Trends in early and late diagnosis of HIV-1 infections in Tokyoites from 2002 to 2010.

Objective: The objective of this study was to delineate the trends in early and late diagnosis of HIV-1 infection in newly diagnosed Tokyoites.

Methods: The BED assay was used to identify cases diagnosed at an early stage of infection. BED-positive non-AIDS cases with a CD4 cell count ≥ 200/μl were defined as cases with recent infection.

Quantification of the levels of CYP2D6 mRNA in peripheral blood leukocytes by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction HPLC.

We developed a sensitive high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for determining CYP2D6 mRNA in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) by using competitive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The method is specific, reproducible, and sensitive enough to quantify the absolute amount of low and high abundant CYP2D6 mRNA. The native CYP2D6 transcript and the internal standard, a CYP2D6 deletion RNA, were amplified with similar efficiency in RT-PCR.

Clinical relevance of substitutions in the connection subdomain and RNase H domain of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase from a cohort of antiretroviral treatment-naïve patients.

Some mutations in the connection subdomain of the polymerase domain and in the RNase H domain of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) have been shown to contribute to resistance to RT inhibitors. However, the clinical relevance of such mutations is not well understood. To address this point we determined the prevalence of such mutations in a cohort of antiretroviral treatment-naïve patients (n=123) and assessed whether these substitutions are associated with drug resistance in vitro and in vivo.

Hot water extract of bark of Nikko maple (Acer nikoense) induces apoptosis in leukemia cells.

In screening for antitumor constituents in traditional crude drugs, we used three cultured cell lines: mouse leukemia P388 cells, doxorubicin-resistant P388 cells and leczyme (catalytic lectin)-resistant P388 cells. The hot water extract (HWE) of the bark of Nikko maple (Acer nikoense) showed concentration-dependent inhibitory effects on the growth of these three cell lines. DNA fragmentation and morphological changes, accompanied by condensed and fragmented nuclei, were observed in the leukemia cell lines cultured with HWE of the bark of Nikko maple.