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1. In the bile of rabbits, the metabolisms of biliverdin and bilirubin are in a solucible state, and which have a ratio of 2: 1 in normal animals. 2. In the production of biliverdin, the liver, especially the parenchyma of the liver has a very important role, while that of the reticulo-endothelial system is rather minor. However, in the case of glucose administration, the reduction of bilirubin from biliverdin is performed in the reticulo-endothelial system, thus conferring an important part of this system. 3. The production of bilirubin is performed primarily extrahepatically, and the participation of the extrahepatical reticuloendothelial system is of a conservative nature, thus denying us any willingness to agree to the theory of bilirubin production in the reticulo-endothelial system. 4. On administration of hemolysed blood, bile pigments in bile demonstrate a remarkable increase, while as compared when injected into the auricle veins in cases of administration through the portal vein a decline in the functions of the liver reticulo-endothelial system is seen, causing a decrease in biliverdin amount. In the former modus of administration, an occasional stimulation of the liver reticulo- endothelial system is seen, causing reduction of biliverdin to bilirubin. 5. Concluding from these facts, biliverdin in rabbit bile occupies the role of an intermediate product in the production and metabolism of bilirubin.

I. Nematodes of fishes 1. Rhabdochona amago Yamaguti, 1935 II. Nematodes of frogs 2. Cosmocerca japonica Yamaguti, 1938 3. Cosmocercoides pulcher Wilkie, 1930 4. Oswaldocruzia bialata (Molin, 1860) 5. Rhabdias montana n. sp. III. Nematodes of mammals 6. Protospirura muris (Gmelin, 1890) 7. Heterakis spumosa Schneider, 1866 8. Longistriata wolgaensis Schulz, 1926 IV. Acanthocephala of frogs 9. Acanthocephalus lucidus van Cleave, 1925

In 1951 the junior author reported two unnamed species of the genus Aedes from Mt. Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture, suggesting the first species to be related to Aedes (Ochlerotatus) punctor. An examination made by the senior author on large numbers of additional specimens collected at the same locality in 1952 and 1953 has revealed that each of the two represents a new species, so that Aedes (Ochlerotatus) hakusanensis is proposed for the first species, and Aedes (Aedes) pseudoesoensis for the second species.

I. Trematodes of reptiles 1. Cyathocotyle crocodili n. sp. 2. Pseudoneodiplostomum (Pseudoneodiplostomoides) crocodili n. subg. n. sp. 3. Acanthostomum crocodili n. sp. II. Trematodes of birds 4. Plagiorchis maculosus (Rud., 1ε02) 5. Echinochasmus bagulai Verma, 1935

Anoplocephalidae Kholodk., 1902 1. Oochoristica celebesensis n. sp. Dilepididae Fuhrmann, 1907 2. Ophiovalipora micracantha n. sp. Proteocephalidae La Rue, 1911 3. Acanthotaenia shipleyi von Linstow, 1903

Onchobothriidae Braun, 1900 1. Balanobothrium tenax Hornell, 1912 2. Balanobothrium stegostomatis n. sp. 3. Phoreiobothrium sp. Hornelliellidae n. fam. 4. Hornelliella annandalei (Hornell, 1912) n. g. Austramphilinidae Johnston, 1931 5. Gyrometra albotaenia n. g., n. sp.

