1H-NMR studies of cerebrospinal fluid: endogenous ethanol in patients with cervical myelopathy.

Endogenous ethanol was observed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the course of screening for cerebrospinal fluid of the patients with cervical myelopathy. Ethanol was detected in 10 out of 20 patients. It seems likely that the presence of endogenous ethanol is related to the severity of myelopathy. Also, the concentration of ethanol was correlated with that of lactate in the cerebrospinal fluid. This implies that ethanol may be formed as the end product of glycolysis or in an unknown pathway in the case of severely insulted myelonic tissues.

[Ingestion and excretion of aluminum in foods and pharmaceuticals].

We measured the aluminum contents in foods and pharmaceuticals, and the aluminum concentrations in urine by atomic absorption spectrophotometry with polarized Zeeman background correction to obtain the daily intake and excretion of aluminum. The daily urinary excretions of aluminum in healthy females were obtained after consuming sea algae, hizikia fusiforme, which has a high aluminum contents. Daily aluminum excretion did not increase after taking hizikia fusiforme. On the other hand, high aluminum excretions were observed after taking an analgesic/antipyretic with a high aluminum contents, compared with the usual daily aluminum excretion (p < 0.001), and compared with after taking an analgesic/antipyretic with no aluminum (p < 0.0001). We found that the daily urinary excretion of aluminum was not related to the total consumption of aluminum, but depended on the binding state of aluminum consumed.

Measurement of relative fat content by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy using a clinical imager.

The aim of this study was to determine the applicability of a proton magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy-based technique using a clinical 1.5-T MR imager for assessment of relative fat content. Proton MR spectra were obtained from a trunk phantom and 23 volunteers using a single free induction decay measurement. The ratios of fat methyl and methylene proton resonance to the water proton resonance were compared with the ratio of oil weight to water weight for the phantom, and with the ratio of body fat to lean body mass estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis for the human subjects. Good linear relationships were found between the MR metabolite ratio and the ratio of oil weight to water weight (r = 0.9989), and the ratio of body fat to lean body mass (r = 0.9169). This MR spectroscopy-based technique is sufficiently accurate and may be applicable to assessment of human body composition.

Development of computerized screening system for dementia and its preliminary field test.

The population of aged persons is increasing along with an extension of the average span of human life. Therefore, the number of persons who suffer from dementing disorders is also increasing. Because the various psychotic symptoms and behavioral problems are frequently observed in persons with dementia, the families taking care of such people require help to reduce their mental and physical load. Therefore, maintenance and enhancement of the social support system for aged persons are urgent issues. Early identification is important because immediate recognition of dementia people and appropriate follow up treatment can prevent the progress of the disease. Clinical interviews are one general method for detecting patients with dementing disorders, and the Hasegawa Dementia Scale is one of the most popular methods in Japan. The test takes about 10 min per person, but it requires a lot of time and burden for medical staff to screen patients with dementia from the increasing number of aged persons. Therefore, new methods for assessing cognitive functions are requested. A computerized assessment system was developed for dementia which is based on the Hasegawa Dementia Scale. This system was designed for aged persons with no previous computer experience to operate easily by making efficient use of multimedia. In this paper, the system and preliminary results of the field-test are reported.

Application of a computer based education system for aged persons and issues arising during the field test.

We plan to apply a computer-based multimedia text-book system for health education in the future. To do this, the computer system should be manageable to any person regardless of age or computer experience. We developed a multimedia text-book system and field-tested it to survey the reaction of aged persons. The system offers information about obesity prevention, such as a guide for eating and exercise. All contents are presented by text, image and voice. Also, a guide for exercise is shown by a movie. In this investigation we found that there were many considerations for aged persons using a computer. They seemed to have a strong aversion toward computers. They had the feeling that computers are difficult to use; actually 22 persons among 65 could not use it. Improvements in user interface seems to be the most important thing to make computers accessible to aged persons. On the other hand, question-and-answer programs for diagnosing one's health status were well accepted. Such a function is useful for attracting the interest of aged persons when we design a computer-based education system.

Screening of urine by one-dimensional and pulsed-field gradient two-dimensional 1H NMR spectroscopy: intoxication by propylene glycol in an infant patient.

1H NMR spectroscopy is a promising method for the analysis of physiological fluids in clinical medicine. In the course of screening the urine of patients by 1D- and pulsed-field gradient 2D 1H NMR spectroscopy at 500 MHz, we encountered a case with a very high excretion of propylene glycol compared to others who received similar doses of the medication. In this case, the propylene glycol was scarcely metabolized by the patient. Propylene glycol is widely used as a safety material which is transformed into pyruvate and lactate in the healthy body. In this paper, we discuss how NMR spectroscopy can be a useful method for screening a patient intoxicated with propylene glycol.

[Aluminum contents in dried and cooked sea vegetables].

