Crab-Eating Monkey Acidic Chitinase (CHIA) Efficiently Degrades Chitin and Chitosan under Acidic and High-Temperature Conditions.

Chitooligosaccharides, the degradation products of chitin and chitosan, possess anti-bacterial, anti-tumor, and anti-inflammatory activities. The enzymatic production of chitooligosaccharides may increase the interest in their potential biomedical or agricultural usability in terms of the safety and simplicity of the manufacturing process. Crab-eating monkey acidic chitinase (CHIA) is an enzyme with robust activity in various environments.

Mouse Acidic Chitinase Effectively Degrades Random-Type Chitosan to Chitooligosaccharides of Variable Lengths under Stomach and Lung Tissue pH Conditions.

Chitooligosaccharides exhibit several biomedical activities, such as inflammation and tumorigenesis reduction in mammals. The mechanism of the chitooligosaccharides' formation in vivo has been, however, poorly understood. Here we report that mouse acidic chitinase (Chia), which is widely expressed in mouse tissues, can produce chitooligosaccharides from deacetylated chitin (chitosan) at pH levels corresponding to stomach and lung tissues.

Successful Excision of Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma of the Superior Vena Cava.

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma is a rare, low-grade vascular tumor. Mediastinal localization is rare for epithelioid hemangioendothelioma. We report a case of a radically resected mediastinal EHE originating from the superior vena cava.

Pathological evaluation of the visceral pleura in the radical pleurectomy/decortication for malignant pleural mesothelioma patients.

Background: Radical pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) is applied as a surgical treatment of resectable malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Although P/D removed visceral pleura, dissection plain was not histologically explored previously. We examined a pathological evaluation of surgically removed visceral pleura in P/D.

Successful Excision of Endobronchial Cellular Schwannoma With Right Lower Sleeve Lobectomy.

Cellular schwannoma is a rare variant of schwannoma, showing high cellularity and a low mitotic index. A 64-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with a 2-month history of productive cough. Chest computed tomography showed an endobronchial tumor with complete atelectasis of the right lower lobe.