In such animals not having any organic changes in their brains during the initial stage showed a descendence of convulsive threshold. abnormal findings in their electroencephalogram and ascending activity of ChE. But what is the cause of these functional changes? First, from the fact that though there was no organic changes, they were sensitized and reiniected by a known antigen, which is obviously an antigen-antibody reaction. Second, from the fact that we got a histological.change, which was acknowledged as C.L.A. changes by increasing the concentration of these solution and the number of injections, it could be thought that these functional changes were caused by what I called latent C.L.A.. That is, it seems it could be thought that it would give functionally a permanent hypersensitivity, which is called convulsive arrangement. Furthermore, a similar histological findings as seen in old epileptics were made experimentally after prolonged and repeated injections of very diluted antigens. I believe it can be said, also from this histological point that they are experimental epileptics. But I am not trying to say that idiopathic epilepsy is the same allergic disease as asthma. If it was so, it should offer clinically a problem of eosinophilia in the blood of epileptics. But actually there is no eosinophilia in epileptics. Also, in adult epileptics, convulsive attacks is not often seen soon after introduction of antigens. Consequently, my theory that epilepsy is allergic, does not mean that allergy is the direct cause of epileptic attacks. What I mean is, the causal genesis of idiopathic epilepsy is hypersensitivity of nerve cells in the brain. This hypersensitivity was attained as a tissue reaction by some allergic mechanism without any organic changes. This functional change gives the nerve cell a hypersensitive state, which becomes the base of the beginnihg of convulsion. Its inducement of attack could be water stagnation in the body, anemic state of the brain, alkalosis, or introduction of allergens. In short, the cause of attack does not always come from allergic reactions.

Lecithodendriidae Odhner, 1910 1. Phaneropsolus simiae n. sp. Heterophyidae Odhner, 1914 2. Galactosomum canis n. sp. Paramphistomidae Fischoeder, 1901 3. Explanatum explanatum (Creplin, 1857) 4. Paramphistomum cervi (Schrank, 1790) 5. Calicophoron cauliorchis (Stiles et Goldberger, 1900) 6. Ceylonocotyle εcoliocoelium (Fischoeder, 1901) 7. Fischoederius elongatus (Poirier, 1883) Fasciolidae Railliet, 1895 8. Fasciola hepatica Linne, 1758

Echinorhynchidae Cobbold, 1879 1. Acanthocephalus bufonis (Shipley, 1903) Rhadinorhynchidae Travassos, 1923 2. Rhadinorhynchus celebesensis n. sp. 3. Filisoma indicum van Cleave, 1928 Quadrigyridae van Cleave, 1920 4. Pallisentis gaboes (MacCallum, 1918) van Cleave. 1928 Gigantorhynchidae Hamann, 1892 5. Empodius sp. Neoechinorhynchidae Hamann, 1892 6. Neoechinorhynchus longilemniscus n. sp.

I. Trematodes of mammals 1. Brachylaemus tokudai n. sp. 2. Acanthatrium ovatum Yamaguti, 1939 II. Cestodes of frogs 3. Baerietta montana n. sp. 4. Baerietta claviformis n. sp. III. Cestodes of· birds 5. Choanotaenia barbara Meggitt, 1926 IV. Cestodes of mammals 6. Hymenolepis apodemi n. sp.

We investigated the impact of olmesartan and temocapril on pancreatic islet beta-cells during the development of diabetes mellitus using Otsuka-Long-Evans-Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats. Four-week-old male OLETF rats were fed standard chow (untreated:n5), or chow containing either 0.005% olmesartan(n5) or 0.01% temocapril (n5) until being sacrificed at 35 weeks of age. Pancreas sections were double-stained with anti-insulin and anti-glucagon antibodies. The percent areas of beta-cells, alpha-cells and non-alpha-non-beta-cells were compared among groups. In untreated OLETF rats, the fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level was elevated at the 18th week and remained elevated until the 35th week. On the other hand, no significant elevation in FPG levels was observed in olmesartan- or temocapril-treated rats. Pancreatic islets from olmesartan-treated rats were significantly smaller in size as compared with those from untreated OLETF rats. Furthermore, the average area occupied by beta-cells as a fraction of the total area of an individual islet was significantly higher in olmesartan- or temocapril-treated rats than that in untreated OLETF rats. Olmesartan and temocapril both prevented the development of hyperglycemia, possibly through the prevention of islet beta-cell loss in spontaneously diabetic OLETF rats.

