Junko Yoneda

Interstitial deletion of 6q21-q23 associated with split hand

We report on a 7-month-old boy with interstitial deletion of 6q21-q23 and split-hand defect. He died at 7 months. This is the fifth patient with distal limb anomaly associated with a rearrangement of 6q21 region, and supports previous suggestions that there may be candidate gene(s) for distal limb development in the 6q21 region.

The plasma cyclic-AMP response to noise in humans and rats—short-term exposure to various noise levels

Abstract Rats were exposed to short-term noise which was found to activate the hypothalamohypophyseal-adrenal system and result in a decrease of adrenal ascorbic acid (AAA) and an increase of serum corticosterone (SCS). The threshold limit value lay between 60 and 70 dB(A). To characterize better the effect of noise on the human hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenal system, a large group of subjects was exposed to short-term noise at 85 dB(A) and higher, and tested for levels of adrenocortical steroid (cortisol) and anterior pituitary hormones such as ACTH, growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL). Results in humans showed hyperfunction of the hypothalamo-pituitary system. However, as the responses in rats and humans differed, a further experiment was performed using C-AMP, a second messenger mediating many of the effects of a variety of hormones. Plasma C-AMP in humans and rats increased significantly after exposure to noise greater than 70 dB(A). We suggest that plasma C-AMP could be useful as a sensitive index for noise-related stress in the daily living environment of humans and rats.