Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.1.1.8 (cholinesterase)
 12,691 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

On the day of the disaster, 641 victims were seen at St. Luke's International Hospital. Among those, five victims arrived with cardiopulmonary or respiratory arrest with marked miosis and extremely low serum cholinesterase values; two died and three recovered completely. In addition to these five critical patients, 106 patients, including four pregnant women, were hospitalized with symptoms of mild to moderate exposure. Other victims had only mild symptoms and were released after 6 hours of observation. Major signs and symptoms in victims were miosis, headache, dyspnea, nausea, ocular pain, blurred vision, vomiting, coughing, muscle weakness, and agitation. Almost all patients showed miosis and related symptoms such as headache, blurred vision, or visual darkness. Although these physical signs and symptoms disappeared within a few weeks, psychologic problems associated with posttraumatic stress disorder persisted longer. Also, secondary contamination of the house staff occurred, with some sort of physical abnormality in more than 20%.
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PMID:Sarin poisoning on Tokyo subway. 919 33

Six to eight months after the Tokyo subway attack in March 1995, the neurophysiological effects of acute sarin poisoning were investigated in 18 passengers exposed to sarin (sarin cases) in the subways to ascertain the focal or functional brain deficits induced by sarin. The event-related and visual evoked potentials (P300 and VEP), brainstem auditory evoked potential, and electrocardiographic R-R interval variability (CVRR), together with the score on the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) checklist, were measured in the sarin cases and the same number of control subjects matched for sex and age. None of the sarin cases had any obvious clinical abnormalities at the time of testing. The P300 and VEP (P100) latencies in the sarin cases were significantly prolonged compared with the matched controls. In the sarin cases, the CVRR was significantly related to serum cholinesterase (ChE) levels determined immediately after exposure; the PTSD score was not significantly associated with any neurophysiological data despite the high PTSD score in the sarin cases. These findings suggest that asymptomatic sequelae to sarin exposure, rather than PTSD, persist in the higher and visual nervous systems beyond the turnover period of ChE; sarin may have neurotoxic actions in addition to the inhibitory action on brain ChE.
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PMID:Asymptomatic sequelae to acute sarin poisoning in the central and autonomic nervous system 6 months after the Tokyo subway attack. 940 34

Chronic neurobehavioral effects of acute sarin poisoning were evaluated in 9 male and 9 female patients who were exposed to sarin poisoning in the Tokyo subway incident in Japan. The investigators used nine neurobehavioral tests, as well as a posttraumatic stress disorder checklist, 6-8 mo after the poisoning occurred. Serum cholinesterase activity in patients on the day of poisoning (i.e., March 20, 1995) ranged from 13 to 131 IU/l (mean=72.1 IU/l). The results of analysis covariance, in which age, education level, alcohol consumption, and smoking status (covariates) were controlled in 18 sarin cases and in 18 controls, showed that the score on the digit symbol (psychomotor performance) test was significantly lower in the sarin cases than in controls. Nonetheless, the scores for the General Health Questionnaires, fatigue of Profile of Mood States, and posttraumatic stress disorder checklist were significantly higher in the sarin cases than controls. The investigators added posttraumatic stress disorder to the covariates, and only the score on the digit symbol test was significantly lower in sarin cases. In addition, the results of stepwise multiple regression analysis in 18 sarin cases revealed that scores for the General Health Questionnaires, fatigue of Profile of Mood States (i.e., fatigue, tension-anxiety, depression, and anger-hostility)-together with the paired-associate learning test-were associated significantly with posttraumatic stress disorder. The association did not remain significant for the digit symbol test score. Perhaps a chronic effect on psychomotor performance was caused directly by acute sarin poisoning; on the other hand, the effects on psychiatric symptoms (General Health Questionnaire) and fatigue (Profile of Mood States) appeared to result from posttraumatic stress disorder induced by exposure to sarin.
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PMID:Chronic neurobehavioral effects of Tokyo subway sarin poisoning in relation to posttraumatic stress disorder. 970 88

To evaluate delayed (prolonged) neurobehavioral and neurophysiological effects of acute sarin poisoning, nine male and nine female patients of the Tokyo subway sarin poisoning in Japan were examined by neurobehavioral tests, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) checklist, brain evoked potentials, computerized static posturography, and electrocardiographic R-R interval variability, 6-8 months after the poisoning. Their serum cholinesterase activities on the day of the poisoning (March 20, 1995) were 13-131 (mean 72.1) IU/L. The results suggested delayed effects on psychomotor performance, the higher and visual nervous system and the vestibulo-cerebellar system with psychiatric symptoms resulting from PTSD.
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PMID:Chronic neurobehavioral and central and autonomic nervous system effects of Tokyo subway sarin poisoning. 978 30