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory and hypotensive effects of 7 peptide fractions (Frs) of royal jelly protein hydrolysate (RJPH) were studied in comparison with those of RJPH alone. Fr 4 and Fr 5 were the highest in ACE inhibitory activity and yield, respectively. Molecular weights (MWs) of RJPH and Fr 1-Fr 7 were distributed from 100 to 5,000 and those of Fr 1-Fr 7 increased in order from Fr 1 to Fr 7. RJPH, Fr 3 and Fr 4 at doses of 10, 30 and 100mg/kg i.v. and Fr 5 and Fr 6 at doses of 30 and 100mg/kg i.v. caused transiently significant hypotensive effects in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Fr 3, Fr 4, Fr 5 and Fr 6 at a dose of 1,000mg/kg also caused significant hypotensive effects 3h, 4-5h, 7-8h and 8h after oral administration in SHR, respectively. RJPH caused a long-lasting hypotensive effect in proportion to the magnitude of the MWs of RJPH fractions. The hypotensive pattern of RJPH was similar to the combined pattern of Fr 3-Fr 6. From these results, it can be concluded that the long-lasting hypotensive effect of oral administration of RJPH is dependent on the MWs of its ACE inhibitory peptides and the time required to digest them.

Many studies have shown that a motif of 11 consecutive arginines (11R) is one of the most effective protein transduction domains (PTD) for introducing proteins into the cell membrane. By conjugating this "11R", all sorts of proteins can effectively and harmlessly be transferred into any kind of cell. We therefore examined the transduction efficiency of 11R in cerebral arteries and obtained results showing that 11R fused enhanced green fluorescent protein (11R-EGFP) immediately and effectively penetrated all layers of the rat basilar artery (BA), especially the tunica media. This method provides a revolutionary approach to cerebral arteries and ours is the first study to demonstrate the successful transductionof a PTD fused protein into the cerebral arteries. In this review, we present an outline of our studies and other key studies related to cerebral vasospasm and 11R, problems to be overcome, and predictions regarding future use of the 11R protein transduction method for cerebral vasospasm (CV).

There is little information available concerning the influence of right bundle branch block (RBBB) on the prognosis of patients with inferior myocardial infarction (MI). In this study we evaluated the influence of RBBB on the short-term prognosis of patients with inferior MI. Our study subjects were 1,265 hospitalized patients with Q wave MI. Patients were divided into 4 groups based on the presence or absence of RBBB and on the location of the infarction. RBBB was classified into 4 categories according to the timing of its appearance and its duration as new permanent, transient, old and age indeterminate. In-hospital death and pulmonary congestion were observed more frequently in patients with RBBB than in those without RBBB. Moreover, in inferior MI as in anterior MI, in-hospital death and pulmonary congestion occurred more frequently in new permanent RBBB patients than in patients with other types of RBBB. Multivariate regression analysis reveals that new permanent RBBB was a strong independent predictor for an adverse short-term prognosis in patients with inferior MI, as well as in patients with anterior MI. New permanent RBBB during inferior MI is a strong independent predictor for increased in-hospital mortality, regardless of the infarction location.

In this study we investigated the attitudes of Japanese medical students toward being informed of a diagnosis of life-threatening illness. Fourth-year medical students from 20 randomly sampled universities were administered questionnaires that examined their opinion about whether they would welcome disclosure of medical information if they were diagnosed as having an ultimately fatal disease. Data from 1,619 students (male 1,074, female 545, effective collection rate 90.6%) were analyzed. With regard to attitudes about disclosure of a diagnosis of life-threatening illness, 87.7% of the students stated that they would wish to be informed even if there was little chance of recovery, and 11.6% expressed a wish to be informed of their condition only if there was a chance of recovery. Students who did not wish to be informed even if there was a chance of recovery accounted for 0.7% of those surveyed. Our study reveals that medical students are more positive than are members of the general population with regard to being informed of the truth. The proportion of those who wished to be informed even if there was little chance of recovery was higher among students from national and public universities than among those from private universities, and the inter-group difference was statistically significant. Among male students, answers to the survey were significantly correlated with 12-item General Health Questionnaire scores and mental health status, suggesting that mental health status may have affected how this study population viewed being informed of their diagnosis.

