Simulation-based training for determination of brain death by pediatric healthcare providers.

Background: Low competency for determination of brain death (BD) and unfamiliarity with Japanese BD (JBD) criteria among pediatricians were highlighted in previous nationwide studies. Because the JBD criteria were amended in 2010 to allow organ donation from pediatric brain-dead donors, we created a 2-day training course to assess knowledge and improve skill in the determination and diagnosis of pediatric BD.

Methods: The course consisted of two modules: a multistation round session and a group discussion session, and was bookended by a before and after 20-question test.

Isolation and identification of cancer stem cells from a side population of a human hepatoblastoma cell line, HuH-6 clone-5.

Purpose: It has been thought that the persistence of even a small number of tumor cells in the body may increase each tumor cell in a similar manner and may allow the disease to proceed. However, only a few percent of such tumor cells exist in cancerous tissue. They are called "cancer stem cells (CSCs)".

Acute scrotum caused by vasitis with abscess formation in children with lower urological anomalies.

Objectives: The major causes of acute scrotum include testicular torsion, torsion of an appendix testis, and epididymo-orchitis. Recently, we experienced rare cases of acute scrotum caused by vasitis. Such a condition has not been previously reported in the literature so we summarize our patients with acute scrotum and discuss the pathogenesis of these rare cases.

The proton pump inhibitor inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis in human hepatoblastoma.

Purpose: In normal physiology, a vacuolar-type proton pump (V-ATPase) maintains an intracellular acid microenvironment in lysosome, endosome, and other endomembrane systems. Cancer cells overexpress V-ATPase compared with normal cells, and disturbances of the acid environment are thought to significantly impact the cancer cell infiltration and growth. Bafilomycin A1 (Baf-A1) is a specific inhibitor of the proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) V-ATPase.

Suppression of proinflammatory cytokine production in macrophages by lansoprazole.

Macrophages (MPs) produce increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines in Crohn's disease; these cytokines are thought to play a central role in the occurrence of the disease. Biologics are currently available for anti-cytokine therapy, but treating intestinal inflammation through direct suppression of proinflammatory cytokine production could be more effective. P-ATPase inhibitors have been reported to be anti-inflammatory, and these inhibitors might suppress the production of MP proinflammatory cytokines.

Chest wall mesenchymal hamartoma associated with a massive fetal pleural effusion: a case report.

Abstract We report on an extremely rare chest wall mesenchymal hamartoma associated with a massive fetal pleural effusion. Prenatal ultrasound examination demonstrated a heterogeneous mass in the right thorax associated with a massive pleural effusion and right lung compression at 29 weeks of gestation. The patient underwent pleuroamniotic shunting at 30 weeks and was delivered at 33 weeks by cesarean delivery secondary to fetal distress.

Anorectal agenesis with a rectourethral fistula diagnosed in an adult: report of a case.

We report an unusual case of anorectal agenesis with a rectourethral fistula diagnosed in a 48-year-old man. The patient presented after noticing hematuria, although he had been aware of urinary leakage from his colostomy with occasional fecal urine for about 4 years. He had had a double-barrel colostomy created soon after birth for an imperforate anus, with revision at the age of 4 years to correct a prolapse of the stoma, but his malformation had never been repaired.

No incidence of port-site recurrence after endosurgical procedure for pediatric malignancies.

Port-site recurrence (PSR) following laparoscopic procedures has been an unpredictable complication in adult cancer patients; however, no data exist about this phenomenon in the pediatric field. The aim of this study was to determine whether PSR, following endosurgical procedure for malignancies, is a typical complication or a rare event in the pediatric population. Eighty-one questionnaires were mailed to members of The Japanese Society of Pediatric Endosurgeons.

Reorganized small intestine from fetal mouse as an in vitro wound healing model.

Background: We developed a method for reorganizing the mouse small intestine. In the present study, we investigated whether the reorganized small intestine was morphologically and histochemically differentiated. We also evaluated the reorganized small intestine as an in vitro wound healing model.