Cholesterol and uric acid, which might correlate with steroidogenesis and monoamine functions, may change under emotionally stressful conditions and in mental disturbances. Among anxiety disorders, an increase of serum cholesterol has been observed in panic disorder. However, the issue has not been adequately investigated in other anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present study investigated serum cholesterols, uric acid and cholinesterase in victims of the Tokyo subway sarin poisoning, 1995, in a series of 5-year follow-ups. Cholinesterase was studied, in relevance with serum lipid changes and symptoms of PTSD, and also in light of a biological effect of sarin. Out of 34 victims, eight developed PTSD and two were currently diagnosed with PTSD using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). No significant relationship was observed between PTSD and serum cholesterols or uric acid. Several factors including co-occurrence of other mental disturbances with PTSD, in addition to the limited sample size, might have affected the result. In contrast, serum cholinesterase level was significantly reduced in the victims with the development of PTSD, compared with the matched controls (P<0.02, t-test). This might partly reflect a long-term remnant effect of sarin intoxication, although an effect of the psychological experience could not be totally excluded.
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PMID:Serum cholesterol, uric acid and cholinesterase in victims of the Tokyo subway sarin poisoning: a relation with post-traumatic stress disorder. 1587 65

Neurologists and ophthalmologists should be familiar with the causes and treatment of visual hallucinations so that they are able to reassure patients and minimize the anguish associated with untreated visual hallucinations. Hallucinations are under-reported by patients because of the perceived psychiatric implication or because of poor insight into the unreal nature of the hallucinations. In the appropriate setting, physicians should specifically inquire about hallucinations as well as initiate medical treatment. Visual hallucinations have many etiologies and are associated with a variety of disorders. Identification of the associated disorder or cause is necessary to determine the appropriate treatment. Causes and associated disorders include ocular phenomena, migraine, seizures, visual loss (ie, release hallucinations), neurodegenerative disorders, midbrain injury, alcohol and drug effects, narcolepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder, and psychosis. Therapeutic treatment should be directed at the associated disorder or etiology. For instance, antiepileptic drugs may be appropriate for patients with irritative phenomena such as seizures and visual aura of migraine. Depending on the cause, other agents are available and include neuroleptics, cholinesterase inhibitors, and acetazolamide. Well-designed, randomized, controlled clinical trials regarding treatment of visual hallucinations associated with various disorders are lacking. Although complete resolution of visual hallucinations can be difficult, even minimal improvement may be symptomatically beneficial.
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PMID:Visual Hallucinations. 1466 72

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, clinically characterized by loss of memory and progressive deficits in different cognitive domains. An emerging disease-modifying approach to face the multifactorial nature of AD may be represented by the development of Multi-Target Directed Ligands (MTDLs), i.e., single compounds which may simultaneously modulate different targets involved in the neurodegenerative AD cascade. The structure of tacrine, an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor (AChEI), has been widely used as scaffold to provide new MTDLs. In particular, its homodimer bis(7)tacrine represents an interesting lead compound to design novel MTDLs. Thus, in the search of new rationally designed MTDLs against AD, we replaced the heptamethylene linker of bis(7)tacrine with the structure of cystamine, leading to cystamine-tacrine dimer. In this study we demonstrated that the cystamine-tacrine dimer is endowed with a lower toxicity in comparison to bis(7)tacrine, it is able to inhibit AChE, butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), self- and AChE-induced beta-amyloid aggregation in the same range of the reference compound and exerts a neuroprotective action on SH-SY5Y cell line against H(2)O(2)-induced oxidative injury. The investigation of the mechanism of neuroprotection showed that the cystamine-tacrine dimer acts by activating kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) and Akt/protein kinase B (PKB) pathways. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder'.
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PMID:Cystamine-tacrine dimer: a new multi-target-directed ligand as potential therapeutic agent for Alzheimer's disease treatment. 2203 70

Organic phosphate pesticides were used worldwide after World War II and experiences on poisoning and treatment have been accumulated. An organic phosphate "nerve agent" Sarin was used in two terrorist attacks in Japan in the 1990s. Sarin effects on humans were well documented in these two incidents. Sarin gas inhalation caused instantaneous death by respiratory arrest in several victims in Matsumoto. Severely injured victims presenting with coma and generalized convulsion were resuscitated and recovered rapidly without sequelae. Miosis and blurred-dark vision, ocular pain, copious secretions from respiratory and gastrointestinal tract (muscarinic effects), and headache were common in severely to slightly affected victims. Plasma cholinesterase (ChE) activity decreased in parallel with the severity of signs and symptoms in victims. Oximes, atropine sulphate, diazepam, and ample intravenous infusion were effective treatments. Follow-up examinations on victims were conducted up to 10 years in Matsumoto, and 5 years in Tokyo. No neurological sequelae or abnormalities were observed after 1 year, except for a few EEG abnormalities or delay in sensory nerve conduction velocity. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was observed in several of the victims in the 5-year follow up, irrespective of the severity of poisoning at Matsumoto. Psychological symptoms continue in victims of both incidents.
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PMID:[The nerve agent sarin: history, clinical manifestations, and treatment]. 2480 72