A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the association between dietary intake and depressivesymptoms in community-dwelling elderly persons. Five-hundred elderly persons aged 65 to 75 years were randomly selected from the population of O city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Among 401 respondents (response rate, 80.0%), data from 279 (133 males, 146 females) who completed the questionnaire concerning dietary intake and depressive state were analyzed using logistic regression. Each of 17 dietary intakes was classified into tertiles:high intake, moderate intake, and low intake. The Center for Epidemiology Studies Depression scale (CES-D) was used. Among males, the observed odds ratios (the 95% confidence intervals) for the depressive state were 0.36 (95% CI:0.13-0.98) in the highest tertile of carotene intake, 0.33 (95% CI:0.12-0.93) in the highest tertile of vitamin C intake, 0.29 (95% CI:0.10-0.85) in the highest tertile of carbohydrate intake, and 0.33 (95% CI:0.12-0.92) in the medium tertile of vitamin E intake. Among females, similar results were observed, but these results were not statistically significant. The results suggested that carbohydrate, carotene, and vitaminC intakes are associated with lowering depressive symptoms among elderly persons dwelling in communities in Japan.

To investigate the effect of exclusive breastfeeding on the likelihood of Japanese preschool children being overweight, population-based cross-sectional survey data from M town in Japan were used. Using the population registry of this town, all 616 preschool children were identified, and a self-administered questionnaire was sent to their parents. The exposure variable of interest was exclusive breastfeeding from birth to 6 months, and the outcome variable of interest was the children being overweight at preschool age. Statistical analyses used included logistic regression and sensitivity analyses. In the final analyses, we included 448 preschool children. Although all point estimates indicated a protective effect, logistic regression analyses showed no significant reduction in being overweight due to exclusive breastfeeding in the unadjusted model (odds ratio (OR)0.70, 95% confidence intervals:0.30-1.64), the model adjusted for birth weight (OR0.70, 95% CI:0.30-1.63), the model adjusted for child lifestyle (OR0.71, 95% CI:0.30-1.67), or the model adjusted for parental factors (OR0.46, 95% CI:0.15-1.37). In sensitivity analyses, point estimates were not significant, but a protective effect was observed. In conclusion, our results suggest that breastfeeding might have a protective effect on Japanese preschool children against being overweight, although statistical significance was not observed due to the limitation of the statistical power of the findings.

Chest X-ray (CXR) examination is considered essential for health checkups of students;thus, it is important to objectively assess the CXR for a better understanding of the appropriate X-ray exposure dose, and the risks such an examination entails. Accordingly, we performed a multi-institutional study regarding students' CXR exposure, during a 6year-period from 2002 (partially including 2001) to 2007, with the collaboration of national, municipal, and private universities and colleges in Japan. A glass badge was worn by the students at the time of CXR screening examination. These glass badges were collected, and their X-ray exposure doses were measured. The results indicated a tendency of decreasing exposure dose over the 6 years, though the difference was not significant. In a comparison of the chest X-ray systems within institutions (own X-ray equipmentinside systems) with those outside the institution (mobile X-ray equipmentoutside systems), the average exposure dose with the outside systems exceeded that of the inside systems. Both inside and outside systems included a few X-ray machines with which the exposure was more than 1mSv. Based on these facts, individuals in charge of student health checkups should be aware of the exposure dose of each chest fluorographic system at their institution.

The aim of this study was to explore muscle strength and its relation to exercise habits in Japanese. We used data from 3,018 men and 6,881 women aged 20-69 years and not using medications in a cross-sectional study. Exercise habits and muscle strength, i.e. grip strength and leg strength, were measured. Age-related changes in muscle strength were noted. Exercise habits were found in 984 men (32.6%) and 1,664 women (24.2%). For subjects of both sexes over 50 years, grip strength was significantly decreased with age. However, the ratio of leg strength to body weight significantly decreased with age as early as 30 years in men and 40 years in women. Grip strength, leg strength and the ratio of leg strength to body weight in subjects with exercise habits were significantly higher than those without exercise habits after adjusting for age in both sexes. This standard mean value may provide a useful database for evaluating muscle strength in Japanese adult subjects.