Takashi Murata

Low-dose cytarabine-induced hepatic and renal dysfunction in a patient with myelodysplastic syndrome.

We report a 49-year-old female patient with secondary myelodysplastic syndrome who developed liver dysfunction and acute renal failure caused by low-dose cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) therapy. Treatment of low-dose Ara-C has widely been used for acute myelogeous leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, and it is thought to be a low toxicity except for myelosuppression. The patient complained of a transient adverse reaction in the second and third course of therapy. This rare case indicates that careful observation should be carried out during low-dose Ara-C therapy in view of allergic reactions.

Immunoprecipitation to Determine JAK Kinase Activation in Response to Interleukins in Ovarian Cancer

In cytokine receptors, there is no consensus sequence motif for tyrosine and/or serine/threonine kinases in its intracellular domain (1). Cytokine receptors associate with and activate members of the Janus kinase family (JAK), which is phosphorylated following ligand binding (2). The JAK family consists of four kinase members, JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, and Tyk2. Recently, we have shown that in ovarian cancer cell lines, many IL-4 receptors were expressed and IL-4 inhibited the proliferation of ovarian carcinoma cell lines (3). Moreover, IL-4 induced the phosphorylation of JAK1, JAK2, Tyk2, STAT6, and IRS-1 proteins following ligand-receptor interaction (4).

Importance of the Average Glucose Level and Estimated Glycated Hemoglobin in a Diabetic Patient with Hereditary Hemolytic Anemia and Liver Cirrhosis

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is a widely used marker of glycemic control but can be affected by hemolytic anemia. Glycated albumin (GA) is also affected in patients with liver cirrhosis. We herein report the assessment of glycemic control in a 41-year-old man with dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis and a PIEZO1 gene mutation complicated by diabetes mellitus and liver cirrhosis due to hemochromatosis. The estimated HbA1c calculated from the average glucose level obtained by continuous glucose monitoring or by self-monitoring of blood glucose was useful for evaluating the glycemic control in this patient, as HbA1c and GA were unreliable due to the coexisting conditions.

Impaired Awareness of Hypoglycemia and Driving Mishaps in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: A Multi-center Survey in Japan

Naoki Sakane1*, Kazuhiko Kotani1,2, Kokoro Tsuzaki1, Masami Nishi1,20, Kaoru Takahashi1,3, Takashi Murata4, Kazunori Yamada4, Kentaro Okazaki5, Katsuyuki Yanagisawa6, Kenichi Yamada7, Nobuichi Kuribayashi8, Yasuo Totsuka9, Toru Hiyoshi10, Motoji Naka11, Masatake Sugimoto12, Yuji Aoki13, Masako Waki14, Miyuki Furuya15, Haruko Kitaoka16, Mariko Oishi17, Ikki Shimizu18, Hiroaki Miyaoka19, Akira Okada20 and Toshikazu Yamamoto21