A Local Community Outreach Educational Program on Genetic Testing: A Pilot Study.

Objective: To develop and implement a pilot educational program on genetic testing at the Tokai University School of Medicine with a public engagement approach through a local junior-high school outreach program.

Methods: Seven medical students underwent 2 weeks of education and training to act as instructors for a one-day course on genetic testing for local junior-high school students. The one-day course comprised a lecture and an experimental lesson.

FLT3-ITD drives Ara-C resistance in leukemic cells via the induction of RUNX3.

Internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutations of the FLT3 gene (FLT3-ITD) are well known to correlate with a poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We previously reported that FLT3-ITD confers resistance to cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C), a key cytotoxic agent in AML treatments. In order to elucidate the detailed molecular mechanisms underlying the Ara-C resistance induced by FLT3-ITD, we performed a microarray gene expression analysis of the human leukemic cell line K562 transduced with FLT3-ITD (K562/FLT3-ITD) and identified RUNX3 as a downstream target of FLT3-ITD.

Sonographic evaluation of the treatment response in patients with immunoglobulin G4-related disease of the submandibular glands.

Objectives: To evaluate the usefulness of sonography for monitoring the response to glucocorticoid treatment in patients with immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study using sonography in 12 patients with bilateral swollen submandibular glands who had a diagnosis of IgG4-related disease based on an elevated serum IgG4 level (>135 mg/dL) and histopathologic findings between January 2010 and December 2012. Among these patients, 6 were treated with prednisolone, and the other 6 were placed under observation.

Localized or diffuse lesions of the submandibular glands in immunoglobulin g4-related disease in association with differential organ involvement.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the sonographic characteristics of the submandibular glands and organ involvement at the initial presentation in patients with immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study that included 15 patients who had bilateral swollen submandibular glands and elevated serum IgG4 levels between January 2005 and December 2010.

Results: In all 15 patients, sonography revealed the involvement of both sides of the submandibular glands.

Clinical and pathological features of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas lacking the surface expression of immunoglobulin light chains.

Background: The flow cytometric analysis of surface immunoglobulin light chains (sIgL) is used as a simple method for evaluating monoclonal B-cell proliferation. However, the sIgL expression, κ or λ, is occasionally undetectable in cases with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (B-NHL). The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical and pathological characteristics of these B-NHL cases.

Sonographic appearance of the submandibular glands in patients with immunoglobulin G4-related disease.

Swelling of the salivary glands is often an initial sign of immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease or IgG4-related sclerosing/autoimmune disease. We encountered 2 patients with IgG4-related disease who showed swollen submandibular glands with a unique characteristic sonographic pattern. Bilateral submandibular glands of both patients were enlarged with a smooth contour.

Genome-wide association analysis with selective genotyping identifies candidate loci for adult height at 8q21.13 and 15q22.33-q23 in Mongolians.

We performed a genome-wide association study with 23,465 microsatellite markers to identify genes related to adult height. Selective genotyping was applied to extremely tall and extremely short individuals from the Khalkh-Mongolian population. Two loci, 8q21.