Regarding aluminum contents in sea vegetables, dried hijiki (an edible brown algae), dried wakame (seaweed) and dried konbu (kelp) contained 1.08mg/g, 17.7 to 149 micrograms/g, and 4.23 to 24.5 micrograms/g, of aluminum, respectively. With hijiki, especially, having a high aluminum content. Hijiki reconstituted by water immersion contained 450 to 678 micrograms/g, of aluminum. Thus, aluminum in dried hijiki was decreased by 40 to 66% by water immersion. The immersion water of blanched and salted wakame and fruit-bearing leaf wakame contained 4.67 to 6.92 micrograms and 1.00 microgram of aluminum, respectively. The migration ratio of aluminum was 8 approximately 12% for blanched and salted wakame and was 1% for fruit-bearing leaf wakame. The immersion water of Hidaka konbu contained 16.1 to 21.4 micrograms of aluminum, while that of Rishiri konbu contained 4.79 to 7.36 micrograms of aluminum. Thus, 22 to 57% of aluminum migrated into the konbu immersion water. Aluminum scarcely migrated into the supernatant of the immersion water. Compared with the cold water immersion method, a high aluminum migration ratio was achieved in the heat extraction method. It was estimated that the aluminum intake from reconstituted hijiki (dry weight: 5g) was about 2.2 to 3.4mg, which amounted to 50 to 75% of the daily aluminum intake of a typical Japanese diet.

[Contents of aluminum and manganese in tea leaves and tea infusions].

We measured the contents of aluminum and manganese in tea leaves and tea infusions by means of various standardized infusion conditions, and by using flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and investigated the influence of infusion conditions on the elution of aluminum and manganese into the tea infusions. Furthermore, we tried to estimate the daily intake of aluminum and manganese due to drinking tea infusions. The content of aluminum in tea leaves was 1420 micrograms/g in case of wulong tea, 576 micrograms/g in black tea, and 520 micrograms/g in green tea. The content of manganese was 1440 micrograms/g in the case of wulong tea, 670 micrograms/g in green tea, and 535 micrograms/g in black tea. The concentration of aluminum in tea infusions was 1.49-5.58 micrograms/ml in wulong tea, 0.90-4.92 micrograms/ml in green tea, and 0.64-4.35 micrograms/ml in black tea. The concentration of manganese was 1.75-6.67 micrograms/ml in green tea, 0.94-4.04 micrograms/ml in wulong tea, and 0.78-3.24 micrograms/ml in black tea. The ratio of the molar concentration of aluminum to that of manganese was 1-2:1 in tea leaves, and 1-5:1 in tea infusions. In the case of elevated-temperature infusion, increases of the concentrations of aluminum and manganese in tea infusions were recognized. By repeating infusion three times according to the standard method for ingredient analysis of food, 18-29% of the total content of aluminum in tea leaves was eluted, and 12-29% of the total content of manganese was eluted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Increased iron content in the putamen of patients with striatonigral degeneration.

We measured the total content of iron, copper, zinc and manganese in the putamen of four patients with striatonigral degeneration (SND) and age- and gender-matched normal controls. The iron content in the SND patients was five times greater than in the controls. Electron microscopic histochemistry revealed the iron reaction products in the pigments showing a triphasic pattern of coarse, electron-dense globules, fine granular and fibrillary materials, and lamellated structures. These findings suggest that increased iron deposition may be related to pigment formation in the putamen of SND.

[Effects of sodium chloride, acetic acid and citric acid on the dissolution of aluminum from aluminum cooking utensils].

In order to investigate the effects of sodium chloride and organic acids on aluminum elution from cooking utensils made of aluminum, the quantities of aluminum elution were measured in solutions with various concentrations of sodium chloride, acetic acid and citric acid by flameless atomic adsorption spectrophotometry. The increase of the aluminum elution rate from a pudding cup, an aluminum pan and an alumite pan could be clearly distinguished by the coexistence of acetic acid or citric acid and sodium chloride. The elution was low in the presence of sodium chloride at room temperature, but it was distinctly accelerated by heating. Although alumite treatment had the effect of protection against aluminum elution, such elution obviously increased, as shown by the existence of acid and sodium chloride at high temperatures. Aluminum elution rates from surface-untreated cooking utensils made of aluminum were increased by heating by a factor of several thousand.

Uptake and toxic effects of heavy metal ions: interactions among cadmium, copper and zinc in cultured cells.

Absorption of metal ions by KB, HeLa and L-59 cells has been analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry in the course of culture. Ions of the elements of the fourth period in the periodic chart such as Fe(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Mn(II) and Ni(II) were not taken up, but those of the higher periods, such as Cd(II), Pb(II), Hg(II) and Ag(I) were were taken up easily. The uptake behavior by the cultured cells was in accordance with the characteristic features of metals, that metals in the fourth period are essential elements, and most of the elements of the fifth and the sixth periods are non-essential or toxic elements. The initial rate of Cd(II) uptake and the Cd(II) concentration has a sigmoidal relationship. Cd(II) was absorbed homotropically through cell membranes. The uptake of Cd(II) was specifically inhibited by Cu(II), but was affected little by Zn(II). The toxicity of Cd(II) to KB cells was greatly enhanced in the presence of Cu(II). On the contrary, the toxicity of Cd(II) was reduced by the addition of Zn(II) at several concentrations of Cd(II). The toxicity of Cd(II) did not depend on the amount of Cd(II) absorbed in the cells, but was determined by cofactors such as Cu(II). The interaction between Cd(II) and Cu(II) may be important for Itai-itai disease.