Kumamoto University

About: Kumamoto University is a education organization based out in Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Cancer. The organization has 19602 authors who have published 35513 publications receiving 901260 citations. The organization is also known as: Kumamoto Daigaku.

Multivessel coronary spasm in patients with variant angina: a study with intracoronary injection of acetylcholine.

Abstract: Multivessel coronary spasm has been described but its incidence in patients with variant angina still remains unclear. Thirty-three patients with variant angina were studied during coronary angiographic examination with selective intracoronary injection of acetylcholine (ACh). In all but three patients, the location of ischemia during attack was determined by the electrocardiographic findings, by exercise 201Tl myocardial scintigraphy, and by two-dimensional echocardiography during a hyperventilation test, and the coronary artery (or arteries) responsible for the attack was predicted before the study. ACh induced spasm of at least one coronary artery in all but one patient. ACh induced spasm of both the left and right coronary arteries (i.e., multivessel coronary spasm) in 24 patients: in two of the four patients who were predicted to have spasm of the left coronary artery, in six of the 11 predicted to have spasm of the right coronary artery, in 13 of the 15 predicted to have spasm of both the left and right coronary arteries, and in three of the three in whom coronary artery responsible for attack had not been predicted. This ACh-induced spasm of the left and right coronary arteries occurred separately and no patients showed hemodynamic instability during attack. In one patient in whom multivessel coronary spasm had been predicted and ACh failed to induice coronary spasm, ergonovine maleate (0.2 mg) induced spasm of both the left and right coronary arteries simultaneously, resulting in severe prolonged hypotension. Nineteen of the 25 patients in whom multivessel coronary spasm was documented showed angiographically normal or nearly normal coronary arteries after administration of nitroglycerin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Measurement of the apparent diffusion coefficient in diffuse renal disease by diffusion-weighted echo-planar MR imaging.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and diffuse renal disease by diffusion-weighted echolanar magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (EPI). Thirty-four patients were examined with diffusion-weighted EPI. The average ADC values were 2.55 × 10−3 mm2/sec for the cortex and 2.84 × 10−3 mm2/sec for the medulla in the normal kidneys. The ADC values in both the cortex and medulla in chronic renal failure (CRF) kidneys and in acute renal failure (ARF) kidneys were significantly lower than those of the normal kidneys. In renal artery stenosis kidneys, the ADC values in the cortex were significantly lower than those of the normal and the contralateral kidneys. In the cortex, ADC values were above 1.8 × 10−3 mm2/sec in all 32 normal kidneys, ranging from 1.6 to 2.0 × 10−3 mm2/sec in all 8 ARF kidneys, and below 1.5 × 10−3 mm2/sec in 14 of 15 CRF kidneys. In the medulla, there was considerable overlap in the ADC values of the normal and diseased kidneys. There was a linear correlation between ADC value and sCr level in the cortex (r = 0.75) and a weak linear correlation in the medulla (r = 0.60). Our results show that diffusion-weighted MR imaging may be useful to identify renal dysfunction. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 1999;9:832–837. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The relationship between senile plaques and cerebral blood vessels in Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia. Morphological mechanism of senile plaque production.

Abstract: Several kinds of senile plaque found in 6 brains (4 from patients with Alzheimer's disease and 2 from patients with senile dementia) were examined in serial sections by light electron microscopy. The results obtained were as follows. All the senile plaques contained at least some amyloid fibrils, and these seemed to be produced at the basement membranes of capillary endothelial cells and projected into the surrounding parenchyma. Even when the senile plaques themselves appeared to lack amyloid fibrils by light microscopy, at least one degenerable capillary containing amyloid fibrils was demonstrable when serial sections were examined ultrastructurally. The findings described above suggest that the amyloid fibrils which form the cores of the several kinds of senile plaque, seem to be produced at the basement membrane of the endothelial cell. It is speculated that the capillary degeneration with the formation of amyloid fibrils may be primary change in the genesis of senile plaques.