The production and roles of endogenous tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α) and gamma interferon (IFN‐γ) in the infection of Corynebacterium (C.) pseudotuberculosis were investigated in mice. The maximum levels of TNF‐α and IFN‐γ were detected on day 4 after infection. The administration of anti‐TNF‐α monoclonal antibody (mAb) as well as anti‐IFN‐γ mAb increased bacterial proliferation in the organs, leading to the death of infected mice, but anti‐IFN‐γ mAb showed a less marked effect than anti‐TNF‐α mAb. The suppressive effect of anti‐TNF‐α and anti‐IFN‐γ mAbs on anticorynebacterial resistance was augmented by the simultaneous administration of these antibodies. Anti‐TNF‐α mAb was found to be highly effective when administered on day 0 and day 4, suggesting that TNF‐α produced during the early stage of infection is critical for the generation of resistance. Histologically, many microabscesses, severe follicular swelling and lymphocyte destruction were observed in mice treated with anti‐TNF‐α or anti‐IFN‐γ mAb. Injection of anti‐CD4 or anti‐CD8 mAb also resulted in significantly increased mortality and a marked suppression of IFN‐γ production, but had no effect on TNF‐α production. Carrageenan also showed a marked effect on the exacerbation of infection. Taken together, these results suggest that endogenously produced TNF‐α and IFN‐γ are both essential to the host defense against C. pseudotuberculosis infection and that these cytokines may have an additive effect.

In Research I, the sixteen words were supported as the pain descriptors by non-medical and medical subjects who have experienced these pains. Five perceptual characteristics (duration, interval, depth, area and intensity) of the pains described by the sixteen words were estimated by five-point scales and expressed in pentagon-profiles. Pains which were long duration and repeated frequently were deep and strong. Short and infrequent pains were shallow, weak and small. The long duration pains are deservedly intolerable than the short pains. The short pains are deservedly tolerable. The pentagon-profiles of the sixteen pains were ranked in order of " intolerability ". In Research II, a Japanese version of MPQ was compiled and analyzed by the same procedure as those in Research I. The thirty-five words were supported and differentiated from emotional or evaluative words by the same subjects as participated in Research I. These words were also arranged by the rank order of intolerability. Reliability of the subjects' estimation of the pains was supported by results of the words which used common to both Researches I and II.

No abstract

An objective method for measuring endogenous pain in the wrist which originates in cervicobrachial disorders was improved. The method employed the plate-pushing task, which was reported previously (Taniguchi and Satow 1988a, b). The first improvement was achieved by introducing a load to be placed on the wrist while subjects were pushing the plate. In this way, it became easier to induce pain caused by disorders in the wrist. Another improvement was a new procedure by which a subject was told to change her pressure against a balance as instructed. This made it possible to identify the degree of pressure exerted which produce pain. Effects of dominance of hands, and of ordering the trials so as to begin with the dominant hand and switch to non-dominant, or vice versa in the tests were also examined, but were found to be not significant. Finally, the new method proved to be highly useful as an objective method for measuring pain of this sort because the method could produce very similar conditions to those associated with ordinary pain causing motion.

Click and [iglu were presented in pairs with varying stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) and the subjects were asked to respond to the click onset. SRTs and EPs were obtained for two levels of click intensity and were plotted as a function of SOAs. As the related EP component, Nc, or the negative peak immediately following the click onset, was taken and the Nc recorded from Cz was analyzed. Although the larger Nc amplitudes occurred with shorter SRTs, no systematic changes in Nc amplitude were observed as a function of SOAs. Nc latencies, the variations of which were smaller for an intense click than for a faint one, were shorter for trials in whicli light preceded click (S0A<0) than for click-alone trials, in correlation with SRTs. This fact suggests that the light given prior to click increased the arousal level and/or the processing speed. Bimodal facilitating effect of the internal processing speed upon SRTs was obtained at 50ms of SOA.