We analyzed inhibitory synaptic events induced by cortical, fast-spiking (FS) basket cells which innervate dendritic shafts and spines as well as pyramidal cell somata. Serial electron micrographs (EMgs) reconstruction showed that somatic synapses were larger than dendritic contacts. Simulations with precise anatomical and physiological data reveal functional differences between different innervation styles. FS cell soma-targeting synapses initiate a strong, global inhibition, those on shafts inhibit more restricted dendritic zones, while synapses on spines may mediate a strictly local veto. Thus, FS cell synapses of different sizes and sites provide functionally diverse forms of pyramidal cell inhibition