Purification and inactivation by substrate of an allene oxide synthase (CYP74) from corn (Zea mays L.) seeds.

The allene oxide synthase (AOS) was purified from corn (Zea mays) seeds to homogeneity and characterized partially. The corn AOS was a hemoprotein cytochrome P450 with a molecular weight and pI of 53,000 and 6.0, respectively. The corn AOS was found to be irreversibly inactivated by a substrate, 13-hydroperoxyoctadienoic acid. The rate of the enzyme inactivation was higher at low pHs.

[Late phase II study of YNK-01 (an oral prodrug of cytarabine) for hepatocellular carcinoma].

Twenty-three patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were enrolled in this cooperative study conducted in Hirosaki University Hospital. They were treated with YNK-01, a prodrug of cytarabine for oral administration. YNK-01 was given for 2 weeks and repeated every 4 weeks for as long as possible. There were 13 patients with NC, 10 with PD, and no PR. Among NC cases, 5 patients were maintained with NC for longer than 6 months. The main side effects of YNK-01 were anemia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, and symptoms of the alimentary tract (nausea, anorexia, diarrhea, etc), but no severe side effects over Grade 3 were observed.

[A case of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy using intraoperative trans-esophageal echocardiography].

A 45-year-old man underwent trans-aortic myectomy for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM). Although two mounds of hypertrophic septal muscle were resected, Brockenbrough phenomena proved unsatisfactory myectomy. Intraoperative trans-esophageal echocardiogram (TEE) revealed a residual mound at the apical septum. After the additional myectomy, Brockenbrough phenomena was disappeared. Intraoperative TEE is an useful supplement in the operation of transaortic myectomy for HOCM.

Significance of serum type-IV collagen levels in various liver diseases. Measurement with a one-step sandwich enzyme immunoassay using monoclonal antibodies with specificity for pepsin-solubilized type-IV collagen.

Serum type-IV collagen levels determined with a one-step sandwich enzyme immunoassay (EIA) using monoclonal antibodies with specificity for pepsin-solubilized type-IV collagen were compared with histologic changes in liver biopsy specimens from 107 patients with various liver diseases. Serum type-IV collagen levels were increased in the groups with liver diseases compared with controls. The serum type-IV collagen levels in the group with alcoholic cirrhosis showed significantly higher values than the other groups (P less than 0.05). A significant positive correlation was found between the serum type-IV collagen level and the degree of fibrosis or cell infiltration in 107 patients. Immunolocalization of type-IV collagen was observed around blood vessels and bile ducts increased in number in the portal tracts, with cell infiltration and fibrosis, increased around vessels in fibrous septa, and sinusoidal walls of areas with cell infiltration or necrosis in hepatic lobules, and along the boundary between fibrous septa and hepatocytes. The present data indicate that serum type-IV collagen may be a sensitive marker for active fibrosis and that the elevation of serum type-IV collagen level primarily reflects the enhancement of type-IV collagen synthesis and deposition in the liver tissue at the stage of active fibrosis in liver disease.

Effects of ubenimex, a biological response modifier, on myelodysplastic syndrome and chronic leukemia.

Twenty cases of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) were treated with ubenimex. Seventeen cases were treated with the drug over 90 d. Among these, 10 showed improvement of anemia, 12 an increase in platelet count which had decreased before treatment and 10 an increase in neutrophil count; however, 14 showed an increase in blast percentage in bone marrow aspirate. CD4/CD8 ratio was increased in 4 cases and shifted to a normal from an abnormal range in 6 cases. When the MDS cases were observed in refractory anemia (RA) and refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB), great improvement was seen, but in RAEB increase in blast percentage was also observed. CD4 increased mostly in RA and CD8 increased in RAEB. Ten cases of chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) were first treated with ubenimex and cytostatics, then with ubenimex only. Six cases attained partial remission within 3 months, but one case showed a marked increase in white cell count and blast count and in another case a progression of splenomegaly associated with increase in white cell count. From these findings we conclude that ubenimex could be utilized in MDS or CML if the patient was at risk for strong chemotherapy.

[Study on two-dimensional tooth mobility].

Tooth mobility was measured with the use of a two-dimensional displacement measuring system. This small-sized system can measure the displacement both in the direction of the tooth axis and the buccolingual direction simultaneously with no contact. As test teeth, lower right first premolars with no clinical mobility were examined. The load was applied from the lingual to the buccal direction, to the vertical direction as well as from the buccal to the lingual direction. The results obtained were as follows: 1. This system possesses sufficient accuracy and reproducibility for tooth mobility measurement (measurement range 500 microns, resolving power 1 microns). 2. Most of the load-displacement curves showed diphasic displacement. 3. As to the amount of displacement in the buccolingual direction, 3 of 8 cases showed greater values by the load in the buccal direction and the remaining 5 by the load in the lingual direction. 4. As to the displacement direction of loaded teeth, the lingual and buccal load displaced teeth to the lingual-coronal and buccal-radicular directions respectively. Teeth under the vertical load were displaced almost to the radicular and slightly to the buccal direction. 5. As to the direction of tooth displacement in relation to load directions, it appeared that the teeth not only rotated within the dental sockets but also indented or extruded into the dental sockets.